Parent Involvement in the High School

Parents play an important role in student success in the Academy high school.

Students are ready to work more independently in high school, but the Academy’s university model is one that students may need parent support to master. Work at home is an important part of the curriculum, and students need a comfortable, distraction-free place to work. They may also need help with scheduling and organizing work at home — it can be tempting to put off work until the day before the next class, but this tends to be stressful and leads to sloppy work. Most students aren’t used to working independently in this way, and teacher support can only carry them so far when they spend the majority of the week at home. We depend on parents to be a part of their students’ learning process.

This definitely doesn’t mean parents need to micromanage homework or jump in and rescue students who have waited too close to the deadline — these things are part of the learning process, and our evaluation system gives students plenty of room to mess up and learn from their mistakes. But it does mean that students who repeatedly demonstrate a lack of homework follow-through may need more hands-on support, and we depend on parents to provide that when students are at home. 

Research shows that parent involvement with high school students can have academic, social, and mental health benefits for their students, and we encourage Academy parents to help their students reap these benefits. We offer a full curriculum, but homeschooling a whole-life project, and parents are an essential piece of that.