6 in 10 Parents Report Children Struggled Despite High Grades
News related to:Brighterly · 2 min read
Nearly 6 in 10 parents of students earning mostly A's or B's reported that their children struggled or fell behind in math or reading over the past year, according to a national survey of 1,177 U.S. parents. The survey, conducted by online tutoring platform Brighterly, found that 58.6% of parents whose children were performing at these levels said their kids faced academic challenges, a figure that closely mirrored the overall 60.7% of parents surveyed.
Among parents of students who were mostly earning A's, 46.5% reported that their children had difficulties. Despite these struggles, 87% of parents whose children had faced academic issues expected their children to start the school year at the same level or ahead of where they were in June.
The survey comes in the wake of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025 results, which showed that U.S. 15-year-olds' average reading score had fallen by 14 points from 2022, reaching 490, the lowest score recorded for the country. Internationally, students who did not use AI chatbots for schoolwork generally scored higher in science than those who did.
Claire Smizer-Muldoon, a former classroom teacher who helped develop Brighterly's English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum, noted, "Some skills are load-bearing. When they're missing, everything built on top of them gets shaky, and the child doesn't catch up just by sitting through the next year of curriculum. This is why 'we'll catch up next year' so often doesn't work."
Eugene Kashuk, founder and CEO of Brighterly, added, "A report card tells you how a child did on the work that was handed in. It doesn't tell you whether the child can do that work alone, and a lot of parents are sensing the difference. September is the time to raise it with the teacher, not June."
The survey also revealed that 50.9% of parents agreed that AI tools make it easier for their child to hide that they don't understand something. Among parents who turned to AI chatbots for schoolwork advice at least weekly, 68.7% agreed, compared to 38.6% of those who never used such tools.
When parents were concerned about their child's schoolwork, 48.4% turned first to their child's teacher, while only 2.0% turned first to an AI assistant.
Brighterly's findings highlight the importance of early intervention and open communication between parents and educators. The company suggests that parents should discuss their concerns with teachers as soon as they arise, rather than waiting until the end of the school year.