Teacher’s History Guide: Contributions of Famous Black Mathematicians
February 27, 2025
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The 2024 NAEP testing results revealed that elementary students have not recovered from the decline in math scores after COVID-19. With minimal improvement in math proficiency, educators are seeking effective school solutions to help students recover from learning loss. Leaders are asking how to improve math skills for students who are falling further behind. Movement-based learning strategies may hold the answer.
In this blog, we’ll explore the fourth grade math results and how innovative movement-based strategies can support struggling students and boost learning outcomes.
Boost Math Proficiency with Movement
Bring evidence-based kinesthetic teaching methods to your school with the tools in our Math Kits. Enter your email to receive quotes for our K-2 Kit and our 3-5 Kit.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP test), or The Nation’s Report Card, is a federal exam administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the US Department of Education.
The NAEP tests students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in various subjects. The exam measures national student achievement and compares it across states and jurisdictions over time.
Between January and March 2024, over 117,000 fourth grade students in 6,100 schools took the NAEP reading and math assessments. In this article, we’ll explore the NAEP fourth-grade math scores.
The 2024 NAEP testing results for fourth grade math indicated some improvement from the previous testing year, but many students are still behind. According to NAEP’s standards, 24% of fourth graders performed at a “below basic” level, compared to 25% in 2022 and 19% in 2019.
No Data Found
Source: Nation’s Report Card
The average math score for fourth-grade testing was two points higher than in 2022 and three points lower than in 2019. Scores for middle-performing and higher-performing students in the 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles increased compared to 2022. There was no significant score change for lower-performing students in the 10th and 25th percentile. Fifteen states and jurisdictions had higher average scores than in 2022, while 37 states and jurisdictions had no significant change in scores from 2022.
The NAEP math test measured “students’ knowledge and skills in mathematics – their math proficiency – and their ability to solve problems in mathematical and real-world contexts.”
These math scores suggest that nearly one-fourth of US fourth graders cannot:
39% of fourth graders performed at or above a “regular” math proficiency level, which was 3% higher than in 2022 and 2% lower than in 2019.
It’s still apparent that math scores have declined since the COVID-19 pandemic. While the 2024 student math scores show some glimmers of improvement, struggling students have not made up for the learning loss experienced during the height of the pandemic.
No Data Found
Source: Nation’s Report Card
Improvements made by middle and higher-performing students may mask the challenges that lower-performing students continue to face. There was no significant score change for lower-performing students nationwide, indicating that the achievement gap is widening. Only higher-performing students drove the average score improvement the nation saw.
No Data Found
Source: Nation’s Report Card
Students in fourth grade in early 2024 would have been in kindergarten in 2020 when schools shifted to remote learning. As a result, these students missed out on valuable in-person lessons on foundational math skills. Some of the math concepts covered in kindergarten and first grade include:
The 2024 NAEP math scores for eighth grade showed similar results – 39% of eighth graders performed at a “below basic” level, which is significantly lower than in 2019. Student math scores declined for lower-performing and disadvantaged students. National average scores stayed flat, masking higher-performing students’ improvements and indicating a widening performance gap.
The students who were in eighth grade in early 2024 would have been in 4th grade in early 2020 at the onset of remote learning. These results reveal that older kids have not been able to recover from learning loss either.
Students who were already behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind. Educators must turn to effective school solutions to help lower-performing students catch up and receive an equitable education.
So, why are math scores declining – or not improving for everyone?
Unfinished learning refers to concepts that students never had the opportunity to practice enough to master. When schools moved to remote learning during the pandemic, lessons may have been incomplete. Students may not have fully grasped concepts in the alternative learning format.
Consequently, many students are still missing the foundational prerequisites to learn new math concepts. For example, students will not understand multiplication without fully understanding skip counting or addition first.
Equity in education involves ensuring every student has access to the resources, opportunities, and support they need to succeed, regardless of their circumstances or background. Every learner should get a fair chance to succeed and receive a quality education.
Systematic barriers prevent students from succeeding, such as unequal funding, teacher bias, and outdated curricula. Additionally, there are individual disparities for students that may set them back academically, such as living in poverty, speaking English as a second language, or having a disability.
Equitable teaching practices address individual obstacles and provide the appropriate resources or accommodations for students to learn and succeed. Unfortunately, many educators still use a one-size-fits-all instructional approach. Standard teaching practices may not offer enough individualization for struggling students.
Lower-performing students are the ones struggling the most to recover post-pandemic in math. Effective school solutions on how to improve math skills must include targeted interventions for these students.
When students aren’t engaged in school, they are more likely to be absent. When students miss too much school, they fall further behind in academics.
In a survey given to students along with NAEP testing, 30% of fourth graders reported missing three or more school days in the last month. While this percentage is lower than in 2022, it is still 6% higher than in 2019.
When lessons are slow, sedentary, and uninteresting, students are less likely to comprehend and retain information.
One state stands out in terms of math proficiency – Alabama.
Alabama saw its greatest growth ever in fourth-grade math scores. The state ranked 52nd (dead last) in fourth-grade math in 2019, but in 2024, it moved up to 32nd.
The 2024 average math score was the highest the state had ever scored since the NAEP math assessment began. It was six points higher than the 2022 average score and exceeded pre-pandemic average scores.
In the past five years, Alabama has allocated more than half a billion dollars towards reading and math curriculum reforms, helping them improve elementary math scores. Education spending in the state has increased by 50% since 2013.
In 2022, the state passed the Alabama Numeracy Act, which sought to know how to improve math skills for K-5 students. It equips educators and schools with assessment guidelines, intervention resources, instructional materials, training, and math coaches.
Furthermore, leaders are proposing to allocate more funding toward expanding the Numeracy Act, ELL programs, summer learning programs, after-school programs, and the number of math coaches in schools.
Alabama recognizes that the best results are coming from schools using data-driven approaches. Leaders are working to catch students up, provide struggling students with resources, and develop successful instructional approaches.
How can other states and school districts recreate Alabama’s improvement in math scores while developing their learning loss recovery plans?
Data supports using kinesthetic teaching methods in the classroom as an effective school solution for how to improve math skills. A kinesthetic approach can help students:
Kinesthetic teaching methods, or movement-based teaching methods, use physical activity to teach students new concepts. It’s a hands-on approach in which information is understood by moving the body.
Young students do not like sitting still for long math classes. Allowing students to move around during lessons can be extremely beneficial to increasing math proficiency – rather than struggling to keep students engaged at their desks.
Physical activity increases oxygen levels in the blood and blood flow to the brain. As a result, the brain receives more oxygen and can function at optimal levels for learning. Additionally, while the body is moving around, the brain produces a protein called BDNF, which improves the function of neurons and promotes their growth.
Furthermore, exercise promotes the development of the hippocampus – the portion of the brain in charge of memory and learning.
In other words, when a person is physically active, their brain is ready to comprehend and retain new information, making movement-based learning an effective school solution.
Adding movement to lessons could be the key to knowing how to increase math scores and standardized test scores for elementary students post-pandemic.
Math & Movement harnesses a child’s natural inclination for activity and turns it into enthusiasm for learning new math and literacy skills. Our math program can improve standardized test results, as we allow students to move during classes in a productive manner that will enable them to learn effectively.
We create kinesthetic educational products, including heavy-duty floor mats for hopping on, that can be used to teach elementary math skills. Our multi-sensory approach to learning combines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements to engage all types of learners.
Educators can incorporate activities from our online database into their lessons while using the materials. Math can become an active and energetic subject rather than a sedentary and difficult one.
Our math kits are tailored to grade-level standards, so you can help your younger students develop foundation skills or help your older students catch up.
Next, we’ll share how materials in our K-2 Math Kit and 3-5 Math Kit can help students learn how to improve and practice essential math skills.
The Skip Counting by 2s mat is a colorful, large number line to 20. Each block contains the numeral, number word, and the corresponding number of symbols. Multiples of 2 (or even numbers) are in blue blocks. This product is included in our K-2 Math Kit.
First, write addition and subtraction problems (within 20) on cards. Your class can use the mat as a lifesize number line to solve the problems.
Give a student a card. If the problem says 8+3, the student will stand on eight and take three steps forward to eleven. Have the students say the numbers they are on as they walk on the mat.
For subtraction problems, have students walk backward on the mat. Continue with different cards until every student has had a turn!
The Equivalent Fraction Hop makes comparing fractions as easy as looking from one column to the next! This colorful mat provides visual cues to the relationships between parts and wholes. Each column is divided vertically into its subsequent fraction, starting with halves on the left all the way to tenths on the right. This product is included in our 3-5 Math Kit.
To complete the “Cross the Mat” activity, have a student stand on the left side of the mat on either 1/2 or 1/3. Ask the student to move across the mat by only stepping on fractions that are equivalent to the one they started on. If the student steps on an unequal fraction, have them go back to the start.
When evaluating strategies to improve math scores, consider the power of a kinesthetic approach. The Math & Movement program boosts student achievement, increases test scores, decreases performance gaps, and helps students learn 4-5x faster.
Presenting concepts with movement can help struggling learners understand lessons and increase math proficiency. When learning is accessible and enjoyable for all, we can overcome the math score decline we’ve seen.
We’ve worked with schools and districts nationwide – including Mobile County Public Schools, Huntsville City Schools, and others in Alabama! Will your school be next?
Math & Movement also has materials to help fourth graders catch up in literacy and middle schoolers improve in math.
Boost Math Proficiency with Movement
Bring evidence-based kinesthetic teaching methods to your school with the tools in our Math Kits. Enter your email to receive quotes for our K-2 Kit and our 3-5 Kit.
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