America’s Schools Are Terrible at Catching Kids Up. How AI Can Help

| The 74 | Daniel Weisberg

The University of California at San Diego recently shook both higher education and K-12 when it reported a startling reality: Many incoming freshmen could not perform basic middle school math.

The university was commendably specific about the causes: the COVID-19 pandemic and its educational disruptions, elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation and expanded admissions from under-resourced high schools. Together, these forces produced a class increasingly unprepared for quantitative rigor.

But here’s the paradox: These students looked highly successful on paper. Ninety-four percent had taken advanced math courses like calculus or statistics. They averaged a 3.7 grade-point average. One in four had a 4.0.

So where did America’s K-12 school systems go wrong?

Read more at The 74.

A close-up photograph of a young woman with dark, curly hair and glasses, leaning in to assist a young boy with his schoolwork.

A teacher leads a one-on-one reading session focused on strategy and engagement.

About TNTP

TNTP is the nation’s leading research, policy, and consulting organization dedicated to transforming America’s public education system so that every young person thrives.

Today, we work side-by-side with educators, system leaders, and communities across the nation to reach ambitious goals for student success.

Yet the possibilities we imagine push far beyond the walls of school and the education field alone. We are catalyzing a movement across sectors to create multiple pathways for young people to achieve academic, economic, and social mobility.

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