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A new report by researchers from Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth universities ranks Florida last among the 35 states analyzed for academic growth in reading, amid what experts refer to as a "learning recession" affecting the entire country, reported NBC Miami.
The Education Scorecard 2026, published on May 13, analyzes the performance of students in grades three to eight on state assessments and concludes that reading and math scores have dropped in 83% of school districts across the country over the past decade.
Florida records the steepest decline among all the evaluated states.
The data is compelling: the average student in Florida is more than 0.7 grade equivalents behind the reading levels of 2019.
In eighth-grade reading, the state dropped from 25th place in 2017 to 43rd place in 2024, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress cited in the report.
Nationwide, eighth-grade students in 2025 have results comparable to those of 1990.
In mathematics, Florida ranks 24th out of 38 states analyzed, an intermediate position that contrasts with the drop in reading.
The "learning recession" is not a recent phenomenon nor exclusively linked to the pandemic. The report indicates that it began around 2013, long before COVID-19, and accelerated with the health crisis.
Among the identified causes are the excessive use of smartphones and social media, the ongoing effects of the pandemic, the lack of academic accountability following the expiration of the No Child Left Behind Act—replaced in 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act—and the overreliance on technology in the classroom.
In light of the results, the authorities of the two major districts in South Florida went out to defend their management. Broward and Miami-Dade have an A rating according to state standards.
The Broward superintendent, Dr. Howard Hepburn, expressed his dissatisfaction with the investigation and told NBC Miami that the data from the county's public schools surpasses "more than half of the districts in the country in reading and math."
For its part, Miami-Dade issued a statement affirming that the district has "consistently outperformed the state and comparable urban districts in mathematics and reading."
Miami-Dade School Board member Dr. Steve Gallon acknowledged, however, that the report deserves attention: "Our parents have great trust in the work we do, but we must view this report as an opportunity for improvement, and I hope that happens at the state level as well."
Gallon also emphasized the need to prioritize early education: "We need to invest more in early childhood; the skills of students assessed in third, fifth, and eighth grades are developed from the earliest years of life."
The debate over the use of technology in classrooms also arose in the reactions to the report. Hepburn dismissed a complete return to paper and pencil: "I see a combination of both. It’s a delicate balance, but I know we must continue to innovate as school districts because society is evolving around us."
The Education Scorecard is a collaboration between two of the country's leading educational research centers: the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University and the Educational Opportunities Project (EOP) at Stanford University
The educational context in Florida in recent years has been marked by political controversies.
The state leads the nation for the third consecutive year in banning books in schools in the United States, with 2,304 titles removed from school libraries according to PEN America.
Moreover, although Florida was the first state to restrict the use of cell phones in class, a measure that the report itself acknowledges as necessary, the decline in reading has not stopped.
The Florida Education Association warns that the teacher retention crisis remains a serious structural issue, particularly in special education, mathematics, and English, despite the state reporting a 17.7% reduction in teacher vacancies for the 2025-2026 school year.
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