NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE I t’s report-card time for students — and for the nation. Bottom line: Education scores are down, gone from low to even lower.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — considered the “nation’s report card” — assessed long-term reading and mathematics results for 13-year-old students during the fall of the 2022–23 school year. Nationwide, average scores declined four points in reading and nine points in mathematics compared to the previous 2019–20 assessment.
After months of locking students out of their schools — some for more than a year — our children’s learning loss continued a tragic trend of falling test scores. Over the last decade, student scores fell seven points in reading and 14 points in mathematics. Our children today are learning even less than their peers a decade ago and are even less prepared for high school.
Even worse, we are leaving our most vulnerable students behind. Black, Native American, and low-income students’ scores showed significant proficiency drops. In math, black students’ scores fell 13 points compared to a six-point decrease among white students.
NAEP scores are national, and, in many cases, local scores are worse. In Pennsylvania, 77 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in math, and 44 percent are not proficient in language arts.
More than 250,000 students — the majority of whom are low-income and students of color — are trapped in the “lowest-achieving schools,” which are the bottom 15 percent of Pennsylvania schools.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Education data, students in these schools are twice as likely to experience violence than the rest of their peers.
Tragically, too many politicians don’t grasp the urgency. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued a statement in response to the latest NAEP results, saying that “it would take years of effort and investment to reverse the damage” done by the pandemic’s learning loss and the decline that predated it.
But America’s children don’t have years.
The answer isn’t increased funding, when research shows that funding hasn’t improved academic results. A 2022 report by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office found, “The data suggests there is little or no correlation between the current expenditures spent per student and the share of students that score proficient or above on standardized tests.”
At more than $21,000 per student, Pennsylvania spends almost $4,000 more per student than the national average. The commonwealth’s per-pupil spending exceeds the national average for every funding source — federal, state, and local.
Our children trapped in failing district schools need more than increased funding; their parents need choices — good choices. No child ought to be forced to attend a school that is failing them, simply because of their zip code. These children need a way out of a system that has failed them.
School choice offers that alternative.
Nationwide, school-choice programs have improved academic outcomes for not only participants but also students who remain in public schools, saving taxpayers money and reducing racial segregation. School-choice programs in Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and New York City have proven to boost graduation rates, increase academic-achievement and -proficiency rates, and reduce criminal activity.
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro and many legislators know that there is a better way, a proven solution: The Lifeline Scholarship Program. Lifeline Scholarships would give an Educational Opportunity Account to students currently forced to attend the state’s lowest-performing schools, allowing their parents to use those same funds to pay tuition at a better-performing school.
It would — quite literally — be a lifeline for the students who need it most. That is the type of investment our children need: one that prioritizes results and their success above all else.
Pennsylvania already offers some school choice through its Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs. Under these life-changing programs, Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia (CSFP) reports that 71 percent of their student recipients are from low-income backgrounds and attend underperforming public schools. Yet 98 percent of CFSP recipients graduate high school on time, with test scores far exceeding those in their assigned school districts.
Despite what the NAEP scores might suggest, our children aren’t failing. Instead, we as a nation are failing our children.
We need our elected officials to act. Our future generations depend on it.