September 2025 – Average reading scores for high school seniors, released by the Nation’s Report Card, fell to their lowest level since 1992.

Average reading scores for U.S. high school seniors have dropped to their lowest levels since 1992. This 10-point decline from the 1992 benchmark indicates a significant, long-term trend in reduced literacy skills, accelerated by, but pre-dating, the pandemic.

“I don’t think we have smoking gun evidence that the rise of screen-based childhood is a direct contributor to the literacy trends that we’re seeing. But I’m willing to put it very high on my list of potential suspects.” – Martin West, academic dean and a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School.

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/