What the evidence says about where students are, and what moves them.
Scoreo is built on four findings: national results in grades 7–12 are falling, homework matters most in exactly those grades, specific feedback on a student’s own work is one of the strongest tools schools have, and students who track their own work and have someone in their corner do better.
Eight numbers behind the program.
High school seniors posted the lowest math average since 2005.
On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 45% of 12th graders scored below the Basic level in math, and only an estimated 33% of the class of 2024 was ready for college-level math, down from 37% in 2019.
Seniors read worse than on any previous national assessment.
About 32% of 12th graders scored below NAEP Basic in reading, 12 percentage points more than in 1992, and the average score was lower than on any earlier test.
Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2024 grade 12 reading (reported by Chalkbeat)
Middle school is where the slide shows up first.
About a third of 8th graders nationwide did not reach NAEP Basic in reading, the largest share in the assessment’s history, and nearly 40% were below Basic in math. No state surpassed its 2019 8th-grade scores in either subject.
Students who are not there cannot be taught, and they stop turning in work.
In 44 states and the District of Columbia, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024–25, down from a 28.3% peak in 2022 but still far above the 15% rate the U.S. Department of Education called a crisis in 2016.
Source: American Enterprise Institute analysis by Nat Malkus, reported by Chalkbeat, June 30, 2026
In middle and high school, homework is tied to achievement.
Harris Cooper’s review of more than 60 studies found that the link between homework and achievement was much stronger for students in grades 7–12 than in elementary school. That is why Scoreo starts at grade 7 and works from homework.
Source: Cooper, Robinson & Patall (2006), Review of Educational Research, summarized by Duke University
Specific feedback on the student’s own work is one of the strongest tools schools have.
A meta-analysis of 435 studies and more than 61,000 students found a medium effect of feedback on learning (d = 0.48), with the impact depending on how much useful information the feedback carries. A Scoreo session is that feedback, item by item, every month.
Source: Wisniewski, Zierer & Hattie (2020), “The Power of Feedback Revisited,” Frontiers in Psychology
Students who track their own work learn more.
A 2023 meta-analysis of 32 intervention studies found that tools prompting students to monitor their own learning had a moderate effect on achievement (d = 0.42), strongest when students tracked both what they learned and how they worked. The monthly session is built around exactly that.
Source: Dignath, van Ewijk, Perels & Fabriz (2023), Educational Psychology Review
The people kids look up to change what kids do.
In the landmark Public/Private Ventures study of Big Brothers Big Sisters, young people with a mentor were 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and 37% less likely to skip a class. Home Team brings that kind of encouragement to every student who does the work.
Chronic absenteeism is falling, slowly, from a crisis level.
A student is chronically absent when they miss 10% or more of the school year. When the U.S. Department of Education called a 15% rate a crisis in 2016, it was looking at 2013–14 data. The latest analysis of 44 states and D.C. puts 2024–25 at 22.6%.
The 2013–14 figure is a federal estimate; the later figures come from the American Enterprise Institute’s analysis of 44 states and D.C., reported by Chalkbeat on June 30, 2026.
What we do and don’t claim
No one can honestly promise a test-score number for a school, and we don’t. What we can show is the record: every assignment scored against the same standard, every student counseled every month, and a monthly comparison that shows whether homework quality, on-time work and integrity are moving, student by student. If the numbers don’t move, you will see that as clearly as when they do.
Sources
- National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2024 grade 12 results, released September 9, 2025 (reported by Chalkbeat)
- National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2024 grade 12 reading (reported by Chalkbeat)
- National Assessment Governing Board, “Nation’s Report Card” release on the 2024 results, January 2025
- American Enterprise Institute analysis by Nat Malkus, reported by Chalkbeat, June 30, 2026
- Cooper, Robinson & Patall (2006), Review of Educational Research, summarized by Duke University
- Wisniewski, Zierer & Hattie (2020), “The Power of Feedback Revisited,” Frontiers in Psychology
- Dignath, van Ewijk, Perels & Fabriz (2023), Educational Psychology Review
- Public/Private Ventures impact study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (Tierney, Grossman & Resch, 1995), as entered in the Congressional Record, Nov. 16, 1995
Start with one semester.
Most schools begin with a one-semester pilot in a single grade or building. We’ll walk you through the student and teacher portal on a call and set up your first uploads.