On Sept. 9, 2025, the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) released their 2024 assessment of high schoolers’ math and reading performance. The assessment, known as the nation’s report card, revealed that a decades-long decline stayed consistent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. NAEP’s first assessment was in 1992, and the 2024 average reading score was 10 points lower than the 1992 data. The NAEP is viewed as a diagnostic tool for the entire nation, but not every school is evaluated. In 2024, they assessed 1500 schools — not including Manual.
“In regards to Manual specifically, we have actually maintained a fairly steady performance in just the last three years,” said Manual Principal Michael Newman.
Associated Press’ analysis of NAEP’s data revealed that while 73% of students were at NAEP’s lowest level of reading proficiency in 2005, only 67% of students reached this benchmark in 2024. However, according to JCPS Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA) data, 84% of Manual students were proficient or distinguished in reading in 2022. This dropped to 83% in 2023, but rose back to 84% the following year. English and reading ACT scores are another way of monitoring reading ability, and Manual’s have remained consistent. Compared to the NAEP’s data, Manual is performing above the average.
“At Manual, we’ve got a lot of really, really smart students that can do a lot of things,” Amy Ritchie (English) said. “I do see that more and more students complain about reading more than one page or short excerpts, and students report to me they haven’t read whole books in forever.”
Many argue that removing phones limits a major distraction in the classroom. The 2024-2025 school year marked the beginning of Kentucky’s new phone ban. The ban prohibits telecommunication device access from the first to last bell of school.
“I think it’s actually great that we have taken the phones out of the classroom this year because students can spend more time trying to dig in and be forced to read,” Ritchie said.
However, according to Newman, a lot of these reading skills are developed long before high school, and instead in early childhood and elementary school. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a philanthropic group dedicated to improving the futures of children and young people, students lacking reading proficiency by third grade are four times more likely to not receive a high school diploma. In third grade, students begin reading to learn instead of simply learning to read. If a student lacks the skills necessary to read to learn, they’ll fall further and further behind their peers.
“Whether it’s from a parent or whether it’s through pre-K programming, those two indicators, which is vocabulary development and access to reading, are probably the largest indicators of future performance,” Newman said. “But with the right strategies, once students are in public education and have enough additional support, or what we would call wraparound support … we can help close those [reading performance] gaps.”
Wraparound support includes strategies such as social emotional learning, multitiered academic intervention and reading growth programming. JCPS purchased a curriculum with more Tier-2 support, which is additional support focused on specific students, built in to help teachers go back and address gaps in knowledge throughout the year. These different methods of support help teachers assist students with getting them back on track in reaching literacy proficiency.
“What we have found is access to high quality teachers, the [professional] development of teachers … and the ability to get in and individually create programming for the needs of the child is what will absolutely make the biggest gains,” Newman said.
