The Damage of Academic Decline Is Exposed

Will The Reality of the Pain Lead to Real Reform?

If you’ve ever gotten a new pair of running shoes that didn’t fit quite right and rubbed your foot the wrong way, you know the pain of a blister. After logging a few miles in the shoes, the blister becomes less painful as it hardens into a callus. The skin is still damaged and the shoes still rub, but the pain is numb because the skin is deadened. The problem didn’t go away, it just became less noticeable. Removing the hardened skin is unthinkable because it would expose fresh vulnerable skin to the abrasive reality, starting the process all over again. It’s less painful to leave the callus and pretend the shoes fit right.

Many parents, teachers, and school districts are likely feeling as though the “callus” was removed recently and they are experiencing the abrasive reality that has been numbed for so long. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results were published with few surprises. The difference this time compared to years past is the attention the results are receiving from the general public. After two years of shutdowns, masks, and quarantines, every education stakeholder (which is everyone) wanted to know the level of damage done to student learning. Damage is the only appropriate word to describe the effect of school shutdowns on children. 

Of the fourth and eighth graders tested across the country, average reading scores declined or stagnated. Nearly every group experienced a decline in math proficiency. Some of the statistics set records for declines since the tests began being implemented in 1992. The results are abysmal and it is clear that student learning suffered. The harsh reality is, students hadn’t been excelling academically before the shutdowns. Nobody paid much attention to what was happening because a callus had formed over the “blister” of poor reading and math skills. Those in positions of authority who did notice simply lowered the standards quietly over time to pacify parents and the public. They wanted them to believe that “the shoes fit right” regardless of the evidence demonstrating otherwise.

The real story of the recent NAEP results isn’t the learning loss students suffered when relegated to learning on screens for months. The real story is the data that points to the fact that we, as a society, have allowed our education system to decline steadily over several decades without holding those running the system accountable. We increased budgets, expanded administrative offices, explored every social justice avenue imaginable, and we are still left with these results: “The nearly 30-year trend line shows that the 2019 average reading score for twelfth-graders was lower than it was approximately a decade ago in 2009, not significantly different from 2002, and lower than the first assessment year in 1992.”

Now we are faced with a question. Will we put a bandaid on the blister and strap on the same shoes that created it in the first place? Or will we decide to implement educational techniques that will allow optimal learning and set students up to truly excel? Just as one shoe doesn’t fit every person exactly right, it is unlikely that one type of learning environment will fit every student just right. We have an opportunity to change the trajectory of American education (and the future of millions of children) right now and have plenty of evidence to support its need. One step is allowing families, not the government, the ability to choose the best learning environment for their children. Another is reviving reading instruction techniques that are proven to put more students on the path to literacy proficiency. 

We cannot allow another generation to limp painfully through their formative years. Now is the time to provide them with the right educational fit. We have the evidence, momentum, and resources to bring real reform. Shame on us if we don’t do it!