If Gov. Josh Shapiro was a parent, he would ground the state Education Department for the laggard proficiency rates on 2025 PSSA tests taken earlier this year by third- through eighth-graders throughout the commonwealth.

That’s how bad the Education Department did on this part of its report card. Total proficiency for elementary and middle scholars was 48.5% in ELA and 41.7% in math. To their credit, Education Department officials didn’t waste their time trying to pat themselves on the back when they released the PSSA test results back in November. Only sixth-graders on the ELA tests and third and fourth graders in math cracked the 50% proficiency rate barrier. Those numbers are nothing to be proud of – and we hope Shapiro and the state Education Department don’t fall into the trap of thinking throwing more money at schools automatically means improved proficiency rates.

As bad as the state’s proficiency rates are, Warren County would be doing well to achieve such mediocre proficiency in math and English language arts. As we reported over the weekend, Warren County’s proficiency rates were already below the state’s ho-hum levels – and then got worse from 2024 to 2025. Math proficiency dropped from 32.4% to 29% from 2024 to 2025 and English language arts proficiency decreased from 39.8% to 34.8% from 2024 to 2025.

Proficiency being so low as the building blocks of math and ELA doesn’t bode well for proficiency as students get older. We’ve often heard the lament that too few of the county’s college students come back to Warren County to live when they graduate. One way to solve that problem is to have the types of jobs that attract more college graduates. Another way is to graduate more students who go to college in the first place – but doing so means increasing proficiency rates at the elementary and middle school levels so that students are ready for more advanced high school and, eventually, college-level courses.

There are a lot of reasons why our proficiency rates are so low. Some parents don’t place a high enough priority on student achievement. We’re sure some students struggle to learn the way some classes are taught. Perhaps the state testing isn’t an accurate measure of what a student knows. Maybe the curriculum needs to be changed. What we do know is this is a community issue that doesn’t generate nearly enough conversation – and that should change, because our county’s future hinges on the education our children receive today.