Twenty years ago this month, in its ominously titled A Nation at Risk, the National Commission on Excellence in Education delivered a devastating assessment of American education that helped shape two decades of reform. Warning that declining student achievement put the very foundations of American prosperity and security at risk, the commission called for ambitious reforms in curricula, graduation requirements, teacher quality, and homework.

This twentieth anniversary provides an opportune time to reexamine the recommendations of the commission, consider the lessons learned, and discuss the implications for current reform efforts. Has much changed since the report was issued? Have the intervening decades been a period of improvement or lost opportunity? Were the lessons of A Nation at Risk well-learned? A panel at AEI will address these questions.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only.