A new NAEP Long-Term Trend release shows tentative academic recovery for 9-year-olds while 13-year-olds’ reading and math scores remain flat, according to updated results from the 2025 assessment. The data indicate younger students have improved since the last test administration, including signs that the lowest-performing 9-year-olds are making larger strides. In contrast, 13-year-olds show no statistically significant changes in both reading and math from 2023, with reading scores described as comparable to levels from 1971. Acting NCES commissioner Matthew Soldner said the results point to both work remaining and positive signs. Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board, characterized math outcomes as “jarring,” noting that the lack of progress is not only a pandemic story. The results also revive questions about the broader “learning recession” described in prior reporting and set up new policy attention on middle-school interventions, curriculum alignment, and how schools are addressing foundational skills at the transition into early adolescence.