In one of those telling ironies that pop up every now and then, this week’s release of scores by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (which are, again, underwhelming) just happens to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the release of the landmark report on education: A Nation at Risk. For Americans that report was, to say the least, unsettling.

It was a principle of citizenship to believe that America was the best in everything, especially in education. So it all came as a shock when the report, authored by the broad, bipartisan National Commission on Excellence in Education said there was “a rising tide of mediocrity,” in our schools; that educational content “was a mile wide and an inch deep;” and that our teachers were lacking the necessary qualifications to ensure expert teaching, particularly in math and science. And it didn’t calm any concerns when former President Ronald Reagan stepped up to lead the call to action, telling his fellow Americans that our education system was plagued by “low standards, lack of purpose, ineffective use of resources, and a failure to challenge students to push performance to the boundaries of individual ability.”