A detailed analysis of the most recent NAEP reveals the deterioration of American public schools, and not surprisingly, the teachers’ unions are a significant contributor to the decline.
On May 15, the Manhattan Institute published a brief on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Also known as the Nation’s Report Card, it is the gold standard assessment for measuring American students’ proficiency in various subjects. (As a former middle school testing coordinator, I helped administer the exam once and saw the test delivered with the utmost professionalism. Students are randomly selected without cherry-picking, and the test was handled with great attention to detail.
Unfortunately, the 2024 scores reveal that American schoolchildren are on a downward slope. Only about a third of 4th- and 8th-grade students are proficient in reading or mathematics. A few of the key findings from the Manhattan Institute report include:
- Student proficiency levels have stagnated or declined since the early 1990s, with 4th- and 8th-grade reading proficiency at an average of 30%–31%. Math proficiency for both grades peaked in 2013 (42% for 4th grade and 35% for 8th grade) but has declined to 39% (4th grade) and 28% (8th grade).
- Between 2013 and 2024, the lowest-performing public school students (25th percentile) lost an average of 12 points, compared with an 8-point decline among charter school students. Among average-performing students (50th percentile), public schools declined by 5 points, while charter schools remained stable. Charter schools provided more stability across all student performance levels.
- States with collective bargaining laws for educators saw steeper declines in reading (–3.7% in 4th grade, –4.9% in 8th grade) and math (–2.7% in 4th grade, –4.4% in 8th grade) compared with smaller declines in non-collective bargaining states. While non-collective bargaining states started with lower scores, their rate of decline was smaller, suggesting that greater flexibility in adapting instructional practices is beneficial.
- Even with record-high education spending per student in some states, such as New York, student achievement remains low, demonstrating that funding alone does not drive academic success.
“Our lowest performing students are reading at historically low levels,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP. “We need to stay focused to right this ship.”
When test scores show that the system is failing, the typical response is that we must spend more money. However, as noted in the Manhattan Institute paper, this argument is bogus. New York has the highest per-pupil spending of any state, at $36,293 per student; however, its 4th-graders rank 32nd and 46th nationally on reading and math NAEP exams.
Just Facts reveals that, nationwide, average inflation-adjusted spending per public school student has risen by 31% since 2000, 111% since 1980, 4.1 times since 1960, and 25 times since 1920. As of the 2020–21 school year, the U.S. spent an average of $18,614 per student enrolled in K–12 public schools. In contrast, the average tuition for students in private K–12 schools was $14,566, while Catholic schools charged an average of $11,069 per student.
Importantly, as the Manhattan Institute paper discloses, teachers’ unions, especially with their mandatory collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), are a significant contributor to our educational woes.
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