American students are in a deep learning recession. Fourth and eighth graders are scoring worse in reading and math than a decade ago. Yet a major new report from the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) barely mentions Common Core, one of the most disruptive education experiments in a generation.

Last month, CEPR released an Education Scorecard Report examining reading and math performance for fourth and eighth graders from 1990 to 2025. The report offers the first nationwide district‑level comparison of learning loss and evaluates how remote learning, federal funding, and absenteeism‑related reforms shaped student outcomes during and after the COVID‑19 pandemic.

The authors of the report highlight two key timelines:

2003 to 2015, where notable improvements were made across the country

2015 to 2025, where consistent decline started and continues

They also assert two possible causes for the decline after the improvement: the first being the increased use of social media by students, and the second being the reduction in federal accountability programs.

According to the data on 13–17 year olds, increased use of social media is evident, going from 24 percent use in 2014–15 to 46 percent in 2022. But studies on recent cell phone bans show no impact on student achievement, which weakens this as a cause. There is no evidence to show this cause has anything to do with fourth-grade achievement, especially since most fourth graders are 9 years old and not heavy social media........

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