Education Freedom
Is the next generation being educated to thrive?
Denisha Merriweather has an interesting story. In the fifth grade, she could not read. Her aunt took her out of her failing public school and enrolled her in a small Christian school. She graduated as valedictorian of her class. Recently, I co-authored an Op-ed for Heart and Soul magazine with Denisha who is now pursuing her Ph.D. and is Director of Public Relations at the American Federation for Children, and the Founder of Black Minds Matter. Below is another angle on the issue of education in light of the recent results of the national test scores.
The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test, often called the nation’s report card, found a record drop in learning across the U.S. Nationwide. Only 33% of fourth graders and 31% of eighth graders read at or above grade proficiency. (WSJ) The average eighth-grade mathematics score decreased by 8 points compared to 2019 and was lower than all previous assessment years going back to 2003 (NAEP)
Also, “the national average ACT score for the class of 2022 fell to 19.8 out of 36 according to data released by the nonprofit that administers the test. (...) Only 10% of students from households earning less than $50,000 met all four college readiness benchmarks” (WSJ)
How can the cycle of poverty be broken without education in a world that is becoming increasingly complicated to navigate? How can one-third of our students, who can’t do basic math or reading, achieve health and financial literacy? How can STEM careers be accessible to all, if schools are not preparing our children? How can innovation and entrepreneurship flourish in underserved communities when students can’t do basic math? What does it mean for workforce recruitment and development in jobs that demand more and more technical skills? And most importantly, democracy depends on an educated citizenry. How will our democracy thrive?
Education in America is the real crisis of our generation.
Devastating Effects of Low Literacy
Low literacy in children leads to low literacy in adults. 54% of American adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, and nearly one in five adults reads below a third-grade level. With low literacy rates, gaps will continue to widen as low literacy correlates with:
higher unemployment;
reduced income;
higher incarceration rates; and
poorer health outcomes.
Forty-three percent of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. One-third of adults with low literacy are unemployed.
What are the causes of such low academic achievement?
What is the NAEP Rating of the districts where you operate your business, recruit or live? In the Chicago Public Schools, only 11 percent of black students and 17 percent of Hispanic children in the entire district could read at grade level in 2021. The 2022 NAEP scores dropped 10 points for both groups.
Is more funding needed?
The United States spends over $750 billion each year on education. Per student, that averages out to $15,000. It’s one of the highest levels of spending per child in the world.
And yet, school districts like the Chicago Public Schools spend far more than that. The district’s proposed budget for 2023 is at $9.4billion in FY2023 which is more than $29,000 per student. That’s 40 percent more than the $21,000 the district spent just four years ago.
That spending is up despite the worrisome decrease in the district’s enrollment. In 2003, CPS had 439,000 students. Today, enrollment is down to 321,000. According to the district, that flight of students has left one-third of its 478 stand-alone “traditional” schools less than half-full, about 150 schools. Why is the budget continuing to increase when enrollment is going down? Why do schools with lower budgets achieve better academic performance?
Is it class size?
The Chicago Public Schools board is asking for an increase in its budget to reduce class sizes, but it is not clear that smaller class sizes would make a difference in outcomes. Already, the 20 most-empty CPS schools are only 5 to 25 percent full and yet the academic outcomes are dismal.
Take, for example, Manley High School has a capacity for 1,296 students but has just 64 students enrolled. There, only 2% are proficient in reading and 1% are proficient in math (Wirepoints analysis of the Illinois State of Board Education).
Is it the methodology?
As featured in The Policy Circle brief on Literacy: “EdWeek surveyed the most popular literacy programs in the country and found that at the time, most of them did not have a phonics-based approach. Several states have enacted their own versions of “science of reading” laws that mandate teaching phonics. As of July 2022, 30 states, across all regions in the United States, had either passed full science of reading laws or implemented policies related to them; 19 of these states have initiated legislation since 2020.”
In my podcast interview with Betsy Devos, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Education and the leading advocate for education freedom in America, she responded:
“Money is not the issue. We have continually invested more and more resources. The issue has been that we are living in a 175-year-old, industrial model, one-size-fits-all top-down system, that was started with the express purpose of putting in children on the front end and bringing them out the other end all conforming to pretty much the same thing!”
What if instead of funding buildings, our government funded the child, i.e., the money would follow the children to the school that fits their needs best?
If funding followed the student to educational opportunities that matched their needs, what might that look like?
Governor Ducey of Arizona recently signed one of the most sweeping education freedom bills in the nation’s history. Every family in Arizona can now use $6,500 each year per child to choose a learning environment or resources that fits their child’s unique learning needs. This could be homeschooling, private education, or other learning environments that promote a child’s success.
Black Minds Matter understands how important it is for children to find a learning environment that works best for them. The organization has created the first-ever online directory to promote schools founded by African Americans.
According to a national poll done by Real Clear Opinion, 74% of voters back school choice, the highest level of support ever recorded.
Other states will be watching the results of what is happening in Arizona. Innovation happens when there is competition.
What We Can Do to Change the Outcomes
When asked what can be done to improve the situation, Betsy Devos offers practical advice:
“Pay attention to who is running for office…people who make policy around education. Support the ones who are going to vote for education freedom to empower these families to make decisions. For the schools your kids are in currently, demand curriculum transparency, demand to see how they’re spending the money that they get and how it’s being utilized and to what effect.”
Parental choice policies are established at the state level and charter schools are approved at the school district level.
Some facts to consider: The American Federation for Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) are the two main teacher unions. They both have passed resolutions to support local chapters to engage in local school board races, support local and state candidates aligned with the union's priorities, and limit the expansion of parental choice programs. You can find out which candidates they endorse by visiting your state’s Federation of Teachers.
Ballotpedia.org can also give you a preview of your ballot including ballot initiatives and the candidates’ endorsements, and background information.
To read the original Op-Ed click here, and to listen to Betsy Devos’ Trust Your Voice podcast episode click here! Listen to my conversation with Denisha Merriweather click here.