Jeffco Schools Have Massively Betrayed Parents’ Trust

Tom Coyne:

According to a recent report, “86% of Colorado parents surveyed believe their child is on track to meet the goals and expectations for learning at his or her grade level” (“Hearts and Minds of Parents in an Uncertain World” by Learning Heroes).

Most of these parents are dead wrong.

It isn’t hard to see why they are so overconfident. Parent-teacher meetings are usually short, with a brief review of student grades that are usually good. The fact that grade inflation is now rampant in K-12 is never mentioned (e.g., “Measuring Success” by Hurwitz and Lee and “High School Grade Inflation” by Zhang and Sanchez).

So parents remain blissfully ignorant of the true state of student achievement, and the heavy lifetime price their children will pay for school districts’ betrayal of their trust.