Another School Year and Another Chance to Get It Right

As we approach the beginning of another school year, we as a nation have another chance to get it right. America continues to lag behind many less wealthy nations in providing high quality education for its children.

This underachievement on the world stage is particularly glaring in the critical areas of math, science, technology and English language arts. It is not a sporadic problem, but a systemic one.

America's public education system for the majority of its children, grades K through12, is broken and it must be fixed, and it will not be easy.

The U.S. Department of Education should be commended for encouraging states to adopt what has come to be known as "Common Core Learning Standards" that require students to gain higher proficiency in math, science and English language arts where they do more writing, critical thinking and problem solving.

Forty-six states have responded and adopted Common Core Learning Standards. Some states are moving into their second year of implementation and are now receiving the results of performance tests of students after year one. The overall lower performance of what was once considered high-performing schools is sobering.

Two states, Kentucky and New York, are reporting results. In New York, less than a third of the students tested proficient in math and English, which is a steep drop from test results in previous years. For example: Only 31% of students in the 3rd to 8th grades met or exceeded math and English proficiency standards. Last year, 55% of students were proficient in English and 65% in math.

But officials are quick to point out that the large difference is due more to the higher standards than lower performance. The tests reflect the emphasis on critical thinking. Students are required to write more after reading and analyzing complex subjects, tackle multi-step problems in math and spell out the logic behind the answers in written responses.

Kentucky, the first state to test under the Common Core standards, saw a similar drop of about 30% in testing results for students after the first year of implementation.

The persistent achievement gap between white and minority students is also very evident in the Common Core results. In New York: 16% of African-American students and 18% of Hispanic students met English standards, compared with 40% of white students and 50% of Asian students. In math, 15% of black students and 18% of Hispanic students met learning standards, compared with 38% of white students and 60% of Asian students.

If these initial testing results do nothing else, they should make states more determined than ever to move forward with implementing high quality Common Core Learning Standards so that our children can be very prepared to pursue upon graduation a college education, technical training and meaningful productive careers and lives.

That is our only hope to keep America strong, competitive and a leader on the world stage. What could be better reasons for biting the bullet and getting the education of our children right?