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1983: ‘Rising Tide of Mediocrity’

April 3, 2016
6230-50th-1983

The report’s title gave away its warning: In “A Nation at Risk,” a national commission said public schools were “being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.” Its recommendations for raising academic standards, which gained widespread and sustained attention, led many colleges to develop programs to improve the quality of teacher education. In 2003, The Chronicle Review published a commission member’s 20th-anniversary essay on the report’s lasting significance.

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6230-50th-1983

The report’s title gave away its warning: In “A Nation at Risk,” a national commission said public schools were “being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.” Its recommendations for raising academic standards, which gained widespread and sustained attention, led many colleges to develop programs to improve the quality of teacher education. In 2003, The Chronicle Review published a commission member’s 20th-anniversary essay on the report’s lasting significance.

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A version of this article appeared in the April 8, 2016, issue.
Read other items in this 50 Years of Page Ones package.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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