So how worried should parents be about the lower scores on state exams in California public schools and what should parents do about it.
Much of it is being blamed on the pandemic, with classrooms shut down and students doing distance learning. The COVID virus also disrupted education in other ways, with kids, parents and grandparents getting infected and impacting work schedules, family life and childcare.
The new standardized tests scores statewide and in San Diego County are down from four to seven percent…with only a third of students in California public schools meeting or exceeding the standards in math and fewer than half doing so in English.
The San Diego Union Tribune points out that…as is usually the case when it comes to standardized tests…the highest performing school districts have the most students from higher-income families.
It’s probably not a surprise that family income is one of the best predictors of academic performance, with lower income families facing more challenges when it comes to the time and resources they have to help their kids learn with both parents working and often multiple jobs.
This would suggest that the education of our kids problem, like so many other societal problems such as drugs and crime and homelessness reflect an economic problem and a family problem.
Until the education of our kids improves, there will be parents who are not as well educated as they could be having kids who won’t be as well educated as they could be.
But that’s not going to be an easy problem to solve. That is, until we really want to solve it.
(Photo Getty Images)
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