In 1983, the Reagan administration released the results of a nationwide evaluation of America’s education system in a report titled A Nation at Risk. The findings were frightening—so much so, the report stated, that “if an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.” A “rising tide of mediocrity” was declared a threat to America’s future.
It’s been 40 years since the report was issued and, in the following decades, Missouri’s education system has struggled to keep its head above that rising tide.
It’s time for our leaders to act.
