Is education reform working? One metric many experts look at is SAT proficiency, or lack thereof. According to a recent study, high school student success in the SAT has dropped from last year, while the gap of proficiency is widening between lower-performing minority groups and white and Asian-American students. This should send a red flag up about the effectiveness of these purportedly radical reforms aimed at repairing America’s education system.

The Wall Street Journal reports that critical reading and writing averages (501 and 493 respectively) dropped one point, while the math average (515) remained the same. The combined scores are the lowest this decade and are mirror shots of our students’ plateau over the last few years. Meanwhile, the reading scores are the lowest since 1994.

How are our students doing worse with the amount of effort the federal government has put in to reverse this sour trend? Chester E. Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute think tank said “If there’s any good news here, I can’t find it.” No one can.

What needs to be found is a solution. President Obama’s education initiatives as well as his projected reformulation of the No Child Left Behind law will be seen through the lens of these latest poor results – the pressure is certainly on to explode the scholastic stasis our students are currently in.

Minority students seem to be fighting to maintain a stasis. In 2009 African American students had a critical reading score of 429, a depressing 72 points lower than the general population. Their math scores were similar in this regard. Hispanic students came in second in this race to last place, posting similar point differentials. Asian-American students have a reverse momentum, scoring 72 points better in math than the average student, with a steady climb of 6 points since 2008.

Perhaps if one was to mental hydraulic drill in order to dig up a positive in these results, noticing that a record 1.53 million students took the exam this 2009 might cause a grin of satisfaction. Since 1999, there has been a 11% increase in minority enrollment. With that said, a drop in overall percentage can be expected as more and more students have exposure to college entrance exams.

These figures can at least provide a compass to direct funding, instead of relying on an atlas of unknowns to slow progress. Also, using the successful Asian demographic will allow a blueprint of strategy to be utilized by other minorities who are confused about how to get over the hump. Taking rigorous AP classes and having families put more emphasis on hard work will provide progress by the handful; it simply needs to be exercised, and exercised now. Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, said “Unless minority kids are educated better, we are going to be in trouble because pretty soon they are going to be the majority.” The majority of students in general are lagging, an unacceptable reality in the world’s most developed nation. Think you want to join the movement to reverse this nation’s educational momentum? Look at an education program today.