Education and Workforce Vice Chair Burgess Owens, who represents Utah’s 4th District in Congress, participated in a subcommittee hearing focused on addressing declining test scores in American schools. The hearing, titled “Foundations First: Reclaiming Reading and Math through Proven Instruction,” was held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
During the session, Rep. Owens emphasized concerns about the state of education in the United States. He noted that nearly 70% of eighth graders nationwide are not proficient in reading or writing. Owens called for renewed efforts to restore critical thinking as well as reading and math skills among students.
Rep. Owens questioned Dr. Cade Brumley, State Superintendent of Education for Louisiana, regarding the Let Teachers Teach initiative. This program aims to empower educators by reducing bureaucracy and rewarding merit-based performance.
Dr. Brumley reported improvements in Louisiana’s educational outcomes: “We fundamentally believe that there’s nothing more important than the parent for the child’s success. But after that, number one is the teacher.” He said Louisiana has improved its ranking from 49th to 32nd on the Nation’s Report Card overall, reached 16th place in fourth-grade literacy, and reduced teacher vacancies from 2,500 to 1,000 through differentiated pay and retention policies.
Owens also discussed literacy instruction with Ms. Chandra Roughton, Founder of Luminous Minds. He asked how teachers can apply science-based reading strategies even without strong administrative support.
Ms.Roughton responded: “The teacher is so powerful in his or her own classroom and there’s a lot that we can do, even if an administrator or district hasn’t adopted the science of reading. … We can’t argue the data. And I would encourage teachers to invite principals into their own classroom, observe a science of reading lesson, and just kind of use that as the force to push this forward at their own site.”
Burgess Owens has served as U.S. Representative for Utah’s 4th District since 2021 (https://owens.house.gov/about), succeeding Ben McAdams after winning election that year (https://ballotpedia.org/Burgess_Owens). Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1951, he currently resides in Salt Lake City (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/O000019). Owens graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1974.
