America’s public schools are in decline.
This issue is… pretty urgent, actually. Declining test scores affect college readiness, that later impacts jobs. Schools also teach civic engagement and critical thinking, which fosters a collaborative, informed public. And we all know what happens when you have an uninformed public….. DICTATORSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!! WE’LL BE CATCHING FROGS FOR FOOD!!!!!!
Significance of the decline
These numbers “83%” and “70%” are comparisons of individual districts that saw a decline in test scores since the decade prior; It’s not really an “average” drop. The education scorecard is a credible research product, but you should read it alongside other established national assessments like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). State tests can change over the years, so the method they use to determine these percentages depends on who’s administering it.
The scorecard highlights a “U-shaped” recovery based on income: The slowest group to recover has actually been middle-income schools. While low-income and affluent areas are still in decline, statistics show the ends of the spectrum have an edge of academic resilience. High-income districts have stronger local tax bases, more tutoring, staffing flexibility, and private support. Low-income districts can benefit disproportionately from federal aid which can help them rebound quicker.
The numbers tell us how many districts saw the decline, but not necessarily how far they dropped. Some districts report students are now reading a full grade level below what they were in 2015 (reports point to New Mexico, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and DC), but other districts show very minuscule drops.
It’s not just us, though. This is part of a global decline in academic performance. Most of these losses are pandemic-related. The pattern and magnitude vary by country, so the outcomes and effects are specific to where you’re looking. The decline isn’t uniform across the US, either; It’s more obvious in some states than others. Atlanta Public Schools was the only participating district that showed a 4th-grade reading gain. Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee are also doing better overall compared to the rest of the country. Not one state improved in reading scores in 2024 compared to 2022 (4th grade and 8th grade). The decline isn’t just widespread, it’s getting worse. These losses can compound over time, especially for younger students. The longer the scores stay down, the harder and more expensive it’ll get to catch students back up.
What’s causing it?
Uh… social media? You’ll hear reporters focus on it a lot. That’s just because it’s new, convenient, and visible to most people on a daily basis; It gives a quick explanation to a lot of problems at once. In political science this is known as salience. It’s something that’s immediately recognizable to common people, so it tends to get more attention and airtime than other possible causes.
Distraction, anxiety, and losing sleep are all very real problems caused by social media, but it’s not the main culprit–at least not by itself. Mental health, sleep, and grades all influence each other, so that makes it difficult to isolate what the real cause is. Social media is more of a causation-correlation thing. Students who use social media more tend to score lower, but that doesn’t actually isolate social media as the main cause of the drop; Other stressors can be happening at the same time.
If you were alive before TikTok and Instagram, you may remember a hypnotizing contraption called a TV. Television also displaced reading, homework, and sleep, but the difference now is that these technologies are more interactive and personalized, so they can be harder to put down and more disruptive throughout the day.
Cell phone bans seem to help some things more than others. They can improve the classroom environment and student well-being as a whole, but it doesn’t improve test scores much. Cell phone bans tend to work best in schools where heavy phone use is already a major problem to begin with.
The ABC News segment also mentioned the rollback of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as a cause, but Thomas Kane (the guy they just interviewed) co-authored a publication critical of NCLB shortly after it was enacted in 2002. NCLB did improve some things, but its design problems came from its rigid structure. The general idea behind it was “Reward the high-scoring schools and punish the low-scoring schools,” but Kane and Staiger argued that the reality isn’t that simple. Since NCLB was replaced by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, ESSA reduced federal pressure and gave more control to the states. Now, some states have strong accountability systems, and others don’t. The problem isn’t just that ESSA exists, it’s that it left federal support and consequences for struggling schools largely undefined.
(ESSA passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in December 2015.)
Student absenteeism can come from a mix of things. Students in public schools are getting sick more often. Many sources cite the post-pandemic return to in-person learning, but student illness can also be caused by high stress and fatigue, irregular sleep schedules, and poor nutrition. Students are having more mental health problems, which contributes to absenteeism. Families face housing struggles, and there can be transportation issues. Students also report a lower sense of belonging and a feeling that the coursework isn’t actually relevant to their future.
The subreddits r/Teachers and r/AskTeachers are good outlets for first-hand accounts of public schools today. The ongoing teacher shortage in the US reveals how unattractive the job has become to recent hires. The most common complaint appears to be low salary, oversized classes, and poor management, but this varies by state and district. (This cool interactive map shows you state-specific data.) On paper, teacher salaries seem reasonable, but anecdotal evidence points toward district salary caps and a difficulty to achieve higher salaries within the profession.
Teaching jobs in the US have a very high attrition rate compared to other developed countries. The real issue is the time teachers have for planning and collaboration. Many American teachers spend more time on direct instruction and paperwork, but have limited time to talk with their colleagues and design a decent curriculum. Given more time to work together, they can make instruction more coherent across subjects.
Don’t we spend more money per student than other countries? It depends on the state. Spending more doesn’t mean spending well. i.e., The problem ain’t under-spending, it’s where the spent money be goin’.
There isn’t one single cause to the decline, but our biggest clue comes from the fact that the decline started several years before the pandemic.
What can be done
Unfortunately this is not one of those issues where you can sit back and relax while it solves itself. There isn’t any single person to blame or lever to pull that will magically reverse the decline in America’s schools.
What can schools do? Give teachers more time to plan and collaborate with each other, provide targeted tutoring, and keep students well-fed and healthy. Superintendents and government officials should set clear goals, track their progress honestly, and support the teaching staff and leadership.
What can you do, dear reader? Vote? Well, not every state will let you vote for superintendent. In most states they’re appointed either by the governor or Board of Education.
See, this is why you should pay attention to your state elections. Even though this is a national concern, the severity of the problem boils down to politics at the state level, so it’s important to pay attention to state legislature and vote in local budget or curriculum decisions.
In case you didn’t know, pretty much anyone can attend a local school board meeting and raise concerns in person, whether you’re a student, parent, teacher, or regular community member. They’re usually held in a district office about once a month. In regular cases they allow a public comment period.
You can also support after school programs or your public library.
BUH–