How to help third-graders struggling to read: Don’t socially promote them
Preview:
In 1961, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow got a virtual trademark on the term “vast wasteland.” So, although highly apt, it isn’t available now for application to K-12 public schools in the United States.
Yes, there are oases of high-quality education, just as Minow acknowledged some exceptions in the early world of television. But the statistics showing our country’s systemic educational failure are too dreary and well known to need further recitation. And the educrat establishment of unions and career administrators continues to prove more than a match for reformers attempting fundamental, system-wide change.
Originally published: May 13, 2024
Author: Mitch Daniels
Position: President Emeritus
Institution: Purdue University
Published by: The Washington Post