NAEP is often used as a barometer for state-to-state and national performance.

Dallas and Fort Worth, however, are among 27 urban school systems participating in a special program in which more students take the tests, providing a broader sample for their schools that allows for more specific takeaways.

While Dallas’ overall scores continue to lag behind other large city school districts, it appears “learning loss” hit it less hard. Dallas students did not show statistically significant declines in reading in either fourth or eighth grade.

Still, only about 12% of Dallas eighth graders scored proficient in reading. In fourth grade, it was 18%.

Fort Worth saw fourth graders’ scores decline more severely than the nation as a whole. Less than a quarter of fourth graders in Fort Worth students scored proficient in math. In Dallas, about 28% did so.