One out of five kids not on track with peers

The US Census Bureau has a different, politically correct way of saying it, but the bottom line in a December 8, 2009 press release from this agency is that one out of five kids aged 12 to 17 in the United States isn’t attending classes with their age group, but has instead been held back at least one grade in school.

That strikes me as an awfully high percentage of our kids that are being held back in class.

Is this an indication of problems with teaching rather than some inherent problem with the students?

On a happier note, the same Census release says there has been a notable increase in parental involvement with kids, though more action here is clearly warranted. Parents who reportedly talked or played with their kids three or more times a day increased from 50 to 59 percent between 1998 and 2006.

One note in the Census data should be required reading for everyone in Louisville, including the court system, that has a hand in the outrageous busing plans there (which we have frequently blasted before).

The Census says that, “For children ages 6 to 11, the odds of being on-track were 36 percent higher if they had never changed schools.”

The data implies that the disruptive busing plan in Louisville, along with all the other problems it created, probably significantly increases the odds that children in the state’s largest city will fall behind academically.