Booting Earth Optimization System
Thank you for your patience. Your civilization is very important to us.
Thank you for your patience. Your civilization is very important to us.
Agency Report Card
Promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness
Promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness
2002 No Child Left Behind signed — standardized testing becomes the curriculum ↗
2009 Race to the Top — $4.35B in competitive grants, schools teach to the test ↗
2015 Every Student Succeeds Act replaces NCLB — test scores still flat ↗
Not graded: the age-17 math test was given only four times in this period. Discretionary budget authority rose 170% (FY2000 $29.4B → FY2024 $79.2B) while the long-term-trend math score for 17-year-olds stayed flat — 308 in 1999, 306 in 2012 (305 in 1990) — and the test has not been given to 17-year-olds since 2012.
| Year | Department of Education discretionary budget authority (OMB Historical Table 5.4; nominal USD, fiscal year; includes emergency funds) | NAEP long-term-trend mathematics, age 17 (0–500 scale; last given 2012) |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | – | 308 |
| 2000 | $29.4B | – |
| 2002 | $49.5B | – |
| 2004 | $55.7B | 307 |
| 2006 | $58.4B | – |
| 2008 | $57.2B | 306 |
| 2010 | $64.1B | – |
| 2012 | $67.4B | 306 |
| 2014 | $67.3B | – |
| 2016 | $68.3B | – |
| 2018 | $73.3B | – |
| 2020 | $103B | – |
| 2022 | $76.3B | – |
| 2024 | $79.2B | – |
“Portable student funding, open outcomes, and schools that compete to teach”
Federal Department of Education budget in 2024
Increase in budget since 2000 while scores stagnated
Score for US 17-year-olds in 2024
US rank in international maths comparisons cited by the dataset
Did creating a federal Department of Education improve student achievement?
Did creating a federal Department of Education improve student achievement?
NAEP reading scores for 17-year-olds were 285 in 1971 (before DoEd) and 287 in 2020 (40 years after DoEd) — a statistically insignificant 2-point gain. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending increased 280% since 1960. SAT verbal scores dropped from 466 in 1967 to 424 in 1980 and never recovered to pre-DoEd levels. The US ranked 11th out of 12 countries in the 1964 international math test — it has never been at the top.
NAEP reading scores for 17-year-olds were 285 in 1971 (before DoEd) and 287 in 2020 (40 years after DoEd) — a statistically insignificant 2-point gain. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending increased 280% since 1960. SAT verbal scores dropped from 466 in 1967 to 424 in 1980 and never recovered to pre-DoEd levels. The US ranked 11th out of 12 countries in the 1964 international math test — it has never been at the top.
“Eighty billion dollars a year, and you stopped testing your seventeen-year-olds in maths in 2012 — when they scored the same as in 1990. On my planet, we would call this evidence of sabotage.”
Close achievement gaps and improve student performance
Schools 'taught to the test.' NAEP scores flat. Achievement gap unchanged. Schools in poor areas punished for low scores — losing funding they needed most.
NAEP scores unchanged after 20 years
On a well-run planet, this agency would have been deprecated centuries ago. Here is what replaces it.
Learning Freedom Network — Department of Education