U.S. Education Gets a Poor Report Card : Study Reveals Decline in Graduations, College Entrance Exam Results

American education is stagnating by nearly every measure in a new comparison of school performance across the country, Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos said today in releasing the discouraging report card.

The sixth annual State Education Performance Chart shows a decline in the national high school graduation rate and falling scores on college entrance exams in half the states.

“We must do better. We must revitalize education in America” by setting targets for improvement, Cavazos said in a statement accompanying the report.

“We have not made any progress in the last three years,” Cavazos elaborated in an interview on NBC’s “Today” program. “It’s hard to say why. I still believe that we have not focused on the fundamental issues of trying to get everybody involved in the education of children. It’s not a matter of dollars.

Will Issue Challenge

“I’m going to write to every governor, to every school board president, I’m going to communicate with the leaders, the superintendents and all the people out there and say we must issue a challenge” to improve the schools, Cavazos said.

Performance targets include boosting high school graduation rates to 90% and cutting in half the number of children who fail a grade.

“Today about 3,600 students will drop out of school. . . .. I think it’s a disaster that we must turn around,” Cavazos said.

The performance chart shows a general lack of progress despite the continuing spate of reform efforts and ever-rising education spending--up to $3,977 per student on this year’s chart compared to $3,756 last year.

National scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test fell from 906 to 904 (on a scale of 400 to 1,600) from 1987 to 1988. Fully 14 of the 22 states in which the SAT is the dominant college entrance exam registered declines.

Scores on the American College Testing Program, on a scale of 1 to 36, showed a scant 0.1-point gain.

The high school graduation rate rose from 69.5% in the first chart to 71.7% in 1985. But it fell slightly in 1986 to 71.6% and dropped to 71.1% in 1987, the latest year for which statistics could be calculated.

Minnesota ranked first with a high school completion rate of 90.6%, while the District of Columbia was last at 55.5%.