Just over 60% of elementary school children meet the basic standard expected for their age in maths, according to the latest Invalsi tests. The figure is still sliding further from pre-pandemic performance.
Only just over 60% of Italian elementary-school pupils have reached the basic level of mathematics expected for their age, according to the results of the latest nationwide Invalsi tests, with almost one in four pupils falling short of the standard.
The maths tests, carried out on children in the second and fourth years of elementary school, showed a drop of three percentage points compared with the previous year in the proportion of pupils meeting the required standard. Measured against the pre-Covid period, the decline is starker still: in 2019, more than 70% of pupils were reaching the basic level, putting current results eight to ten percentage points below where they stood before the pandemic.
A system-wide health check
The Invalsi tests, which measure numeracy and literacy, are not designed to grade individual pupils. They are carried out anonymously, with the results used instead to assess how schools — and the education system as a whole — are performing over time.
That distinction matters for how the latest figures should be read. Rather than pointing to the struggles of individual children, the results offer a broader signal about the state of primary education in Italy. It shows a system still not fully compensating for ground lost during the pandemic years, even as the disruption of school closures recedes further into the past.
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