Unfortunately, that failure is intentional.
These lamentable results are mostly due to the establishment of the FEDERAL Dept. of Education 1979 / Carter. Once the FEDERAL G'ment left wing elitists were able to dictate standars, all discipline and local control went out the window.
The only positive is the emergence of Home Schooling. This may prove positive for the country but it will take at least 10-20 more years to manifest iteself.