According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the nation’s chief test of student
achievement, American students score lower in history than any other subject, and their test scores
have been declining. On the history test for fourth graders, only 9 percent of students could identify a
picture of Abraham Lincoln and give two reasons why he was an important figure. Most twelfth grade
students did not know the main ideas and purposes of the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution. Meanwhile, recent data indicate that SAT verbal scores have reached an all-time low.