Special Report
Federal

Nation at Risk: The Next Generation

April 23, 2003 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Twenty years ago this week, the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a rallying cry for raising expectations and improving performance in American schools. Part of its message was addressed directly to students:

“When you give only the minimum to learning,” the report sternly admonished, “you receive only the minimum in return. Even with your parents’ best example and your teachers’ best efforts, in the end it is your work that determines how much and how well you learn.”

Yet among the 40-odd papers commissioned to inform the panel’s work and the more than 200 individual testimonies at public hearings, students’ voices were seldom heard.

For the 20th anniversary of A Nation at Risk, a report whose martial rhetoric and warnings of academic mediocrity have reverberated throughout education policymaking for nearly a generation, Education Week looks more closely at teenagers’ views on what’s wrong—and what’s right— with the nation’s public high schools.

To help us with our efforts, Professor Michelle F. Fine of the City University of New York and her graduate students provided data from a survey of nearly 4,000 youths in the New York metropolitan area. And they conducted a focus group with nine students in a Mid-Atlantic suburban high school. We also sent three reporters back to their alma maters—in three different parts of the country—to see how much has changed in the past two decades.

The following stories make it clear that while some things have changed since 1983—sadly, and most notably, an increased concern about school safety—other things have not. Although today’s teenagers may be taking more academic courses than their 1980s counterparts, many report that they are bored and unengaged in their schooling and, in their own words, just sliding by.

—The Editors

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar Navigating the Rapid Pace of Education Policy Change: Your Questions, Answered
Join this free webinar to gain an understanding of key education policy developments affecting K-12 schools.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump to Schools: Banish 'Equity Ideology' in Discipline
Trump’s latest action continues to take aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
8 min read
President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.
Alex Brandon/AP
Federal Viral AI Gaffe and Ed. Dept. Cuts: How Educators View Linda McMahon So Far
Here's what educators think about the education secretary's performance so far.
6 min read
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Ariana Drehsler for Education Week
Federal Inside Trump's Full-Force Approach to Ban Trans Athletes and DEI in Schools
Trump’s return to the White House has brought a new era of aggressive investigations of entities that flout the president's orders.
8 min read
Education Secretary Linda McMahon accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The pair were announcing a lawsuit against the state of Maine over state policies that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Letter to the Editor Public Education Benefits the American Worker and the American Economy
Our nation’s schools are central to our nation’s health and future, says this letter to the editor.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week