WATCH: ELLWANGER: Poor reading and math scores symptomatic of imprudent COVID protocol
On America Right Now, Campus Reform Higher Education Fellow Adam Ellwanger argued that the United States’ pandemic policies are now wreaking havoc on America’s academic integrity.
Campus Reform Higher Education Fellow Adam Ellwanger recently appeared on Newsmax’s America Right Now with Jacqueline Toboroff, author of Supermoms: Activated, to argue that poor test scores in America are primarily symptoms of the federal government’s poor response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Center for Education Statistics’ 2023 evaluation results showed reading and math scores dropping by 4 and 9 points, respectively—the worst in nearly 50 years and a sharp acceleration of the 11-year decline preceding it.
According to Ellwanger, the federally-mandated closures and experimentation with online learning during the pandemic bred a new habit in students that “[class] attendance isn’t all that important, and that high marks are earned for attempting work rather than completing it.”
After offering his diagnostic, Ellwanger proposed a three-pronged solution.
“The first is,” he said, “the federal government needs to mandate year-round school until we get these trends reversed. They need to pay teachers for the overtime.”
“The second is: We need to eliminate any elements of the curriculum that have to do with DEI, social justice, anything that doesn’t deal with [reading and math].” Past years have seen a rise in so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” projects which have caused what the Heritage Foundation calls “DEI bloating.” Such initiatives, many argue, distract schools from offering quality, holistic education.
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Finally, Ellwanger concluded that if cities provided families greater freedom to select which school their children could attend, then resources and students would be diverted away from “failing schools.”
Adding to Ellwanger, Toboroff argued that poor reading and math performance is the result of drifting away from traditional curricula. Nevertheless, she agreed that the government and teacher’s unions should step out of the picture.
Watch the entire video above.
