Chances are, you’re one of 92% of Houston-area parents who believe your child is performing at or above grade level in math and reading. Statistically speaking, however, there is a 66% likelihood that your child is, in fact, underperforming in math. That probability decreases only slightly –– to 58% –– for below grade-level reading.
Unfortunately, the discrepancy between parents’ perception of their child’s skills and the full reality of those skills is concerning across the United States. 90% of parents nationwide believe their child’s math and reading abilities are meeting grade-level expectations. Yet, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 26% of eighth graders are considered “proficient” in math, and only 31% are so qualified in English.
Findings like these reveal a two-part problem. First is the fact that a majority of students today are alarmingly behind what is expected of them for grade-level academic performance. Second is the implication that most parents are unaware their own child may be one of those students.
Students Are Underperforming…and It’s Not Just Because of the Pandemic
Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 lockdown significantly incapacitated our education system. Between the clunky transition from in-person to virtual schooling, the sudden lack of socialization available to children at crucial stages of early development, and the higher-than-normal burnout rates among overworked teachers, the effects of the pandemic will continue to be felt at schools across the country for years to come. (How many years? No less than 4, according to one New York Times study.)
Beyond such direct consequences, however, COVID-19 also heightened pre-existing gaps in children’s education along socioeconomic and racial lines.
Consider, for instance, the “digital divide”: a phenomenon seen across the United States wherein many children lack the electronic devices and/or internet access necessary to engage in online learning. One study published in the National Library of Medicine claims “what was a gap is now a chasm.” Where the shift towards increasingly tech-forward supplemental schooling had already alienated many of our Black, Hispanic, working-class, and disabled communities prior to the pandemic, the complete reliance upon such methods triggered by lockdown greatly exacerbated such disparities.
Another relevant factor is mental health.
Approximately 41,000 Texas children are said to have experienced the death of a caregiver due to the COVID-19 virus (an estimated 5,000 of which reside in Harris County alone). As federal stimulus funding for Texas schools’ mental health resources draws to a close in the fall of 2024, and with no clear sign of a return to such spending in the future, the risk that increased levels of “trauma and grief” experienced among Texas students will go insufficiently remedied poses a threat to the state’s public health and education standards.
Of course, like the digital divide, COVID-19 did not create the mental health crisis: it merely worsened pre-existing realities. According to one Houston Chronicle study, at no point between the year 2013 and the onset of the pandemic did all Texas school districts meet the Texas Education Agency’s recommended ratio of one mental healthcare professional per 250 students (in fact, a staggering 98% of Texas schools fell short of this metric.) We would be remiss to pretend this shortage had no bearing on students’ academic performance prior to the pandemic: consider the overwhelming evidence that a causative relationship exists between students’ mental health and scholarly achievement.
What Can Parents Do About It?
The Enrichery recommends a 3-pronged approach to parents seeking to better understand their child’s academic performance and, having done so, address any gaps in skill and/or content.
I. Communication is key.
The truth is, report cards are a rather inaccurate way to determine whether your child is meeting grade-level expectations. This is because report cards often condense a holistic perspective of scholarly achievement (including metrics like classroom behavior, homework completion, and attendance, which are irrelevant to the hard skills and factual content students possess) into an easily digestible letter grade. As such, it is not uncommon for parents to discover, upon moving to a new school district, that their A-achieving child is actually below grade level in reading or math.
Instead, the Enrichery recommends that parents communicate directly with teachers. Questions like “Is my child performing at grade level?” and “Are there specific skill/content gaps my child should address over summer break?” can prompt fruitful discussion about your student’s accomplishments and struggles.
II. Learn about available on-campus resources.
Once you have identified such gaps, be sure to explore the accessible resources your school may already have on offer (like on-campus counselors). Once again, teachers can be incredibly helpful in this regard, both in making relevant recommendations and in providing such resources themselves, like in-school office hours and after-school tutoring. While we also recommend external tutoring (see below), encouraging your child to exercise initiative by approaching their teacher for assistance can go a long way towards preparing them for college life.
III. Consider external tutoring.
The Enrichery offers Academic Coaching (AC) sessions to students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Incorporating Executive Functioning skills into one-on-one meetings with your child, Enrichery coaches assist in planner maintenance, student-teacher communication, homework completion, and exam preparation. Equally important, Enrichery coaches submit reports to parents following each AC session. These write-ups include information like grade updates, missing and upcoming assignments, weekly extracurricular activities, and other relevant observations about your child’s progress. As the school year nears to a close, this might be the perfect time to provide your child with the support they need to strengthen their grades and prepare for the next academic year.
If you would be interested in enrolling your child for tutoring at the Enrichery, please submit a request to contact us at https://theenrichery.com/contact-us-submission/!
