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Retired engineer Harald Eriksen ("Schools fail because we sabotage kids," Opinion Exchange, Oct. 27) lamented the decline in student math skills he witnessed during 25 years of tutoring high school students. He decried students' lack of skill in computing simple percentages in their heads, and their initial lack of grit in learning methodical approaches to problem solving. As retired education commissioners with legislative and education experience, we too are alarmed by today's falling test scores, especially in math, long considered the gateway for opportunities in high-paying careers.

Test scores are a means for the public to measure math learning across schools. They reveal that we're failing our students. National test scores released in October 2022 report that average math scores saw the largest decrease on record across the U.S. But in Florida (where schools reopened during the pandemic) there was no significant decline. In Minnesota, schools were closed and eighth grade math scores for Minnesota students on the nation's report card dropped by 11 points, a precipitous decline.

Minnesota state tests in 2022 report that less than half of those tested are proficient in math. It's clear that Minnesota students' math learning had been trending downward even before the COVID pandemic. In the 2016 state math tests, close to 60% of tested students were proficient in math. The figure was 57.6% in 2017, 56.2% in 2018 and 53.9% in 2019. In 2022, just 45% of Minnesota students tested were proficient in math.

The ACT achievement test measures skills and knowledge deemed important for first-year college students. The Minnesota math scores report a decline from 23.1 in 2013 to 20.7 in 2022, with the number meeting benchmarks for college level math proficiency declining from 62% in 2013 to 41% in 2022. Composite ACT scores have dropped to their lowest levels looking back over 10 years.

Consider that back in 2005, 2006 and 2007, Minnesota ACT test scores were the highest in the nation. We were part of a zealous statewide drive over preceding years to improve academic learning across all grades, especially in math. Funding was allocated to schools to pay for all students to take the ACT — and early ACT tests were available to students in grade nine to measure their learning progress.

After Minnesota principals nominated math as a priority, we launched a STEM initiative and grants to schools. Nationally recognized math experts came to Minnesota to talk to our educators. New math research was studied. Leaders at all levels worked together across the state to raise math achievement. The governor and Legislature approved the education department's laserlike math focus. Minnesota students were required by law to pass a high school math proficiency test before graduation.

But by 2013, a new governor and Legislature removed the math test requirement. Minnesota students' math scores since then reveal steadily declining math learning. But we can do better.

National organizations report exemplary math scores achieved by students in over 20 other countries, including Finland, Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. Higher-ranking countries use a different systemic approach to math with fewer subjects, and probe the content more deeply. Minnesota was once a leader in providing statewide training to implement this proven approach. The state can be a leader again with a compelling vision and courageous policy leadership.

Alice Seagren was commissioner, Minnesota Department of Education, 2004-11. MaryAnn Nelson VanHouten was assistant commissioner for academic excellence, 2003-07.