A Nation at Risk
"A Nation at Risk" is a significant report released in 1983 by the National Commission on Excellence in Education that highlighted concerns regarding the quality of education in the United States. Commissioned by Secretary of Education Terrel Howard Bell during the Reagan administration, the report's accessible language and urgent tone conveyed that the nation's educational system was failing, risking the country's future in global commerce and innovation. It famously warned of a "rising tide of mediocrity" and called for comprehensive reforms to address a variety of issues, including curriculum rigor and teacher salaries.
The report gained widespread attention, leading to widespread discussions on educational reform across the country and influencing various state-level initiatives. While it prompted some positive changes, such as increased math and science requirements for high school graduates, many of the report’s recommendations—like extending the school year and improving teacher compensation—remain largely unimplemented. Despite some efforts, American students continue to face challenges in international comparisons of academic achievement. The legacy of "A Nation at Risk" persists, as it serves as a catalyst for ongoing debates about educational policy and reform in America.
A Nation at Risk
Identification Government report critical of American education
Date Released on April 26, 1983
The highly publicized release of A Nation at Risk set in motion a school reform movement during the 1980s. The report continued to be a catalyst for educational change beyond the decade.
During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan proposed the elimination of the Department of Education, established just a year earlier by President Jimmy Carter, as part of his promise to reduce the size of government. Terrel Howard Bell, appointed as the secretary of education by President Reagan in 1981, accepted the position with the goal of reexamining the appropriate federal role in education. He appointed a commission, the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which was given eighteen months and a broad mandate to examine, among others things, the quality of the nation’s schools and colleges. The commission was to make recommendations on how to improve the educational system of the United States, with special emphasis on better serving teenage students. The commission held dozens of meetings and hearings around the country, commissioned numerous reports, convened regular meetings of its members, and released its final report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, at a White House ceremony that included President Reagan, Vice President George H. W. Bush, educational leaders from across the country, and a large group from the press.
The report was written not in educational jargon but rather in an accessible language whose power Secretary Bell recognized immediately. It included an introduction that was reprinted in newspapers and magazines across the country, declaring in no uncertain terms that the US educational system was in such disrepair that the future of the nation itself was in danger. If nothing changed, the United States could soon be expected to lag behind other countries in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovations. One often-quoted phrase, “a rising tide of mediocrity,” pointed to the erosion of the educational foundations of the country.
The publicity surrounding the report only increased once it was released to the public. More than 400,000 copies were distributed, and Time and Newsweek both devoted lengthy articles to education. Secretary Bell convened twelve regional conferences to disseminate the report throughout the country. President Reagan gave the keynote address at the final such event. Any discussion of abolishing the Department of Education soon ended. States across the country created their own education commissions, governors called for educational reform, and by the 1988 election, President Bush had declared himself the “education president.”
Impact
Not since the launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957 had the topic of education figured so significantly in American life as it did in 1983. The national conversation continued for years, as the nation’s problems did not disappear, and each successive president sought to address educational reform. Little consensus was reached on the best manner in which to fix American education, but in the wake of A Nation at Risk, it was universally agreed that something had to be done.
Although several major educational reforms have been introduced since the publication of A Nation at Risk, such as No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards, educational experts report that many of the concerns addressed in A Nation at Risk have gone unaddressed. In particular, American students continue to lag behind the students of other developed nations on international measures of achievement. Furthermore, despite the report's call for "professionally competitive" teacher salaries in order to address high rates of turnover, teacher salaries and rates of teacher turnover have more or less remained the same in the decades following the report. Other recommendations in the report that have not been implemented include increasing the school year from 180 to 220 days and establishing an eleven-month contract for teachers. However, many states have adopted more rigorous curriculum in response to the report's warnings, so that the average student in 2009 graduated with more science and math credits than the average student in 1982. The impact of A Nation at Risk remains mixed, and future educational reforms will likely seek to address many of the issues identified in the 1983 report.
Bibliography
Elliott, Philip. "'A Nation at Risk': 30 Years after Report, Schools Remain Mostly Unchanged." Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 10 June 2015.
Graham, Edward. "'A Nation at Risk' Turns 30: Where Did It Take Us?" NEA Today. Natl. Education Assoc., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 10 June 2015.
Hayes, William. Are We Still a Nation at Risk Two Decades Later? Lanham: Scarecrow Education, 2004. Print.
National Committee on Excellence in Education. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform—A Report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education. Washington, DC: Author, 1983. Print.
Spring, Joel H. American Education. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.