Questions ranged from the simple — knowing that factory conditions in the 1800s were dangerous, with long days and low pay — to the complex. For example, only 6 percent of students could explain in their own words how two ideas from the Constitution were reflected in the Rev. The dip in civics performance was smaller but notable: It was the first decline since the test began being administered in the late 1990s. About 22 percent of students were proficient, down from 24 percent in 2018. Across subjects, declines were often driven by the lowest-performing students, a trend that has federal officials so concerned that they are now considering rewriting test questions to zero in on what these students are missing.

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