I think that our advances in technology are changes, but they're not big changes. Think of it on the lines of say starting at minimum wage and then getting a raise by $1.00 (or something comparable). It's a change, but it may or may not drastically affect you. If you're really poor and an additional buck per hours puts you over the hump so you don't have to worry about starving, then obviously that's a significant change for you, but if it doesn't do much other than give you a little more security, then it's still a change, just nothing to go crazy about.
I think it's a similar situation with technology today. Yes, we can see farther into the galaxy. Hubble and land-based telescopes, new satellites, etc. are all providing us with new pictures and new information. For the most part this isn't anything significant to the public. After all, most of us probably don't care that they discovered a new supernova or a new black hole, but it is a significant change to the people focusing on these things (i.e. scientists). The amount of information we have gained from the introduction of new, more powerful visual, audio, and other technology aimed at space has drastically changed our understanding of the universe. I won't argue that it's anything at all like the first successful moon launch, because it's not. The moon launch had such an impact on the world that it's hard to say anything we're doing today is similar. Still, there is change, it's just nothing to raise our arms up and go "OMG, that was so freaking awesome!"

As for those test scores: Which schools were they testing? If anything I think this country is getting dumber. We have rampant religious zealots pushing religious doctrine into schools in an attempt to replace legitimate scientific knowledge. I've been in arguments about evolution with such folks. I'm not evolutionary expert, but I get the basic principles and this person constantly argues as if he knows anything about it, which he doesn't. There isn't enough of a challenge to religious authority in this country. I'm not talking about becoming an atheist nation or anything like that, but we should definitely be questioning what religion is doing in this country and wonder if it really is for the better. People are getting stupider. My brother did not get the education I got and we went to essentially the same schools. And I didn't get the same education that generations before me got (I know, there is new knowledge today, but I mean in overall quality).
While our scientific knowledge is increasing (albeit at a snail's pace compared to other nations who have discovered things that we could only dream of--and those same nations unfortunately don't benefit from almost unlimited funding that a nation like the U.S. could provide, so such technology is either ignored and never brought into circulation) we are crumbling in our ability to educate people. There are a lot of reasons for it, but all of them are bad reasons. The Earth isn't 4600 years old, but people still believe this and in fact there are entire churches now preaching it again despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary (such as the fact that we know for a fact that some cultures precede that date). We're getting stupider and stupider and it's not being checked. We might be getting new technology, but if nobody can understand science and what it has to offer, what does it matter if a few can bring us new stuff? A few scientists discovering new and amazing things can't talk to a nation of scientifically illiterate people. Science isn't even that hard. Richard Dawkins talks about this (ignoring his atheist stuff here). I've seen some of his experiments to prove the scientific illiteracy of the average person and it's frightening. I'm a college student myself and I can see first hand the level of knowledge and understanding most students have. I'm not a scientist and I certainly don't know everything, but I do have a basic grasp of science, and yet there are thousands, if not millions of people my age who couldn't even explain what a black hole is in any certain terms.

But I'm rambling. I'm not happy with the Democrats right now. Obama may have logical reasons for his take on NASA, but he's approaching it from the wrong angle. Rather than cutting funding, which will put a lot of people out of jobs (which is counterproductive isn't it?), he should be pressuring NASA to produce significant results. He seems to think that simply because we all aren't clambering to watch space shuttle launches that it's an example of why it's a bad program. But that's an illogical assertion because all he's proving is that people stop paying attention when something becomes commonplace. Our space program does need a boost, and so does our educational system, but I don't think any of the Democrats have a good way to deal with either of those issues. Changing who is in control won't change anything. We'll just end up with more problems, especially with this election. Democrats will likely create more problems than they'll solve and McCain likely won't solve the problems we have now (maybe the economy, but that's iffy at best). The problem is figuring out which is the better option: get rid of the slightly psychotic, bigoted Republican party, or put in an ultra liberal feel-good Democrat. I say we need a moderate.