The Parent Partnership Gap: 3 Strategic Moves for K-12 Leaders

According to a recent Qoria report, most schools (80%) say that better parental partnership is the single most impactful factor when it comes to student safety.

Parents and guardians have a front-row seat to digital risks that play out at home, and play an essential role in reinforcing the student safety measures schools work so hard to maintain.

This alliance has never been more urgent: 90% of U.S. school leaders express moderate to high concern over how online behavior impacts student mental health, closing the gap between school and home is a necessity.

To build a successful partnership, schools must understand what parents are experiencing. Qustodio's latest Lost in the Scroll report draws on data from 1,361 parents, revealing exactly where parents are struggling and how schools can help. 

Here are three key takeaways from the report that K-12 leaders can use to prioritize parent engagement and bolster student safety.

AI has moved far beyond homework help  

Most school leaders (77%) are worried about student access to unregulated, inaccurate AI-generated content. Even more concerning is the fact that many students confide in AI over trusted adults, for emotional or mental health support.

It's clear that parents share the same concerns. In 2025, the number of children using ChatGPT globally grew by 236%.  Nearly half (48%) of parents confirm that their child uses AI for advice, and 17% have noticed their child using AI for conversation.

When a student regularly turns to an AI chatbot for emotional support and connection, they're getting guidance with no guardrails. AI tools can't gauge context and often miss nuances in human behavior. Over-reliance on AI can make it more difficult for both schools and parents to notice when a student is struggling. By the time an adult discovers something is wrong, the child may be in crisis.

What school leaders can do: Go beyond simply blocking AI, to identify risks and build AI literacy

• Go beyond just blocking AI tools. Seek out advanced real-time filtering capabilities that can help to block inappropriate AI-generated imagery or video on any URL.

• Engage tools that help your staff quickly intervene when students are using AI in unsafe ways. Digital risk monitoring solutions can help to spot inappropriate AI conversations or over-sharing with AI bots, and alert school staff in real time.

• Focus on AI literacy for both students and parents. Build a district-wide AI framework that includes guidance on what AI companions are, how kids are using them, and guidance on important conversations to have at home.

Read the full report

Learn more about what children and parents are experiencing online. Qustodio’s 7th annual report 'Lost in the Scroll' explores children’s online behaviors and digital safety in 2025.

Students are obsessed with social media

In Qoria's recent school survey, 83% of U.S. school leaders noted that students are "obsessed" with platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. This aligns with findings from Qustodio's latest report, which shows kids spending an average of 2.5 hours a day on TikTok alone. 

Most parents feel conflicted about when to introduce social media to their children. While the majority waited until age 12-13, there were respondents who allowed their kids to use social media as early as 9 years old. 

No matter what age a child starts using social media, the impact lands in both their school and home lives. Cyberbullying, self-esteem issues, and social ostracizing — all often exacerbated by social platforms — can lead to behavioral issues in class and lasting mental health impacts. Spending hours on TikTok at home, instead of completing assigned homework or resting, results in reduced ability to focus in the classroom, creating a vicious cycle for students' attention spans and learning outcomes.

What school leaders can do: Offer parents tools and resources that help them to be proactive in student safety.

• Recognize that parents often need help with digital boundary setting.

• Provide clear, district-endorsed guidance on healthy digital habits so that parents know what's recommended.

• Seek out expert-backed resources and materials around student online safety that you can direct families towards.

Parents can't protect what they can't see

Digital risks have moved into spaces that are genuinely hard to monitor. When students are using gaming chats, AI companions, and private messaging apps, cyberbullying and harmful conversations happen completely out of sight. 

For schools and parents to work as true partners, they need to have the same visibility. Looking at the same data ensures that no student falls through the cracks and that both the school and parents can identify that a student is struggling, long before a crisis happens. 

One problem? Only 32% of parents say their child's school device has parental monitoring features they can use when the child is not in school. While schools can always encourage parents to pay close attention, it's more effective to put the the technology in their hands to actually achieve this.

What school leaders can do: Provide parents with visibility into student online behavior.

• Consider offering a parental control app, like Qustodio Parent App, which empowers families to build on the school's existing filter rules at home, as well as monitor digital activity and set screen time limits for their children.
• Districts have seen a noticeable drop in safety alerts once parents become more engaged. Geromy Schrick, Executive Director of Technology at Mustang Public Schools, saw this impact firsthand. "Since the parents have been adopting their side, we’ve seen significant reductions in the number of monitoring alerts that we’re receiving," Schrick shared.
  

Bridging the school-home divide starts with parental involvement

It's clear that parents want to show up and play an active role in their child's digital safety; they just need the support to do it confidently. For school districts, building effective partnership with parents starts with communication and knowledge-sharing. Seek easy, low-effort ways to build regular touch points that keep parents engaged.

When your parent community has the right tools, adequate information, and a clear connection to your district's student safety goals, they become more strongly invested. In turn, having active parents in digital safety makes it easier for school districts to navigate and address online risks that your students face on a daily basis.

To learn more about what your parent community is experiencing and children's online experiences in 2025, read the full 'Lost in the Scroll' report here.

Learn more about offering Qustodio Parent App to your school community

Linewize customers can offer their entire parent community visibility into children's activity on school devices, as well as the ability to add at-home filter rules, with the Qustodio Parent App.