The 74 Million – Michael Petrilli
“The New York Times headline pointed to “decline.” Politico used the word “slump.” And the Associated Press went with “lags.” Any way you say it, the latest scores from the Nation’s Report Card were bad, with trends getting worse over time. In particular, America’s lowest-performing students, who also tend to be our lowest-income children, are faring particularly poorly, especially in eighth grade, and especially in reading, but pretty much all across the board. The bad news also goes beyond just traditional public school kids; it’s happening in the private school sector, too, as Nat Malkus of the American Enterprise Institute points out. And equally worrying are recent data showing declines in kindergarten readiness skills from 2013 to 2017.” (more)