The results of a national exam show student reading scores in North Carolina have dropped. This comes despite a $150-million investment in a state literacy program.

Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as The Nation's Report Card, were released Wednesday. The test is given to fourth- and eighth-graders every two years to study math and reading performance.

It shows that in North Carolina, basic reading skills for both grades dropped between 2017 and 2019.

State lawmakers created the "Read to Achieve" program in 2012 to get students reading on grade level by the end of third grade.

A 2018 North Carolina State University study found no benefit to reading scores from the program, which received over $150 million in state funding. Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill designed to retool the initiative.

North Carolina's drop mirrors a nationwide decline in scores over the same time period.

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