The U.S. education system is at a crossroads. Despite spending more per student than almost any other country—over $15,500 annually—American kids are falling behind. Reading and math scores are dropping, and on the global stage, nations like Singapore and Taiwan are leaving us in the dust. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported in 2024 that 69% of fourth graders and 70% of eighth graders were below grade level in reading. Math scores were even worse: 60% of fourth graders and 72% of eighth graders didn’t meet basic standards. These aren’t just pandemic problems—experts say the decline started over a decade ago. So, what’s going wrong? Education pros point to three big issues: lack of accountability, relaxed standards, and disengaged students. Here’s how fixing them could turn things around.
Accountability: No Consequences, No Progress
Imagine getting a report card with no grades—just a pat on the back for showing up. That’s pretty much how U.S. public schools operate when it comes to standardized tests. Schools have to give them to get federal funding, but there’s no real penalty for bad results. Martin West, a big name at the National Assessment Governing Board, says this “softening of accountability” is a major reason scores have been sliding since 2013. Back in the day, programs like No Child Left Behind under President George W. Bush pushed schools to improve test scores or face consequences. But teachers and districts pushed back, saying it was too much pressure.
Fast forward to today: most states don’t even tie teacher evaluations or job security to how students perform on tests. Instead, they use squishy metrics like classroom observations or student grades, which unions and district leaders negotiate. In Texas, some districts are suing the state to keep their school ratings under wraps—ratings based partly on those test scores. Catrin Wigfall, an education expert from Minnesota, told The Epoch Times this shows who’s really running the show: teacher unions, not school boards or state leaders. Meanwhile, after COVID, the Biden administration handed out $190 billion to schools with no strings attached. A lot of that cash went to new gyms or hiring staff unrelated to teaching, while scores kept tanking. Accountability matters—without it, there’s no push to get better.
Standards: Passing Without Proving It
Here’s a wild fact: you can graduate high school in most states without passing a final exam. In California, less than half of kids in grades three to eight met reading standards last year, and only a third hit the mark in math. Yet, the state’s graduation rate soared to 87%. How does that add up? David Steiner from Johns Hopkins University says it’s because the U.S. has ditched tough standards. In other countries, kids have to prove they’ve mastered the basics to move on. Here, we’re more likely to hand out diplomas like participation trophies.
Take Aleysha Ortiz from Hartford, Connecticut. She graduated high school in 2023 unable to read or write, relying on her phone’s talk-to-text to scrape by. She’s now suing her district, claiming they failed her despite years of special education support. Hartford’s teacher union admitted the district loosened rules—like ignoring chronic absenteeism—to boost graduation rates. Steiner calls this a “retreat from using a thermometer.” If we don’t measure what kids know, we’re just pretending the problem doesn’t exist. Raising the bar could force schools to focus on real learning, not just pushing kids through.
Engagement: Screens Over Schoolwork
Kids today live on their phones—social media, games, you name it. West calls it the “screen-based childhood,” and it’s killing focus. U.S. standardized tests aren’t TikTok-friendly—they demand long reading passages and deep thinking, which clash with shorter attention spans. On global tests like PISA, where questions are more visual and bite-sized, American 15-year-olds do okay—9th in reading, 16th in science—but still lag in math at 34th out of 80 countries. Compare that to Singapore, where eighth graders outscore ours by over 120 points on the TIMSS test. Why? Their kids aren’t glued to screens all day, and their schools prioritize engagement over distraction.
President Donald Trump’s new reforms aim to tackle this. He’s pushing universal school choice—letting parents pick schools that work for their kids—and cracking down on what he calls “progressive” distractions in the classroom. Shrinking the Department of Education and giving states more control with block grants could also shake things up. The idea? Get kids excited about learning again, not just scrolling.
The Bottom Line
The U.S. spends big on education but gets mediocre results. We’re 22nd in the world for math and science, 18th overall on PISA—not terrible, but not elite. Experts say tightening accountability, raising standards, and re-engaging students could make us world-class. It’s not about more money; it’s about using what we’ve got smarter. With 50 million K-12 students in public schools, the stakes are high. Will we keep sliding, or finally catch up? The fix starts with owning the problem—and acting on it.
