If anyone needed a wake-up call about the urgent need to expand school choice, last week’s release of student achievement data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress is the loudest alarm clock we have heard in years. It should jolt every family, every school, and every elected official into action.

The numbers are sobering: only 41% of our nation’s fourth graders are proficient in math and only 35% are proficient in reading. As students get older, the outlook looks even bleaker: only 34% of eighth graders are proficient in reading and math.