Katie Jenner, Education Secretary of Indiana and the State Commissioner for Higher Education, attested during a hearing in the US Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pension on September 18, 2025 (Screenshot from the Livestream Committee)
Washington -Just a few days after the federal data had shown that average reading, mathematics and natural sciences decreased under certain classes, a US -Senate -based body for the academic improvement of the students chose the basic causes and methods on Thursday before the Coronavirus pandemic.
The hearing in the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions focused on the “state K-12-Education”-the GOP members of the committee as “worrying” view of the latest data from the national assessment of educational progress or NAEP.
Naep, who was seen as a gold standard for the persecution of the academic performance of the students, showed that the average science values for eighth graders have decreased by 4 points since the pandemic in 2019. The average mathematics and reading values for 12th graders also fell by 3 points between 2019 and 2024.
The reviews were carried out between January and March 2024. The results also showed that only a third of the twelve graders are prepared as academic for college in mathematics-a decline of 37% in 2019.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Bill Cassidy, said: “It should be that the lesing, mathematics and natural sciences of children do not yet have to be recovered to pre-pandemic level.”
The Republican of Louisiana added that “success in education is not determined by how much we spend, but from who makes the decision and how clever resources are directed”, and “When states and local community are adapting the solutions to meet the special needs of students, innovation follows.”
On the other hand, Senator Bernie Sanders, a member of the committee, said that we also have to concentrate on the conditions under which our children live. ”
The independent in Vermont noted: “If you look at the real world out there, we look at millions of families who have difficulty putting food on the table, paying rent, children who grow up in dysfunctional families.”
He said, although he was glad that the committee focuses on these topics, “we have to understand that education is important – this means that our children prioritize the priority of our educators.”
Role of technology in education
Martin West, Deputy Chairman of the National Assessment Government Committee, who monitors and determines politics for NAEP, said that the ratings generally measure what happens to the performance of the students and not the causes, “the patterns that they document can guide our search for explanations and solutions.”
He said that the escalate in smartphones and social media platforms to which teenage people aim was to investigate.
“We lack direct evidence of a causal connection between smartphones and learning, but I am convinced that this technology is a significant driver for the mental health of young people, a distraction from learning both within and outside of schools and a deterrent for reading when NaEP reveals that many less students have fun,” he said.
Indiana’s approach
Katie Jenner, Education Secretary of Indiana and the state commissioner for university education, pointed out some of the initiatives in her state to improve the academic performance of the students.
“In the past three years, Indiana has rebuilt early literacy based on the science of reading,” she said. “Supported by a large public-private partnership with Lilly Foundation, we have trained thousands of teachers, expanded coaching and districts adopt evidence-based materials.”
Jenner pointed out that the Hoosier state A saw Historical jump in the reader results For third -party graders this year with an escalate of almost 5 percentage points compared to the previous year.
The state also works to support further students who still have to struggle with reading, including “use of an excellence -based counter -active pilot, especially for reading the middle school in areas such as tutoring and targeted interventions”.
Jenner said that Indiana was also “rethinking the high school” and “overtaking our diplomas, adding our school financing formulas and ensuring the connection to school responsibility.”
“Educational state in ruins”
In the meantime, some Democrats of the body have blown up the dramatic revision of the federal role in the formation of President Donald Trump when he tried to reduce the education department.
Although the assessments were carried out long before the second administration of the White House of Trump, the Democrats referred to the changes that the department has subjected to the students since taking office and their effects.
“I am really glad that we are keeping this hearing about the education state because I see the educational state in ruins under this Ministry of Education in which the President swore to reduce the Ministry of Education.
“So I see the educational state as late and frozen, cancel the financing and rob our support schools for our teachers and our support and services that have children to success,” she said.
Murray expressed concerns that “Trump and the Secretary for Education (Linda McMahon) make it much worse.
