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US 'Report Card' shows students have fallen behind in reading, barely budged in math: ‘The news is not good’

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US 'Report Card' shows students have fallen behind in reading, barely budged in math: ‘The news is not good’

American students’ reading skills have continued to decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, while their math skills have barely improved, according to a report from the Department of Education released Tuesday. 

Often called the “Nation’s Report Card,” the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is given every two years and considered one of the best indicators of the academic progress of the U.S. school system. The most recent exam was administered in early 2024 in every state, testing fourth- and eighth-grade students on their math and reading skills.

The results showed that, compared to 2022, the average math score for eighth grade students was virtually unchanged, while reading scores fell 2 points at both grade levels. One-third of eighth grade students scored below “basic” in reading, more than ever in the history of the assessment.

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A student raises their hand in a classroom at Tussahaw Elementary school Aug. 4, 2021, in McDonough, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

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“Today’s NAEP results reveal a heartbreaking reality for American students and confirm our worst fears: not only did most students not recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but those students who were the most behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind,” the DOE said in a statement. “Despite the billions of dollars that the federal government invests in K-12 education annually, and the approximately $190 billion in federal pandemic funds, our education system continues to fail students across the nation.”

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Students are considered below basic if they are missing fundamental skills. For example, eighth grade students who scored below basic in reading were typically unable to make a simple inference about a character’s motivation after reading a short story, and some were unable to identify that the word “industrious” means “to be hard-working.”

“The news is not good,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees the assessment. “We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic.”

(Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Among the few bright spots was an improvement in fourth grade math, where the average score ticked up 2 points on a scale of 500. But it’s still 3 points lower than the 2019 pre-pandemic average, 

Despite the abysmal results, some states and districts did make significant strides, including in Washington, D.C., where the average score increased 10 points. But for the most part, American schools are not showing significant progress. 

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Even more alarming for officials was the obvious divide between higher- and lower-performing students, which has grown wider than ever. Students with the highest scores outperformed their peers from two years ago, making up some ground lost during the pandemic. But the lowest performers are scoring even lower, falling further behind.

The latest setbacks follow a historic backslide in 2022. In that year’s exam, student achievement fell across both subjects and grade levels, in some cases at unprecedented levels.

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Children reading at their desk in a classroom.  (Getty Images)

This round of testing again featured students whose lives were disrupted by the pandemic. When COVID hit in 2020, the fourth graders were in kindergarten, and the eighth graders were in fourth grade.

But Carr said poor results can no longer be blamed solely on the pandemic, warning that the nation’s education system faces “complex challenges.”

A survey done alongside the exam found in 2022 that fewer young students were reading for enjoyment, which is linked to lower reading scores. And new survey results found that students who are often absent from class — a persistent problem nationwide — are struggling the most.

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“The data are clear,” Carr said. “Students who don’t come to school are not improving.”

The results provide fresh fuel for a national debate over the impact of pandemic school closures, though they’re unlikely to add clarity given the lack of definitive studies linking school closures to bigger academic setbacks. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Video appears to show U.S. cruise missile striking Iranian school compound

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Video appears to show U.S. cruise missile striking Iranian school compound

Screenshots of a cruise missile hitting a compound where an Iranian girl’s school was struck killing around 175.

Screenshots by Geoff Brumfiel for NPR/ Mehr News on X


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Screenshots by Geoff Brumfiel for NPR/ Mehr News on X

A new video released by Iranian state media shows what appears to be a U.S. cruise missile striking a compound where around 175 Iranian students and staff were killed at a girl’s school a little over a week ago.

The seven-second video was posted by Mehr News, an Iranian state news agency. It shows the missile slamming into a building inside a walled compound – likely a health clinic that was also inside the perimeter of what was at one point an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval base.

The strike appears to have taken place shortly after the girl’s school was hit. In the new video, smoke is already visibly rising from the part of the compound where the school was located. State media reports put the death toll from the bombing at somewhere between 165 and 180, many of them students.

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Although the quality of the video makes precisely identifying the munition difficult, the missile appears consistent with a Tomahawk cruise missile, according to Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of global security at Middlebury College. The U.S. is the only country known to have Tomahawk missiles, and U.S. officials say the military was operating in the south of the country at the time of the strike.

“The first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a press conference on the Monday after the strike.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Saturday, President Trump accused Iran of being responsible for the school bombing.

“Based on what I’ve seen, I think it was done by Iran,” Trump said. “Because they’re very, inaccurate as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”

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Lewis, however, said that the missile in the video did not appear to be consistent with known, Iranian-made cruise missile designs.

NPR was able to verify the location of where the video was shot to a housing development under construction across the street from the compound. Numerous details, including the sign at the clinic entrance, matched known details about the compound where the school was located. The video was first geolocated by the online research group Bellingcat.

The short video appeared to be authentic. While AI-generated videos have been posted online during the latest conflict with Iran, they typically do not contain details of a specific location, unless it is already well known, like a major landmark. Many also contain errors in physics or other inaccuracies when showing a missile or rocket attack.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for a comment about the video.

NPR was the first to report on satellite imagery from the company Planet that suggested multiple buildings, including the clinic, were hit in what appeared to be a precision strike that resulted in the deaths at the school. In total, seven buildings were hit in the strike on the complex, which at one point had been an Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) naval base.

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The base, located in the southeastern city of Minab, appeared to be a relatively minor facility. NPR was able to find one video shot at the base during a 2010 military exercise that showed members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard flying an Ababil-3 drone from an airfield directly across from the compound.

But historic satellite imagery showed little activity at the airfield in the years following that demonstration. NBC News has reported that local officials say the base was abandoned for over a decade, but NPR has not been able to independently verify those claims.

The school was separated from the compound by a wall between 2013 and 2016, according to satellite imagery. Satellite imagery also shows the airstrip was removed in 2024. Online posts from a local construction firm and verified by NPR show the land where the runway once stood was being turned into a housing development. The clinic was walled off between 2023 and 2024, and opened in 2025, according to a local press report from Fars News Agency-Hormozgan, reviewed by NPR.

The opening indicated that the site still had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. According to the reports, the clinic was opened by IRGC chief Hossein Salami, who was killed in an Israeli strike later that year. A photo appeared to show Salami cutting a ribbon at the clinic.

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Lewis said that it’s possible the school and clinic were struck as a result of outdated targeting information.

Speaking beside Trump on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. was continuing to look into what happened at the school. “We’re certainly investigating,” he said. “But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

NPR’s RAD team contributed to this report.

Contact Geoff Brumfiel on Signal at gbrumfiel.13

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Iran’s new supreme leader has been selected, says deciding body

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Iran’s new supreme leader has been selected, says deciding body

The body in charge of selecting a new supreme leader for Iran says it has reached a decision – although the name was not immediately announced.

Israel has warned it would target any figure chosen to replace Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war with Iran.

“The most suitable candidate, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts, has been determined,” Mohsen Heydari, a member of the selection body, said on Sunday, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.

Another member, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, confirmed in a video carried by Iran’s Fars news agency that “a firm opinion reflecting the majority view has been reached”.

Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir suggested the figure chosen to succeed the supreme leader would most probably be someone opposed by Washington.

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He said the “Great Satan” – Iran’s term for the US – had inadvertently done the assembly “a kind of service” by publicly criticising certain candidates. His remarks appeared to refer to comments by Donald Trump, who said it would be unacceptable for clerics to select Khamenei’s son Mojtaba as successor.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the deceased supreme leader’s son. Photograph: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/Reuters

“Someone opposed by the enemy is more likely to benefit Iran and Islam,” Heidari Alekasir said.

The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s late supreme leader. In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also said it would pursue every person who sought to appoint a successor for Khamenei.

In recent days, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, emerged as an early frontrunner. His appointment is far from certain as critics would view the move as entrenching a regime accused by rights groups of killing at least 7,000 people in recent months. In addition, a father-to-son succession is also frowned upon within Iran’s Shia clerical establishment, particularly in a republic born from the overthrow of a monarchy in 1979.

Under Iran’s constitution, the 88-member Assembly of Experts is responsible for selecting the country’s supreme leader. Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 37 years, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Tehran on 28 February.

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The clerical meeting to appoint a new leader happened as fighting between Israel and Iran intensified over the weekend. Iranian strikes have hit energy infrastructure across the Gulf and Israeli attacks have targeted oil storage and fuel facilities inside Iran.

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A fresh wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted 15 drones, while strikes in Bahrain caused “material damage” to an important desalination plant.

According to reporting by the Washington Post, Fox News, and other US media organisations, Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence that could help it target US military assets in the region. The Guardian is unable to confirm this.

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Tehran oil sites on fire as Iran exchanges strikes with Israel and US – video report

The recent attacks on Gulf states appear to highlight a clash within Iran’s leadership, contradicting remarks made on Saturday by the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who apologised to countries on the Arabian peninsula and suggested strikes against them would end, provided their airspace and US bases were not used against Iran.

According to analysts, Pezeshkian’s pledge not to strike Gulf states exposed rare public rifts within the ruling elite with Iran’s leadership showing signs of strain, as officials of the regime scrambled to explain and reinterpret the president’s words, which appeared to anger the country’s more conservative factions.

The Beirut hotel damaged in an Israeli airstrike that killed four people. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA

Nonetheless, the Iranian military continued striking the neighbouring countries.

Overnight, US and Israeli strikes hit five oil facilities around Tehran, an Iranian official said, adding that the sites were damaged but the resulting fires were brought under control. Explosions in the capital’s nearby city of Karaj reverberated across the region, and left the area under smoke. Fuel depots on the outskirts of Tehran were set ablaze early on Sunday as US and Israeli forces widened their campaign against Iranian infrastructure.

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The news agency Axios reported that the US and Israel had discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, according to four sources with knowledge of the discussions.

Throughout the day, Iran launched intermittent barrages of ballistic missiles towards Tel Aviv and central Israel. At least one person was seriously injured after a residential building was hit, according to Magen David Adom, the country’s ambulance service. Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli air defences and caused no casualties.

Meanwhile, Israel’s war on multiple fronts continued, with the Israel Defense Forces launching intense strikes on Lebanon, where the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah is based.

Israel’s assault on Lebanon left four people dead in a hotel blast in Beirut and killed a further 12 in strikes on southern areas of the country. Israel said it was targeting “key commanders” in the Iranian military’s Quds Force.

Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 339 people had been killed in the conflict. The Norwegian Refugee Council said about 300,000 people had fled their homes.

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AFP contributed to this report

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Trump vows to ‘take care of Cuba,’ praises Venezuela cooperation at summit

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Trump vows to ‘take care of Cuba,’ praises Venezuela cooperation at summit

President Trump signs a proclamation committing to countering cartel criminal activity at the Shield of the Americas Summit.

Rebecca Blackwell/AP


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Rebecca Blackwell/AP

President Trump on Saturday launched the Shield of the Americas Summit – a coalition of Latin American leaders – with a pledge to “take care of Cuba,” as the United States increases its intervention in the region.

“Many of you have come today and they say, ‘I hope you can take care of Cuba.’ Because you have problems with Cuba, right?,” Trump said to the gathering of Latin American leadership.

“I was surprised, but four of you said, actually, ‘Could you do us a favor?’ Take care of Cuba.’ I’ll take care of it, ok?” he continued to applause from the crowd.

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Attending the meeting were the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. The event was hosted at the Trump National Doral Miami golf course in Doral, Florida.

His comments follow tension between Cuba and U.S. and as many Cuban-Americans are hoping for a change in regime for the communist nation.

The Trump administration has eased a blockade of Venezuelan oil, allowing some private sector oil sales to Cuba. The country has been experiencing fuel shortages and blackouts that have left millions without power, according to The Associated Press.

Since the United States’ capture and arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, in January, those who wish to see Cuba’s government toppled see Trump’s stance on foreign intervention as a signal that America might similarly help orchestrate the ouster of Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel.

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Speaking to the change in Venezuela’s leadership since Maduro’s capture, Trump praised acting-President Delcy Rodríguez for her cooperation with the United States.

“She’s doing a great job because she’s working with us. If she wasn’t working with us, I would not say she’s doing a great job. In fact, she wasn’t working with us, I’d say she’s doing a very poor job, unacceptable, but she’s doing a great job,” Trump said.

He continued that because of U.S. assistance, Venezuela’s economic picture was considerably sunnier because of American oil exports and forthcoming gold and mineral trades.

Trump has hailed the transition from Maduro’s leadership is the model for regime changes.

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