Joel kotkin

Higher education still ranks as a U. Some of this can be blamed on the pandemic, but not all of it can.

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According to the National Center for Education Statistics, between pre-pandemic and , the average score for 4th graders on standardized math tests dropped by 18 points, while scores for 8th graders declined by 27 points. The lockdowns may have accelerated the deterioration in testing, but scores have been dropping since , and have continued to decline since the pandemic ended.

This backs up the notion, recently expressed by Trump advisor Vivek Ramaswamy , that American kids lack the skills to compete with foreign workers. But we are not just talking about elite skills. Progressive educrats have reasons to fear disclosure at a time when we are seeing the first reduction of the average American IQ in years while China dominates STEM fields.

No surprise then that many parents and some states are looking at alternatives, notably school choice and charter schools. This year alone 20 states expanded their charter programs.

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Overall, publicly funded charter schools have doubled since , while the student count has grown by more than threefold. These schools have consistently outperformed their traditional public school rivals. Yet, better performance seems barely a priority for many who run public schools, particularly in the deepest blue states. In California, charters are under unremitting attack.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is working overtime to prevent new charters while harassing those that already exist. All this despite a plurality of Californians who think that their schools are getting worse. The biggest losers are the students, particularly minorities.