The first “Nation’s Report Card” from the Department of Education since the school lockdowns are out and the damage reminds us of what a 1983 commission convened by Ronald Reagan said about the then state of public schools:
“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”
The “scores that shall live in infamy” that today’s Report Card reports are disastrous. All of the gains in history and civics made since the 1990s have been wiped out.
Only 13 percent of eighth-graders met proficiency standards for explaining U.S. history. Only a fifth of students scored at or above the proficient level in civics, or explaining our government and policy structures. Those are the lowest levels ever recorded.
This comes on top of test results released last fall that showed math scores falling faster than they ever have and a nationwide drop in reading that wiped out three decades of gains.
Given this epic collapse in our government schools, is it any wonder that school choice is catching on in almost half the states? Why not for every child in every state?