America’s Seniors Are Falling Behind and California Can’t Wait
Anya Dalal
The U.S. Department of Education just confirmed what students have been feeling for years: America’s schools are slipping, and the slide is accelerating. Twelfth-grade math and reading scores are now at their lowest levels on record. Only 22% of seniors are proficient in math. Just 35% can read at grade level. That means two out of three high school seniors are graduating without basic reading skills, and nearly four out of five students lack core math skills.
Though the pandemic made things worse, the decline started long before COVID. Pointing fingers at Zoom school or blaming “kids and their phones” is a cop-out. The reality is that students are entering the economy with fewer skills at the exact moment the economy demands more. And while classrooms crumble, policymakers in Washington waste time debating whether the Department of Education should even exist.
High-dosage tutoring is one of the most effective tools we have, and every district should be funded to provide it. Chronic absenteeism must be confronted with creative campaigns that actually pull students back into classrooms: peer-to-peer outreach, transportation fixes, and family engagement. At times, smartphones are part of the problem. California, along with many other states, has worked to restrict phone use during school hours to help reduce distractions and improve focus.
Meanwhile, teaching in California has become flat-out unsustainable. The state is bleeding educators, not only due to burnout, but also because they can’t afford to live in the communities they serve. Unfortunately, in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, veteran teachers are priced out, stuck with two-hour commutes, or pushed to leave the profession altogether. Yes, California requires cities to adopt “housing elements” that plan for affordable housing, but those plans rarely help the “missing middle” where teachers fall. They earn too much to qualify for subsidies and too little to afford market rents. The fix must be bold: teacher-specific housing, flexible zoning, down-payment support, and state-backed incentives to keep educators in classrooms. If teaching isn’t financially viable, all the tutoring programs and curriculum reforms in the world won’t matter.
And here’s the part too many leaders overlook: students themselves need to be in the room where decisions are made. If adults can’t solve this, students should help drive the conversation, which is why the California Association of Youth Commissions is pushing to establish commissions in towns that don’t yet have them. Our top priority is targeting communities where there’s the sharpest mismatch between the demographics of school-age youth and the demographics of the school boards that govern them. In other words, we’re going where young people are most shut out of the decisions shaping their education.
If students aren’t at the table, decisions will continue to be made without us, and the results, as the latest test scores show, are catastrophic. California needs bold action, and it needs youth in the room.
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