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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report from Common Core finds that many of America’s high school students do not possess the basic knowledge they need to succeed in the world or to achieve their full potential as democratic citizens. The report, entitled Still at Risk: What Students Don’t Know, Even Now, shows that, twenty-five years after the publication of the landmark study, A Nation at Risk, America’s children continue to demonstrate a stunning ignorance about basic facts of U.S. history and literature. Overall, the 1,200 17-year-olds surveyed earned a “D.”
- Nearly a quarter cannot identify Adolf Hitler, with ten percent thinking Hitler was a munitions manufacturer.
- More than a quarter think Christopher Columbus sailed after 1750.
- Fewer than half can place the Civil War in the correct half-century.
- A third do not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees the freedom of speech and religion.
- Half have no idea what the Renaissance was.
- Nearly half think that The Scarlet Letter was either about a witch trial or a piece of correspondence.
“It is easy to make light of such ignorance. In reality, however, a deep lack of knowledge is neither humorous nor trivial,” said Lynne Munson, Common Core’s executive director. “What we know helps to determine how successful we are likely to be in life, and how many career paths we can choose from. It also affects our contribution as democratic citizens.”
The survey also identifies a consistent gap—the size of a letter grade—between respondents who have at least one college-educated parent and those who do not. “This is particularly bad news for students who come from homes where the discussion of history and literature is rare,” said Munson, “because if the school doesn’t impart this knowledge, these students are not likely ever to learn it.”
Still at Risk is authored by Frederick Hess, the director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Common Core is a non-partisan research and advocacy organization devoted to strengthening liberal learning in K-12 education.
Common Core will be holding a breakfast policy event to discuss the report’s findings on Feb. 26 at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, from 9:30 am until 11:00 am. The event will be moderated by Ms. Munson. The panel will consist of Mr. Hess and two members of Common Core’s Board of Trustees–Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education at New York University and Antonia Cortese, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers.
Breakfast and refreshments will be served beginning at 9:15 am. The general public is welcome. All media inquiries should be directed to Lauren Prehoda at 202-420-1761 or lprehoda@commoncore.org.
To find out more about the ways you can help support broad-based, rigorous education, please visit www.commoncore.org.
Contact: Lauren Prehoda
Phone: 202-420-1761
Email: lprehoda@commoncore.org
Address: Common Core, 1016 16th Street NW, 7th Floor, Washington DC 20036
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December 8 • Check out Education Week’s coverage of Common Core’s recent national survey of school teachers.
November 14 • Read Lynne Munson’s response to the latest NAEP results. Joanne Jacobs’s “Linking and Thinking on Education” and the Core Knowledge blog also highlighted her piece.
September 15 • A new Salon.com article highlights Common Core’s upcoming study on curriculum narrowing and quotes Executive Director Lynne Munson: “We were surprised at the extremity of the narrowing indicated by the teachers who took our survey.”
July 22 • Common Core releases new, second edition of its popular Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts. News Release
May 6 • Common Core's Curriculum Maps for ELA have exceeded 2 million page views.
February 24 • Common Core's Lynne Munson writes on "What Students Really Need to Learn" in the lastest issue of ASCD's Educational Leadership.
January 5 • Common Core’s Curriculum Maps for English Language Arts have exceeded one million views. See the press release here.
December 8 • Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved revised social studies standards. Thanks to input from Common Core, among others, North Carolina's students will now take four social studies courses, including two US history courses covering the European exploration of the New World through contemporary time.
October 18 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson participates in a New America Foundation panel of leaders working to bring technology into classrooms in innovative ways. Watch a video of the discussion here.
October 11 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson gives Ed Week her perspective on 21st-century learning: "Twenty-first-century technology should be seen as an opportunity to acquire more knowledge, not an excuse to know less."
October 4 • California Governor vetoes curriculum narrowing bill. Opposed by Common Core, the bill would have effectively eliminated the state’s arts and foreign language high school graduation requirement. More...
Spring 2010 • The new issue of the AFT’s American Educator shines a light on 21st century skills, featuring contributions from Common Core’s Lynne Munson and Laura Bornfreund, eduwonk Andy Rotherham and UVA’s Dan Willingham, Diana Senechal, and Diane Ravitch.
December 4 • EdWeek profile questions motives of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 5
November 10 • You can now read Diane Ravitch’s op/ed on 21st century skills in the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Metro West Daily News, Lowell Sun, and Quincy Patriot Ledger.
November 3 • Education Week highlights Common Core’s concerns about the appointment of a P21 leader to a key Dept. of Education post.
November • Lynne Munson and Richard Kessler explain why arts education is vital in the November 2009 issue of Parenting magazine.
October 10 • Diane Ravitch’s recent op/ed on 21st century skills has been reprinted in the Providence Journal.
September 16 • A group of prominent scholars, teachers, education reform advocates, and union leaders issued a statement today expressing concern about the program put forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and calling for its revision. Press Advisory (pdf)
September 15 • Common Core’s Diane Ravitch shows how dated the idea of “21st century skills” really is in the Boston Globe
July 13 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson raises concerns about national standards at convention of the American Federation of Teachers. (PDF document)
July 9 • In USAToday Common Core’s Lynne Munson argues that a comprehensive education is more likely than a STEM education to produce new scientists.
July 2 • A USAToday editorial cites and links to Common Core’s “Still at Risk” study which showed how little our 17-year-olds know about history and literature.
June 2 • Common Core releases Why We’re Behind: What Top Nations Teach Their Students But We Don’t, a report showing that the nations that consistently outrank us on international comparison tests provide their students with a fulsome education in the liberal arts and sciences. Why is this news? Because the U.S. is moving further and further away from this model. Read brief excerpts from the documents featured in the report here.
