Education, Kids & Culture
Curriculum & Fundamentals
Teach reading, writing, and math. Parents across the spectrum didn't sign up for ideology in the classroom.
The Stakes
Ask almost any parent what they want from school, and the answer is plain: that their child learns to read well, write clearly, and do the math the next grade demands. It isn't a partisan wish. When schools drift from those fundamentals — when instructional time gets spent on the adults' debates instead of the children's skills — it's the kids who can't read who pay first. Wanting the basics taught well isn't anti-anything. It's the whole point of school.
The Receipts
Every figure cites a primary federal source. Tap a chip to check it yourself.
~1 in 3Fewer than a third of students reached NAEP Proficient in reading in 2024 — about 31 percent of 4th graders — meaning two-thirds are not yet proficient.
NAEP 2024 Reading ↗~26% 8th-grade mathOnly a little more than a quarter of 8th graders reached NAEP Proficient in math in 2024 — the foundation algebra and beyond are built on.
NAEP 2024 Math ↗~40% below basicRoughly 40 percent of 4th graders read below the NAEP Basic level in 2024 — the largest share since 2002 — a literacy problem before it is anything else.
NAEP 2024 Reading ↗Declining trendAverage reading scores fell 2 points at both 4th and 8th grade from 2022 to 2024, on top of earlier declines — the fundamentals are moving the wrong way, not holding steady.
NAEP 2024 ↗Their Best Argument — and Why It Fails
The steelman
A rich curriculum is more than drills — students need to see themselves in what they read, understand the society they live in, and think critically about the world. Stripping schools down to 'just the basics' can leave kids disengaged and uninformed, and the 'ideology' charge is often a stalking horse for banning honest history.
The rebuttal
Engagement and context matter — but they are built on literacy, not in place of it. A child who can't decode a paragraph can't think critically about it, and the 2024 data shows two-thirds of students aren't yet proficient readers. The evidence-based 'science of reading' — explicit, systematic phonics — is precisely the kind of un-ideological, content-rich instruction that the strongest states adopted and saw gains from. Insisting that core hours go to reading, writing, and math isn't a culture war; it's the precondition for every other ambition a school has, including teaching history honestly.
The Conservative Fix
- 1
Adopt science-of-reading instruction statewide — explicit, systematic phonics — and retrain teachers who were taught otherwise.
State - 2
Protect core instructional minutes for reading, writing, and math from being crowded out.
Local - 3
Make full curricula and instructional materials publicly available to parents by default.
State / Local - 4
Use periodic, transparent assessment to confirm students are mastering grade-level fundamentals before moving on.
State / Local - 5
Hold curriculum vendors and teacher-prep programs accountable for evidence-based methods.
State
Answer the Muster
Who decides this: Your state legislators and school board (curriculum standards, reading instruction, and materials transparency are set at the state and local level)
I'm a constituent in [district]. Only about a third of our students read proficiently, and the trend is falling. I'm asking [Official] to back science-of-reading instruction, protect core time for reading, writing, and math, and make curricula public to parents. Where does [he/she] stand?