Many children experience difficulties in school. Do their parents know about it?

It is widely known from test results that the pandemic is holding back students across the country. But many parents don’t realize that this applies to their own child as well.

BOSTON. Evena Joseph didn’t know how much her 10-year-old son struggled at school. He only found out about it with the help of someone who knew the Boston school system better than she did.

His son, J. Ryan Maturin, was not always comfortable speaking English. But Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who raised him alone, didn’t know how far behind he was in reading – in the 30th percentile – until her son’s hospital put her in touch with a bilingual lawyer.

“I am saddened and disappointed,” Joseph said through an interpreter. “It’s only because I’ve been assigned an education advocate that I know this about my son.”

It is widely known from test results that the pandemic is holding back students across the country. But many parents don’t realize that this applies to their own child as well.

Schools have long been criticized for not keeping some parents informed about their children’s progress. But with schools closed due to COVID-19, the stakes for children are higher than ever. There are plenty of opportunities to catch up in some places thanks to federal COVID aid, but they won’t last forever. Experts say communication with parents will need to be improved to help students get the support they need.

“Parents can’t fix a problem they don’t know they have,” said Cindy Williams, co-founder of Learning Heroes, a nonprofit dedicated to improving communication between public schools and parents about student achievement.

A 2022 Learning Heroes survey of 1,400 public school parents across the country found that 92% believe their children are learning at the school level. But in a federal survey, school officials said half of all students in the US started late this school year in at least one subject.

At home, J. Ryan solves multiplication problems at the dinner table. His mother watches as he spends a few minutes on a paragraph about weather systems and struggles to answer questions about reading.

“Sometimes I can’t understand the spelling or the main idea of ​​a text,” J. Ryan said as he put his homework aside.

The struggle that eventually landed J. Ryan in a hospital for mental illness began in third grade when he returned to in-person school after nearly a year of online learning. His teacher called frequently, sometimes every day. J. Ryan got upset, interrupted the lessons and left the classroom.

J. Ryan exhibited this behavior during English classes and other activities, including Mandarin and Grammar School, according to her special education plan provided by The Associated Press. He enjoyed attending mathematics lessons, where he felt more confident.

Joseph changed his casino schedule to night shift so he could interact with teachers during the day. The calls continued into the fourth grade. But Joseph said the teachers never mentioned his reading problems.

Last spring, she sought treatment for what was becoming obvious: her son had depression. She was admitted to the hospital with her parent, who speaks English and Haitian Creole.

Lawyer Fabienne Eliasin insisted that J. Ryan score on tests given each fall to track student progress. She explained to Joseph what it means to be ranked in the 30th percentile. This is not good, Eliasin told her. Maybe better.

It suddenly became clear to Joseph why J. Ryan was playing in English classes. But why, he wondered, did his teachers pay attention only to his son’s behavior if his reading problems caused him distress? “They really don’t care how much they learn as long as they keep quiet,” Joseph concluded.

Boston Public School officials declined to comment on the J. Ryan case. “We are committed to providing families with complete and up-to-date information about the academic performance of their students,” said District Representative Marcus O’Mard.

Until this year, Boston schools were required to share semi-annual grades with parents, but it’s not clear how many did. Boston launched an awareness campaign this fall to help teachers explain test results to parents up to three times a year.

J. Ryan’s former teachers did not respond to emails asking for comment.

Research shows that there are many reasons why teachers may not talk to parents about a student’s progress, especially when the news is bad.

“Historically, teachers haven’t received enough training to communicate with parents,” said Tyler Smith, a professor of school psychology at the University of Missouri. School leadership and teacher support also matter, he says.

This is consistent with the results of national teacher surveys conducted by Learning Heroes. Sometimes, Williams says, even teachers “make assumptions” that low-income parents don’t care or that they shouldn’t be burdened.

Without those conversations, parents had to rely on report cards. But report cards are notoriously subjective, reflecting how much effort students put in in class and whether they turn in their homework.

Sophomore son Tamela Ensrud’s Nashville grade report mostly lists A’s and B’s in English, but she noted that her son had trouble reading. She asked to discuss her son’s reading grades at the fall parent-teacher meeting, but she was shown only examples of her son’s work and was told: “Your son is doing well.” “.

Her son’s afterschool program, run by a non-profit organization, tested her literacy and math skills this fall and found that she read below grade level. He qualified for their reading intervention program.

“I don’t think the whole story is being told,” Ensrud said.

Metro Nashville Public Schools said they are posting student test scores online for parents to see. “As far as we know, the school administration has not shared any of these issues, and if they did, they would be able to share information about these resources,” spokesman Sean Braisted said.

Ensrud looked up the scores online and found that they were impossible to interpret.

Many counties have poured their federal pandemic recovery money into summer school offerings, mentoring programs, and other activities to help students catch up during the pandemic. But distribution was not what educators had hoped for. If more parents knew that their children were falling behind in school, they might seek help.

As soon as Joseph and his lawyer found out that J. Ryan was so far behind in reading, they asked his school for small group tutoring, which experts say is one of the most effective strategies for lagging students.

But they were told that the school did not offer it. In November, he was transferred to another school, where he was told that he could provide such assistance. J. Ryan says he likes the new school as they are learning more complex long division. “I like to challenge mathematics,” he said. But he does not understand the texts, which he reads much better.

Joseph does not receive calls from the teacher complaining about his behavior, which she attributes to her son receiving adequate treatment for depression. But this year, he didn’t get the report card or test results that the district says it sends out to families.

“I still worry about reading it,” he said.

The Associated Press Education Group receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. AP is solely responsible for all content.

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