Published 7:47 am Tuesday, April 28, 2026 Most students in the U.S. aren’t proficient in reading or math — but you wouldn’t know it by looking at their report cards. Four out of 5 parents say their children are getting B’s or higher. Test scores, meanwhile, have hit multiyear lows. According to one study, 60% of grades don’t match standardized assessments. One might hope such a discrepancy would set off alarm bells. Yet surveys show that parents are more inclined to trust report cards than test results. The upshot: Not only are measures of student performance diverging, but parents are also looking at the wrong signals. This achievement mirage has serious consequences. Researchers found that when grades are high and test scores low, parents are less likely to invest in academic support. They’ll wait until grades start falling. So while surveys suggest that informed parents are eager to intervene, many don’t know they should be worried. Talk about a crisis wasted.…