Last month, IES director Mark Schneider expressed excitement about learning more from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to micro-level data on students’ responses to individual test questions. We share the enthusiasm about learning more from NAEP—known as the Nation’s Report Card—and have developed ways to learn more today. Even without using AI, a lot more can be learned from the data that NAEP already reports: aggregated academic achievement results for states, districts, and demographic groups.

A new study using predictive modeling to account for nonrepresentative test participation in Pennsylvania in 2021 shows that the pandemic led to a substantial reduction in academic proficiency in grades 5 through 8.