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Achievement Matters…In Bloomington-Normal

Students whose families are actively involved in their education have better grades, higher test scores and long-term academic achievement according to a recent Department of Education study. With family involvement, students also attend school more regularly, complete more homework and demonstrate more positive attitudes and behaviors than those with less involved families.

An example – How family involvement impacts reading scores:
A national reading assessment of fourth-grade students in 2000 (conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress) found that average reading scores increased when students regularly discussed their studies almost every day at home.

  • Students who discussed their studies almost every day at home (54% of students) scored about 20 points higher in reading than students who never or hardly ever discuss studies at home.

  • Students who discussed their studies once or twice a week (23% of students) scored about 18 points higher in reading than students who never or hardly ever discuss studies at home.

  • Students who discussed their studies once or twice a month (6% of students) scored about 16 points higher in reading.

  • Students who never or hardly ever discussed their studies at home (17% of students) scored about 20 points lower in reading than students who discussed their studies almost every day at home.
     

What can families do to be more involved?
Five quick things you can do to help your student achieve in school:

  • Check homework and backpacks every night

  • Limit TV viewing on school nights

  • Set challenging academic standards

  • Discuss your child’s progress with teachers

  • Attend Parent/Teacher conferences
     

What resources exist that allow me to help my student achieve?
There are many Web sites dedicated to providing resources that help families help their students achieve. Here are links to Web sites you can use:

I’ve heard there’s an achievement gap in Bloomington-Normal. What does that mean?
All students are capable of achieving in their education, and we as a community need to make sure that each student reaches his or her full potential. Both school districts in Bloomington-Normal are experiencing an educational achievement gap along racial and socioeconomic lines, a pattern found in many cities across the country.

  • Large differences are seen in both reading and math scores

  • A gap is seen as early as third grade and persists through high school

  • Both school districts have a wide range of racial and income-related achievement gaps

  • High student mobility, which has been associated with poor performance for both mobile and non-mobile students, seems to be concentrated mostly in elementary schools
     

Frequently Asked Questions

My child gets good grades. This gap doesn’t affect me, right?
This question has been eloquently answered by Lillian Katz, the former director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education:

"I really believe that each of us must come to care about everyone else’s children. We must come to see that the well-being of our own individual children is intimately linked to the well-being of all other people’s children. After all, when one of our own children needs life-saving surgery, someone else’s child will perform it; when one of our own children is threatened or harmed by violence on the streets, someone else’s child will commit it. The good life for our own children can only be secured if it is also secured for all other people’s children. But to worry about all other people’s children is not just a practical or strategic matter; it is a moral and ethical one: to strive for the well-being of all other people’s children is also right."

Why does this affect the Bloomington-Normal community?
Low academic achievement has far-reaching implications for our community as well as our state. Low levels of education correlate to lower household incomes. And poorer, less educated communities are often more in need of numerous forms of state and local services. Increased funding for such services means a community and state that is less competitive in the increasingly international labor market.
 

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