A national decline in civics and U.S. history scores for eighth graders in U.S. history set off a blame game as political figures tried to pin the decline on pandemic school closures and culture wars.

The alarming decline in student proficiency in the two subjects most important to civil engagement prompted renewed rhetoric over the classroom culture wars as Democratic leaders blamed Republicans for supposedly banning books and restricting history lessons, while Republican and conservative commentators said the decline was predictable due to liberal efforts to push critical race theory on students.

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic-era school closures have largely been blamed as the primary driver of the decline in student achievement across all subjects, with the Nation's Report Card data from last year in math and reading showing similarly shocking declines in student achievement. But with the decline in U.S. history scores pre-dating the pandemic, the issue provided fresh fodder for the culture war.

In a statement following the release of the data, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona blamed the decline in student achievement on the pandemic but said efforts by Republicans to cut federal education funds and restrict what can be taught in classrooms threatened to make the problem worse.

"[The Nation's Report Card] tells us that now is not the time for politicians to try to extract double-digit cuts to education funding, nor is it the time to limit what students learn in U.S. history and civics classes," Cardona said. "We need to provide every student with rich opportunities to learn about America’s history and understand the U.S. Constitution and how our system of government works. Banning history books and censoring educators from teaching these important subjects does our students a disservice and will move America in the wrong direction.”

In U.S. history, the average score for eighth graders declined from 263 in 2018 to 258, continuing a fall that began in 2014 when the average score peaked at 267 on a 0-500 scale. The 2022 average score for the subject was the worst ever recorded, falling a point lower than the 259 recorded on the subject's first assessment in 1994.

Parent activists, conservative politicians, and commentators have repeatedly accused the nation's public schools of dumbing down the education of students and engaging in political indoctrination due to the presence of concepts derived from critical race theory in public schools. The theory posits that U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities.

Nicole Neily, the president of the parent activist group Parents Defending Education, blasted the Biden administration and said the declining scores should come as little surprise due to the administration's funding of critical race theory through federal grant programs.

"The spin from the Biden Administration on student's abysmal American History and Civics scores should give people vertigo," Neily said in a statement. "In 2021, this Department of Education attempted to hijack a civics grant program to inject the factually incorrect 1619 Project and Ibram Kendi into schools — and just last week, the grant application focused on equity and media literacy. With such directives coming from the top, it's little wonder that students are failing to learn the basic facts about our nation's history."

In civics, student proficiency declined for the first time ever from 153 in 2018 to 150 on a 0-300 scale and matching the scores from 1998, the first year that students were assessed in the subject. The assessment data also revealed that 40% of students in history and 31% in civics failed to reach the lowest NAEP benchmark of "basic," while a meager 13% of students in history and 22% in civics scored above the second benchmark of "proficient."

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos similarly blamed the decline on the nation's public schools, also faulting critical race theory programs such as the 1619 Project in school history curricula for the decline.

"This is what you get when you teach CRT, DEI and the 1619 Project instead of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address," DeVos said. "Two out of three students can't read proficiently, and staggeringly, nearly nine out of ten aren’t proficient in U.S. history. How can you stare that much failure in the face and advocate for anything short of transformational change? The government-run, union-controlled, one-size-fits-none education system simply isn’t getting the job done."

"If democracy dies in darkness, it’s America’s government schools that are closing the blinds," she added.