'These results are sobering': US high-school seniors' reading and math scores plummet

[moniss]

23. I would also point out that

being an effective math teacher is way more than just "Read this chapter and do the problems at the end." I had the good fortune to have some excellent math teachers in my primary and secondary education. People who knew how to reach students with how to "get it" and come at things from different angles (no pun intended). I agree 100% with you about the decline in class discussion.

I would just add that the ludicrous purge of experienced teachers over the last many years has been a major factor also. Nearly every teacher in every subject I had was one who had been at the school for at least 10 to 15 years and some much longer. Sadly those days are gone for the most part for most students. My 7th grade English teacher retired after 50 years at the same school and the crowd of her former students was massive that came to the retirement party for her. She was loved, she was tough and she made us better people and we recognized it as it she was teaching us because of the way she was as a teacher. What she imparted to her students was way more than English and grammar.