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| REUTERS |
Most of America’s kids aren’t regaining the ground lost to school shutdowns during the pandemic: That’s the main bottom line of the “nation’s report card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress, for 2024.
Indeed, reading scores dropped from 2022 to 2024, for the worst results since NAEP testing began in 1992.
NAEP exams, given to a large sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students across the nation every two years, show that a full third of kids couldn’t show “basic” reading skills expected for their age group.
Only top-performing students seem to be regaining ground lost during COVID lockdowns, so the “achievement gap” with low-performing kids is growing.
This despite nearly $200 billion in federal funds these last few years that was supposed to help public schools compensate for the damage.
The numbers are basically as grim for math, where eighth-grade scores dropped these last two years; fourth-graders posted small gains above 2022 — but are still below the pre-pandemic level (and the gains were mainly among high achievers). --->READ MORE HERE
The timing couldn’t be more providential.
We celebrate Catholic Schools Week each year at the end of January, as families and neighborhoods throughout the nation highlight the importance of Catholic schools.
National School Choice Week coincides with it this year, emphasizing the importance of empowering parents and their children by allowing them to have educational options and by expanding school choice across the country.
And data released this week by the National Assessment of Educational Progress proves just how important it is to expand education freedom to all 50 states.
We know school choice is a vital means to financially enable parents to send their children to Catholic and other schools of their choosing.
School choice simply means that regardless of economic means or ZIP code, families should have access to the highest-quality school that best meets their children’s academic needs while supporting the values and beliefs most important to them. For the families of nearly 1.7 million children nationwide, the choice is a Catholic school.
But that choice for many families is in jeopardy, as working- and middle-class parents continue to struggle to make ends meet.
For President Trump and the new Congress, the moment is now to pass meaningful school choice legislation to reach families in all 50 states.
Legislation in Congress, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), is the ideal way to improve and expand educational opportunity to families who lack the financial capacity for a private or religious education — and build a more equal and just society.
The ECCA would add a federal income-tax credit to generate private charitable donations to nonprofit scholarship granting organizations that distribute scholarships to children for K-12 education expenses, including private-school tuition or supplemental education services if they remain in a district government school. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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