Teachers Say Parents’ Lack Of Prioritizing School Work Causes Learning Gaps, According To New Study

There’s no question that education has taken a turn in the last five years. You’d be hard-pressed to find a student, parent, or teacher who wasn’t deeply affected by how education changed after 2020. Remote learning left us all in a state of disassociation. With a lack of social interaction plus the immersive experience of being in an actual classroom, things just are not the same.

Unfortunately, it seems that five years later, we’re still reeling from those difficult months. So much so that student test scores are worse than before the pandemic started. And while there is no quick fix for this kind of dip, teachers believe that parents could lead the charge to a change for the better.

According to a survey of 700 elementary and middle school teachers by Study.com, an online learning platform that queried educators in January about student achievement, 46% percent of teachers surveyed named “lack of family prioritization of academics” as the primary reason some students have fallen behind.

Steven Barnett, founder and senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, was disappointed but not surprised by the NAEP results — particularly in reading. Survey data from his organization found that the percentage of parents who report reading to their children at least three times per week has dropped about 12 percent since the start of the pandemic.

“I think this engagement with literacy is probably not just with their 3- and 4-year-olds, that it's just fallen off across the board,” Barnett says. “What concerns me is that the next cohorts coming onto NAEP will have had even more years of this low level. So I'm going to expect them to do even worse in the next one than they did this time unless we do something to turn this around.”

So, if lack of parental involvement is likely the reason for the dip, the counter would be as the biggest potential gain to students’ progress, with 87% saying that increasing support for families and parents would have the greatest impact.

Dana Bryson, SVP of social impact for Study.com, says the findings from this survey revealed teachers’ desire to get parents more engaged with their children’s schooling.

“My big takeaway is that it was not like, ‘Hey, parents, you're apathetic,’” Bryson says, “but it was actually more, ‘We need to do a better job at making sure parents can be involved.’ And all kinds of parents from all walks of life — not just parents, but caregivers.”

So, what can parents do? Especially in today’s world where parents are stretched beyond thin already with working jobs, shuffling kids to activities, and trying to sleep more than 5 hours a night. That answer seems to still be undetermined.

And then there’s the counter argument: if you don’t have the patience of a saint, parent involvement in school work could make things worse. In fact, some data suggests that parents trying to help with math homework make students do worse.

So far, some schools are doing their part to try and get parents more involved. One district in Illinois is piloting a weekly summary for parents of their children’s grades and behavior. Maybe if parents are allowed a bit more insight into the kid’s day-by-day curriculum, there’d be more incentive to be involved. This idea, of course, comes with its own set of issues, considering teachers are also underpaid and stretched thin. Do they need another task on their plate?

Plus, with the looming desecration of the U.S. Department of Education, students, teachers, and parents will need to be even more vigilant to ensure success.