A Nation at Risk

Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
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Policy & Politics Opinion The Education Community's Views on School Improvement Have Fundamentally Changed
Since the publication of a seminal report on education, reform measures are more controversial and disruptive.
Rick Hess, July 17, 2023
2 min read
Illustration of a figure walking through a landscape of vocational iconography.
Liana Nagieva/iStock + Vanessa Solis/Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion The Nation Is Still at Risk: The Urgency of Workforce Preparation
The labor market needs education to evolve. Career and technical education has an important role to play, writes Anthony P. Carnevale.
Anthony P. Carnevale, April 28, 2023
5 min read
President Ronald Reagan is flanked by Education Secretary Terrel Bell, left, White House Policy director, during a meeting in the Cabinet Room in Washington, Feb. 23, 1984 where they discussed school discipline.
President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell, left, during a meeting in the Cabinet Room, Feb. 23, 1984, where they discussed school discipline.
AP/AP
Federal Opinion The Lies America Tells Itself About Black Education
'A Nation at Risk' created a faux crisis to usher in the right's education agenda, argues Bettina L. Love.
Bettina L. Love, April 27, 2023
4 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Federal Opinion 'A Nation at Risk' Turns 40: Its Roots, Its Legacy
Forty years ago, "A Nation at Risk" was issued—arguably the most influential report on schooling in U.S. history.
Rick Hess, April 24, 2023
4 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Policy & Politics Opinion From A Nation at Risk to CRT. How’d We Get Here?
How did a bipartisan school reform movement give way to a series of heated culture clashes?
Rick Hess, July 25, 2022
4 min read
Education Letter to the Editor The Flawed Diagnosis of 'A Nation at Risk'
To the Editor:
Thomas Toch's call in his April 23 Commentary for turning attention back to "A Nation At Risk" diagnosis 35 years ago fails to reflect the fact that the data in that report have long since been proved to be wrong ("When It Comes to Public Education, the Nation Is Still at Risk"). And, that the approach—more requirements and much more testing and sanctions—was pursued for more than three decades with little success and a great deal of damage, especially to schools serving the students most in need of help.
May 8, 2018
1 min read
School & District Management Opinion A Nation at Risk Was Fake News
Marc Tucker explores how A Nation at Risk ushered in a damaging era of profound distrust in professional educators based on a false narrative of the decline of American education.
Marc Tucker, May 2, 2018
9 min read
Federal Event to Explore American Education 35 Years After 'A Nation at Risk'
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute has an event on April 12 in Washington, D.C., that will explore where American education stands 35 years after the landmark report.
Alyson Klein, March 30, 2018
1 min read
Education Opinion Our Nation May STILL Be 'At Risk'
More than 30 years later we may still be A Nation At Risk but for many different reasons.
Michael J. Hynes, E.D., January 6, 2015
9 min read
President George H.W. Bush, U.S. Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos, center, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, right, and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, behind right, arrive for ceremonies concluding Mr. Bush’s 1989 education summit with state governors in Charlottesville, Va.
President George H.W. Bush, U.S. Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos, center, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, right, and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, behind right, arrive for ceremonies concluding Mr. Bush’s 1989 education summit with state governors in Charlottesville, Va.
--Doug Mills/AP-File
Standards & Accountability Historic Summit Fueled Push for K-12 Standards
Aftershocks continue from the 1989 meeting in Charlottesville, Va., where the White House and the nation's governors took an aggressive turn toward standards-based accountability in public education.
Alyson Klein, September 23, 2014
12 min read
School & District Management A Look Back at 'A Nation at Risk' Report
Thirty years after "A Nation at Risk" was published, Education Week revisits the groundbreaking report.
Michele Molnar, April 26, 2013
2 min read
Federal Opinion A Nation at Risk: Where Are We Now?
Education Week Commentary editors look at academic, demographic, and other trends since the landmark report was released 30 years ago.
April 23, 2013
2 min read
Federal Opinion Gaps Persist 30 Years After a Wake-Up Call
A Nation at Risk demanded that we all rethink our assumptions about what shapes human potential, who gains access to the best in American education, and how we measure success.
Freeman A. Hrabowski III, April 23, 2013
4 min read
Federal Opinion Putting Emphasis on Teacher Quality
Teacher observations have also become more thorough and meaningful in most states than they used to be.
Laura Goe, April 23, 2013
4 min read