[ti:Some Parents Do Not Know Their Children Struggle in School]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-03-08]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]It is widely known that students' test scores decreased across the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[00:10.32]But many parents do not know that their own child or children are among those whose scores have suffered.
[00:18.87]In Boston, Massachusetts, Evena Joseph did not fully understand how much her 10-year-old son was struggling in school.
[00:29.19]She found out only with help from somebody who knows the Boston school system better than she does.
[00:37.17]Joseph is a Haitian immigrant. 
[00:39.75]Her son, J. Ryan Mathurin, was in the 30th percentile in reading.
[00:46.48]That means 70 percent of students had stronger reading scores than him.
[00:52.44]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.
[01:04.05]"It's only because I was assigned an educational advocate that I know this about my son," Joseph said.
[01:12.28]Schools have long faced criticism for failing to inform some parents about their kids' progress in school. 
[01:21.45]But after COVID-19 school closures, the importance of keeping parents informed has in many ways never been greater.
[01:31.53]There are many chances to catch up, thanks to federal COVID aid. 
[01:36.31]But it will take better communication with parents to help students get the support they need, experts say.
[01:44.96]"Parents can't solve a problem that they don't know they have," said Cindi Williams. 
[01:51.65]She is co-founder of Learning Heroes, a nonprofit working to improve communication between public schools and parents about student progress.
[02:03.75]In 2022, Learning Heroes questioned 1,400 public school parents around the country.
[02:14.15]The group found that 92 percent believed their children were performing at grade level.
[02:20.03]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.
[02:32.15]The struggles that brought J. Ryan to the hospital for mental health treatment began in third grade. 
[02:40.20]That was when he returned to in-person school after nearly a year of learning online. 
[02:47.14]J. Ryan was getting angry in class, disrupting lessons and leaving the classroom.
[02:55.18]J. Ryan showed these behaviors during English and other classes, including Mandarin and gym. 
[03:03.26]He did better in math class, one of his stronger subjects. 
[03:08.30]But Joseph said teachers never told her about her son's problems with reading.
[03:14.81]Last spring, she sought treatment for her son's depression.
[03:20.33]She was helped at the hospital with the parent advocate who speaks English and Haitian Creole.
[03:28.15]The advocate pushed to get J. Ryan's scores from the tests given each fall to measure student learning. 
[03:36.72]She explained to Joseph what it meant for J. Ryan to be in the 30th percentile in reading.
[03:44.47]Before this year, schools in the Boston system could decide whether to share test scores with parents. 
[03:52.73]But it is not clear how many were doing it.
[03:56.49]In the fall, Boston schools started a communications program to help teachers explain testing results to parents as many as three times a year.
[04:08.54]Research shows there are many reasons teachers might not talk to parents about a student's academic progress, especially when the news is bad.
[04:20.27]"Historically, teachers did not get a lot of training to talk to parents," said Tyler Smith. 
[04:28.14]He is a school psychology professor at the University of Missouri.
[04:33.35]School leadership and support for teachers also make a difference, he added.
[04:39.66]Teachers might also think that poorer parents do not care about their child's progress, said Williams, the co-founder of Learning Heroes.
[04:51.75]Without these discussions, parents only look at report cards.
[04:57.46]But report cards are considered to be subjective.
[05:01.44]They may not be the best signs of overall student success.
[05:07.07]Many school systems have used their federal pandemic recovery money for summer school, tutoring programs and other actions to help students recover from the pandemic.
[05:20.22]But students have not used the extra help as much as educators had hoped.
[05:26.86]If more parents knew their children were behind academically, they might seek help.
[05:32.20]After J. Ryan moved to a new school, Joseph stopped getting phone calls from the teacher complaining about his behavior. 
[05:44.79]Joseph said her son is getting good treatment for his depression.
[05:49.44]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.
[05:59.81]She said, "I'm still concerned about his reading."
[06:03.46]I'm Dan Novak.