HEARING RECAP: Owens Pushes to End America’s Declining Test Scores

<p><strong>WASHINGTON</strong> — Education and Workforce Vice Chair Burgess Owens (UT-04) participated in a Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73mMhoGQi4">hearing</a> titled <em>“Foundations First: Reclaiming Reading and Math through Proven Instruction.” </em></p>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4044" height="576" src="https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/owens.house.gov/uploads/2025/09/Committee-SC-1-03.11.25-1024x576.png" width="1024" /></figure>

<p class="has-text-align-center"><em>Click </em><a href="https://x.com/RepBurgessOwens/status/1963268332359975068"><em>here</em></a><em> or above to watch.</em></p>

<p>Rep. Owens opened by underscoring the severity of America’s education crisis. He cited troubling statistics, including that <a href="https://www.nagb.gov/news-and-events/news-releases/2025/nations-report-card-decline-in-reading-progress-in-math.html">nearly 70% of eighth graders nationwide cannot read or write proficiently</a>, and stressed the urgent need to restore critical thinking, reading, and math skills in classrooms across the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Rep. Owens questioned <strong>Dr. Cade Brumley, State Superintendent of Education for Louisiana</strong>, about the state’s <a href="https://doe.louisiana.gov/educators/let-teachers-teach">Let Teachers Teach initiative</a>, which focuses on empowering educators, reducing bureaucracy, and rewarding merit-based performance.</p>

<p><strong>Dr. Brumley </strong>highlighted Louisiana’s progress, including rising from 49th to 32nd in overall performance on the Nation’s Report Card, achieving 16th place in fourth-grade literacy, and reducing teacher vacancies from 2,500 to 1,000 through differentiated pay and retention policies.</p>

<p><strong>Dr. Brumley:</strong> <em>“We fundamentally believe that there’s nothing more important than the parent for the child’s success. But after that, number one is the teacher.”</em></p>

<p>Turning to literacy, Rep. Owens asked <strong>Ms. Chandra Roughton, Founder of Luminous Minds</strong>, how teachers can effectively implement the science of reading even without strong administrative support.</p>

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4045" height="576" src="https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/owens.house.gov/uploads/2025/09/Committee-SC-2-03.11.25-1024x576.png" width="1024" /></figure>

<p class="has-text-align-center"><em>Click </em><a href="https://x.com/RepBurgessOwens/status/1963268332359975068"><em>here</em></a><em> or above to watch.</em></p>

<p><strong>Ms.</strong> <strong>Roughton:</strong> <em>“The teacher is so powerful in his or her own classroom and there’s a lot that we can do, even if an administrator or district hasn’t adopted the science of reading. … We can’t argue the data. And I would encourage teachers to invite principals into their own classroom, observe a science of reading lesson, and just kind of use that as the force to push this forward at their own site.”</em></p>

<p>The full hearing is available to watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73mMhoGQi4">here</a>.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>The post <a href="https://owens.house.gov/posts/hearing-recap-owens-pushes-to-end-americas-literacy-decline">HEARING RECAP: Owens Pushes to End America’s Declining Test Scores</a> appeared first on <a href="https://owens.house.gov">Burgess Owens</a>.</p>