Solutions to
Under-Achievement

Chronic School Absence
Chronic school absence paves a direct path to juvenile delinquency, dropping out of school, early childbearing, and other risky behaviors. Tracking attendance patterns provides an early warning system of when it’s time to engage parents, teachers, schools, and the community in keeping students and the school system on course.

Even the best teachers in the world can’t teach when students aren’t present.

Summer Learning Loss
Summer learning loss contributes to the achievement gap in reading performance. Students from lower income families experience greater losses in learning over the summer than their higher income peers. Providing access to community-based programs through libraries, schools, and technology centers can encourage self-directed and group learning to combat summer learning loss.

Strategies

Mike Brumby tells from his perspective as a timber grower, executive director of the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence in Tifton, Ga., and parent, how we can resolve the very solvable literacy achievement gap crisis. He discusses the value of establishing good partnerships, providing access to community-based programs, changing our behaviors and systems after studying data and trends, and why lowering standards is never an option. Brumby also is quick to point out that every parent is charged with the primary responsibility in improving grade-level reading proficiency.
Watch audio slide show.