Brian Jacob speaks with the Washington Post about factors that may account for the decline in U.S. students’ math scores

Recently released 2025 federal testing data shows that average math scores for 9- and 13-year-olds in the U.S. remain lower than they were 10 years ago, reports the Washington Post.

In the 2000s, high-stakes standardized testing, rigid teacher evaluations, and federal accountability standards had positive effects on math achievement.

“By no means were these policies perfect or even sufficient,” Brian Jacob, professor of education policy and of economics, tells the Post. But, he adds, “focused attention gave clear targets and provided some incentives.” His research suggests schools saw increased funding during this period.

Jacob says that since then, states have been given more flexibility in setting their own accountability metrics. Schools have become increasingly focused on issues including mental health, attendance and digital devices.

“It may be schools just need to focus on some of these other issues before they’re going to have the bandwidth to get back to kind of measuring student learning,” Jacob said.