It’s more honest to compare the American education system to itself over the years. Has it significantly improved or worsened over the past few decades?

The strongest evidence-based conclusion is this: the American school system has improved on attainment and spending, but not consistently on academic achievement; and by the most important recent measures, it has degraded, especially for low-performing students. In plain terms, the system became better at producing diplomas and credentials than at reliably improving literacy and numeracy.

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/coi/high-school-graduation-rates

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmb/public-school-expenditure

https://www.nagb.gov/powered-by-naep/the-2024-nations-report-card/10-takeaways-from-2024-naep-results.html

Personal anecdotes from someone with ties to academia:

1. Quality teachers are underpaid, overworked, unhappy, and quitting.
2. Universities are more lenient on quality of dissertations, and I’ve been told first hand that professors raised concerns of AI papers are ignored and new “teachers” are graduating with education degrees with significant quality concerns.
3. My local schools are significantly degraded. Halls smell of weed, students graduate with very low critical thinking skills and no plans, they have no clue what’s happening in the world.
4. Universities are hemorrhaging quality professors, and turning to diploma mills at a slower but visible rate.