Nation at Risk, A

Background

The Commission on Excellence in Education was created by Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Education, Terrel Bell, in 1981. Bell believed that because of the low test scores of American students in international examinations and because of an apparent public uneasiness with schools, the time was right for a study that would provide recommendations for improving our schools and colleges. Despite a lack of enthusiasm for the project by the Republican administration, he was allowed to proceed with the study.

The commission contained representatives of business, colleges, and universities; teachers; school administrators; and school board members. In his [Page 535]charge to the group, Secretary Bell instructed them to “review and synthesize the data and scholarly literature on the quality of learning and teaching in the nation's schools, colleges, and universities, both public and private, with special concern for the educational experience of teenage youth.” They were also instructed to identify problems facing schools and seek successful programs to remedy the current educational deficiencies.

Contents

After their report was unanimously agreed upon by all the members of the commission, it was introduced to the public by President Reagan. The document began with an introduction that was widely quoted in the media, which stated that

Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged prominence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. … If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. … We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. … We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral, educational, disarmament.

Following this introduction, the report identified the following failures of the American education system:

• Our student test scores compare unfavorably with other nations
• Twenty-three million Americans are functionally illiterate
• The college entrance SAT scores have been declining since the 1960s
• Test scores of college graduates are dropping
• Businesses and the military are spending millions of dollars retraining employees and recruits
• American students are deficient in their knowledge in the field of science

The recommendation section of the report suggested the need to return to an emphasis on what the authors called the “new basics.” Specifically, the commission called for a high school curriculum that includes four years of English, three years of mathematics, three years of science, three years of social studies, and a half year of computer science.

This section of the report also referred to the need for “rigorous” curriculum standards. It recommended that these standards be written in such a way that they are measurable and clearly articulate what students should know and be able to do. To ensure that the standards are being effectively taught, meaningful or high-stakes examinations should be administered to measure student learning.

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