The recently released 12th-grade scores on the 2024 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) are dismal news for American education. Only 35 percent of high school seniors scored “proficient” in reading, the lowest percentage since the assessment began in 1992. Math scores for 12th-graders were even worse, with just 22 percent achieving proficiency—the lowest figure since the current test began in 2005.
Reversing these trends means refocusing our educational system on a content-rich curriculum that gives students the knowledge they need to succeed in life. But the body responsible for New York State’s education system, the Board of Regents, is moving in the opposite direction, prioritizing so-called equity-based programs that water down the fundamentals.
Finally, a reason to check your email.
Sign up for our free newsletter today.
In 2024, far too many students nationwide failed to achieve the NAEP’s “basic” level, meaning they lack even partial mastery of the knowledge and skills needed to undertake college-level courses. Only 68 percent of high school seniors scored above this level in reading, down from 80 percent in 1992. On the math exam, 45 percent of 12th-graders missed the benchmark, compared with 39 percent in 2005.
The drop in overall scores coincides with a growing gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students. That gap predates the Covid-19 pandemic. (The only achievement percentages that haven’t dropped are for those scoring in the 90th percentile and above.)
Despite these alarming trends, the Board of Regents has decided that academic achievement isn’t its guiding objective. Its 2018 report, Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework, sidelines the transmission of knowledge and focuses on “equity”—a word that, in education circles, has come to mean reducing opportunities for some students so that everyone comes out equal. Eliminating gifted and talented programs would be one example of bringing about more “equitable” results.
This focus continues today. Over the next five years, the Regents will phase in a new set of high school graduation requirements called the four “transformations.” The Regents exams, once a requirement for graduation, will become optional. In their place, students will be able to substitute various projects—performances, internships, or participation in the arts. How these alternatives will prepare students for success in either the workplace or in higher education remains unclear.
Additionally, the Regents call on districts to adopt a new method of instruction called Performance Based Learning and Assessment (PBLA). Under PBLA, the teacher’s role is to be reduced from providing direct instruction in a subject to guiding students’ individually chosen projects. (Research demonstrates that PBLA is much less effective for learning than direct instruction.)
It’s particularly alarming that the Regents are taking these steps given that they have an obvious example of education done right: New York City’s charter schools. Black and Hispanic students in many of these schools, where enrollments are roughly 90 percent minority, outperform their traditional public school peers on state exams—sometimes by as much as 27 percentage points.
Charter schools maintain high academic standards and expectations for all students. For instance, the high school English curriculum at the largest network, Success Academy, seeks to expose its students “to the great texts, ideas, and events that have shaped our modern world,” emphasizing “Platonic style discourse; incisive analysis; and powerful, cogent writing.”
Many charter schools have also adopted the Science of Reading, a style of instruction that focuses on phonics. By contrast, many non-charter public schools use the discredited “balanced literacy” approach, which encourages students to use pictures and context to “guess” at unknown words.
Additionally, many charter schools have teacher-training programs that focus specifically on a content-rich curriculum and hold students, parents, and teachers to high expectations. Some schools require commitments from parents or guardians to read nightly with their children, ensure that they do their homework, and make sure they arrive at school on time every day.
Many also impose strict disciplinary codes and immediate consequences for inappropriate behavior or dress. Some charters offer longer school days or academic years than district schools. Some provide tutors to supplement classroom instruction. As a consequence of all these efforts, graduates of city charters get admitted to college at a high rate. At Success Academy Schools, for example, every graduating senior has been admitted to a four-year college for the last eight years.
The Regents should follow the charters’ lead and adopt proven teaching methods in traditional academic subjects. Teachers and schools should be held accountable for enabling students to learn demanding curricula. And schools must hold parents and students responsible for attending regularly, meeting high expectations, completing homework assignments on time, and behaving properly in school.
If student learning is to improve in New York State, the Board of Regents needs to change course. The NAEP scores show that there’s no time to waste.
Roberta Rubel Schaefer was the founder and president of the Worcester Regional Research Bureau and a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education (1996-2007).
Photo: Maskot / Maskot via Getty Images
City Journal is a publication of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MI), a leading free-market think tank. Are you interested in supporting the magazine? As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations in support of MI and City Journal are fully tax-deductible as provided by law (EIN #13-2912529).