Math and reading scores plunged across the country as the massive disruption of COVID took its toll on the nation’s school learning, according to an alarming report released Monday. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the nation’s report card, showed the sharpest drop in math attainment ever recorded in the test, which looks at a sampling of fourth and eighth graders across the country. In the first NAEP report since 2019, just 26 percent of eighth graders were considered proficient in math, down from 34 percent at the last test. Only 36 percent of fourth graders were proficient in math, a drop from 41 percent. Reading scores also fell in over half of the states, with only around one in three students considered proficient. Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, called the results “appalling and unacceptable.”