A new national report card finds that Washington state is falling behind on education. According to the Casey Foundation's Kids Count Data Book, Washington dropped four spots in its national education ranking, slipping from 27th to 31st in the country based on results from 2025.
The decline is more striking over the longer term. The same report ranked Washington 20th in the nation ten years ago, meaning the state has fallen 11 places over the past decade. The Kids Count Data Book draws on statistics from across the country, taking into account economics, health and family life alongside education.
The underlying numbers point to widespread struggles in core subjects. The report found that 70% of the state's 8th graders are not proficient in math, while 68% of 4th graders are not proficient in reading. Those figures underscore how many students are falling short of grade-level expectations.
Washington is far from alone in the slide. The report showed that 47 states saw declines in test scores by at least 15 points. Only Louisiana and Mississippi improved, while some other states held roughly steady within the margin of error.
The state's education office pushed back on how the report frames the data. The office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction said test scores have been trending upward since hitting a low point during the pandemic.
According to that office, the measurement should focus on the recovery since the pandemic low, rather than comparing results from before and after the disruption. The contrast highlights an ongoing debate over how to fairly judge the state's progress in a period shaped by the pandemic.