Bill Bennett, education secretary under President Ronald Reagan, stressed the importance of U.S. K-12 schools steering clear of social experimentation amid rising chronic absenteeism and a notable decline in academic performance since the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s not in very good condition. It needs to be a lot better. We look at the scores… the reading scores have held fairly well. Math scores are way down. But let’s remember we were heading downhill before COVID. COVID certainly accentuated that,” Bennett told “America Reports” on Tuesday.
In light of America’s education report card, schools across the nation are observing a surge in chronic absenteeism. According to “Attendance Works,” schools where over 30% of students are chronically absent have increased from 14% in 2017-2018 to 43% in 2021-2022.
“We’ve got this missing student problem, which is now occurring. And this, I think, has a lot to do with COVID. I think a lot of adults said by their actions, school wasn’t that important,” Bennett said.
The former education chief attributed the prolonged closure of schools to the teachers union, emphasizing that some schools remained shut for an extended period of time, forming a public perception that they were…
