Last week, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold standard of educational testing, released its 2024 12th-grade results for reading and math. The NAEP results should be a serious wake-up call about the state of the country’s K-12 education system. 

It is not hyperbole to say that the data suggests we are becoming the world’s D student. 

Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics, called the results “a stark decline,” while Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said that they “confirm a devastating trend.” Former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings warned, “It’s an economic emergency that threatens our workforce and national competitiveness.”

NAEP defines three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient and Advanced. But these new results show that huge portions of high school seniors were not even meeting the Basic thresholds for reading or math. 

In reading, about one-third (32 percent) of high school seniors were below Basic, while 35 percent were at or above Proficient. 

Those below Basic increased from a quarter of high school seniors (25 percent) in 2013 to almost a third in 2024. The overall average score for reading was the lowest recorded in the 32 years since NAEP began testing it in 1992. It was also the lowest for the percentage testing at or above Proficient, and the highest for below Basic. 

For reading, this means those students who are below Basic are unlikely to be able to make simple inferences about a text, express or support opinions with text-based evidence, or evaluate the effectiveness of an author’s claim. 

For math, the situation is even worse. Nearly half, 45 percent, of high school seniors are below Basic, the highest since the math scoring framework changed in 2005. It was also the lowest at or above Proficient, and the lowest overall average score for math. Below Basic has increased 10 percent since 2013 (35 percent) and 5 percent since 2019 (40 percent).

For math, this means, for example, applying single-step percentages to solve real-world problems. Calculating the discount of an $80 shirt on sale for 10 percent off would likely be beyond many students’ ability. 

Applying proportional relationships would also likely be beyond their abilities. Figuring how much gas is needed for a road trip or adjusting a recipe from four people to six would likely stymie them. One more example: Brand A lotion costs $3 for 20 ounces while Brand B costs $4 for 25 ounces, which is the better value? That would be difficult for students below Basic. 

This terrible math performance was seen earlier in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment tests, or PISA, where America ranked 34th in the world. China was second. Taiwan was third and our neighbor to the north, Canada, was ninth. Given the educational demands for the 21st-century workforce, this is a huge economic problem for the U.S. We cannot out-innovate other countries when almost half of our high school students fall below Basic in math and about a third in reading. 

Additionally, future high school students are performing poorly as well. In 2024, 39 percent of eighth graders were below Basic in math. But potentially more ominous were the 2024 results for reading in the fourth grade. 

When children transition from learning to read to reading to learn, which is expected in the third grade, it is a crucial moment in their education process. Studies show that a student who fails to meet this mark will potentially face serious academic and sociological challenges ahead. 

The 2024 NAEP reading results for fourth graders showed that 40 percent were below Basic. In contrast, 31 percent were at or above Proficient. Eighth graders did not do well either, with a third of them (33 percent) testing below Basic, and 30 percent at or above Proficient. 

For decades, educators have focused on how to make students “college ready” to give them maximum choices for pursuing their careers — whether that was going to college, attending a technical or vocational school, or going directly into the workforce. 

The 2024 12th-grade NAEP scores glaringly suggest that the question isn’t just whether students are “college ready” but whether they are even prepared for the rigors of technical or vocational school in this age of artificial intelligence. 

One of the major challenges colleges and universities face is the amount of remedial work that has been needed to prepare incoming students for college level coursework. Even Harvard has had to address this. This takes time, meaning students are paying tuition for the educational skills they should have gotten in high school. The new NAEP scores suggest that many technical or vocational students will also need remedial help. 

While states have access to fourth and eighth grade NAEP scores every two years to help them develop policies to improve student outcomes, they don’t have that same data for the 12th grade. This means policymakers and parents have to guess how their state is doing in contrast to the national level. On top of that, they only get national results every four years.

Moreover, in many cases, parents have to work through the differences between state test results, which are often much more optimistic about student outcomes than the NAEP fourth and eighth grade results. 

Providing biennial 12th grade NAEP state data would not only give state education policymakers and parents a better understanding of their students’ skill level, it would also offer the private sector a clearer understanding of which states are likely to produce a better workforce. In a Winston Group policy paper published by the American Enterprise Institute, we advocated for a more frequent 12th grade NAEP with state results.

We have a failing K-12 education system, due in large part to the lack of focus on student academic outcomes and the lack of accountability for those responsible for the K-12 system. Fortunately, we have NAEP, an extremely effective tool to assess the status of student performance. Now, states need to develop more aggressive strategies to improve those outcomes. 

Our K-12 education crisis is more than just an education challenge. It is a threat to the economy, national security and the future of the country. This latest round of NAEP results reinforce that we need a fundamental rethink of our K-12 system. 

David Winston is the president of The Winston Group and a longtime adviser to congressional Republicans. He previously served as the director of planning for Speaker Newt Gingrich. He advises Fortune 100 companies, foundations and nonprofit organizations on strategic planning and public policy issues, as well as serving as an election analyst for CBS News.