Transcript How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College

How to Find Out
How Your Child is
Doing in College
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Maintaining open and effective communication with
your child about everything, including school, is the best
way to find out how your child is doing in college.
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Open and effective communication is the best way to find out how
your child is doing in college
• Because it is the best way
And
• Because the law prohibits you getting information, such as
grades, from the University unless it has written consent from
your son or daughter.
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
(commonly referred to as FERPA), is a federal law that
protects the privacy of student education records.
Students have specific, protected rights regarding the
release of such records and FERPA requires that
institutions adhere strictly to these guidelines.
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
In general, a student’s prior written consent is
required before institutions can legitimately disclose,
even to parents, information that includes the
following:
• Social Security numbers
• Student identification number
• Race, ethnicity, and/or nationality
• Gender
• Transcripts
• Grade reports
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
So, once again…
Open and effective communication is the best way to
find out how your child is doing in college
• Because it is the best way
And
• Because the law prohibits you getting information,
such as grades, from the University unless it has
written consent from your son or daughter
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
It is important to remember that your child is going
through a period in their life (adolescence: 12 to 20 or so
years old) that is often characterized by significant
physical, emotional, and psychological shifts that can at
times be dramatic and result in dramatic changes in
behavior
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Sometimes dramatic changes in behavior (cont.)
• During this time they may be more interested in their
friends rather than their family, particularly their parents.
• It is a time when children typically act more negative and
have more conflicts with their parents.
• It is a time when they are trying to exert their
independence and challenge authority, which is often
represented by you, their parents.
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Sometimes dramatic changes in behavior (cont.)
• They may want to spend more time alone and with their friends
and less time with their families.
• They and their friends become the center of the world.
• Adolescence is a period during which they may develop, or at
least express ideas that may be different from yours.
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Adolescence…
This major change in their life can be challenging, for them, and for
you, under any circumstances, but added to it is the major transition
of going from high school to college.
In college they will have…
• More choices they can make on their own
• A belief that they have more free time
• More independence
• Little or no monitoring compared to high school
• The potential of less parental involvement
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Work on Maintaining Effective Communication
• Be aware and sensitive to the fact that your child is going through
major social and physical changes
• Use conversation as an opportunity to express and keep up with
their activities and relationships
• Stay interested in all aspects of how they’re doing in school!
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Specific to School: Work on Maintaining Effective Communication
Talk and ask, in a way that is consistent with how you interact with
your child
• How are they adjusting to the new environment, the campus?
• Are they making “connections” with other students?
• What’s it like in their classroom?
--What’s the professor like, how does the professor conduct the
class, is there a lot of reading/papers, are they required to
participate in class?
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Specific to School: Work on Maintaining Effective Communication
(cont.)
• How will they be graded?
--Quizzes, mid-terms and finals, attendance, participation
• Are you taking advantage of services on campus to help you
perform at your best?
• When will they get grades? What do they mean?
How to Find Out How Your Child is Doing in College
Specific to School: Work on Maintaining Effective Communication
(cont.)
• Tell them how proud of them you are that they are in college
• Tell them that you know that they are making sacrifices by going
to college, but what a difference being a college graduate will
make in the rest of their lives
• Tell them you know they will make it, and you will always support
them