THE MYTH OF DECLINE

SAT. Thus, the sample of students taking these exams changes over time and in
not necessarily representative. In any given year, if a greater percentage of lower-
performing students take college entrance exams than in previous years, we would
expect the overall average score to decline. Such a decline could not be attributed
to any change in the performance of the public schools. In fact, it might well be
the case that more lower-performance students are taking these exams precisely
because the public school system is doing a better job of preparing those students
for college. In other words, it might be that students on the low end of the
performance scale have improved their performance just enough to enter into the
testing pool, even though they remain below the performance level of the average
student taking the test. Thus, a decline in ACT or SAT scores can just as easily
result from improvement in the public school as from their deterioration.

GRADUATION RATES

There is evidence other than standarlizd test scores test scores public schools are
Not in decline. Since gradating as many students as possible is an important
Goal of our public schools, grandution rates also provide a reliable measure
Of school effectiveness.

Figure 7. 3 shows high school, graduation rates between 1971 – 1972 and
2001 – 2002, measured by taking high school graduates as a percentage OF
The seventeen year old population. This is the available way to measure
Changes in the graduation rate over longer periods of time ( SEE CHAPTER 8 for
A complete discussion of graduation rates)
Just at test scores have been consistent over the last thirty years, graduation
Rates have also not fallen dramatically, between 1971-1972 and 1999-2000
The national high school graduation rate wentfrom 75.6 to 70.3 percet.
What’s more, early estimate for following two years indicate that the
Rate may have recovered a little estimate for 2001-2002 is 72.2 percet.
While any drop in the graduation rate may be cause for at leats some concern,
Such a small decrease cannot justify the myth of decline. 6

REALITY CHECK

The evidence is clear that our nation’s public schools have not declined sub-
Stantially. Appeals to a mythological golden age of education are misguided
At best. As new York university’s diane ravitch points out In left back, in
Which she chronicles eduction reform throughout the twentieth century,
“ those who seek the ‘good old days’ will be disappointed, for in fact there
Never was a golden age. “

Of course, it is one thing to say that our schools have not strayed from
An ealier path of greatness, and quite another to ask whether the level of
Performance they have consistently displayed is a good or even acceptable
Level. Just as some education reformers are wrong to argue that our schools
Are getting worse, others are quilty of asserting that consistent test scores are
Proof that all must be well in amarecan public education. David Berliner of
Arizona state universitas and bruce biddle of the university of Missouri
Point to the absence of a decline in standardized test scores In accusing education
Reformens of creating a “ manufactured crisis ” former new York times education
Columnist Richard Rothstein also relies on these consistent test scores in
Order to conclude that “ we Have been preety successful, on the whole, with
The educational improvements attempted in the pats, while
A nation at risk was wrong to claim public schools were getting worse,
Consistent test scores alone also give us no reason to believe that reforms are
Unnecessary, schools may not be producing lower test scores, but –as we

Saw in chapter 1 – they have become astonishingly less productive, when a

Large influx of new resources produces only flat-lining test scores, that is just
Cause for concern.
Any reasonable debate about the ability of our public schools to pro-
Duce knowledgeable and successful graduates must be based n the facts
About their performance, test scores and graduation rates over time show
That the myth of decline is unfounded. Our judgments about whether we
Should be happy with the performance and productivity of our public
Schools should not be colored by any illusions of a lost golden age of education.