Real Academic Accountability: CHOICE

Howard Rich

From Townhall.com - by Howard Rich - With fresh data showing that students in the United States are falling further behind their international peers, a commitment to universal parental choice at all levels of government is needed now more than ever. Without putting too fine a point on it, our nation’s sustained competitiveness and long-term economic survival hang in the balance.

According to the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) –released to considerable hand-wringing in Washington, D.C. last week – America’s reading scores have slipped by four points over the last nine years. Our fifteen-year-old students now trail their counterparts in Shanghai by 56 points – with even larger gaps existing in science (73 points) and mathematics (113 points).  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called these disappointing results a “wake-up call,” adding that “I think we have to invest in reform, not in the status quo.” Read full column here:

Real Academic Accountability: CHOICE