Education Secretary Cardona does not mention academics in tweet about wanting to 'raise the bar' in education
A recent national report showed the largest score drop in reading among 9-year-old students since 1990
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Education Secretary Miguel Cardona did not mention academics in a tweet about wanting to "raise the bar" in education on Sunday.
"Prioritizing wellness, safety, and community in schools is long overdue," Cardona tweeted. "This is how we #RaiseTheBar in education."
Parent groups on social media noted the omission, many of whom have placed an emphasis on improving academics after two years of COVID-19 related school closures.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They want to use the schools as community hubs for social services for the entire community," Moms for Liberty tweeted. "They don’t care about the fact that schools aren’t teaching children to read."
SEE THE CHART: SHARP DECLINES IN MATH AND READING SCORES DURING COVID
Ellen Phillips virtually teaches a second grade class for students who are either at home or in a separate classroom as in-person learning resumes with restrictions in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Rover Elementary School in Tempe, Arizona, U.S., August 17, 2020. (REUTERS/Cheney Orr)
"Someone needs to tell U.S. Secretary of Education Cardona that two-thirds of American 4th graders are not reading on grade level," Tina Descovich & Tiffany Justice, co-Founders of Moms for Liberty, added in remarks to Fox News Digital. "The top three education priorities for students must be reading, writing and arithmetic. Parents are not going to tolerate a failing education system any longer. The future of our children and our country are at risk."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NYC Expat Mom, a popular Twitter account formerly known as NYC Angry Mom, blasted the secretary's listed priorities.
"You raise the bar by improving academic outcomes," she tweeted. "Schools aren't meant to take the place of everything else that children should be getting from their community. Isn't this the exact talking point that progressives use when they say defund the police?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The Secretary of Education nominated by Joe Biden – who is owned by power-hungry teachers unions – somehow forgot to mention raising the bar academically," Corey DeAngelis, national director of research for the American Federation for Children, told Fox News Digital. "How odd. It clearly must have been an honest mistake."
"Joe Biden's Education Secretary is signaling support for unions representing adults, not kids," he continued. "Good thing the kids now have their own unions – their parents – and they are pushing back at the ballot box. Parents have woken up. Anti-parent politicians better wake up, too, because parents are never going back to sleep."
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona meets leaders from U.S. colleges and universities to discuss challenges students are facing after the Supreme Court decision to end the nationwide constitutional right to abortion, in the Vice President's ceremonial office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S., August 8, 2022. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
"It's sadly not surprising that the Secretary failed to mention a focus on academics in his exhortation to #raisethebar. All too often these days, it seems that education leaders are fixated on every other issue under the sun, giving little attention to actually educating students despite the desperate need, in today's competitive global economy, for our children to have the strong academic skills necessary for success," Fairfax County Parents Association told Fox News Digital in a statement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They continued, "As parents, we must demand that the purpose of the education system be first and foremost to provide a robust education to ensure the success of all students. Education leaders who don't prioritize education; who push the bar lower; who use excuses to hide a lack of educational achievement do our children no favors. The effort to change US education from an education system to a system without accountability or measurable outcomes harms not only our children but also our global competitiveness."
"Note that what's missing from the Secretary of Education's priorities: *Education*," David Bernstein, a University Professor and the Executive Director of the Liberty & Law Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School, tweeted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Education Department spokesperson said Cardona has "made clear" his effort toward academic recovery in former communications, touting, in part, the multi-billion dollar American Rescue Plan.
"Secretary Cardona has made clear that academic recovery is the department’s top priority in speeches, hundreds of visits, and thousands of tweets," the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "And thanks to the $122 billion in school funding from the American Rescue Plan, the largest ever investment in education, more students are receiving targeted academic supports. Selectively choosing one tweet and ignoring the Secretary’s ongoing, consistent focus on academic recovery is disingenuous and doesn’t serve our nations students."
A recent report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showed that math and reading scores plummeted in the wake of COVID-19 school closures. It fielded the largest score drop in reading among 9-year-old students since 1990, and the first-ever score drop in mathematics among the same age group.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kid wearing yellow school bag when crossing the street on her way to school (iStock)
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The report was the "first nationally representative report comparing student achievement from before the pandemic to now," according to Dr. Peggy Carr, commissioner of the NCES.