Families deserve school choice while reform catches up | Opinion

We’ve all heard about the steep learning loss that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastating effects of keeping many American schools closed to in-person learning far longer than necessary.

But a troubling new study shows the decline started years earlier, across racial and demographic lines. School and political leaders around the country should treat that as a wake-up call.

It also underscores the importance of expanding school choice so families can improve their children’s education before it’s too late.

The Education Scorecard, a collaboration between Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research and Stanford University’s Education Opportunity Project, was released May 13. It shows states across the country struggling with declining test scores dating back more than a decade. It’s the fourth year of the scorecard.

The report traces the beginning of the “learning recession” to 2013, when progress in math and reading stalled before starting to decline. Nat Malkus, a senior fellow and deputy director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, called the trend “dramatic” and described it as the “central problem in American education.”

So what’s going on?

“The slowdown in learning coincided with a dismantling of test-based accountability in schools and a dramatic rise in social media use among young people,” the report found. “Although it remains unclear whether and how much each factor caused the decline in scores, both are likely candidates.”

If schools want to improve, they must prioritize reading 

In addition to reduced accountability measures and the rise of social media, the authors point to another lingering problem: chronic absenteeism. The issue has continued to plague schools since the pandemic. It’s generally defined as missing 10% or more of the school year.

While chronic absenteeism has declined somewhat since the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 school closures, rates remain alarmingly high. In the 2024-25 school year, 23% of students were chronically absent, compared with 15% before 2020.

The report also points to the importance of the “science of reading.” States that implemented comprehensive literacy reforms are seeing encouraging results. States that rejected those reforms, or later reversed them, largely are not.

A focus on early literacy has produced dramatic results in Mississippi, an outlier amid otherwise bleak student performance trends. Not long ago, the state’s test scores ranked among the worst in the country. Now Mississippi is often cited as a model for improving student achievement. It did so in part by strengthening teacher training and making sure students could read by third grade. If they couldn’t, they were held back.

The report also highlights more than 100 local districts that are outpacing their peers in academic gains. Its authors recommend pairing those successful districts with struggling ones so they can share best practices.

Don't make families wait for schools to improve 

Here’s the problem: Meaningful school improvement doesn’t happen overnight, and even reforms that work can take years to show results. Meanwhile, the federal government spends more than $60 billion a year on public education, with little to show for it in student achievement.

Students stuck in struggling public schools today deserve better options now. That’s where school choice comes in.

At least 17 states now offer universal private school choice programs, allowing families to use state education dollars for the school that best fits their child’s needs. Many of these programs emerged after prolonged COVID-19 school closures frustrated parents across the country.

The Trump administration is also promoting a federal school choice tax credit program passed in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The program could expand options in states that have long resisted robust school choice. Individual donors can contribute up to $1,700 to nonprofit organizations in exchange for a federal tax credit, and families can then apply for scholarships to help cover private school tuition, tutoring and other educational expenses.

Governors must opt in, however. So far, 31 states have signaled they will participate, including several Democratic-led states such as New York and Colorado.

Given the dire state of schools across the country, there is little excuse for governors not to sign on and give families more options now. They shouldn’t let pressure from school choice-hating teachers unions keep them from making the right decision. 

As the Education Scorecard’s authors make clear, there are practical steps schools can take to improve student learning. But those reforms will take time.

In the meantime, families deserve the ability to seek out better educational opportunities for their children now.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques.