Data from the National Center for Education Statistics highlights the problem of declining test scores in mathematics and science achievement among fourth- and eighth-graders in the U.S. "Between 2019 and 2023, test scores for American fourth-graders in math dropped by 18 points and scores for eighth-graders dropped 27 points," ABC News states.
Those scores put American students "in the middle of the pack," says that report, "and behind students in Asian and European countries including Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom and Poland."
The average science score in 2023 wasn't measurably different from 2019 for either grade, says the NCES report summary – "however, fourth-graders' average science scores in 2023 were 9 points lower than in 1995."
Education experts have cited the COVID-19 pandemic, school shutdowns, and remote learning as the culprits behind the drops.
Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at the Family Research Council, talked about this on Washington Watch last week.
“This is yet another study of student performance that in the history of the Department of Education has shown a fairly steady decline; a marked decline here in these most recent years," she observed.
"We've had some blips of recovery over the history of the Department," Kilgannon continued, "but in general, student performance is in decline .... Parents will be blamed for this, the students themselves will be blamed for this [and] the administrators will say, ‘Well, we need more social emotional learning [SEL] money.’”
Some contend the educational focus by the Biden-Harris administration has been too much on the transgender issue.
“This is a problem of education that is controlled at the state and local level in the United States," Kilgannon said. "And it is more important than ever for Christians to be involved in the public school system and for us as citizens to want excellent schools. We certainly pay for them."
According to Kilgannon, the “educational-industrial complex” is the problem, and it’s mainly coming from administrators with an ideological focus, not a student performance focus.
