Academic-parenting is a concept that grew out of my early studies of how
to improve the Quality of the Condition of Education in the school my
youngest attended at the time. And from several surprisingly frank,
honest, and unexpected admissions by other parents of the challenge to
help and support their child at home. And these were parents of fifth
and sixth graders. I came to believe then and still do there is a need.
And by the fall of 2008, I had a descriptive name for it. Today as an
Autodidact Education Anthropologist (AKA as a student) of the field of
education, I can show you the need, which you'll see in the last part of
this post.
In a general sense: Academic-Parenting is activities you can do with
your kids to prepare them to learn in a formal teaching environment and
support them through High school graduation. The goal is to keep it
super simple. And the following reading academic-parenting skill most of
you already know; some to all of:
1. Reading to your child before they know how to read, and then
discussing what you read with them.*
2. Reading the same book or text with them as they learn to read. Then
discussing it afterward.*
3. Reading together. Not necessarily the same book or text. Or even at
the same time. Then discussing what each of you read.*
* Discussing is not a lecture. It is a conversation where all parties
are comfortable expressing themselves. Effective communication between
you and anyone is identical to building a bridge. The longer you build
on the bridge and keep it open, the stronger it becomes. But if it
collapses, it is damn hard to rebuild. And children (bless them) may
occasionally be trying. The goal is to keep them comfortable and the
communication bridge open as you use your parental authority to address
the situation.
I don't know if anyone else uses the phrase academic-parenting. However,
people write blogs and books detailing numerous simple things you may
already know or can learn to do to equip your kid(s) for formal
schooling and support them through high school graduation.
I find it frustrating when someone writes an opinion without verifiable
facts. And I always wonder if their thoughts were pulled out of some
sunless crevasse or creatively made up for the sake of being argumentative.
The following section will show fact checkable evidence with links
(another pet peeve) showing the impact of parents' education level on
student's measurable academic scholarship, using National Assessment of
Education Progress (NAEP) published results.
1971 Parental Education impact on 17-year-old student acquisition of
Reading Proficiency; TABLE 1: Parent Education Level and Corresponding
Percentage of available Points earned by Mean or Average Score(1):
> Not a high school graduate = 52%
> Graduated high school = 57%
> Some education after high school = 60%
Mean, or Average Score percentages in Table 1, are the equivalent of a
classroom grade. All equivalent classroom grades would be a letter grade
of an "F" if the minimum classroom proficiency were a 70 or better.
1978 Parental Education impact on 17-year-old students learning of
Mathematics Proficiency; TABLE 2: Parent Education Level and
Corresponding Percentage of available Points earned by Mean or Average
Score(2):
> Not a high school graduate = 56%
> Graduated high school = 49%
> Some education after high school = 61%
> Graduated college = 63%
Mean, or Average Score percentages in Table 2, are the equivalent of a
classroom grade. All equivalent classroom grades would be a letter grade
of an "F" if the minimum classroom proficiency were a 70 or better.
Forty-one and more years later, in 2019
2019 Parental Education impact on 12th-Grade student acquisition of
Reading Proficiency; TABLE 3: Parent Education Level and Corresponding
Percentage of available Points earned by Mean or Average Score(3):
> Did not finish high school = 54%
> Graduated high school = 54%
> Some education after high school = 57%
> Graduated college = 59%
> Unknown = 51%
Mean, or Average Score percentages in Table 3, are the equivalent of a
classroom grade. All equivalent classroom grades would be a letter grade
of an "F" if the minimum classroom proficiency were a 70 or better.
2019 Parental Education impact on 12th-Grade student acquisition of
Mathematics Proficiency; TABLE 4: Parent Education Level and
Corresponding Percentage of available Points earned by Mean or Average
Score(4):
> Did not finish high school = 44%
> Graduated high school = 45%
> Some education after high school = 49%
> Graduated college = 54%
> Unknown = 42%
Mean, or Average Score percentages in Table 4, are the equivalent of a
classroom grade. All equivalent classroom grades would be a letter grade
of an "F" if the minimum classroom proficiency were a 70 or better.
METHODOLOGY:
At, The Afterclap Web: http://theafterclap.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Afterclap-107153424017370 Twitter: https://twitter.com/@TAfterclap
We translate large-scale Standardized Test measurement
systems through a process named "Calculating the Percent of a Perfect
Score." This KISS (keep it super simple) method converts results to a
percentage and equivalent classroom grade. This translation eliminates
the need for an education authority to tell you what they want you to
believe. Or provide an explanation you may not understand. The process
was created by a Founder of The Afterclap. He spent nine years serving
on Public School Councils with a Georgia legislated expectation to make
positive suggestions to improve the Quality of the Condition of
Education in the school he served. And be able to explain how well
students performed on large-scale standardized tests to parents and
interested stakeholders. As a former student and now as a parent, he
understands the implications of the Classroom Grade and suspects you do
as well. If your child brings home a grade of 57, the score eliminates
some questions and opens the door to specific targeted questions from
"what did you learn today?" To, "what have you not learned yet?"
Bruce Kendall.
SOURCES:
(1) 1995 > Digest of Education Statistics > National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) Long Term Trends. > "Table 105. Average
student proficiency in reading, by age and selected characteristics of
students: 1971 to 1992."> Where the earliest year listed for Parental
education impact on 17-year-olds in "Reading Proficiency" was 1971.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d95/dtab105.asp
(2) 1999 > Digest of Education Statistics > National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) Long Term Trends. > "Table 123. Average
mathematics proficiency, by age and by selected characteristics of
students: 1973 to 1996." Where the earliest year listed for Parental
education impact on 17-year-olds in "Mathematics Proficiency" was 1978
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d99/d99t123.asp
(3) 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading,
Grade 12, Parental education level, from 2 questions [PARED] and
National jurisdiction. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/landing
(4) 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mathematics,
Grade 12, Parental education level, from 2 questions [PARED] and
National jurisdiction. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/landing
