Almost all of the comments have someone’s pet theory about the cause of the decline in achievement. The truth is we don’t actually know why there is a decline or how to stop it.
FTA: "While the pandemic had an outsize impact on student achievement, experts said falling scores are part of a longer arc in education that cannot be attributed solely to COVID-19, school closures and related issues such as heightened absenteeism. Educators said potential underlying factors include children’s increased screen time, shortened attention spans and a decline in reading longer-form writing both in and out of school."
Maybe start with ousting the most anti-intellectual administration in existence? Whatever the solution is, they won't be the one to implement it.
We do know; it's just not in the popular conscience yet.
Read a bit of Marshall McLuhan.
The truth is obvious, you just don't like the solution.