National test results released on Thursday from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed that the math and reading scores of elementary school students reached historic lows in 2022, with an unprecedented drop in math and the largest drop in 32 years in reading among nine-year-olds.
Experts say that the drops can be attributed to a variety of factors, including repercussions from school shutdowns, discipline issues, open borders, classroom time spent on controversial ideologies, and other factors.
The dropping test scores reflect a tragic failure of the U.S. education system for vulnerable children and American taxpayers.
“Test scores are important, but these reports can’t possibly measure every facet of educational performance, nor is it possible to quantify every factor that creates this national set of numbers,” she told The Washington Stand. “We should remember that a line on a graph represents millions of school children who need to learn. Americans value education, and we pay taxes into system that is not delivering.”
Many experts agree that the 2020-2021 shutdown of most schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to “distance learning” detrimentally affected the education and economic opportunities of children, particularly minority students.
What many see as particularly frustrating is that schools were shut down by government agencies despite the low risk of serious health issues that the coronavirus posed to children and despite evidence that shutdowns were ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus.
Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, has pointed to problems that have arisen in schools as a result of the lockdowns, including “a rise in classroom disruption, school violence, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and teacher and staff vacancies, and schools also say more students are seeking mental health services.”
“We all have a duty to address this problem, because children can’t fix a failing school system,” she observed. “Concerned citizens need to engage at the local school board level. We need to have conversations about why teachers are leaving the profession. Is it because school discipline is now a civil rights issue making learning impossible in chaotic classrooms? Is it because of vaccine requirements, or are some teachers afraid to return to in-person teaching? Is it because too many students come to school unready to learn?
How is the crisis at the border impacting schools all over the country, when unaccompanied minors (who are trafficking victims) are placed in communities in the heartland, many of which lack the infrastructure to accommodate them? How has the emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and social emotional learning impacted student learning in core subjects? These are the kinds of questions we need to answer in our local communities so that each child enjoys a safe and rigorous education.”
School districts across the country are indeed reporting historic levels of teacher shortages, with The Washington Post indicating that the shortage is partly due to “an escalating educational culture war” that is exhausting teachers, with highly controversial material like gender theory, critical race theory, and DEI being increasingly included in classroom curriculums.
Still, Kilgannon sees hope in what Christians can do to help revitalize the education system.
“When we see test scores like these NAEP results, people rightly feel discouraged, upset, and powerless,” she concluded. “As Christians, our response could be to bring our values to a system that desperately needs our love and our understanding that every child is created in the image and likeness of God. We can run for school board, apply for newly created teaching positions that don’t require an education degree, volunteer in our children’s classrooms, and especially pray for our schools and the children, teachers, and staff in them. Our children deserve it, and our nation needs it.”
A proponent of school choice, DeSantis has particularly vied against strict classroom COVID-19 masking policies, teaching LGBTQ+ curriculum to elementary-aged students, and critical race theory.
With Americans leaving the public school system
by the millions in recent years,
DeSantis’s views on education have made him popular with conservatives since his election in 2019.
Girdusky’s PAC has helped conservative candidates win school board races across the country in a move to pushback against critical race theory and other left-leaning ideologies like transgenderism. From his perspective, parents will vote for what they believe benefits their children. “Education is the cornerstone of our society and is a huge motivating factor for voters,” he told TWS. “We are in the middle of the parents revolution and taking back our public education from those who wish to indoctrinate our children. This is the beginning of a much bigger movement that we hope to take nationwide.”
Christians and parents are calling to run for school board to transform the education system and fight against left-leaning ideologies in the classroom.
“That has absolutely happened,”
she shared, “And so we need to support these folks
with our prayers and with practical support. … People who care about the things that we care about
realized how out of touch and out of step our educational establishment is with the wishes and needs of parents and children.
And so they have stepped into the breach. They have run for office, and they are now ready to serve. They’ve been elected and now they’re ready to serve. So it’s our job now to support them in their work and to make sure that they have the research, the policy ideas, the facts that they need to transform our educational system and to work for children in America.”
America is in the midst of a historic political realignment, much has been said about the movement of Hispanic voters and working class voters away from the Left, but we’re seeing another key demographic — parents — move away from the Left as well. The results of Florida’s school board races last night confirm this trend.” The most important government is the government closest to home,
so when parents stream to the polls to toss recalcitrant ideologues off their local school board they are sending a clear message: teach our children to read and write, not gender ideology or dividing them by race.”
Experts say that the drops can be attributed to a variety of factors, including repercussions from school shutdowns, discipline issues, open borders, classroom time spent on controversial ideologies, and other factors.
The dropping test scores reflect a tragic failure of the U.S. education system for vulnerable children and American taxpayers.
“Test scores are important, but these reports can’t possibly measure every facet of educational performance, nor is it possible to quantify every factor that creates this national set of numbers,” she told The Washington Stand. “We should remember that a line on a graph represents millions of school children who need to learn. Americans value education, and we pay taxes into system that is not delivering.”
Many experts agree that the 2020-2021 shutdown of most schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to “distance learning” detrimentally affected the education and economic opportunities of children, particularly minority students.
What many see as particularly frustrating is that schools were shut down by government agencies despite the low risk of serious health issues that the coronavirus posed to children and despite evidence that shutdowns were ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus.
Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, has pointed to problems that have arisen in schools as a result of the lockdowns, including “a rise in classroom disruption, school violence, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and teacher and staff vacancies, and schools also say more students are seeking mental health services.”
“We all have a duty to address this problem, because children can’t fix a failing school system,” she observed. “Concerned citizens need to engage at the local school board level. We need to have conversations about why teachers are leaving the profession. Is it because school discipline is now a civil rights issue making learning impossible in chaotic classrooms? Is it because of vaccine requirements, or are some teachers afraid to return to in-person teaching? Is it because too many students come to school unready to learn?
How is the crisis at the border impacting schools all over the country, when unaccompanied minors (who are trafficking victims) are placed in communities in the heartland, many of which lack the infrastructure to accommodate them? How has the emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and social emotional learning impacted student learning in core subjects? These are the kinds of questions we need to answer in our local communities so that each child enjoys a safe and rigorous education.”
School districts across the country are indeed reporting historic levels of teacher shortages, with The Washington Post indicating that the shortage is partly due to “an escalating educational culture war” that is exhausting teachers, with highly controversial material like gender theory, critical race theory, and DEI being increasingly included in classroom curriculums.
Still, Kilgannon sees hope in what Christians can do to help revitalize the education system.
“When we see test scores like these NAEP results, people rightly feel discouraged, upset, and powerless,” she concluded. “As Christians, our response could be to bring our values to a system that desperately needs our love and our understanding that every child is created in the image and likeness of God. We can run for school board, apply for newly created teaching positions that don’t require an education degree, volunteer in our children’s classrooms, and especially pray for our schools and the children, teachers, and staff in them. Our children deserve it, and our nation needs it.”
A proponent of school choice, DeSantis has particularly vied against strict classroom COVID-19 masking policies, teaching LGBTQ+ curriculum to elementary-aged students, and critical race theory.
With Americans leaving the public school system
by the millions in recent years,
DeSantis’s views on education have made him popular with conservatives since his election in 2019.
Girdusky’s PAC has helped conservative candidates win school board races across the country in a move to pushback against critical race theory and other left-leaning ideologies like transgenderism. From his perspective, parents will vote for what they believe benefits their children. “Education is the cornerstone of our society and is a huge motivating factor for voters,” he told TWS. “We are in the middle of the parents revolution and taking back our public education from those who wish to indoctrinate our children. This is the beginning of a much bigger movement that we hope to take nationwide.”
Christians and parents are calling to run for school board to transform the education system and fight against left-leaning ideologies in the classroom.
“That has absolutely happened,”
she shared, “And so we need to support these folks
with our prayers and with practical support. … People who care about the things that we care about
realized how out of touch and out of step our educational establishment is with the wishes and needs of parents and children.
And so they have stepped into the breach. They have run for office, and they are now ready to serve. They’ve been elected and now they’re ready to serve. So it’s our job now to support them in their work and to make sure that they have the research, the policy ideas, the facts that they need to transform our educational system and to work for children in America.”
America is in the midst of a historic political realignment, much has been said about the movement of Hispanic voters and working class voters away from the Left, but we’re seeing another key demographic — parents — move away from the Left as well. The results of Florida’s school board races last night confirm this trend.” The most important government is the government closest to home,
so when parents stream to the polls to toss recalcitrant ideologues off their local school board they are sending a clear message: teach our children to read and write, not gender ideology or dividing them by race.”
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