News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report from Common Core finds that many of America’s high school students do not possess the basic knowledge they need to succeed in the world or to achieve their full potential as democratic citizens. The report, entitled Still at Risk: What Students Don’t Know, Even Now, shows that, twenty-five years after the publication of the landmark study, A Nation at Risk, America’s children continue to demonstrate a stunning ignorance about basic facts of U.S. history and literature. Overall, the 1,200 17-year-olds surveyed earned a “D.”
- Nearly a quarter cannot identify Adolf Hitler, with ten percent thinking Hitler was a munitions manufacturer.
- More than a quarter think Christopher Columbus sailed after 1750.
- Fewer than half can place the Civil War in the correct half-century.
- A third do not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees the freedom of speech and religion.
- Half have no idea what the Renaissance was.
- Nearly half think that The Scarlet Letter was either about a witch trial or a piece of correspondence.
“It is easy to make light of such ignorance. In reality, however, a deep lack of knowledge is neither humorous nor trivial,” said Lynne Munson, Common Core’s executive director. “What we know helps to determine how successful we are likely to be in life, and how many career paths we can choose from. It also affects our contribution as democratic citizens.”
The survey also identifies a consistent gap—the size of a letter grade—between respondents who have at least one college-educated parent and those who do not. “This is particularly bad news for students who come from homes where the discussion of history and literature is rare,” said Munson, “because if the school doesn’t impart this knowledge, these students are not likely ever to learn it.”
Still at Risk is authored by Frederick Hess, the director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Common Core is a non-partisan research and advocacy organization devoted to strengthening liberal learning in K-12 education.
Common Core will be holding a breakfast policy event to discuss the report’s findings on Feb. 26 at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, from 9:30 am until 11:00 am. The event will be moderated by Ms. Munson. The panel will consist of Mr. Hess and two members of Common Core’s Board of Trustees–Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education at New York University and Antonia Cortese, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers.
Breakfast and refreshments will be served beginning at 9:15 am. The general public is welcome. All media inquiries should be directed to Lauren Prehoda at 202-420-1761 or lprehoda@commoncore.org.
To find out more about the ways you can help support broad-based, rigorous education, please visit www.commoncore.org.
Contact: Lauren Prehoda
Phone: 202-420-1761
Email: lprehoda@commoncore.org
Address: Common Core, 1016 16th Street NW, 7th Floor, Washington DC 20036
June 2, 2009 • Common Core releases Why We’re Behind: What Top Nations Teach Their Students But We Don’t, a report showing that the nations that consistently outrank us on international comparison tests provide their students with a fulsome education in the liberal arts and sciences. Why is this news? Because the U.S. is moving further and further away from this model. Read brief excerpts from the documents featured in the report here and Education Week’s take here.
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Want to learn more about our recent panel questioning the tenets of the 21st century skills movement? See what NYU historian Diane Ravitch, Core Knowledge founder E.D. Hirsch, UVA cognitive scientist Dan Willingham, and Partnership for 21st Century Skills president Ken Kay have to say in this brief, seven-minute video.
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Watch the entire panel discussion (approximately 2 hours). To view the video in full screen mode, click on the full screen icon 
in the video menu bar. And read coverage of the panel in USA Today and Education Week. The full text of panelists' presentations can be found here.
Common Core's report shows a nation STILL AT RISK. Nearly a quarter of students polled could not identify Adolf Hitler and half had no idea what the Renaissance was. To learn more read the report, press release or stories at ABC News, CBS News, The New York Times, and USA TODAY. Or take the test yourself.
Read Emory Professor Mark Bauerlein on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills
"Anybody who has sat in on curriculum meetings and projects in the humanities has experienced those awkward moments when it comes down to selecting certain contents and materials as essential and required. Traditionalists in the room want to identify core texts, events, figures, and ideas, and on various grounds of historical influence, civic inheritance, and aesthetic virtue they stick with a generally Eurocentric tradition."