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For Immediate Release
November 1, 2011

Contact: Raegan Weber
Raegan@edreform.com
P: 800-521-2118

U.S. Gets an "F" for Flatline in Nation's Report Card

WASHINGTON, DC - Barely 40 percent of the nation's 4th- and
8th-grade students are proficient in math and reading, an
alarming statistic that would be considered failure in any grade,
any school or on any state report card.

The results of the 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress
(Commonly called "The Nations' Report Card") showed a
statistically insignificant gain of 1 percentage point over 2009
scores. Nationwide only 13 states showed any significant progress
at all. The District of Columbia is one of the only states to
increase in both 4th- and 8th-grade math and reading scores, but
it still lags behind most other states and its students achieve
only 21percent on reading in 4th-grade and 17percent on 8th-grade
math.

"Our nation's students can't afford for us to sit idly by while
another year passes with relatively no improvements. The
Nation's Report Card demonstrates the status quo does not work,"
said Jeanne Allen, president of The Center for Education Reform.
"We must overhaul our educational system. We need revolutionary
change, if we want to break free from the failing trends of the
past and truly celebrate student achievement."

Allen continued, "As a nation, we are well behind our educational
goals and student achievement continues to flatline. In two
years, since the last release Report Card, math and reading
scores have shown little to no improvement."

Forty-two states have shown no significant improvement on either
test since 2009. Closing the achievement gap also seems to be
impossible, with the gap between white and black students
decreasing by only one point to a 25-point gap. The gap between
white and Hispanic students was also 20 points or higher across
all assessments. In reading, 4th-grade students stayed the same
since 2009 and 8th graders only marginally improved.

"While we remain stuck in mediocrity, other nations are gaining
on, if not surpassing, the U.S. in the global economy. How can we
compete when our complacent education system is satisfied with
nearly a third of our children failing to achieve even basic
knowledge in math and reading? The longer we wait - the longer
we let achievement flatline - the further we'll find ourselves at
the bottom of the list of powerful, even worth mentioning,
economies," said Allen.


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CER, since 1993, is the leading voice and advocate for lasting,
substantive and structural education reform in the U.S.
Additional information about the Center and its activities can be
found at www.edreform.com.


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