How Can States Improve Student Reading Scores?

Published May 20, 2025 at 3:28 PM EDT

A student in the library reads a book after receiving candy and a red envelope in a cultural celebration of the Lunar New Year at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 in New York City.

Reading scores in the U.S. fell to a new low last year.

The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known colloquially as the nation's report card, shows that reading scores dropped an average of two progress points for both 4th and 8th graders. That's down from the historic low in 2022.

But two states that are bucking this trend? Mississippi and Louisiana.

In 2019, 4th graders in Louisiana ranked last in the country for reading. Now, they're 16th. It's also the only state to have made a "full recovery" from decline during the pandemic, according to Harvard and Stanford's Educational Recovery Scorecard.

Mississippi went from being the second-worst ranked state in 4th grade reading scores in 2013 to the 21st in 2022.

How did two of the country's poorest states turn their literacy scores around in a matter of a few years? As reading scores fall nationwide, what can other states learn from their stories?

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