Ina Joseph was unaware of how much her 10-year-old son was struggling in school. He only found out with the help of someone who knows the Boston school system better than he does.
His son, J.J. Ryan Maturin wasn’t always comfortable pronouncing words in English. But Joseph, a Haitian immigrant raising him on his own, didn’t know how far behind he was in reading — in the 30th percentile — until a hospital where his son was receiving treatment referred him to a bilingual advocate. Added with.
“I am saddened and disappointed,” Joseph said through an interpreter. “It is only because I was assigned an educational advocate that I know this about my son.”
It is widely known from test scores that the pandemic has pushed back students across the country. But many parents don’t realize that this includes their own child.
Schools have long faced criticism for failing to inform some parents about their children’s academic progress. But in the wake of COVID-19 school closures, the stakes have never been higher for kids in many ways. Thanks to federal COVID aid, opportunities to catch up are abundant in some places, but won’t last forever. Experts say better communication with parents will be needed to help students get the support they need.
“There’s a problem parents can’t solve,” said Cindy Williams, co-founder of Learning Heroes, which is dedicated to improving communication between public schools and parents about students’ academic progress. “
A 2022 survey of 1,400 public school parents nationwide by Learning Heroes found that 92% believed their children were performing at grade level. But in a federal survey, school officials said that half of all American students started this school year behind a grade level in at least one subject.
At home, J.J. Ryan solves multiplication problems at his dining room table. His mother observes that he dwells on a paragraph about weather systems for several minutes and struggles to answer questions about what he has read.
“Sometimes I cannot understand the writing or the main idea of the text,” J. Ryan said after putting away his homework.
Ultimately J.J. The struggles that landed Ryan in the hospital began in third grade when he returned to in-person school after nearly a year of studying online. His teachers called often, sometimes every day. Jay Ryan was getting frustrated, disrupting lessons, and skipping class.
According to his special education plan shared with The Associated Press, J. Ryan displayed these behaviors during other classes, including English Language Arts and Mandarin, and gym. He happily attended maths classes, where he felt more confident.
Joseph changed his work schedule to a night shift at a casino so that he could speak with the teachers during the day. The calls continued into fourth grade. But Joseph said teachers never mentioned his problems with reading.
Last spring, she sought treatment for what was becoming clear: Her son was depressed. She was paired at the hospital with a parents’ advocate who speaks English and Haitian Creole.
Advocate, Fabienne Alliassin, provided J.J. with tests each fall to monitor student learning. Ryan’s stressed to get the score. He explained to Joseph what it meant to score in the 30th percentile. It’s no good, Ilyasin told him. He can do better.
For Joseph, it suddenly made sense that J.J. Why was Ryan acting out in English class? But, she wondered, why were his teachers focusing only on her son’s behavior if his reading difficulties were causing his distress? “They don’t really care how much they learn, as long as they stay calm,” Joseph concluded.
Boston Public School officials J.J. Would not comment on Ryan’s case. “We are committed to providing families with comprehensive and updated information about their student’s academic performance,” said district spokesman Marcus O’Murder.
Before this year, it was up to Boston schools to share midterm assessments with parents, but it’s unclear how many were doing so. In the fall, Boston launched a communications campaign to help teachers explain test results to parents three times a year.
Jay Ryan’s former teachers did not respond to an email seeking comment.
There may be many reasons why teachers may not talk to parents about a student’s academic progress, especially when the news is bad, research suggests.
“Historically, teachers didn’t get a lot of training in talking to parents,” said Tyler Smith, professor of school psychology at the University of Missouri. Support from school leadership and teachers also makes a difference, he said.
This is in line with findings from national teacher surveys conducted by Learning Heroes. Many times, Williams said, teachers also “make the impression” that some low-income parents don’t care or shouldn’t be burdened, or that parents won’t believe them.
Without these conversations, parents have to rely on report cards. But report cards are notoriously subjective, reflecting how much effort students put into the class and whether they turn in homework.
Tamela Ensrud’s second-grade son’s progress report in Nashville shows mostly As and B’s in English, but she noticed that her son was having trouble reading. She asked to discuss her son’s reading test scores at a parent-teacher conference, but was only shown samples of her son’s work and told, “Your son is doing well.”
Her son’s afterschool program, which is run by a nonprofit, tested his literacy and math skills this fall and found he was reading 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 it posted student test scores online for parents to see. “To our knowledge, she has not shared any of these concerns with the school administration and if she did, they would be able to share information about these resources,” said spokesman Sean Bristed.
Ensrud looked up the scores online and found them impossible to interpret.
Many districts have channeled their federal pandemic recovery money into summer school offerings, tutoring programs, and other interventions to help students regain lost ground during the pandemic. But the uptake has not been what the teachers had hoped for. If more parents know their children are falling behind academically, they may seek help.
Once Joseph and his lawyer learn that J.J. Ryan is so far behind in reading that her school asked her to offer small-group tutoring, intervention experts agree is one of the most effective strategies for struggling students.
But he was told that the school did not offer it. They moved him in November to another school, which said it could provide this help. J. Ryan says he likes the new school, as he is learning more advanced long-division. “I like challenging math,” he said. But he is not able to understand the texts which he reads much better.
Joseph hasn’t been receiving phone calls from teachers complaining about his behavior, which she credits with getting her son adequate treatment for his depression. But she hasn’t received a report card this year or test scores the district says it is now sending to families.
“I’m still worried about his reading,” she said.