As the topic of education continues to populate news feeds, it has made me think about the role of parents and guardians in education. While general guardian involvement in education has been proven to be beneficial, I believe guardian involvement in the form of monitoring high school childrens’ grades is often more harmful than helpful.

Like many other schools, mine uses a program called Powerschool where grades are uploaded by teachers and constantly visible by students and guardians through the website and phone app. At Falmouth High School, about 69% of students have had a guardian log in to Powerschool at some point this school year and almost 65% of guardians have chosen to receive email grade updates, with a total of 257 guardians receiving these weekly.

Only online logins are tracked, so realistically this number is much larger when app logins are taken into consideration. There are many other programs besides Powerschool and, on the guardian side, they all have the same intended purpose: to increase guardian involvement in students’ schooling.

Despite this positive intention, there are a few downsides.

First of all, it takes away student independence and responsibility. When guardians are constantly aware of the grades their student is getting they may immediately jump in to “help” their students which takes away from important learning that high school is supposed to teach: responsibility and independence.

After high school marks a time when students begin living more independent lives away from their guardians. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “61.8% of recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2021,” where the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act eliminates guardian access to grades unless granted by the student. This leaves students with more responsibility than they may be used to.

Overwhelming guardian involvement in high school grades takes away from an important learning experience and makes this transition more difficult and leaves their child less confident and more dependent. In addition to this, guardian grade access is eliminating the opportunity for students to learn how to fail. Parents and guardians, naturally, want their children to do well in life and succeed. While there is nothing innately “bad” about this, being able to constantly monitor their grades, results in guardians shielding their children from the necessary experience of failure.

An article in University Affairs explains that “working through experiences that do not result in immediate success can unleash deeper problem-solving skills, help integrate old and new knowledge, and engender a capacity for persistence,” which results in a more resilient and well-rounded person.

All of this being said, I do not think that guardians should be completely uninvolved in their student’s lives and education. Guardian support is extremely important in adolescent development. The ability to access their student’s grades is also beneficial in noticing and addressing underlying issues in their student, such as if they are struggling with mental health or substance abuse. For many other students this culture of guardian grade obsession is harmful in that it takes away the opportunity for students to learn responsibly, independence, and the consequences of one’s actions.

Giving students space in this way, also prepares guardians for more separation from their children later on. To create this change, we must rethink the normality of grade checking. If you are a guardian of a high school student, ask them how they feel about your grade access. Having open conversations around school and checking in about grades may be much more effective for many students than constantly accessing their grades.

A 2019 APA study summarized by EducationWeek explains that “at-home discussions and encouragement surrounding school also have a positive impact on students’ academic achievement at all developmental stages, with that type of parent involvement being most effective for high schoolers,”.

Implementing this technique may look like a weekly conversation with your student about school and grades as well as limiting yourself to checking online grades to once every two months.

If this sounds like too big of a change, you may want to do a trial period for a few weeks. Regardless of how you might feel about this, I ask you to rethink your actions and give students a little more space to be in control of their own education.

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