Most parents concerned their child isn’t reaching their full potential

Almost two-thirds of parents (64%) are concerned that their child isn’t reaching their full potential, according to new research.

A survey of 2,000 parents of school-aged children revealed that another 42% are more stressed than ever before about their child’s academic success.

From concerns about safety (37%), to emotional well-being (37%), social development (28%), behavioral issues (23%) and more, it’s no secret that many factors play a role in children’s success both academically and in life.

According to the results, 85% of parents notice something that concerns them about their child on a monthly basis, with 20% indicating that it’s a daily occurrence.

This was especially true for parents of elementary school children, as 28% notice something concerning every day.

As a first step, many parents (45%) spoke to their child about the issue they noticed, others spoke to their child’s teacher (20%), while some tried to solve the problem on their own (10%).

Another two-thirds (66%) are concerned about their child’s growth and development.
These concerns were prompted by their child’s grades (28%), developing a new behavior or habit (28%) or even a comment from their child (22%) or their child’s teacher (20%).

Conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Presence, results found that almost all of today’s parents (92%) are willing to go to “any lengths necessary” to ensure that their child is excelling in school.

But even so, 52% are concerned about what their child’s peers will think of them and 72% of those respondents admit that other people’s opinions have an impact on their willingness to get their child assessed for a learning disability.

However, as their child gets older, the impact of other people’s opinions diminishes. Almost four in five (79%) of parents of preschool or kindergarteners are influenced by how others perceive their child, compared to 75% of middle school parents and only 69% of high school parents.

Despite their hesitations, an astounding 91% of all parents polled are confident that they know how to advocate for support in identifying services that their child may need.

On top of that, another 88% of parents have no qualms about bringing in a third party, outside of the school system, to support their child.

“It’s especially compelling to see that 79% of parents feel they know the right questions to ask if they’re told to ‘watch and wait’ by a teacher, counselor or clinician. But that still leaves 21% who feel unprepared when faced with this phrase,” said Bonnie Contreras, Nationally Certified School Psychologist and Senior Director of Clinical Solutions at Presence.

Results also revealed that half of parents believe that their child was set back by the COVID-19 pandemic by ways of their quality of education (50%), learning loss (41%) and social and emotional development (40%).

Behavior changes, such as increased difficulty with school work (38%), changes in academic performance or interest (37%) as well as both increased irritability (35%) and changes in sleep patterns (35%), also became apparent following the pandemic.

More than four years later, 53% believe that their child is still academically behind and 91% of those parents worry they will stay behind for the rest of their schooling.
About half (49%) of parents believe that their child is still playing “catch up” due to gaps of knowledge in core subjects.

But these indicators vary based on grade level. Parents of high school students are most likely to see low emotional resilience (44%) and fear they’re unprepared for the future (40%).

Elementary-aged children, on the other hand, are struggling with underdeveloped social skills (39%) as well as a lack of classroom decorum (29%).

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges that affected an entire generation of students,” said Contreras. “Survey results found that 72% of parents believe learning loss is fixable. This ongoing impact is a call to action for schools and communities to come together, working to support students in every environment to shape brighter academic futures.”

Survey methodology:
Talker Research surveyed 2,000 parents of school-aged children; the survey was commissioned by Presence and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Sept. 9 and Sept. 17, 2024.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:
● Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
● Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:
● Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
● Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
● Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
● Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once
It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.