Fixing America's Schools

The US has long struggled with how to best educate its children.

Progress on reading and math, already slow and uneven, was upended by the COVID pandemic. US students continue to underperform their international peers.

But looking at average test scores misses the story. US schools in wealthy neighborhoods perform among the best in the world. The question is really how to improve student performance in poor neighborhoods.

These challenges come at a time when President-elect Trump has floated eliminating the Department of Education and returning education to the states.

It is worth considering the history of the Department of Education, and what are the best strategies for helping students in poor neighborhoods.

History of Education in the US

The Constitution grants no explicit authority to the federal government to oversee education. It is not included in the powers delegated in Article I section 8, and the 10th Amendment reserves all other matters to the states and people.

In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson recommended allocating federal funding for public education, but noted doing so would require a constitutional amendment.

Notwithstanding, the early 19th century brought the first national movement to “professionalize” education in the US, and in 1867, Congress authorized a Department of Education under President Johnson to track education statistics.

It was demoted the following year to an agency within the Department of Interior, under fears it would control local schools.

A series of events in the mid 20th century brought federal control over education back to the fore. First was the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, which mandated the desegregation of public schools, giving the executive branch a legal basis for ensuring equal access to schools.

Second was the 1957 Sputnik satellite launch, which shocked the US into action. Congress passed the National Defense Education Act the following year to improve capacity in college science and engineering, to bolster national security.

President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society led to expanding the federal government’s role in education, which culminated in establishing the current Department of Education in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter.

Today’s Performance in Schools

Since its establishment, the Department of Education’s funding has skyrocketed to ~$238 billion. ~75% is earmarked for student loans.

Its results are mixed. Many gains achieved over the last 50 years were undone by COVID. In the 2022 Nation’s Report Card of 9-year old students, reading measured its largest drop since 1990 and a first ever drop in mathematics.

For 13-year old students, the results were worse. As of 2023, the average reading score for a 13 year-old was not statistically significantly different than in 1971.

But looking at averages misses the story.

The National Center for Education Statistics breaks down the US PISA test scores for 15-year olds by school cohort, based on the percentage of students on free or reduced price lunches (FRPL).

While the overall US 2022 PISA test scores show the US ranked 34th in math, 9th in reading, and 16th in science, looking at schools in more affluent neighborhoods paints an entirely different picture. Schools with less than 25% of the students on FRPLs perform much better: top 8 for math, first for reading, and top 3 for science.

Students in more affluent neighborhoods perform among the best in the world.

The question policymakers and citizens should be asking is how to fix public schools in poor neighborhoods.

Fixing Schools in Poor Neighborhoods

The academic literature on this topic is significant and complex.

Educational psychologist David Berliner argues that fixing schools requires reducing poverty. He points to numerous studies which show that, as economic status improves, school performance improves. One study found that escaping poverty had a greater impact on kids’ Mental Development Index and Negative Behavior Index than federal programs such as Head Start.

If socioeconomic status (SES) matters, perhaps integrating across SES can help. One study found that SES was the primary factor impacting student performance. This was because schools with higher average SES were better: higher teacher expectations of students, more homework, more AP classes, and students felt safer. Integrating poor students into high SES schools improved their performance.

However, this same study also showed that retaining these distinctive advantages of high SES schools matters. The model predicted that if low SES and high SES schools were fully integrated, the resulting school would be middle SES. The children from the low SES school would benefit, but these gains would be outweighed by losses from moving children from a high SES school to a worse performing school.

Studies also show that individualized attention matters. One found that increasing parental involvement in their children’s studies improves performance. Economist Roland Fryer found that intensive individualized academic instruction for poor high school students had a materially positive impact on reading and math.

A landmark study at Stanford found that charter schools improved student performance. However, another study, also by Dr. Fryer, found more mixed results from charter schools and little impact on early career earnings.

One possible answer is that improving student outcomes in poor neighborhoods requires multiple, flexible, and potentially different approaches.

As policymakers look to revitalize the nation’s education agenda, it is worth looking at the evidence to see what strategies work best.

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