America’s Reading Scores Decline on Nation’s Report Card
As is the case with many cabinet members, Betsy DeVos’ tenure as secretary of education has not been without controversy (Image)
According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Education released on Oct. 30, fourth and eighth graders’ ability to read is declining significantly. Just one out of three children were proficient in reading in 2019. These impacts were not evenly distributed throughout the country. 17 states witnessed declines in fourth grade reading scores and 31 states witnessed declines in eighth grade reading scores, while only one state and Washington, D.C. saw an increase in fourth grade and eighth grade scores, respectively. This report is deemed “The Nation’s Report Card” by the Department of Education and considered the “gold standard” for measurement of academic ability and achievement across the country. It raises a host of concerns with the status quo in education in the United States.
Any reform inspired by “The Nation’s Report Card” must take into account the decentralized nature of the American education system. Local governments use property taxes to fund school construction, maintenance, teacher supplements, and ongoing, day-to-day operations, while state governments take on fiscal responsibility for teacher and faculty salaries. The delegation of state and local responsibility for education funding is different from state to state, but these levels of governments retain most responsibility for educational systems. The federal government has historically played more of an administrative role, distributing block grants to states and local school districts, collecting data, and establishing rules and regulations for certain standards that need to be uniform across state boundaries. Because of this division, improving educational outcomes across the country will require an inter-jurisdictional and collaborative commitment from federal, state, and local partners.
Any potential solution will be more complicated than just increased funding for the Department of Education, though such funding is a fundamental puzzle piece for ensuring quality education. However, the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 proposes a $7.5 billion cut to Department of Education funding. While many of the administration’s proposals, including the complete elimination of several Department of Education programs, are unlikely to gain traction in Congress, they paint a clear picture of the foremost priority of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration: reducing the budget and size of the Department of Education.
Congressional Democrats and Democratic presidential candidates have sharply rebuked DeVos for her attempts to cut the Department of Education’s budget. They instead propose substantial increases to funding for pre-kindergarten, K-12 education, and higher education, along with ideas for new Department of Education-managed programs. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, has been a fierce critic of DeVos’s proposed cuts and her attempts to use the “Nation’s Report Card” to advance her agenda promoting increased choice and privatization. While DeVos and DeLauro diverge in their diagnosis of the problem and proposed solutions, both agree that the findings of the report, particularly the steep decline in reading scores, are deeply concerning.
While the report did not delve into how demographic indicators, social indicators, and historical discrimination interact with education, many education advocates and experts believe that structural issues like economic inequality are largely to blame. While the decline in reading score decreases is symptomatic of deeply entrenched issues, there is cause for hope. The report showed key increases in reading scores in one jurisdiction: the Washington, D.C. school district. The chancellor of D.C.’s public schools attributed improvements to a range of policies, including home visits from educators to understand students’ family situations, increased teacher pay and universal preschool.
As federal, state and local lawmakers move forward in creating educational policy, they should use existing data, including Washington, D.C.’s experience, to consider which approaches are most effective. There will be no silver bullet solution to send educational outcomes back in the right direction, but data-driven approaches to school and program funding distribution must be a core part of any attempt at a solution.