May 13, 2026 / 7:43 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google Modesto, Calif. — Before every important test, teacher Nancy Barajas dims the lights, turns on a disco ball and blasts music from her playlist. Her sixth graders dance together as a "pre-celebration" to boost their confidence, then take their exam. Lately, there's been a lot to celebrate in elementary schools in Modesto, California. Both reading and math scores have increased consistently over the past several years. But across the country, results are gloomier. Researchers warn that the U.S. is experiencing a reading recession - a slide predating the pandemic's disruptions to schooling. Scholars at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth analyzed state test scores from third to eighth grades from over 5,000 school districts in 38 states, enabling comparisons across school districts and states in a national Education Scorecard.…