PISA, the much-awaited, once-in-every-three-years educational event has finally rolled around and … not much has changed, at least in the fact that the U.S. is still achieving ever-declining scores.
The U.S. landed about three-quarters of the way down the list, ranking behind many prominent Western nations, including Canada, our neighbor to the north.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about these results is that U.S. reading and science scores didn’t drop all that much since the previous test in 2018, especially given that this go-round contained the massive disruption known as Covid-19. Between the 2018 and 2022 testing segments, U.S. reading only dropped one point, while science only dropped three.
Unfortunately, those minor drops make the major, 13-point drop in U.S. math scores all the more alarming. What’s going on that so many of the nation’s students seem to be in a mathematics free fall?
Perhaps it’s because the nation’s schools are more interested in teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion than 2 + 2 and all that follows after that essential building block.
Perhaps it’s because schools have lost control of students, and the lack of discipline in the classroom is hindering teachers from giving quality instruction.
Or perhaps it’s just because we’re unwilling to let education dollars follow students to a school that actually fits their educational needs.
The sad reality is that the results we get on the international stage can be traced back to the local level. For years, Americans have insisted that the public school system is junk … but that their local district is quite alright. We need to give up on that fantasy if we’re going to pull ourselves out of the educational pit we’re in at every level.
Let’s not let another PISA assessment slip by before we determine to stop funding an education system that’s not working. Let’s do it now, letting educational dollars follow students in order to enable parents to choose an education that will set their child on the path to success … and by extension, the entire nation.
—
Image Credit: DémarchesAdministratives.fr, CC BY-SA 4.0
