Today the Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics released the math and reading results of 9-year-olds (4th graders) from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)–the first nationally representative report comparing student achievement from before the pandemic to now, and it was as predicted–an absolute disaster, reflecting unprecedented declines on the long term trends tests that have become known as “The Nation’s Report Card”.
The reported results represent the largest drop in reading scores in 32 years and the first decline in math scores since the testing began in 1971. Scores in both subjects are now at their lowest levels since the 1990s, and they are particularly worrisome since 4th grade is a pivotal point in a child’s educational progress. In fact, Dr. Aaron Pallas of Teachers College, Columbia University had this to say: “I don’t think we can expect to see these 9-year-olds catch up by the time they leave high school. This is not something that is going to disappear quickly.” The NAEP will release a more complete set of assessment results, including 8th and 12th grade reports, later this year.
The NCES Commissioner noted that “COVID-19 disruptions may have exacerbated many of the challenges we were already facing” and she and others suggested at least some blame on the part of lockdowns, quarantines, and school closings. She is being overly generous in this criticism. The unwarranted lockdowns and school closings imposed on the schools and these children over the pandemic period were nothing less than unconscionable child abuse dictated by so-called medical experts, school boards, administrators, and in particular self-serving teacher unions, and they should be ashamed for what they have done to these kids.
One thing the publicity often leaves unnoticed is that the last decade has also been one of stagnation. This is so much so that generally the learning loss since 2009 is so great it has eaten up all of the “accountability era” gains nationally of the 2000s.
This is not an accident, nor is it mostly due to COVID per se. We’ve had policies and practices imposed by educrats that first lowered standards and eviscerated accountability and then sacrificed learning altogether on the altar of adult interests in the COVID era.
Will the public understand what happened? Will it demand a change back to effective policies along with fixes and strong, new policies? Sadly, I see no reason to be optimistic on that.
Finally, will the Texas NAEP results be consistent with the trend shown yesterday and, thus, contradict the state test results that have come out in the last few months? I’m betting they will once again show that Texas has turned to gaming the tests to show – falsely – that we’re doing better than we are.
If that is so, this must be investigated and exposed. And those playing the game also ought to be made to suffer. Being fake and false in accountability really means we have no accountability. This is the most shameful thing of all.
Or, maybe the most shameful thing of all is that we’ve allowed bad actors to overtake edu-policy for their own interests and erase most of the hard won gains it took people a lot of toil, swear, and tears to generate for decades, with children now well behind where they need to be.
Call me what you want—I have long thought that the dumbing down of America was a conspiracy to activate government controls over the general population.
To me it is obvious, if Democrats can keep their supporters from gaining intelligence they will continue to vote for them because of that. Intelligent voters vote based on fact and reason, the others base their vote on Democrat propaganda.
Mark White was member of this group before he died and a good friend, It is generally accepted that he was the best education governor in Texas history. I do not know what he would say on this subject now or what he would do if he was governor. I do know he would be proactive and not moribund like Perry and Abbott.
As Sandy has suggested, we need a look at the Texas NAEP results later, but I suspect they will not be much better, if any. As for Mark White, he was a friend of over 35 years, and during the last several years of his life we corresponded frequently by e-mail and on the Pilgrim site. We seldom agreed, but were never disagreeable, and I won’t pretend to know how he might respond to the current crisis in K-12 education. He probably would have attempted some innovation, but I suspect that he would not have strayed very far from the wishes of the teachers union lobby, and this would have precluded what really needs to be done, which is to open up education to comprehensive parental school choice, with state funding following the child.
There is a lot of ruin in a country, the saying goes.
In my opinion, the USA is in its slow death throes, ruined and conquered by the true “semi-fascists” of whom Biden spoke yesterday, the elites and their millions of drones who vote Democratic. Socialism, the power of the State, plus preservation of the elite wealthy are the essence of fascism.
Did Krupp Steel and the Krupp family survive Germany’s defeat? Well, yup!
A Democratic president GAVE Eastern Europe to Stalin, enslaved millions for decades, no German POW ever made it back out of the USSR, and we set up the multi-billion money gift to Germany known as the Marshall Plan. Who won that War? Stalin!
If we are to preserve our country as a constitutional (per the original document) republic, it will eventually require the force of arms. Biden with his reference to “his” F-15s yesterday is clear evidence of this, and we conservatives, the constitutionalists, have stood by passively as the Constitution was violated or “amended” for a century. You like the 25th Amendment? The appointees of a daft, corrupt president voting him out of office as if everyone was sane and principled? They like their cushy positions!
Almost everything bad that has happened to this country since Andrew Jackson is traceable to Democrats, whom I regard as the spawn of Satan.
I am not sorry that I’m old, but I dread the future for my kids, grandkids, and yours.
I never talked to Mark White other than to speak on the elevator at the old county courthouse. However, if Jim Windham seldom agreed with him, I’m sure neither would I. If the teacher’s union and the politicians they pay cared about educating the kids school choice would be the norm and the money would follow the child.
Speaking of child education, the City of Huntsville recently hired a female librarian, openly lesbian, at the rate of $100,000+ per year. Now it’s come to the attention of some parents she has been reading to kids about Jack having two mommies, Jill having two daddies, as well as transgender and other LGBTQ topics. She was told to quit including those subjects in her readings. She refused and was fired. Well good for the City of Huntsville. More actions like that would likely slow a lot of nonsense down.
Huntsville had better have consulted its legal counsel before the firing. These “oppressed” factions have terrible tempers and revenge is rampant among them.
Huntsville has their lawyer at every public meeting and closed meeting. No doubt they probably bought a suit, however bowing to that threat is what these folks count on. I’m not generally impressed with the Huntsville city government decisions, but I don’t think they were left with much choice given the uprising of parents and other citizens. LBGTQ groups have been protesting on the square and at council member’s homes. Huntsville has gotten use to frequent protest by BLM and now this. Comes with being a college town.
Mark White and I were in high school together so I knew him for 60 years when he died. Big loss. I am sure Mark would never support giving public funds to private schools. It would a recipe for failure for many public schools especially in smaller towns where there are no private schools. The folks in those towns and their representatives would never vote for this. Only the elites would want this. Taxes would have to be raised and Republicans would not want that.