Two recent big stories in the education world may be more related than they appear at first glance. Let’s start with the positive news. According to newly released national research from Learning Heroes, the awareness gap between the grades students bring home and their actual academic proficiency may finally be shrinking.
83% of respondents to the 2026 Learning Heroes survey reported that their child is at or above grade level in math. In 2022, that figure was 92%. In parallel, grade inflation may also be losing some of its hot air: 73% of parents report their kid brings home all or mostly A’s and B’s, down from 84% in 2022.
While both figures are far from the 47% of New Jersey 4th-graders who are at or above grade level in math, any gain in transparency can have a crucial impact. The Learning Heroes survey shows when parents take a skills gap seriously - when they know it exists. Those informed parents are more likely to ask questions of their teacher, request additional support, and search for tutors to get their kid on track. Those actions matter.
However, the second major story shows what a difficult battle this is.
An awareness campaign in Boston highlighting the disconnect between grades and proficiency - 70% of that school system’s students can’t read at grade level - had its messages removed from the spots they’d paid for on the subway. While these ads went through a standard approval process from the MBTA, they were retroactively censored after being deemed to violate the organization’s standards for being too political. More likely: these simple statements of fact, using publicly available data that citizens pay to secure, were too upsetting to someone with too much influence over the ad placements. The organization behind the campaign, Next Chapter Boston, certainly has the attention of the Mayor’s office.
While those in power might be more comfortable if parents remain in the dark, families need consistent and reliable signals. We know that parents still trust report card grades more than standardized test scores. That trust should be honored with clarity around what goes into each letter grade - whether it be tests, quizzes, homework, extra credit, or participation - so parents don’t assume report cards accurately reflect mastery of content.
Back here in NJ, parents can be forgiven for prioritizing grades over standardized test scores. After all, report cards get a 4-month head start in the race for parents’ attention. New Jersey needs to accelerate the return of state test scores to give parents a complete view of student progress. If schools were able to put standardized test scores directly on report cards, it would provide a more comprehensive picture to parents, empowering them to collaborate effectively with teachers and support their student's learning in real-time. Until then, mind the gap.
