Educational Achievement Data on educational
achievement during the 1980’s provide some support
for the view that American schools were producing
mediocre students, but they indicate relatively little
improvement in this situation followingA Nation at
Risk. In 1980, when the National Assessment of Edu-
cational Progress (NAEP) measured student reading
comprehension, it found that 68 percent of nine-
year-old students were able to understand uncompli-
cated reading material, combine ideas from the mate-
rial, and make inferences based on the material. By
1988, this percentage had actually gone down to 63
percent, and by 1990 it had reached 59 percent.
Among thirteen-year-olds taking the 1980 NAEP, 61
percent were able to satisfy the next tier of reading
comprehension skills: to search for specific informa-
tion, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations
about literature, science, and social studies materials.
This percentage also decreased to 59 percent in 1988
and 1990. Mathematics performance was somewhat
more mixed. The percentage of nine-year-olds able to
perform numerical operations and beginning prob-
lem solving increased from 19 percent in 1982 to 28
percent in 1990. However, the percentage of thirteen-
year-olds functioning at the next level—that is, capa-
ble of moderately complex mathematical procedures
and reasoning—remained constant at 17 percent
during those years.
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, often
taken as a primary indicator of readiness for college,
changed little throughout the 1980’s. The average
score on the verbal part of the test was 424, out of a
possible range from 200 to 800, in the 1980-1981
school year. Ten years later, the average score was the
same. The average mathematics score in 1980-1981
was 467. This average increased by only 9 points to
476 in 1990-1991.
Racial and ethnic gaps in achievement tests con-
tinued to exist throughout the decade, perpetuating
the debate over affirmative action in college admis-
sions. In 1980-1981, the average score of white stu-
dents on the verbal portion of the SAT test was 442,
compared to 332 for African Americans, 373 for
Mexican Americans, and 397 for Asian Americans.
After a decade, the average verbal score remained
the same for white students, while students of color
realized minor gains, reaching averages of 352
for African Americans, 380 for Mexican Americans,
and 410 for Asian Americans. On the mathematics
part of the test, Asian Americans consistently out-
performed other groups, while African Americans
lagged behind. Average mathematics scores in 1980-
1981 were 513 for Asian Americans, 483 for whites,
362 for African Americans, and 415 for Mexican
Americans. By 1990-1991, Asian scores had gone up
to 525, white scores to 489, Mexican American scores
to 429, and African American scores to 385. Con-
cerns over both overall levels of achievement and
continuing inequalities in achievement led to new
national educational efforts at the end of the 1980’s.Goals 2000 In 1989, the nation’s governors and
President George H. W. Bush met at the National Ed-
ucation Summit. The president and the governors set
forth six national goals for American schools, to be
achieved by the year 2000. By that year, all children in
America were supposed to start school ready to learn.
The high school graduation rate was to increase to
at least 90 percent. American students would leave
grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated
age-appropriate competency in challenging subject
matter, including English, mathematics, science, his-
tory, and geography. U.S. students were to be the first
in the world in scientific and mathematic achieve-
ment. Every adult American would be literate and
would possess the knowledge and skills to compete in
the global economy and to exercise responsible citi-
zenship. Every American school would be free of
drugs and violence, and every school would offer a
disciplined environment conducive to learning. The
plan was not implemented, however, during Presi-
dent Bush’s term of office.Impact The United States emerged from the 1980’s
with a widespread belief in the need to improve and
equalize the American educational system, combined
with more conservative political perspectives than in
the 1970’s. There was nearly universal agreement
that American students were falling behind and that
if this pattern continued it could harm nearly every
aspect of American life. However, the proper way to
address this looming crisis—and, in particular, the
question of whether multiculturalism was part of the
solution or part of the problem—remained a subject
of sometimes rancorous debate.Subsequent Events The Goals 2000: Educate
America Act was finally signed into law in 1994 by
President Bill Clinton, establishing a variety of agen-
cies and mechanisms to realize its goals. The law was
not successful enough to solve the educational prob-314 Education in the United States The Eighties in America