re: #296 researchok

I don’t know what the solution is.

What I do know is that for decades, we have been failing, repeating the same mistakes over and over.

I submit the solution is many faceted. I just refuse to get into the politics of it. These kids have been let down for decades.

A fascinating discovery I ran across is that one of the best indicators of student performance is parental involvement, a good proxy of which is parent volunteerism.

Now it may or may not be obvious, but if both parents are working a job and a half, they’re not going to be available to volunteer, and probably aren’t going to do much in support at home. There’s a decent (though not critical) correlation between the gradual change to both parents working and the decrease in student performance.

In simple sexism, when Mom had to start working so the family could pay the bills, Johnny quit learning as well at school.