As Test Scores Continue to Plummet, School Choice Movement Gains Momentum
"[I]t's exciting—the parents are finally waking up. I think COVID allowed us to see what was happening behind the curtains. So you have more parents engaged, more parents demanding success. And when studies like this come out, they realize that there's something going wrong that they were not aware of. And now we have choice. ... So they have the ability to take their kids and put them in a place that works. And those failing school systems should go out of business." -Rep. Burgess Owens
[WashingtonStand.com] The latest assessment of high school test scores has revealed yet another troubling decline, as reading and math scores of 12th graders fell to record lows. Lawmakers say the results are further confirmation that educational funding should be state-focused and that school choice for parents and students should remain a pivotal principle of American education. (Image: Pixabay)
The data, released by the US Department of Education on Tuesday, came from the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress. It showed that the average math and reading scores for high school seniors had declined to the lowest points since the assessments first began to be taken, with 35% showing proficiency in reading and 22% in math. As noted by The Wall Street Journal, "There also were drops in the proportion of students who were able to reach at least a basic level of performance, a tier below proficiency."
The latest numbers continue a downward trend in the test scores of US grade school students that began before the COVID pandemic. Data shows that both reading and math scores for 12th graders have been declining since at least 2013. The decline in scores is also occurring among eighth and fourth graders, with eighth grade science scores reaching their lowest point since 2009 and recent international test results showing fourth graders at the lower end of the achievement scale testing at record lows in both math and science.
The dreary results come amid a nationwide resurgence in parents opting their children out of public school in favor of private schools and homeschooling in an attempt to escape underachieving public education. Recent reports indicate that homeschooling continues to steadily rise after a brief decline following the spike during and after the pandemic. In addition, more and more states are passing legislation to expand school choice by letting taxpayers use their tax dollars to pay for private school tuition. As of now, "33 states had some form of private school choice, with 12 offering universal eligibility regardless of family income," according to FutureEd, with more states currently seeking to pass legislation to join the list.
Lawmakers like Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) say that expanding school choice across the country is the logical solution toward remedying the persistent decline in student achievement.
"Only when we have competition and merit can we find the very best price and the very best service," he argued during "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" Wednesday. "And we're finally bringing that to this process through a choice concept that does not take anything away from the local school system or districts. It allows people like ourselves to invest in our kids, get tax credits, and parents can take from that funding and do anything they want to, whether it be public, private, parochial, homeschool. They can choose what they want based on what their kids really want. ... So I'm excited about choice being codified. And we're just going to start building on that from this point moving forward."
Burgess, who serves as vice chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, went on to contend that a growing movement of parents is increasingly engaged in their children's education as a result of the pandemic and declining test scores.
"[I]t's exciting—the parents are finally waking up," he observed. "I think COVID allowed us to see what was happening behind the curtains. So you have more parents engaged, more parents demanding success. And when studies like this come out, they realize that there's something going wrong that they were not aware of. And now we have choice. ... So they have the ability to take their kids and put them in a place that works. And those failing school systems should go out of business."
Burgess concluded by predicting that the Trump administration will continue to empower states to place more educational choices in the hands of parents.
"That's actually what President Trump and [Education] Secretary [Linda McMahon] have been talking about from the very beginning," he pointed out. "Take all that money, all this wasted dollars—we've been putting $3 trillion since the beginning of [the] Department of Education—send that back to the states. Let these school systems that are accountable to [parents] start figuring out how to make sure that their kids can compete. ... Without choice, without parents taking control and running the process, we're going to lose, we're going to rot from within. So I'm glad we're finally moving in this direction." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
