Test provider ACT this week released new data reporting that “the national average Composite score for the graduating class of 2022 is 19.8, down from 20.3 for the graduating class of 2021, the lowest average score since 1991.”

Approximately 1.3 million students in the U.S. high school graduating class of 2022 took the ACT test, an estimated 36 percent of graduates nationwide, the testing organization said.

In June 2022, the lead research scientist in applied research at ACT, Edgar Sanchez, joined Education Next senior editor Paul E. Peterson as a guest on the Education Exchange podcast. Even then Sanchez reported on early signs of negative effects of the pandemic on student learning. The episode is available here.