The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012

Released by the Department of Education, “The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012,” discusses the results of a long-term assessment that tracks academic achievement among students ages 9, 13, and 17. Compared with scores collected in the early 1970s, the scores of 9 and 13 year olds were higher in reading and mathematics in 2012, but those of 17 year olds were not. The results also show that today’s African American and Hispanic students scored drastically higher than their peers in the 1970s.