The purpose of our study involved using recent nationally-representative data to determine the extent that reported adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were associated with academic performance for US-based early and middle adolescent population. The study used cross-sectional National Survey of Children's Health data from 2022. Inclusion criteria included all adolescents (10-17 years of age) (n = 24,173). To test our hypotheses, multiple ordinal logistic regression models were developed to test the association of ACEs (both ACE count and individual ACE categories) with academic performance. Both ACE count categories and two of seven individual ACE categories exhibited a statistically significant association with grades (p < 0.001). The results of our study demonstrated adolescent exposure to ACEs ACEs particular to parents being divorced or incarcerated is associated with academic performance. The high prevalence of reported adolescent exposure to ACEs prompts the need to treat this as a public health crisis requiring collaborative effort among families, schools, health providers, and health departments.