- Hello and welcome to the first event in our "Ohio Learns 360" family webinar series.

I'm Amy Juravich from WOSU Public Media.

We're here today to discuss closing the learning gap for students across Ohio.

We would like to thank "Ohio Learns 360" and the Ohio Department of Education for their support of this initiative.

Students are back in school and discovering a new normal after several disrupted academic years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Educators, administrators, and parents worked tirelessly to keep students engaged over the past 2 1/2 school years, and now we're discovering larger than normal gaps in learning.

How will schools close these learning gaps and what can parents do to help?

Joining us today for this discussion is Dr. Barbara Boone, she's the director of Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center at Ohio State University.

Dr. Boone leads a team focused on improving partnerships between home, school, and communities for the education of children of all ages.

Thanks for joining us today, Dr. Boone.

- It's great to be here.

Thanks for the invitation.

- Thanks for coming.

And before we talk about closing the learning gap, let's start with what it is.

How do we know if our student is behind?

- Sure, you know, learning loss, this gap we're talking about, this is a term that's been used for a long time to describe what happens when anybody, a person, we don't practice a skill or something that we know and we sometimes lose that skill a little bit.

We maybe aren't as good at that skill.

We kind of forget some of the concepts.

And if we try to jump back into where we left off, we kind of realize we're a little rusty, we need to relearn some things and then we can get back on track.

We can do this, kids can do it too.

Families may have heard of learning loss before used to refer to kids having to do some relearning after a long summer break.

We may have heard of summer slide.

So if kids are spending the summer and they're not really using those math concepts that they've learned or they're not reading or they're not talking about what they've been learning in school, sometimes when they get back to school in the fall, they're not right where they were when they left off.

So during the pandemic, most kids' education and school was interrupted.

Those past 2 1/2 years have been hard for most people, for adults and children alike.

So we probably really shouldn't expect our children to perform as if everything has been normal.

- So can you tell me some of the indicators that parents or the adults at home need to look for if they're considering, like, "Do I have learning loss happening here?"

What are some indicators of that?

- Sure, so, you know, families can, where I would start, and I think families can really get some good information about their child's progress and whether or not their child is on track for their grade level by asking their child's teachers.

They have information that is helpful to you, and families should feel good about having that expectation about going to their school.

Sometimes families, you know, maybe don't wanna ask, they don't wanna be a bother.

But that is a very legitimate thing, for a family to ask of their child's teachers, "How are they doing for this year's learning standards," you know, "Where is my child?"

And our teachers should be able to sort of explain that, where they are in different areas, where they are maybe struggling some more, maybe where they're behind, but maybe where they're on track as well.

They should be able to tell you where their skills are maybe more developing and what they've mastered, and then, also, what they're doing at school to help your child make progress.

So if your child's learning needs to be accelerated a little bit, go a little faster maybe than on a normal pace, they'll talk about how they're working on that.

And then also, you know, they should be able as well to say, the next question should be, "Okay, so this is what's going on at school, what are some things we can be doing at home?

What can we be doing to help our child outside of school?"

And a lot of those conversations maybe are more appropriate at the elementary level.

When we have older kids, then we're gonna be asking them, "How are you doing?

How do you know how you're doing?

What is your teacher saying?"

Sort coaching them along more as opposed to always directly going to their teacher.

We wanna include those older kids in those conversations more.

I think the key is maybe to not get too caught up with numbers and in test scores.

It's really more important to work with teachers, to work with school counselors, work with your child to really investigate kind of what support your child needs.

And everybody's gonna be different.

- Now- - It may include... Oh, go ahead.

- Oh, I was just gonna say, related to that idea of test scores, you know, where we are in the school year now, do teachers know if there's learning loss yet if maybe there hasn't been a test?

Like, is that something, after just a few weeks of school, the teacher can tell like, "Oh, you know, this student might not be exactly where we hoped they would be."

Can they tell already?

- You know, I think they probably are starting to get some good ideas about that.

Early in the school year, that's often when teachers are trying to get a handle on, "Where are all of my students?"

Kids come from all different spaces, so they're trying to figure out, "Where are they, and so where do I get started?

What do we already know?

What can I build on?

And what do I need to sort of of help them to rebuild?

What skills do we need to learn so that we can move forward?"

So those early months are times when teachers are often taking those assessments, those early assessments to see, "Where are my students so I know where to start to move forward?"

And also, another type of assessment they do is called a diagnostic assessment.

It's kind of to check in to see are there any problems or issues we also need to address along the way.

- Now, I mean, parents know their kids best, so if a parent is thinking, "You know, maybe I do need to talk to the teacher," there probably is a reason, right?

So can you talk a little bit about what parents and trusted adults can do at home to just sort of, you know, help spur this conversation with the teacher and know what to do next?

- Yeah, you know, for families, I would really urge families to think about this also, it's not just all the concepts we want our kids to learn and the skills we want them to develop each year, it's also about those social and emotional behavioral needs that they have and those motivational supports that they need and to be looking out for those things as well.

And I think families are always the ones who sort of notice those things first and the best.

So, at home, if you notice your child's really sort of struggling with schoolwork and maybe homework that they bring home or they're really trying to avoid it, maybe they talk about feeling behind or feeling like they're in a lower group of learners at school, or they don't wanna go to school or they talk about it being difficult and they say things like, "They never taught me this.

I don't know."

They might be feeling overly anxious about tests, maybe not motivated, saying like, "This is dumb, I don't know what this is," feeling disengaged, sad.

The key idea is really that academic strain on kids can sometimes be evidenced in their work, but it can also be something that will show up in their mood and in their behavior.

So that's one thing I think for families to look for.

And then it's going to their teacher and sort of, "This is what I'm seeing at home.

This is what I'm hearing.

What do you see at school?

And what can we do together to support them as they're moving forward?"

- If you're just joining us, this is an "Ohio Learns 360" webinar and we're discussing how families can work with schools to address the larger the normal gaps in learning in students in kindergarten through the fifth grade.

And for our audience at home, we want to hear from you, so please use the Q&A function in this webinar to ask a question.

Parents, you know your kids best, so what questions do you have as we dive deeper into this topic?

With us tonight is Dr. Barbara Boone.

She's a researcher at Ohio State University and she has a team that focuses on improving partnerships between home, school, and the community.

So what you were just saying is the way parents can, you know, notice in their child if they're having problems with school.

That could be an indicator of learning loss or feeling behind, you know?

Especially for elementary school, kindergarten through fifth grade, school's supposed to be fun, right?

And you want them to want to go to school.

I mean, you know, as it gets older, it gets a little harder, but you want the kid to want to go to school.

So how can the parent play a role in talking about school in a positive way, right?

Yeah.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

I think that kids really pick up on our expectations and how we talk about school, so talking about school in a positive way and really encouraging them.

Those are really not small things.

Those can really make a big difference.

I think, too, remembering, I always love for families to consider that education is, it's not a race for your kids.

And so we wanna sort of not always be pressuring and pushing and thinking, you know, we've gotta get there first, we've gotta get there fastest, keeping our focus on who they are, where they are in their learning, where they're headed.

I think first and foremost is making sure our children are attending school.

You know, we've seen these drops in literacy, we've seen are the biggest drops across the country and in Ohio in mathematics.

But our kids aren't gonna be able to catch up, that's learning's not gonna be accelerated if they're not in school.

And we're also seeing huge drops in attendance.

So number one, making sure that our kids are in school, because when they miss school, they miss important learning time.

Not just that learning time too, but those connections they make with their peers and with the staff at school, their teachers.

Those are important things in kids' lives, and they miss that when they're not in school.

There are other things as well.

You know what mean?

- Yeah, go ahead and tell us another one.

- You know, just setting up those good routines at home.

I mean, it seems so basic, but having a routine, getting sleep, meals, time, this is the time where we're gonna study, we're going to read, time for our family to be together and do things together as family, those routines help children learn.

Talking about your expectations for them.

"I think you are gonna do great this year in the third grade, fifth grade.

This is gonna be a fabulous year for you.

And this is how I want you to behave in school.

I want you to listen to your teachers.

I want you to be kind to the kids around you."

Kids hear your expectations and those are important to them.

Talking to them about how to talk to your teacher when they're frustrated, if they feel like things are going too fast or they don't know what to do, encouraging them and saying, "This is how you can talk to your teacher."

I think, too, it's important how we talk to them ourselves at home about their learning.

There's a researcher, her name's Carol Dweck, she's really interesting.

She talks about this thing called growth mindset, and what it really is, it's about that your intelligence is something that improves if you study and you practice, and it grows if you exercise it, like a muscle.

So you're not stuck with what you have.

So for example, if if we just say, "You know what?

You're just a natural at math," then when that child comes to a math concept that's hard for them, they think, "Wait, what's wrong?

I'm good at math," and they really start to doubt themselves.

Or if we say to them on the contrary, like, "You're just not good at math, I'm not good at math either," that kind of tells them it's all up to your DNA.

It's not up to hard work and practice.

And what Carol Dweck found and what's really interesting is we can shift our thinking.

And, you know, this made a huge difference to me as a mom, because I did that with my kids.

Instead of saying, "You're just good at that," say, "I see you working really hard.

I think that if you put in the work, if you really try this, you're gonna figure it out.

You may be struggling now.

You're just not there yet."

So knowing that when you make mistakes, when you face challenges, they're to learn from.

Maybe we'll try something different.

But it's not set.

You can grow.

You can exercise and you can learn and grow.

And what's interesting about the research around this that so many people have done is that students that have that mindset, that I can learn and grow, that my intelligent just isn't set, I'm either good or not good at something, but I can grow and get better, those students do better in school.

And that's something that can really make a difference for student that's trying to accelerate and learn and accelerate their learning if we feel like, you know, they've gotten behind because they've missed school and they, you know, they want to catch up, to get back on track.

- The growth mindset idea, I mean that is, that's just so important, especially for parents at home to understand how to flip the script.

And my children learned about growth mindset in school.

That's a part of their curriculum with their guidance counselor.

And my daughter had to explain it to me.

Like, she came home and taught me about growth mindset and flipping it around.

So you don't wanna say to your child, "You know, we need to read at home because you're behind in reading."

We have to say, "We're gonna read at home because it's a good thing for us to do as a family," right?

What's another way to flip that around?

Like, you know your child's behind in reading, so we need them to read, even though they're frustrated.

What can you do with that frustration to flip it around and say, "Look how far you've grown"?

- Yes, I think some of it is focusing, like you said, on not like, "You're a good reader," but, "Let's read things that you enjoy."

And it's not about, you know, "You got an A that's great," It's about, "You know, you worked hard.

You got an A, but you know what I really noticed is that you took the time to really study that," or, "You took time to be really careful on that work that you did.

You didn't rush through it and I think that's really gonna help you in the long run.

And that's what's helping you be successful," instead of just sort of celebrating, you know, "Good for you, you got an A.

You're good at that," switching that to understanding that we're all gonna be challenged.

We're gonna make mistakes.

We learn from them.

Let's try something different.

That's another thing about growth mindset.

It's not just, "Let's keep trying the same way, but let's try something different.

What is your friend doing?

Does your teacher have a different idea about how you can do that?"

And I agree with you, switching the script for an adult, it took some practice for me to sort of step back and not be so focused on saying, "Boy, you're good at that," or just congratulating them for a good grade but to really look at the effort and to look at the fact that they're enjoying what they're doing, rewarding sort of improvement and effort to really make that meaningful and motivating for them.

- Yeah, I mean, one of my favorite PBS Kids programs that has helped me be a better parent is "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood."

And they have a song in that that is keep trying, you'll get better.

I'm not gonna sing it, but that is, you know, how it goes.

But the idea is that you're not gonna, everything's not gonna come naturally to you.

And so, I mean, that's true for adults and, you know, you need to remember that for your students.

So when you have an elementary school student, everything they're learning is new, right?

- Yes.

- So that idea of how do you help, how do you keep your student motivated when you're telling them, "Keep trying, keep trying, you'll get better"?

Can we talk a little bit about the motivation to have that happen?

- Sure, so I think, when we think about motivating kids, sometimes we think about rewarding the end thing.

And instead, we wanna reward the improvement, reward the effort that they make, motivating.

And also thinking about motivating our kids in a way that's meaningful to them, which for one child could be a star sticker, for another child it's going to be you get to stay up a half hour later for something.

For another one.

It's going to be extra time doing something that they love.

I think knowing what motivates your child and using that motivation in a way that really recognizes that effort, that attitude that they had.

And also realizing that, you know, sometimes we think if someone is struggling with something, that that's a negative.

But, you know, we wanna sort of reward the struggle because we're really working at it then and we wanna reward that.

And that's something that I think, as adults, we see pays off because there is gonna be something we're gonna struggle with.

And if we just get frustrated easily and give up, that doesn't really help us grow or change or move forward.

So even in the youngest ages, sort of learning that struggle is good and if you're struggling, that means you're working at it.

Let's find a way that you can be successful.

Keep at it, keep practicing.

And what's really interesting to me is how that really benefits kids in school, kids performing so much better in school when they have that growth mindset.

- I really like that reward the struggle.

That's a great way to look at it, because they're trying, so you wanna acknowledge that.

Can we talk a little bit about what we need to do at home to help the students learn?

Like, more practically, you know, how many minutes should we be reading?

When should we do it?

That kind of thing.

Just 'cause, you know, as a parent, you don't know how to be the teacher, right?

And how can parents at home, you know, help with school?

- Well, I'm glad you brought up reading.

That's great.

Let's talk about that.

Reading is so important with our kiddos.

And what I would say, and this really ties in with what we were just talking about with motivation, that reading for pleasure, for recreation, reading because we enjoy reading, we wanna learn something or we wanna hear that story again, those are the reasons why we wanna encourage our children to read and the reasons we want to use.

Sometimes, having a time limit, it takes the meaning away, it takes sort of the motivation and makes it something, it makes it the time.

I read for time versus I read because I love this story or I love the pictures in this book.

Or when I read it with my grandpa, he makes the funniest voices and that's why I wanna read it.

Or something I wanna learn about.

I wanna learn about baseball or I wanna learn about trains.

That's why we want our kids to read.

And there have been some studies that have shown when we say a certain amount of time, we set the time limit up for students, they'll read less than they would if they were reading for pleasure.

So reading is so important, making it comfortable, making it an enjoyable experience, singing songs, huge, celebrating your family traditions.

That's something that we know is, it's a protective factor, we call it, in kids' lives.

Kids who have time with their families, have traditions, feel like they belong and their family's a safe place for them, they have a community that they belong to, those are kids that can work through lots of struggles and lots of adversity in life.

Talking at home, talking with our kids and listening, kind of having conversations is so important, in our home language, if it's English or not.

Talking at home in any language is important.

And of course, working and playing together is such a critical thing.

Our kids learn so much at home that they will never learn at school.

Sitting around a meal table, working alongside the parent, fixing a car or gardening or doing whatever our families do, those are things we just learned from our families and just learn at home.

And they're also things that help kids in school.

All of that learning just builds for kids.

And, you know, through all of that, we wanna always encourage their sense of wonder, their sense of creativity, their sense of curiosity, that learning isn't something that we wanna ever fight about or have a conflict about.

We just wanna encourage that learning is fun and really knowing what our children enjoy learning about and really helping them to explore that even more.

- Do you recommend keeping it organic the way you were just describing, or do you recommend, certain days of the week, setting aside time, like, "This is the time when we're going to work on school or we're going to work on this together"?

- So I would say there's a balance there.

If I was going to lean one way, I'd say, you used that word organic, but keeping learning positive.

If you ever find yourself and your child really frustrated about, you know, they go, "I don't wanna do this."

"Well, you better sit down and do it," you know, if we're getting into that mode, I would step back.

We don't want our kids to associate sort of conflict with mom or dad or grandma at home with learning.

We want learning to be enjoyable, something that kids think, "This is a good thing.

I like to learn, I wanna go to school, I'm gonna enjoy learning."

So that's an important thing.

And those early years, really at any age, talking about math and history and science in the context of life, that's one of the things that families do really well is, "Here's what you're learning at school.

Here's how I just saw that in something I did today at work.

Here's how we're gonna use that math that you are learning as we're gonna put together our dinner tonight."

Taking the things that kids learn in school and doing that at home is important.

All right, but now I wanna talk about the other part.

Sometimes there are skills that our kids are working on and sometimes that extra practice at home really will help.

So that's where talking with your kids' teachers and saying, "If they're struggling with this in math, what can we do at home to practice that skill?"

Or if there's something particular about reading, you know, reading, there's lots of things, connections in the brain between what's on the page and the sounds we make and how we put those sounds together and make words.

That's all kind of technical, but if our teachers can point out, "Here's something about rhyming or about letters that you can do at home," those are those specific things.

So like you said, sometimes you do set aside that time to practice a skill.

I would say there's also that important time of making learning just a part of your family's life.

- We wanna take questions from our audience, and we want to hear from you.

So if you are out there, you're a parent or a trusted adult of an elementary school student, what questions do you have about the connection between learning at home and learning at school?

Please ask your question in the Q&A portion of this webinar and Amy Palermo from WOSU Classroom will deliver your question to Dr. Boone.

So we were talking about the motivation and the growth mindset, and then there's another term that I know that a lot of schools are focusing on a lot, and it's the social-emotional learning aspect.

And so I know that a part of closing the learning gap is going to be addressing the mental health of our students as well.

So how do you think we at home can help with that part as well?

- Yeah, I think knowing the importance of that and being mindful of it, number one, realizing that, you know, I think sometimes people see young children and we say, "It's easy, life is great when you're a kid.

Kids don't have mental health challenges."

And we realize more and more that children of any age can have challenges like fears and anxiety and sadness, your sense of hope is so important.

And paying attention to that as a parent or a caregiver of children is so important.

And also knowing that asking for help, they're in our schools, it's so important.

And, and I think, you know, you've shared with our work that the partnership between home and school, sort of being on that team together to support each child, how they need support and their learning is important.

And that includes their social-emotional learning.

So if you notice that your child is feeling anxious, certainly talking with them about their feelings, recognizing that, acknowledging that, giving them space and words to talk about that.

And also when you feel like it's appropriate, talking to your school counselors about that and how they can support that at school.

The more adults, caring adults we have in our kids' lives to support them, the better.

And it's important to support those sort of mental health components of kids' lives.

- Yeah, so as a parent or the caregiver at home, we need to not be afraid to reach out to the school?

We need to talk to the teacher, talk to the guidance counselor?

I mean, are we bothering them?

The teachers are busy.

They have, you know, 25, 30 kids, right?

- (laughs) Yes.

- So how do you balance that of wanting to help your child and not being too much for the teacher?

- Yeah, well, I just wanna encourage any parent that you are that child's parent, you're their caregiver, you are the one who is there to, and I use this word very broadly, to advocate for them, to speak for them.

That's really how our education system, it works.

We have schools that are working hard caring for our kids, providing with them instruction and great places to learn that are safe and welcoming.

But at the same time, it also takes our families, it takes our homes supporting and working together.

So, certainly, going to a teacher, going to a counselor, letting them know, "This is what I'm seeing, these are my concerns," that is a very important role for families to play in their children's lives.

And our teachers and our school counselors will be so glad to hear that and be able to offer the supports they can.

Kids just grow better when the adults that surround them, whether they're at school, in their community, at their home, where we're on the same page, we're all working together and supporting them, that's where they're gonna grow and thrive the best.

So, absolutely, talking to the school.

And asking for help, "What can they do at school?

Are there other supports in our community that I can find and use to support my child, to help them to be their best selves?"

Whatever it is, every child's unique in that way.

- And you gave us some examples of, you know, ways we can learn at home and, you know, a little bit of structure sometimes and make it organic, a way you can learn while you're making dinner, you know, and all that thing.

But what if the learning gap is maybe a little bigger than the parent can handle?

When do we know that we need to reach out and maybe talk about tutoring, a more structured idea, like someone coming into our home, someone staying after school?

There's all different kinds of tutoring.

When do we need that?

- Absolutely, so, you know, afterschool programs, mentoring programs, tutoring programs, they are hugely beneficial to kids because they're learning in a new environment in a different way, but it's also connected to what they're doing at school and what they're doing at home.

So definitely, you know, tutoring is available.

So if you're talking to your child's teachers, you're really aware that they could use some extra help to help them accelerate that learning and sort of catch up and get to where they need to be, tutoring programs are available in many spaces like Boys & Girls Clubs.

Certainly our public libraries are great spaces to ask about this.

There's lots of different types of afterschool programs, in YMCAs and YWCAs.

Many of our schools in Ohio have afterschool programs that are connected to another community agency that are available to our kiddos.

So I would encourage families to go to the school and to ask about that, "Would tutoring be helpful for my child?

What type of tutoring would I be looking for?"

And I think something we know about tutoring in general is that we need to get enough of it to really make a difference.

So one time a week may not be enough.

We might need to say, to really catch up and accelerate, you know, kind of get ahead, we might be looking at a commitment of, you know, three times a week or a more condensed, a bigger dosage of that tutoring to help make that gain for students.

- And if you have a question for our "Ohio Learns 360" webinar today, you can ask it in the Q&A portion of this webinar.

We are running down on time, so get your questions in there now so that Dr. Boone has time to answer them.

And do you have a question?

- We do.

- All right, we have a question, this is Amy Palermo from WOSU Classroom with our question.

- Hi, Dr. Boone.

So our first audience question here, "How do I express concerns to my child's teacher in a way that won't make the teacher defensive?"

- Right, yeah, that's understandable.

I think we just acknowledged, teaching is a hard job, and so we don't want to sort of feel, we won't put anybody on their defense.

Sometimes we talk about the sandwich method in our work, and you probably heard about this.

But I think, number one, thinking about ahead of time, "What are my questions?"

I know that as a mom, sometimes my emotions and my feelings could be pretty raw.

I could be be feeling kind of sad, mad.

I could be questioning like, "Oh, am I being a good mom?"

And all of that comes together, and so that frustration can really come out when we're communicating with a teacher.

So I think sort of checking that and really, "What are my questions?"

And getting those down and asking those questions in a way that, number one, acknowledges something positive.

You know, "My child is really enjoying this class.

They love that they get to, you know, sit where they sit or the things that they're doing in this unit.

My concern is this," and share that concern.

"This is my concern.

I wonder about this.

I'm concerned about this.

I'm seeing these things."

And just to lay it out there, not in a blaming way, but, "I see this," or, "I hear my child saying this and I wanna come to you because I know that, together, maybe we can figure out how we can help them."

And so it's not a blaming, it's just, "I'm noticing this.

What can we do together?"

And then it always helps if we can end conversations sort of on that positive note, just to thank that teacher for the effort they are doing, for meeting with us, taking the time to do that.

That's important as well.

You know, our teachers are are humans too.

They're gonna go at home to their families after school just like all of us.

You know, we're all in this together.

But don't hesitate to ever approach your child's teacher and ask questions and ask for help and share with them what you're thinking.

That's so important.

- Okay, and I think we have another question from someone in our audience?

- Sure, let's see, "What are the highest yield at-home activities or priorities of the things that you've talked about?"

- All right, well, I think reading and talking together in the early grades is very high yield, because reading is something that it sort of flows into all of the learning that we do, whether it's math or science or wherever we're going, there's this foundation of reading.

So reading with our children, reading to our children, talking to our children, exposing them and listening to them so that they are talking, that language, whether it's spoken language, written language, reading, all of those are important.

And if you wonder about your child, if you think they're struggling, to really check in and ask for help.

You know, we're excited that Ohio is going to be providing more supports and assessments around dyslexia and other reading challenges.

Those are real challenges that many children face.

And sometimes it's a family member, a parent who notices and can alert the school and ask for help.

So we wanna encourage families, definitely reading, writing, and listening and talking, those are important things to do at home.

And really, I love it because you can do it in the car, you can do it when you're walking, you can do it when you're, right?

You can do that pretty much anywhere.

And then I think, you know, definitely being in school is important as well.

I think that, also, talking about what your child is learning at school, showing interest in that, helping them to talk to you about it, that really helps drive that learning deeper.

And then making those connections to your life, to the real world about that is another thing that will help take what they're learning and just drive it deeper and make those connections in life.

I would say that those are the most powerful things.

- Okay, thank you.

And we do have another question from our audience, so back to Amy Palermo.

- All right, "We are new to a very large school district and am looking to have my young son tested for learning disabilities, but there's a huge backlog and I'm being told it could be the end of the school year until he can be seen.

Do I have any other options?"

- Well, that's a tricky one.

I do want you, and I think we all, you should be able to have that assessment provided by your school district in a timely way.

And so I would encourage you to continue to ask and to question and to see what are the options for moving that timeline up?

What are other resources that can be drawn on in the district to be able to move that forward?

I am not gonna be able to speak specifically to exact timelines, but there are certain timelines that are associated with when a parent requests some assistance in this way, some assessment, and when that assessment needs to be conducted.

So I would just encourage them to continue to ask.

I think sometimes we are all busy, we all have limited resources, but to continue to find that way and to look for that more prompt response, I would really encourage you to do that.

- Something else that I wanted to ask you about is, you know, there's been a lot of focus over the years on standardized testing.

You know, checking in on like, you know, if the idea of closing the learning gap, you know, like we have these numbers and they show us the gaps.

How much, as a parent, should you worry about the standardized testing?

You know, how much weight should be put into the numbers versus how you feel your child is doing?

- Yeah, so the standardized testing is often, you know, it's an achievement test.

It's, you know, how far have we gone?

And there really are achievement tests in Ohio based on, for each grade level, the standards, what we've decided together that this is what we think our children in Ohio should know, what they should know in this grade level and what they should be able to do by the time they're done in this grade level.

Each child, you know, we want to see them staying on pace, and a lot of work goes into making those appropriate for their grade and their development.

At the same time, it's a standardized test.

So I would wanna step back and look at my individual child, how are they doing?

Are they making progress?

And in schools we have lots of tests and assessments to show that children are sort of growing.

And for each child, we wanna see that they are making regular growth in any subject, that they are studying.

So that's what we want to see.

I don't wanna put, you know, we never want to sort of add anxiety, add stress to our children about a test.

We want them just to know that this is where you get to show what you've learned on this assessment and to do their best.

And that's really what we can ask of them.

And we can send them to a school on a good night's sleep with a good breakfast and they can do their best.

If they're not performing well on those, it's really a conversation of what are we doing?

What are we doing in our classroom?

What can we be doing at home to help not only my kid, but all of our kids sort of work and be able to perform better on those?

But it's really not about the test, it's about are they growing, are they learning?

How do we know?

how are we watching that?

And how can we help them continue to move forward and continue to grow?

- And before we close, I wanted to make sure we had a chance to talk a little bit more in depth about the idea of the parent role with the teacher.

We had someone from home asking about that too, to advocate for your child, don't worry that you're bothering the teacher, you know, that whole situation.

I mean now that we are heading, you know, more post-pandemic, it keeps getting more post and post-pandemic, what about the parent going into the classroom or should we be doing phone calls?

Should we be doing emails?

Should we be having in-person meetings?

What's the best way to develop this relationship in order to help our child?

- Well, you know, that is a sort of a mutual thing.

That's what works for you as a parent and what's gonna work for your child's teachers.

I think that, this is what we know, we know that when our teachers and our families communicate well with one another, and that's not just getting information, but that's also sharing information, that back and forth, that you're receiving the information you need about your child's progress, how they're doing, what's going on in the school, what are the upcoming things, you know, you feel like, "I really know what's going on, I'm getting the information I need," but also you are sharing back with your child's teacher information that they can, you're responding back to their questions, but you're also, like we said in some of these examples, telling them things that will be helpful to them about your child, about, you know, the things that your child's learning at home, the things that you do as a family.

All of those things help your child's teacher be a better teacher.

And what we know is that, when that communication is going back and forth, the trust between our school, our home, our teachers and our families grows.

And that's great for kids.

They see that their family and their school are on the same page.

And we actually see students doing better in school when there's higher trust between home and school.

So that communication is so critical.

So I just, you know, we receive it, but also sharing information, that's really important.

But this is important for you as a family, it needs to work for you.

So letting your child's teacher know, "I really need for you to text me," or, "Talking on the phone is what's gonna work best for me," or, "I need for you to communicate with me in this language, not English.

I need to be communicated with in a different, in a different language," letting them know that.

Teachers are gonna have certain ways that they are able to communicate best with you, but I'm confident that we can sort of find a way that's gonna work best.

Connecting virtually, we have so many options, but parents should feel free to kind of say, "This is what's gonna work best for me."

Because what's most important is that we've got that two-way flow of communication back and forth.

- And I just wanted to maybe close by circling back to something you mentioned at the very beginning, which is that education is not a race and that every child is different.

So maybe we could just talk for another minute or so about how to not compare your child to the other students in class and just focus on your child, right?

- Absolutely, every child is unique and has their own strengths, their own, you know, hopes for their futures, and comparison doesn't really ever help anyone.

It's really knowing them well, what motivates them, what they really are interested in, and being sort of their, encouraging them in that and supporting them in that way, but also for your family.

I think sometimes as a parent, maybe I felt this way, but I assume other parents did too, you know, there are opportunities to maybe help at school or to do different things.

And maybe you can't do them because you're working.

You might be working multiple jobs.

You might be caring for other family members.

Knowing that there are so many ways that you can support your child's education and their learning and their success in school and in their future, finding the way that works for you is most important.

And knowing that what you do at home, that encouragement, that support for their learning, that getting them to school and the things that you do at home that support your child are so important.

Just communicating the value of education, that it's important to you, that it's a priority in our lives that you get a good education, that you work hard at it, that is powerful.

Communicating with the school, that's another really powerful way.

If you can't be at the school for everything that's offered, that's all right, no judgment.

What you're doing at home is the most important thing that you can do.

And so don't compare, you know, we're talking about not comparing our kids to other kids, but also yourself, knowing that you can really support your child's education and you know how to do that.

And just being confident in that and knowing that what you're doing is really valuable.

- So education is not a race and parenting is not a race either.

Remember that.

(laughs) Well, this has been an "Ohio Learns 360" webinar, the first webinar in our family webinar series.

Thank you so much for joining us, and thank you to Dr. Barbara Boone from the Ohio State University for all of her insights tonight.

Thank you, Dr. Boone.

- Thank you.

- And please join us on Wednesday, November 9th when our next topic will be bullying.

We will discuss bullying awareness and empathy to help kids better understand one another.

Thank you to "Ohio Learns 360" and the Ohio Department of Education for this event.

And thank you to Amy Palermo with WOSU Classroom, and also the television production team here at WOSU.

Thank you for making this event possible.

I'm Amy Juravich.

See you next time.