According to research from Learning Heroes, “9 out of 10 parents of public school students, regardless of race, income, and education level, believe their child is at or above grade level in reading and math.” However, scores on the 8th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2019, found that barely 3 in 10 students are proficient in both math and reading. And the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 found that fewer than half of U.S. 15-year-old students score at level three on a six-level proficiency scale in mathematics. Since both NAEP 2019 and PISA 2018 were administered before the coronavirus pandemic, these results do not reflect the impact of school closures and distance learning over the past year on student progress. However, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the pandemic may provide an opportunity to strengthen connections between schools and parents. In an OECD survey of educators and other stakeholders from 98 countries this past summer, two-thirds of respondents said that distance learning had strengthened the involvement of parents in their child’s learning.
During distance learning over the past year, top-performing education systems developed resources for parents, guardians, and families to support their students while they are learning from home. Read about these resources in NCEE’s paper, How Did The World’s Highest Performing Education Systems Approach Distance Learning?
