p. 1

u.s department of education a nation accountable twenty-five years after a nation at risk

[close]

p. 2

twenty-five years after a nation at risk a nation accountable u.s department of education

[close]

p. 3

u.s department of education margaret spellings secretary april 2008 this publication is in the public domain authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted while permission to reprint this publication is not necessary the citation should be u.s department of education a nation accountable twenty-five years after a nation at risk washington d.c 2008 this report is available on the department s web site at http www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/accountable on request this publication is available in alternate formats such as braille large print or computer diskette for more information contact the department s alternate format center at 202-260-0852 or at 202-260-0818.

[close]

p. 4

contents list of figures iv executive summary 1 introduction 2 i how far we ve come 3 curriculum content 3 standards and expectations 5 time 6 teacher quality 6 leadership and financial support 7 ii what has been the result of these efforts and more importantly are we still at risk 8 iii remaining challenges 10 iv looking ahead 14 endnotes 16 iii

[close]

p. 5

figures 1 the attainment crisis 2 2 naep reading and math scores of 17-year-olds vs percentage taking college prep course-load 1978­2004 4 3 naep reading scores of 9­17-year-olds vs education expenditures per student 1984­2004 8 4 proficiency improvement 9 5a per-pupil spending on elementary education in purchase-adjusted dollars by various countries 2004 10 5b math literacy scores pisa by various countries 2006 10 5c science literacy scores pisa by various countries 2006 10 6 although the overall graduation rate for the class of 2000 was nearly 70 percent for most minority students the likelihood of getting a high school diploma is about 50-50 11 7 2007 median annual income for college graduates was more than double that of high school dropouts 12 8 in 2006 high schools with promotion rates below 60 percent made up only 12 percent of the total yet they contributed over half of the number of non-promoted students 13 iv

[close]

p. 6

executive summary in 1983 swatch introduced its first watch microsoft word was released and michael jackson s thriller video hit the airwaves we also learned that our supposedly world-class system of education was not keeping pace with the progress of other nations that same year the landmark u.s department of education report a nation at risk found that about 13 percent of 17-year-olds were functionally illiterate sat scores were dropping and students needed an increased array of remedial courses in college such trends threatened both our children s opportunities and our collective future twenty-five years later it s time to review the progress we have made since the report s release we remain a nation at risk but are also now a nation informed a nation accountable and a nation that recognizes there is much work to be done · · · if we were at risk in 1983 we are at even greater risk now the rising demands of our global economy together with demographic shifts require that we educate more students to higher levels than ever before yet our education system is not keeping pace with these growing demands of 20 children born in 1983 six did not graduate from high school on time in 2001 of the 14 who did 10 started college that fall but only five earned a bachelor s degree by spring 2007 fortunately thanks to the recent standards and accountability movement and the no child left behind act we are finally taking an honest comprehensive look at our schools for the first time in our country s history we have reliable data to evaluate student performance and address weaknesses in our schools we must leverage this information to achieve better results we simply cannot return to the ostrich approach and stick our heads in the sand while grave problems threaten our education system our civic society and our economic prosperity we must consider structural reforms that go well beyond current efforts as today s students require a better education than ever before to be successful · we know which areas need the most attention now we must dedicate ourselves to making sure they get it twenty-five years after a nation at risk can we expect more of our education system shouldn t we?

[close]

p. 7

introduction in the spring of 1983 the national commission on excellence in education issued a nation at risk its eye-opening report that indicted education officials school leaders and the american public for complacency the university presidents eminent scientists policymakers and educators who made up the commission refused to paint a happy face on the eroding quality of american education they said that we had become self-satisfied about our leading position in the world and lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them twenty-five years later these warnings remain relevant and poignant let s examine what happened to a typical group of 20 children born that year who started kindergarten together in 1988.2 six of them would not have graduated on time in 2001 of the 14 who would have graduated on time 10 would start college and just five of those 20 kindergartners would have a college degree by spring 2007.3 these college graduates can expect to earn $1 million more over their lifetimes than their classmates who dropped out of high school.4 what has happened in the 25 years since these children were born and the nation received the commission s dire warning figure 1 the attainment crisis 20 children born in 1983 start school in 1988 14 graduate on time in 2001 10 start college that fall 5 earn a degree by spring 2007 source u.s department of education national center for education statistics digest of education statistics 2007 tables 102 193 and 318 washington d.c 2008 college graduation rates for 2007 estimated from the most recent available 2

[close]

p. 8

many people elected officials administrators teachers parents and students have been hard at work since this report was released to make sure that we aren t caught off guard again states developed content standards and tests that allow us to know how well our students are doing state and local academic standards and standards-based testing began in the 1980s and 1990s and federal legislation required that states receiving federal aid for education have such academic standards and tests in certain grades the no child left behind act of 2001 expanded the grades to be tested and strengthened the accountability attached to test results while we are still a nation at risk we are also now a nation informed a nation accountable and a nation that recognizes there is much work to be done unforeseen events demographic changes and shifts in the global landscape have made our job more daunting than ever but we have made progress since 1983 however the looming question is will the children being born today have a better shot at getting a decent education than those children born in 1983 only if we continue to push forward with a sense of urgency while many have been working to ensure that all students fulfill their academic potential we are like mountain climbers who discover that the mountain is more challenging than we realized a nation at risk highlighted a variety of challenges mediocre to poor performance on international tests an illiteracy rate of 13 percent among 17-year-olds falling student achievement on standardized tests and a sharp increase in the need for remedial education in colleges additionally businesses and the military expressed concern about the need to offer remedial training to address these and other sobering findings the commission outlined recommendations for change in five areas curriculum content standards and expectations of students time devoted to education teacher quality and educational leadership and the financial support of education the following is a summary of our progress in those areas some recommendations were acted on quickly some over time and some have yet to be put into effect i how far we ve come curriculum content one of the most important pieces of the educational quality puzzle is the course work and subject-matter being taught in classrooms or what a nation at risk called the very `stuff of education in this area the commission recommended minimum state and local high school graduation requirements that would provide students with a heavy dose of english math science social studies and for the collegebound foreign language 5 notable strides were made in this area and by 2005 almost 65 percent of high school graduates were taking the recommended course work four times the rate that students took the recommended course work in 1983.6 yet while we have come a long way it is a national shame that nearly a third of our high school students still do not take the rigorous program of study recommended in 1983 for all students regardless of whether they intend to enter the workforce and college after high school 3

[close]

p. 9

the commission was disturbed by the easy courses and curricular smorgasbord available to high school students unfortunately this has not changed greatly both easy courses and this smorgasbord still remain with diluted content now hiding behind inflated course names.7 the educational achievement of 17-year-old students has largely stagnated since then as measured by the nation s report card or national assessment of educational progress the reading scores of 20 students born in 1983 who turned 17 in 2000 would have been the same as those of a similar group of students who turned 17 in 1984 8 figure 2 350 naep reading and math scores of 17-year-olds vs percentage taking college prep course-load 1978-2004 college prep course-load takers 60 340 50 330 long-term 17-year-olds naep math scores 320 40 naep achievement 310 300 30 290 20 280 270 10 260 250 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 0 source u.s department of education national center for education statistics the nation s report card long-term trend and digest of education statistics 2007 table 144 washington d.c 2008 the standards and accountability movement and the no child left behind act have brought further insight into the weaknesses of our high schools although its provisions are weighted toward the elementary and middle school grades no child left behind has resulted in schools and districts gathering achievement and graduation data that highlight how much work needs to be done at the secondary level a nation at risk anticipated that our secondary schooling deficiencies could eventually threaten the quality of the entire k­12 system and this legislation has generated data that unfortunately confirm this threat 4 percentage of college prep course-load takers long-term 17-year-olds naep reading scores

[close]

p. 10

standards and expectations in 1983 the commission recommended that schools colleges and universities adopt more rigorous and measurable standards and higher expectations for academic performance and that 4-year colleges and universities raise their requirements for admission the commission described this as the path to authentic accomplishment as a result many states began to implement standards-based education systems early adopters of this approach in the late 1980s and early 1990s often produced content standards that were not very clear or specific or academically rigorous but as states learned from these experiences content standards began to take the shape that we see today clearer grade-level specific and more academically challenging states next worked to create tests and adopt textbooks aligned with those content standards but teaching materials that are demonstrably effective are still rare some states have also tried with mixed results to focus their teacher training to coordinate with their standards and assessments we know the direction needed and are progressing that way this important work at the state level was complemented by efforts at the federal level in 1989 president george h.w bush convened a meeting of the nation s governors in charlottesville va there they agreed to adopt national k­12 performance goals for the year 2000 during bill clinton s presidency congress passed the improving america s schools act of 1994 which required state academic-content standards and tests and the goals 2000 educate america act 1994 which provided federal funds to aid states in writing those content standards.9 with the new millennium the standards and accountability movement reached a new level president george w bush called for significant reforms at the federal level which led to the enactment of the no child left behind act of 2001.10 this important law which was passed with bipartisan majorities in congress and with the support of the business and civil rights communities built on the foundation laid in the 1980s and 1990s by ensuring that states accepting the federal government s targeted investment agree to measure and report on results in terms of standards and accountability today all 50 states have reading and math content standards and tests at a minimum in grades 3­8 and once in high school by the end of school year 2007-08 states must also have in place science tests to be administered at least once during grades 3­5 grades 6­9 and grades 10­12 the school-level results of these annual tests broken down to include results for minority students english language learners students with disabilities and other subgroups are now available on the internet for anyone to see publication of these test results means that parents taxpayers educators and policymakers have more information at their fingertips than ever before which has made possible a more informed national dialogue on education this is a giant step forward from 1983 when the public knew comparatively little about student performance policymakers and other stakeholders must now make better use of this information as we continue to trek up the mountain 5

[close]

p. 11

time in 1983 the commission was concerned that american children spent less time in school than children in other countries such as england it recommended that significantly more time be devoted to learning [which would require more effective use of the existing school day a longer school day or a lengthened school year however our children do not spend more days in school than they did in 1983 save for those in some charter schools or in a few state or local pilot programs the time dedicated to academics during the school day in the united states has risen slightly since 1983 nonetheless we are spending fewer hours per week on academic subjects and have a shorter school year than many other industrialized countries.12 we know that the amount of time on task is important yet as important is how effectively that time is spent.3 teacher quality a nation at risk said that many teachers did not have the knowledge skills and training they needed the commission called for strengthening teacher preparation both in content and effective teaching practices but what followed was an even greater focus on classroom-teaching philosophy rather than on the more needed subject-matter knowledge some in congress sought to address this weakness through the enactment of the no child left behind act s highly qualified teacher provision yet this provision focused on resource inputs rather than learning outcomes while most teachers have taken the steps necessary to meet their states highly qualified teacher definition there is little evidence to conclude that this provision has led to notable increases in the requisite subject-matter knowledge of teachers or to increases in measures of individual teacher effectiveness.14 a nation at risk raised another issue pertaining to teachers the best way to compensate them the commission said salaries for the teaching profession should be increased and should be professionally competitive market-sensitive and performance-based it added salary promotion tenure and retention decisions should be tied to an effective evaluation system that includes peer review so that superior teachers can be rewarded average ones encouraged and poor ones either improved or terminated a number of social scientists have noted that the resistance of interest groups blocked the enactment of some of the commission s most promising reforms one wrote progress has been made on recommendations that required real change if they were supported by powerful political interest groups in education especially teachers unions virtually no progress has been made on recommendations that required real change if they were opposed by these same interest groups for example merit pay for teachers remains negligible and the school year has not lengthened 15 yet recently several school districts such as those in denver and new york have been moving toward performance pay to encourage more such efforts the george w bush administration proposed the teacher incentive fund launched in 2006 this federal grant program supports states school districts and nonprofit organizations in their innovative efforts to adopt pay-for-performance.16 6

[close]

p. 12

it was almost 20 years after a nation at risk that organizations such as the american board for certification of teacher excellence abcte and the national council on teacher quality nctq were set up to promote alternative paths to teacher certification other organizations and programs such as teach for america tfa the new teacher project tntp and troops-to-teachers were launched in the 1990s to encourage high-achieving professionals who would not typically consider a teaching career to devote several years of their lives to k­12 teaching leadership and financial support finally the commission was concerned that we were not developing the leadership necessary to run a world-class school system while management and supervisory skills are needed the commission said that principals and superintendents also must have the skills of persuasion goal-setting and developing community consensus in addition the commission stressed the importance of providing the resources such a system would require as they noted excellence costs but in the long run mediocrity costs far more since a nation at risk and the ensuing standards and accountability movement school principals and superintendents have taken on the role of instructional leaders as well as managers they are now being recruited in more rigorous ways for instance universities have recently begun to recruit candidates more carefully for their education administration programs seeking to find those who will be successful leaders innovative organizations such as the promising new leaders for new schools have created alternative pathways that are highly selective in their recruitment and that require long and intensive training 17 calls for additional resources for education have been present as long as public education itself and legislative bodies from those in washington d.c to state legislatures to school boards have responded in 1983 total spending on public education in the u.s was $118.4 billion.8 if we had since increased spending by only the rate of inflation we would have spent $246 billion in 2005 instead in 2005 the u.s spent $499 billion on k­12 education or roughly double the amount spent in 1983 after adjusting for inflation this increase is not just a consequence of increased k­12 enrollment per-student spending grew from $5,691 in 1983 to almost $9,266 in 2005 after adjusting for inflation.9 this large increase in resources has not gone hand-in-hand with improvements in student performance while resources will always remain an issue of debate in education we must find more effective and efficient ways to use funding our country responded to a nation at risk with far-reaching educational reforms total spending and per-pupil spending local state and federal have gone up dramatically school districts and states have begun to make changes in their approaches to the teaching and education leadership professions finally state officials and legislators have begun setting forth content standards creating annual tests for students and reporting results this effort to achieve equity and excellence through standards and accountability reached a new level with the enactment of the no child left behind act in 2002 7

[close]

p. 13

figure 3 500 naep reading scores of 9-17-year-olds vs education expenditures per student 1984-2004 per-student spending long-term naep reading 9-year-olds long-term naep reading 13-year-olds long-term naep reading 17-year-olds $9,116 450 400 long-term naep achievement $8,074 350 $7,464 $7,419 $7,437 $7,517 300 $6,920 250 $5,896 200 150 100 1984 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1999 2004 source u.s department of education national center for education statistics digest of education statistics 2007 table 171 washington d.c 2008 in 1983 we faced a grave risk of losing our leading position in the world the commission warned we had little idea of how we were doing and we were happily complacent in assuming that we had and would continue to have the best schools money could buy the report challenged this illusion and forced us to recognize the profound deficiencies in our educational system in the last two decades policymakers have worked to develop measurement systems that obviate the need for another such surprising report and that keep the country aware of the challenges we face as a result of no child left behind we now have annual test score data on students in reading and math from the third grade through the eighth grade and once in high school we are able to see how well each of the approximately 96,000 public schools in our country is performing not just overall but also for each group of students a school serves such as minority students students with disabilities and english language learners.20 we have transformed ourselves from a nation at risk of complacency to a nation that is accountable and at work on its education weaknesses we now know the daunting scope of the problem and must enlist everyone to address weaknesses if we are to make progress up the mountain 8 ii what has been the result of these efforts and more importantly are we still at risk?

[close]

p. 14

of the 20 children born in 1983 only six would have been proficient readers in fourth grade and only four would have been proficient in math a new class of 20 kids born in 1997 and tested in 2007 would have seven proficient readers in fourth grade and eight students who are proficient in math.21 so while we are gaining ground in math two-thirds of our fourth-graders are still not proficient readers figure 4 proficiency improvement among 4th-graders born in 1983 only 6 out of 20 students were proficient in reading among 4th-graders born in 1997 7 out of 20 students are proficient in reading and only 4 were proficient in math and 8 are proficient in math note for the purposes of this graph it is assumed that the children will be in 4th grade when they are 9-years-old the achievement data are based on 9-year-olds and it should be noted that a few of them could be in other grades source u.s department of education institute of education sciences national center for education statistics national assessment of educational progress naep 1971-2004 long-term trend reading and mathematics assessments extracted april 2008 these results are generally consistent with our performance on international tests a risk that was of particular concern to the commission in 1983 american education outcomes on international comparisons have not improved significantly since the 1970s international tests show that the united states is at best running in place while other nations are passing us by many countries now match or exceed us not only in the number of years their children attend school but also in how much those children learn the united states was once the world leader in high school completion but among our 25­34 year olds it has now slipped to 10th place falling behind such countries as canada switzerland and south korea.22 it may fall farther behind yet the same is true for achievement on most international tests the united states is standing still while others are gaining ground.23 with performance like this it s no wonder that most foreign children studying in the united states find our schools easier than the ones they left back home despite the fact that americans spend more money per student than almost any other country in the world.24 9

[close]

p. 15

figure 5a per pupil spending on elementary education in purchase-adjusted dollars by various countries 2004 0 luxembourg us switzerland norway iceland czech rep slovakia mexico 4,000 8,000 12,000 source oecd education at a glance 2007 table b1.1.a figure 5b math literacy scores pisa by various countries 2008 350 finland 1 korea 2 netherlands 3 switzerland 4 lux 22 spain 23 us 24 portugal 25 mexico 30 450 550 650 source oecd pisa 2006 see endnote 23 figure 5c science literacy scores pisa by various countries 2004 350 finland 1 canada 2 japan 3 new zealand 4 france 19 iceland 20 us 21 slovakia 22 mexico 30 400 450 500 550 600 source oecd pisa 2006 see endnote 23 while many rightly choose to point to our international performance as a sign that we are not achieving at the level we should it must be acknowledged that the united states expects every one of its students to be proficient in reading and math our public schools welcome all children and we expect that they will be able to at a minimum graduate from high school and pursue their goals we believe that the aspirations of every child are valid and should not be limited this may make our task more difficult but as recognized in 1983 we must hold ourselves accountable for making it happen on a strictly domestic level our performance at the high school level is as alarming as it was at the time of a nation at risk if not worse of major concern here is the number of students dropping out of school before they get their high school diplomas states and districts have used a variety of ways to measure graduation rates pointing to the need for more accuracy and consistency in these calculations 10 iii remaining challenges

[close]