Nation at Risk, A

Background

In August 1981, President Ronald Reagan asked Secretary of Education T. H. Bell to create a [Page 650]National Commission on Excellence in Education to examine the quality of education in the United States. In 1983, the Commission issued its report titled A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. The purpose of the report was to define the problems afflicting the American educational system and to provide solutions to these problems. In a ceremony at the White House, President Ronald Reagan accepted the results of the nearly 2 years of work of the Commission.

The Commission's Charge

The Commission was charged with the following tasks: (a) Assess the quality of teaching and learning in America's public and private schools, and college and universities, (b) compare American schools and colleges with those of other advanced nations, (c) study the relationship between college admissions requirements and student achievement in high school, (d) identify educational programs that result in notable student success in college, (e) assess the degree to which major social and educational changes in the last quarter of a century have affected student achievement, and (f) define problems that must be faced and overcome if American education is to achieve excellence. The Commission directed most of its attention to education in high schools, although the Commission also assessed elementary schools, vocational and technical programs, and higher education. In its work, the Commission analyzed five primary sources of information:

• 1.
  Papers commissioned from experts that addressed a variety of educational issues
• 2.
  Testimony of students, teachers, administrators, parents, scholars, and other stakeholders at eight meetings of the entire Commission, six public hearings, two panel discussions, a symposium, and a series of meetings organized by regional offices of the U.S. Department of Education
• 3.
  Existing papers that analyzed the problems in education
• 4.
  Letters from concerned citizens, teachers, and administrators
• 5.
  Descriptions of exemplary programs and promising practices in education

The Findings

According to the report, which was issued on April 26, 1983, the nation was at risk because America's educational system was producing mediocre results and students were falling behind their foreign counterparts. In an often quoted statement, the commission wrote,