Some Parents Do Not Know Their Children Struggle in School

Some Parents Do Not Know Their Children Struggle in School

It is widely known that students' test scores decreased across the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But many parents do not know that their own child or children are among those whose scores have suffered.

In Boston, Massachusetts, Evena Joseph did not fully¹ understand how much her 10-year-old son was struggling in school. She found out only with help from somebody who knows the Boston school system better than she does.

Joseph is a Haitian immigrant². Her son, J. Ryan Mathurin, was in the 30th percentile in reading. That means 70 percent of students had stronger reading scores than him. But Joseph did not know how far behind her son was until a hospital where he was receiving treatment connected her with a bilingual aid.

"It's only because I was assigned³ an educational advocate that I know this about my son," Joseph said.

Schools have long faced criticism⁴ for failing to inform some parents about their kids' progress in school. But after COVID-19 school closures, the importance of keeping parents informed has in many ways never been greater.

There are many chances to catch up, thanks to federal⁵ COVID aid. But it will take better communication with parents to help students get the support they need, experts say.

"Parents can't solve a problem that they don't know they have," said Cindi Williams. She is co-founder of Learning⁶ Heroes, a nonprofit working to improve communication between public schools and parents about student progress.

In 2022, Learning Heroes questioned 1,400 public school parents around the country. The group found that 92 percent believed their children were performing at grade level. But in a federal survey, school officials said half of all U.S. students started this school year behind grade level in at least one subject.

The struggles that brought J. Ryan to the hospital for mental health treatment began in third grade. That was when he returned to in-person school after nearly a year of learning online. J. Ryan was getting angry in class, disrupting⁸ lessons and leaving the classroom.

J. Ryan showed these behaviors during English and other classes, including Mandarin⁹ and gym. He did better in math class, one of his stronger subjects. But Joseph said teachers never told her about her son's problems with reading.

Last spring, she sought treatment for her son's depression. She was helped at the hospital with the parent advocate who speaks English and Haitian Creole.

The advocate pushed to get J. Ryan's scores from the tests given each fall to measure student learning. She explained to Joseph what it meant for J. Ryan to be in the 30th percentile in reading.

Before this year, schools in the Boston system could decide whether to share test scores with parents. But it is not clear how many were doing it. In the fall, Boston schools started a communications program to help teachers explain testing results to parents as many as three times a year.

Research shows there are many reasons teachers might not talk to parents about a student's academic progress, especially when the news is bad.

"Historically, teachers did not get a lot of training to talk to parents," said Tyler Smith. He is a school psychology¹⁰ professor at the University of Missouri. School leadership and support for teachers also make a difference, he added.

Teachers might also think that poorer parents do not care about their child's progress, said Williams, the co-founder of Learning Heroes.

Without these discussions¹¹, parents only look at report cards. But report cards are considered to be subjective¹². They may not be the best signs of overall¹³ student success.

Many school systems have used their federal pandemic recovery¹⁴ money for summer school, tutoring¹⁶ programs and other actions to help students recover from the pandemic. But students have not used the extra help as much as educators had hoped. If more parents knew their children were behind academically, they might seek help.

After J. Ryan moved to a new school, Joseph stopped getting phone calls from the teacher complaining about his behavior. Joseph said her son is getting good treatment for his depression. But Joseph said she has not received a report card this year or the test scores that the district claims it is now sending to families.

She said, "I'm still concerned about his reading."

Words in This Story

advocate — n. a person who argues for or supports a cause or policy

survey — n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

disrupt⁷ — v. to cause to be unable to continue in the normal way

depression — n. a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant¹⁷ and often is unable to live in a normal way

psychology — n. the science or study of the mind and behavior

subjective — adj. based on feelings or opinions rather than facts

district — n. an area established by a government for official government business

tutor¹⁵ — v. a teacher who works with one student

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 immigrant   

adj.(从国外)移来的，移民的；n.移民，侨民

参考例句：

• Life in the USA was very hard for almost every new immigrant.美国的生活几乎对每一个新移民都很艰难。
• I'd like to obtain some information about applying for an immigrant visa.我想取一些申请移民签证的资料。

3 assigned   

adj.选定的；被布置的

参考例句：

• But read-only values are different,in that they are assigned at runtime.但是只读的值是不同的，因为它们是在运行时被赋值的。

4 criticism   

n.批评，批判，指责；评论，评论文章

参考例句：

• Some youth today do not allow any criticism at all.现在有些年轻人根本指责不得。
• It is wrong to turn a deaf ear to other's criticism.对别人的批评充耳不闻是错误的。

5 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。

6 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

7 disrupt   

adj.分裂的，分散的；vt.使分裂，使瓦解

参考例句：

• The war seemed likely to disrupt the state.战争可能使这个国家分裂。
• The conflict seemed likely to disrupt the government.这场冲突可能使政府垮台。

8 disrupting   

使混乱，扰乱( disrupt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Demonstrators succeeded in disrupting the meeting. 示威者成功地扰乱了会议。
• Wage claims had led to one strike after another, disrupting every section of the community. 由工资问题引起的罢工浪潮此起彼伏，扰乱了社会秩序。

9 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

10 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

11 discussions   

n.讨论( discussion的名词复数 )；商讨；详述；论述

参考例句：

• Discussions are held on an informal basis within the department. 讨论限于在本部门内非正式地进行。
• Her specialist input to the discussions has been very useful. 她在这些讨论中提供的专家建议很有助益。

12 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

13 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

14 recovery   

n.恢复，痊愈；追回，寻回，收复

参考例句：

• The doctors said that his recovery was a miracle. 医生们说他的复原是件奇事。
• The quick recovery was truly in response to medication.这次迅速康复确实是对药物治疗的反应。

15 tutor   

n.家庭教师，导师，助教，监护人；vt.当…的教师，教，指导，约束

参考例句：

• I think you should get her a tutor.我认为你应该替她请个家教。
• What do you think of your tutor?你觉得你的家庭教师怎么样？

16 tutoring   

v.当家庭教师( tutor的现在分词 )；任大学导师；任课

参考例句：

• The teachers give individual tutoring to students who are having difficulties. 对有困难的学生，教师逐个进行辅导。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The old man was tutoring her in the stringed instruments. 那个老人在教她弹弦乐器。 来自辞典例句

17 unimportant   

adj.不重要的，无意义的

参考例句：

• Let's not quarrel about such unimportant matters.我们不要为这些小事争吵了。
• Money seems unimportant when sets beside the joys of family life.与天伦之乐相比，金钱显得微不足道。