Southern states lead post-COVID rebound in reading, math scores

Southern states have emerged as unexpected leaders in math and reading scores in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, exceeding the national average. 

A report published by the Nation’s Report Card earlier this year revealed an overall decline in reading and mild progress in math in 2024. According to the report, only Alabama (in math) and Louisiana (in reading) have overcome their pre-pandemic scores in one subject and grade.

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The National Assessment Governing Board, which governs the Nation’s Report Card, criticized the country’s failure to rebound from the pandemic.

“We need to invest more in the data-informed efforts that have been shown to work so that we lift up our students and accelerate their learning even further,” Chair Beverly Perdue said at the time. “It’s imperative we ensure all young people have the academic foundation they need to succeed in school and in the careers of their choosing.”

Still, since that time, experts have observed a “Southern Surge” in reading scores that they say the rest of the country can and should learn from, especially following historic declines in 2022.

“Louisiana is the only state in the nation where 4th-grade reading achievement on NAEP has surpassed pre-pandemic levels,” Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a July 14 article for Education Next. “In other words, this isn’t one of those foundation-fueled PR exercises—the results are real.”

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In addition to Louisiana, Hess highlights notable improvements in reading and math from Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. 

For instance, a report earlier this year revealed that Tennessee’s reading scores exceeded the national average. Alabama moved from 49th to 34th for fourth-grade reading, one of a few states that have made advancement post-pandemic.

Meanwhile, Mississippi climbed from 49th in reading in 2012 to 20th in fourth-grade reading by 2023. The state’s success was the highest in the country, Harry Anthony Patrinos, a professor of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas, pointed out in March.

Hess suggests that the southern trends reflect a focused approach that prioritizes academic fundamentals over education fads. These states have not only identified the need for changes but have harmonized those changes in pursuit of the same goal.

“The problem with most school reform efforts is not the sheer number of changes but the cultural discordance—the whiplash, fad-chasing, and stopping-and-starting,” Hess said in his piece. 

Hess has also tied the states’ success to weak teacher’s unions in Republican states.

“Southern states have seized on a political environment that allows them to do the things that matter,” Hess said in May, according to Chronicles Magazine. 

“These states have weaker teachers’ unions and Republican dominated political cultures. To drive improvement, it’s easier if you have the politics of Mississippi than the politics of Massachusetts,” he continued.

Campus Reform contacted the education departments of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee for comment but did not receive responses before publication.