Part 1 of this article can be read at: Washington K–12 Education Needs a Return to Basics A 2026 Policy Proposal for Academic Mastery, Knowledge and Career Readiness THE PROBLEM Washington has adopted successive education reforms while academic performance remains a concern. The central question should be simple: Are students leaving school with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed? A modern K–12 system should not choose between basic academic knowledge and 21st-century competencies. Students need both. THE PROPOSAL Establish a statewide K–12 Return to Basics and Core Competencies Initiative built on one principle: Knowledge → Skills → Competency → … [Read more...]
When Free Pre-K Is Worse Than No Pre-K
Today’s article from Intellectual Takeout Dale Farran spent a decade studying over 1,000 kids who went to a state-run pre-kindergarten—and a control group of kids that wanted to, but didn’t get in. She is shocked and dismayed by what she discovered: By 6th grade the pre-K kids were doing worse all around: worse reading, math and science scores; more learning disorders; and more discipline problems, including serious ones that got them suspended. “It really has required a lot of soul-searching,” Farran told Anya Kamenetz on NPR. Now she’s pondering “what were plausible reasons that may account for this.” One theory she has is that the free pre-K doesn’t look like pricey … [Read more...]
The scary truth about how far behind American kids have fallen
From Harvard University: https://cepr.harvard.edu/news/scary-truth-about-how-far-behind-american-kids-have-fallen Students of all ages still haven’t made up the ground they lost during the pandemic. Sometimes, panics are overblown. Sometimes, older generations are just freaking out about the youngins, as they have since time immemorial. That’s not the case, unfortunately, with kids’ learning right now, more than four years after the pandemic shuttered classrooms and disrupted the lives of millions of children. The effects were seen almost immediately, as students’ performance in reading and math began to dip far below pre-pandemic norms, worrying educators and families around … [Read more...]
“Stupid In America” Turns 20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/stupid-america-turns-20 Tylder Durden writes.... In January 2006, ABC’s John Stossel’s brutally honest documentary, “Stupid in America,” first aired. At the time, he referred to it as “a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America’s public schools, and it’s about time we face up to it.” Stossel exposed the ineffectiveness of many government-run schools. But now, 20 years later, things are even worse. Test scores from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released this year, show that 33% of 8th graders—a higher percentage than ever—are reading at the “below basic” … [Read more...]
It’s official: Ditching the SATs was a big mistake
Food for thought.. Brought to us by the Washington Examiner written by Jon Miltimore republished at Zero Hedge The state of education in the US is at a crossroads. Money isn't the solution. Focus on basics with full parental engagement and a societal commitment to establish new expectations is the only solution. In early 2020, the University of California set the tone for the rest of the country when its regents voted to drop SAT and ACT admissions requirements through 2024. That decision, initially framed as a pandemic necessity, quickly reshaped admissions nationwide. By late 2022, roughly 1,750 schools, or about 80 percent of U.S. universities, had adopted test-optional … [Read more...]
How Public Education Failed in the Liberal Enclaves That Care About It Most
From an article published at The Intelligencer by Andrew Rice. This is a 3 cups of coffee/tea article. Last winter, the federal government released the results of its semi-annual reading and math tests of fourth- and eighth-graders, assessments that are considered the most authoritative measure of the state of learning in American elementary and middle schools. In nearly every category, the scores had plunged to levels unseen for decades — or ever. On reading tests, 40 percent of fourth-graders and one-third of eighth-graders performed below “basic,” the lowest threshold. A separate assessment of 12th-graders conducted this past spring — the first since schools were shuttered by the … [Read more...]
The Nation’s Report Card Shows the Worst Results Since 1992
This mornings article is a blog post from Conservative Ladies of America: The Nation’s Report Card Shows the Worst Results Since 1992 - Conservative Ladies of America Today, September 9, 2025, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the “Nation’s Report Card”, released its latest results for 12th-grade students in reading and math, and for 8th-grade students in science. The findings are not just disappointing, they are alarming. Scores have dropped across the board, and the achievement gap is widening. This isn’t just a data point, it’s a national emergency that demands immediate action. Math: A Widening Gap in Foundational Skills The average math score … [Read more...]
To Love Math, Kids Should Start Older And Encounter Its Beauty
Brought us by The Federalist: To Love Math, Kids Should Start Older And Encounter Its Beauty When are we ever going to use this?” Every math teacher (and every parent who has helped his child learn math) has heard this question more times than he cares to remember. In a new book out from Encounter in July, J. Jacob Tawney says we have been giving the wrong answer. Teachers often defend the mental strain required of math students by pointing to the ubiquity of math in our lives. They say things like, “You won’t always have a calculator and you’ll need to know how to do this,” or describe the high pay of careers in STEM fields. Not only are these answers completely unsatisfying to … [Read more...]
Teachers’ Unions Bent the Education Dept. to Their Will—Shut It Down To Throttle Their Power
The Heritage Foundation shares this article with us (although the original was published in The New York Post). Teachers’ Unions Bent the Education Dept. to Their Will—Shut It Down To Throttle Their Power | The Heritage Foundation Key Takeaways No matter how many staffers are hired, achievement gaps remain. Test scores in math and reading today are at or near historic lows. Closing the Education Department will help to end federal grant awards for union-favored projects such as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” teacher training. It’s time to focus our education efforts on what will truly help America’s kids—not on what will line union leaders’ … [Read more...]
Maybe We Should Stop Calling Them Schools?
This article comes to use from RealClearEducation With the recent release of The Nation’s Report Card that revealed catastrophic results in math and reading for America’s 4th and 8th graders, it’s fair to say that America’s schools are largely failing at their most basic mission. And now that the Trump administration has announced a 50 percent reduction in force at the Department of Education and taken explicit action in an executive order to unwind the cabinet-level agency as a whole, it seems like the perfect time to ask some very basic questions about the current state of school in America. The mission creep of American schools is undeniable, and if we’re being brutally honest, … [Read more...]
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