Do parents know their kids have fallen behind?

With over 55 percent of Minnesota K-12 students not able to do math at grade level and nearly five in 10 not able to read at grade level, as measured by the state’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, do parents know their children are behind?

National and state test results show that students across the country have lost ground academically, but according to a survey of American parents, many “still tend to think the problem lurks outside of their home — affecting other children but not their own,” reported Education Week.

The survey, conducted by Learning Heroes, found that 92 percent of parents nationwide with children in public school believe their children are “at grade level and doing just fine in the classroom,” continued Education Week.

A new campaign targeting parents in six cities — Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York City, Sacramento County in California and Washington, D.C. — is hoping to dispel widespread misconceptions that their children are doing okay in school and get parents to sign their children up for summer school. Ads displaying English or math proficiency data in that city alongside the percentage of parents who think their child is at or above grade level for that subject will be shown on billboards, transit shelters, and other digital screens throughout the cities.

“While this is an all-hands-on-deck moment in public education, most parents are not aware they need to be in the boat,” Learning Heroes co-founder Cindi Williams said in a statement to Education Week. “Parents are problem solvers, but we can’t expect them to solve a problem they don’t know exists.”

Despite billions of federal aid intended to help students recover, districts have struggled “to implement academic recovery programs at their intended scale and intensity,” according to a working paper from the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research that Education Week reported on.

The working paper suggested that districts be clear when communicating with parents about how students are doing, whether they are on track for recovery, and what opportunities are available if they aren’t catching up fast enough.

That clarity could bolster buy-in both from students and the community organizations that could assist with staffing or other logistical challenges, the researchers concluded.