Odds are you’ve seen the incredibly personal essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones published by The New York Times Magazine, or at least the discourse around the piece “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?”
That titular question is one that we cannot answer, of course. And the author also struggles at length and with nuance to respond to it. While the courage to publicly grapple with one’s parenting mistakes is commendable, we believe a more important issue is absent from the article.
The questions we found missing from the article begin with “why”:
Why do we accept that a school system would fail to provide foundational math skills for so many of their students?
Why do we allow these same institutions to mislead students and parents with high praise, good grades, and “college-ready” diplomas?
And why do these institutions ignore the multiple distress signals provided by the results of national, state, graduation and college preparation assessments?
These rhetorical questions are for every parent, not just Pulitzer-prize winning NY Times reporters. Ungraded assignments, no homework, inflated report cards, and social promotion have become hallmarks of our country’s education system - across our urban centers, suburban planned communities, and rural communities alike.
We have a K-12 system in NJ that prioritizes its reputation over results. So, yes, parents are needed to play Sherlock Holmes. Luckily, the clues are hiding in plain sight, including: (1) We know schools often present a skewed picture of how a student is performing academically – report cards alone can’t be trusted!; and (2) We know standardized tests are available to clarify that picture and inform actions that help a student address skill gaps and reach their potential.
While our state’s elected leaders use NJ’s top national ranking as an excuse for inaction and our local districts are focused on everything but student achievement, parents can’t be bystanders and trust that their children are meeting grade-level proficiency standards. While almost all NJ children will receive a diploma, will they actually be ready for college? The clues are everywhere – in backpacks, homework assignments, report cards and test scores. Just don’t ask Nikole Hannah-Jones for help finding them.
