Declining test scores prompt red states to prioritize academic excellence
Republican-led states are responding to nationwide declines in academic performance by enacting education reforms, including school choice programs and restrictions on mandatory DEI training in higher education.
Meanwhile, some liberal-led states continue to emphasize and defend DEI initiatives despite criticism and shifts in branding.
Republican-led states are implementing wide-ranging education reforms in response to declining national academic performance.
Across the board, the United States is slipping behind in educational results, according to RealClearPolicy. For instance, math scores for nine-year-olds saw the largest decline in 50 years.
Reading scores also dropped significantly, with more than one in four American adults now reading at the lowest literacy level.
Since 2020, U.S. 13-year-olds’ average test scores have dropped 4 points in reading and 9 points in math, the lowest in decades, with the steepest declines among low-performing students, according to NPR.
In 2024, in response to declining academic performance, the College Board shortened SAT reading passages, switched to adaptive computerized testing, and eliminated the optional essay, drawing criticism for lowering standards.
In 2023, Campus Reform reported on a study which found that Americans’ average IQ is declining for the first time in nearly a century, with the steepest drops among college-aged individuals.
Researchers suggest that changes in education quality may be contributing to the reversal of the long-observed generational gains. “[T]he greatest differences in annual scores were observed for 18- to 22-year-olds,” the report concluded.
In response to declining educational outcomes, many red states have implemented reforms. For instance, seventeen states now offer universal school choice programs, including Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
At the college level, Ohio’s Advance Ohio Higher Education Act requires public universities to publish course syllabi, ban mandatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, and protect free speech.
In June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a new college accreditation agency to challenge what he calls a DEI-enforcing “activist monopoly.”
Backed by university systems in seven red states, the agency aims to promote transparent, outcomes-based standards and reduce ideological influence in higher education.
Campus Reform has reported that several Republican-led states that have implemented reforms against DEI training and classes, including Wyoming, Idaho, and Louisiana.
Kansas State University shuttered its Spectrum Center for LGBT-identifying students to comply with a new state law targeting DEI offices and policies. “The Spectrum Center will cease operations,” President Thomas Lane stated, citing the university’s legal obligations.
In some blue states, DEI remains a focus of higher education. For instance, though Columbia College Chicago removed DEI branding from its website and programs, officials have maintained that the school remains fully committed to DEI.
“We’re not changing anything in terms of our commitment or values,” Faculty Senate President Rojhat Avsar stated about the decision to rename DEI programming.
Similarly, officials at the University of Connecticut recently reaffirmed commitment to DEI principles. The school still maintains a dedicated DEI website.
