The College Board says the average student’s SAT score has shown absolutely no improvement, and in fact retrograded, despite revisions that were made a decade ago which failed to improve test results. According to The Washington Post, “The average score for the Class of 2015 was 1490 out of a maximum 2400, the College Board reported Thursday. That was down 7 points from the previous class’s mark and was the lowest composite score of the past decade. There were declines of at least 2 points on all three sections of the test — critical reading, math and writing.” Most notably, “The test results show that gains in reading and math in elementary grades haven’t led to broad improvement in high schools, experts say. That means several hundred thousand teenagers, especially those who grew up poor, are leaving school every year unready for college.”

Education officials will debate numerous reasons — and some, like poverty, have merit (more on that below) — but you won’t hear much about the abysmal failure of the federal government. Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) notes, “That’s a huge shift, suggesting something profoundly wrong with our nation’s schools. But what? It sure isn’t lack of money. Spending on education has soared in recent decades, the result of a misguided progressive notion that more spending on education equals success.” Taxpayers dole out more than $100 billion a year on education programs. But more money isn’t translating into better education. Rather, poverty — the very thing the government set out to eradicate — is one of the primary catalysts. IBD observes, “After decades of federal intervention in education, inequality hasn’t gone away. Wasn’t the whole reason for the federal government involving itself in public schools supposedly that schools were incapable of educating white kids and minority kids equally?” The sad irony is that we could largely alleviate poverty if the government would get out of the way. After all, school choice and voucher programs have demonstrated great success. At some point minorities have to ask the question: Why is the government blocking the road that leads to progress?