On 2022 NAEP 8th- and 12th-grade reading and math exams, students who were both English learners and from low-income backgrounds scored lowest among four student groups, with less than one third scoring basic or above in reading and less than one quarter in math¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2030: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? EL students and students from low-income backgrounds scored well below their peers on both math and reading exams for 8th and 12th grades. → Griffith 2025 q2 i? Students who were both ELs and from low-income backgrounds achieved the lowest among the four disaggregated groups. → Griffith 2025

Evidence¶

Griffith 2025¶

Griffith, M., & Burns, D. (2025). Funding student needs: A review of state funding policies for English learners and students from low-income backgrounds. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/471.440

q2 · i? · review · r2

The report's disaggregation of 2022 NAEP scores into four groups (neither, one, or both of EL and low-income status) found "students who were both ELs and from low-income backgrounds achieved the lowest among the four groups" on all exams.

"On both math and reading exams for 8th and 12th grades, EL students and students from low-income backgrounds scored well below their peers. However, students who were both ELs and from low-income backgrounds achieved the lowest among the four groups, with less than one third of those students scoring basic or above in reading and less than one quarter scoring basic or above in math."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• School test score averages are strongly related to the income of the families a school serves — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• ELs lag behind peers in achievement and attainment partly due to limited exposure to academic content — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Dually-identified EL/SPED students had the lowest scores with gaps widening over time, driven by larger summer loss — related

• Historically underserved student groups show substantially lower shares meeting the 12th-grade reading benchmark, with gaps up to 30 percentage points — related
• The likelihood of being identified as significantly below benchmark in early literacy screening increases as historically underserved background characteristics intersect — related
• Low income, English learner, special education, Black, and Hispanic students were more likely to be classified significantly below benchmark at each time period and more than once — related
• Fourth graders with disabilities scored 40 points lower in reading and 28 points lower in mathematics than peers without disabilities on the 2022 NAEP — related
• Most U.S. 8th graders read below proficiency: 69 percent fall below the proficient level and 26 percent below the basic level on the 2007 NAEP reading assessment
• In math, EL groups grew more than never-ELs during academic years but lost more during summers — related
• State-level percentage of uncertified teachers correlates negatively with NAEP state assessment performance (r from –.40 to –.63) — related
• English learner students were more often identified at risk overall, but those with low English proficiency on ACCESS were not necessarily below benchmark; a little over one third of English learners meeting benchmark scored at the two lowest ACCESS proficiency levels — related