(NNPA)—Across the country it’s back to school time. I hope it is a year full of promise and not disappointment and added stress for all children, especially those most vulnerable. I also hope this school year begins with a renewed commitment by all teachers and school administrators to help every child succeed.
Every year too many children don’t get the respect and extra help they need to reach their full potential. Children of color, poor children, English learners, and children with disabilities are especially likely to be left behind. And there is another group of children — those in foster care — whose special needs too often are ignored. Many school districts do not even know which students are in foster care and are not tracking their performance.
So now I am grateful that in California findings about educational outcomes for public school students in foster care have been well documented in a 2013 study by The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning at West Ed commissioned by the Stuart Foundation and a 2014 follow-up report by The Center and the California Child Welfare Indicators Project linking student outcomes to their foster care experiences. They found the odds against foster student success are worse than we thought and call this “The Invisible Achievement Gap.”
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