SANTA FE, N.M. – For the ninth year in a row, New Mexico has ranked 50th out of 50 in education.
New Mexico remains at the bottom of national education rankings, according to the latest data from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as the Nation’s Report Card. The newly released scores show that New Mexico’s fourth and eighth-grade students continue to struggle in reading and mathematics, scoring significantly below the national average.
How Bad are the Scores, Really?
The 2024 NAEP results paint a bleak picture of student performance in New Mexico.
• 4th Grade Reading: New Mexico’s average score was 201, compared to the national average of 214. Only 20 percent of fourth-grade students demonstrated proficiency in reading.
• 4th Grade Mathematics: The state’s average score was 224, lower than the national average of 237. Only 23 percent of fourth graders reached proficiency.
• 8th Grade Reading: Students in this category had an average score of 245, while the national average stood at 257. The percentage of students deemed proficient was only 19 percent.
• 8th Grade Mathematics: The lowest-performing category, with New Mexico scoring 256, significantly trailing the national average of 272. Only 14 percent of students were proficient in math.
These results mark the ninth consecutive year in which New Mexico has ranked 50th out of 50 states on the NAEP report.
The results have sparked renewed concerns from education advocates and policymakers.
Amanda Aragon, Executive Director of NewMexicoKidsCAN, described the data as a wake-up call, saying, “This data is not just troubling— it is a wake-up call. Our state’s education crisis is worsening, and our most vulnerable students are falling even further behind. Despite having a sophisticated data system capable of pinpointing the exact classrooms, schools, and districts where these students are, we are failing to act.”
A Decade-Long Decline
New Mexico’s scores have seen a downward trend over the past decade.
The eighth-grade math score of 256 marks the lowest score since 1990, while eighth grade reading and fourth grade reading scores are at historic lows.
Although fourthgrade math showed a modest increase from 221 in 2022 to 224 in 2024, it still represents a significant drop from 233 in 2013.
The 2024 NAEP results confirm that students nationwide have not fully recovered from pandemic- era learning losses. Peggy Carr, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, told education publication Chalkbeat, “Student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, reading scores continue to decline, and our lowest-performing students are reading at historically low levels.”
Additionally, the national data highlights widening achievement gaps. The national gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students in eighth-grade math is now the widest in the test’s history.
However, some states, such as Louisiana, showed improvements, particularly in fourthgrade reading, following targeted interventions such as literacy screeners and high-dosage tutoring. Kelli Bottger, executive director of Louisiana Kids Matter wrote, “Louisiana's 4th grade literacy scores are truly remarkable… While our math scores have room for improvement, I’m certain with the implementation of a math universal screener and a continued focus on high dosage tutoring, our scores will improve.”
While some states are seeing improvements, New Mexico is faced with a stark reality.
“As a state, we must confront what these results mean for our communities, our economy, and our children’s futures. We must declare ‘enough’ with 50th and demand change,” Aragon wrote in a statement.
Throwing Money at the Problem is not Solving it
With a $10.22 billion state budget for Fiscal Year 2025, New Mexico has made historic investments in education, allocating $4.7 billion, or 47 percent of the total state budget, to schools.
This is the largest share of the state budget dedicated to education in recent years, with $11,912 per-pupil expenditure, a student-teacher ratio of 14.6, and ongoing investments in education; but how does it compare to past budgets?
• FY 2024: The state budget was $9.4 billion, with $4.17 billion directed toward education (44.3% of expenditures).
• FY 2023: The budget stood at $8.48 billion, with $3.8 billion for education (44.8% of expenditures).
• FY 2022: A smaller budget of $7.45 billion, with $3.44 billion allocated to education (46% of expenditures).
• FY 2021: The state allocated $3.46 billion of its $7.62 billion budget to education (45% of expenditures).
Hope Morales, Executive Director of Teach-Plus New Mexico, explained the need for bold leadership, “While our state should be commended for its recordbreaking funding of education, these results show that we must do much more. It is time for courageous leadership that keeps our students and their potential at the center of strategic and data-driven decisions.”
All the experts agree, funding alone is not enough—it must be paired with strategic reforms that put students first.
What Exactly is NAEP
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, is a federally administered assessment that measures student achievement across the United States. Conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), an arm of the U.S. Department of Education, NAEP assesses a representative sample of fourth and eighth-grade students in reading and math every two years. Unlike state-mandated tests, NAEP is low stakes, meaning individual student scores are not used to determine grades, evaluate teachers, or impact school funding.
The most recent NAEP assessments were conducted between January and March 2024, with results providing a snapshot of student performance nationwide. The data allows for comparisons across states and some major cities, offering insight into long-term educational trends and disparities. However, because NAEP scores are based on a sample of students, they include a margin of error. This means that minor fluctuations in scores may not be statistically significant, while larger shifts indicate meaningful changes in student achievement.
For more on the 2024 NAEP results, visit The Nation’s Report Card: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/