Why American Students Struggle With Math: The Data

Start with a number that is easy to misread: 39. In 2024, thirty-nine percent of U.S. fourth graders reached the NAEP Proficient level in math¹. That is not 39 percent passing. It is a standard set high on purpose, and the same report warns that it is not grade-level proficiency as state tests define it¹. The story of why American students struggle with math is mostly a story of reading such numbers carefully, then asking what builds the gaps beneath them.

What the national tests show

NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, samples students across the country. In 2024 the fourth-grade average score was 2 points higher than in 2022 and 3 points lower than before the pandemic, in 2019¹. Fourth-grade scores improved compared with 2022². The lowest-performing fourth graders, at the 10th and 25th percentiles, showed no significant score change¹.

Eighth grade tells a different story. The average score did not significantly change from 2022, but the spread did: scores rose at the 75th and 90th percentiles and fell at the 10th and 25th². Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and English learners all had score declines².

The fourth-grade levels are worth laying out in full.

Worked example (our arithmetic): fourth graders by NAEP level, 2024¹

So 37 percent of fourth graders sat between the two thresholds¹ (our arithmetic). The low group grew since before the pandemic: the share below Basic was 5 percentage points higher than in 2019, and the share at Proficient or above was 2 points lower¹.

What country is ranked number one in math?

Singapore. In PISA 2022 it scored 575 in mathematics, significantly higher than every other country and economy that took part³. Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macao and Chinese Taipei joined it in outperforming all other systems, six East Asian systems in all³. Finland and Japan led the 2023 adult numeracy survey, at 294 and 291⁴.

The OECD mean for math was 472 points³. The United States scored 465³, so it performed above the OECD average in science and reading but not in mathematics³.

Worked example (our arithmetic): the gaps in PISA 2022 mathematics points³

The first gap is small, and the U.S. score is listed beside twelve countries that were not statistically different from it³. The second is large. The U.S. is near the middle of the pack and far from the top.

What percentage of Americans struggle with math?

The answer depends on which group and which yardstick. Among fourth graders, 24 percent were below NAEP Basic in 2024¹. Among adults, the 2023 international survey of adult skills counts 34 percent of U.S. adults at Level 1 or below in numeracy, up from 29 percent in 2017⁴. Adults scoring Level 1 or below count as low-performing⁴.

Worked example (our arithmetic): U.S. adult numeracy, 2017 to 2023⁴

The U.S. average numeracy score of 249 was below the international average of 263⁴. The United States sat in the lower half of participants, with an average score below 23 other countries⁴. Numeracy is also the area where the spread is widest: the U.S. gap between the highest and lowest skilled adults is the widest among all countries⁴. The share of American adults reaching the very top numeracy level has also risen over the past decade⁴. Averages hide that split, which is why the headline percentage varies by source.

The decline started before the pandemic

The pandemic did not begin the slide. After years of modest gains through the early 2000s, NAEP math achievement began to plateau in 2013 and decline in 2015⁵. Eighth-grade scores then fell more than ever before in 2022, and the 2024 results show no meaningful recovery⁵. The international data match: PISA trend analysis shows a decades-long decline that began well before the pandemic³, and the OECD average then dropped by almost 15 points in mathematics between 2018 and 2022³.

The recovery has been uneven. The lowest-performing students, those at the 10th and 25th percentiles, suffered the steepest and most enduring declines⁵. Since 1990, the gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring eighth graders on NAEP has grown from 92 to 109 points, an 18% widening⁵.

Worked example (our arithmetic): how much wider is the gap?

Subgroup gaps are larger still. In 2024, over half of fourth graders with a disability and three quarters of eighth graders with a disability scored Below Basic⁵.

Why are students struggling with math?

No source here names a single cause. Several contributors recur.

Skills pile on skills. Math learning is “ruthlessly cumulative,” in the words of MIT professor Steven Pinker, quoted in a 2025 report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education⁵. A student who misses an early idea meets every later one at a disadvantage. The federal National Mathematics Advisory Panel reviewed 16,000 research studies⁶ and urged schools to focus on whole numbers, fractions, and particular aspects of geometry and measurement as the critical foundations for algebra⁶. It also urged a coherent progression with emphasis on mastery of key topics and warned against any approach that continually revisits topics without closure⁶.

Gaps appear early and compound. Girls begin falling behind boys within the first four months of the first year of school⁵. Harvard’s Martin West compared missing foundational math to skipped retirement savings: a missing deposit does not just create a temporary shortfall, it costs future interest too⁵. That is the arithmetic of compound interest applied to learning.

Missing school. Student absenteeism in 2024 was lower than in 2022 but higher than the pre-pandemic rate in 2019¹. Students who miss foundational instruction rarely have a chance to make it up⁵.

Instruction. Math is highly sensitive to the quality of instruction in schools⁵. Students in high-needs, high-poverty schools are more likely to have newer and inexperienced teachers, which can lead to further learning difficulties⁵. The Panel’s content standard for teachers is demanding: elementary teachers need all the critical-foundations topics plus those of an introductory algebra course⁶.

Poor visibility. Parents and districts cannot respond to gaps they cannot see. Only 18 states clearly broke out math achievement and growth by student subgroup on their report cards⁵.

Understanding math anxiety

Math anxiety is the part of the story that students can describe in their own words. The PISA index is built from statements such as “I get very nervous doing mathematics problems” and “I feel helpless when doing a mathematics problem”³. Its link to performance is consistent: a negative association between math performance and math anxiety is found in every education system that took part in PISA 2022, without exceptions³.

The size of the link is large enough to measure. On average across OECD countries, a one-point increase in the anxiety index goes with 18 fewer score points after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile³. Differences in the index across countries account for about 25% of the variation in student math performance³. This is an association, not proof that anxiety causes the lower scores, and the OECD’s own wording is “associated with”³.

Mindset sits beside it. Anxious students who held a growth mindset, the belief that abilities can be developed over time, scored 461 points; anxious students with a fixed mindset scored 443³.

Worked example (our arithmetic): the mindset gap among anxious students

Confidence is fragile, and once lost it is hard to regain; many students who do not see themselves as math people decide that by the end of elementary school⁵. Good instruction that solidifies foundational skills is one of the best ways to prevent math anxiety⁵.

Anxiety is not the same as a learning disability. Dyscalculia is difficulty acquiring basic arithmetic skills that low intelligence or inadequate schooling does not explain, and about 5% of children in primary schools are affected⁷. It does not improve without treatment⁷. The two can feed each other: a negative attitude to arithmetic often develops into a specific math anxiety⁷.

What the evidence points to

The sources point the same way on a short list. Build the foundations first⁶. Teach for mastery before moving on⁶. Keep students in school and in class¹⁵. Staff classrooms with teachers who know the content⁶⁵. Make gaps visible to families⁵. For readers who want to see how much of this shows up in everyday numbers, what calculus is used for and hidden math in a normal day start from ordinary examples. Every page about learning is in the learning section.