40 years ago 'A Nation at Risk' warned of a 'rising tide of mediocrity' in US schools – has anything changed?

By Morgan Polikoff, Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern California

The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s release of a report titled “A Nation at Risk” in 1983 was a pivotal point in the history of American education. The report used dire language, lamenting that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

Using Cold War language, the report also famously stated: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on…

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