The U.S. Chamber of Commerce signaled the alarm after the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recently revealed the grim performance of fourth- and eighth-grade American students in math and reading as test scores declined in the single largest drop since record keeping began in 1992.
“This is a wakeup call for our country—for policymakers, leaders in public education, and the business community,” said Cheryl Oldham, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president of education policy. “These results show that learning loss has risen to historic levels in part due to the impact of the pandemic, which only exacerbated existing failures in the education system….