October 21, 2021

Back to the Basics

We are failing our children. We need to start with the basics, reading and math.

Last week, the National Assessment of Education Progress issued its latest long-term trend assessment report. The results are clear: We are failing to teach our children the basics of math and reading. These results are based on tests taken before the pandemic. Just imagine how much worse the next round of tests will be due to all the interruptions to learning and education, as well as the additional stress caused by the pandemic.

The report, titled “The Nation’s Report Card,” show that we are getting worse, not better, at teaching our children reading and math. This should concern everyone – parents, teachers, employers, educations, politicians and even students.

The “NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences,” according to its website, nationsreportcard.gov. Project administrators are tasked by the government to give our education system a report card. This latest report card, based on the recent data, shows that we need to return to the basics.

“Compared to the previous LTT assessments in 2012, the 2020 reading scores for both 9- and 13-year-olds performing at the 10th percentile were lower,” the report noted. “In mathematics, scores were lower in 2020 for 9-year-olds at the 10th and 25th percentiles and lower for 13-year-olds performing at the 10th, 25th and 50th percentiles compared to scores in 2012.” There was no case of any improvement from the 2012 LTT scores in either math or science in any percentile. The only trend was down.

Part of what might be driving the lower reading numbers is the fact that students are not reading as much on their own. “Smaller percentages of 9- and 13-year-old students reported reading for fun on their own time ‘almost every day’ in 2020 compared to the previous long-term trend assessment in 2012,” noted the report. “During the same time period, larger percentages of 9- and 13-year-old students in 2020 reported that they ‘never or hardly ever’ read for fun on their own time.”

To get better at anything, especially reading, you have to take time on the task. Reading more makes you a better reader. When my children were younger, they each had reading time before bed. They might not have liked it at that time, but their reading skills improved. The same goes for math. Math is a topic that requires mastery of the fundamentals before moving on to more complicated concepts. It’s easy to fall behind. According to the report, fewer students were taking pre-algebra and algebra — the higher-level math courses for their ages — in 2020 than in 2012.

Education has taken the spotlight in the governor’s race for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Terry McAuliffe, former governor and Democratic nominee, was asked during a debate about parents objecting to CRT being taught in schools. “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” McAuliffe said. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin immediately seized on this quote and has released a video of additional McAuliffe quotes that, together, present a view of little parent control. Youngkin’s point is that parents should have a say in their children’s education.

According to a Real Clear Opinion poll released in April, 71% of voters are for school choice.This support is both on the Democratic (69%) and the Republican (75%) sides of the political aisle. When The Winston Group surveyed voters in September about the results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment, which reported that the United States ranks “37th in math, 18th in science and 13th in reading” compared to other countries and that “60% (of those surveyed) considered this to be poor or failing.” No political nor racial group thought that this was excellent, good or satisfactory.

My point is that we are failing our children. We need to start with the basics, reading and math.

COPYRIGHT 2021 JACKIE CUSHMAN

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.