E&W Blog

In case You Missed It, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) joined Newsmax to discuss the troubling decline in U.S. student achievement and Republicans’ efforts to get education back to the basics.


During the interview, Walberg pointed to declining PISA scores as further evidence that students are being failed by an education system that too often puts bureaucracy ahead of their success.

The interview comes as the House is set to vote Wednesday on legislation that would promote evidence-based reading instruction, including phonics, and help ensure federal education dollars support approaches grounded in the science of reading.

On declining student achievement, Walberg said:

“If you can’t read, you truly can’t learn. If you can read, you can learn almost anything. So when you see a drop of 14 points since 2022 in the PISA scores for our students, and the United States falling lower on the list of reading and math scores and science scores across the world, that’s a problem.

“We have to redouble our efforts to get to the basic issue, and that’s the students. Parents and students are the key focus that I think we ought to have when getting back to those basics of reading and math.”

On getting education policy back to what works, Walberg said:

“I’ve seen students lost in a maze of bureaucracy and…When you are looking at more identity issues and gender issues and social policy issues than you’re looking at the basics of reading and math and science, you’ve got a problem. [Sadly] pushback coming from the educational establishment out there is intense.”

On this week’s House action to advance the science of reading, Walberg said:

“What we’re doing even this coming week with a vote on the floor of the House [is] really directing federal funds to the science of reading as opposed to what they had been doing—and that includes phonics. That’s worked in the past, and it’ll work again.”

Bottom line:

For Republicans, the path forward is clear: get Washington out of the way, empower states and parents, and get classrooms back to proven approaches that teach kids how to read and help them succeed.

Watch the full interview here.