The problem is that there are millions of single parent households. How do you incent these parents to take more interest in their childern's academics?
I was a working single parent of 5 kids for many years. It wasn't a matter of apathy, it was a matter of hours in the day. I woke up early in the morning and didn't sit down until late at night. But I can tell you that when I had my kids in a private school, they did very well. And I believe the reasons were 1) small classrooms 2) small school that was like a community 3) lots of extra curricular activities for the kids 4) before and after school care. It cost me more than my house payment but was worth every cent. I was lucky in that I could afford it, most single moms cannot.
Maybe the public system could offer these same kinds of services based on ability to pay. Just something to think about.