Grandparents Increasingly Getting Involved in Education

Sandra Smith has been taking care of her granddaughter, Jonea Wilson-Hardy, since she was 5. Jonea, 12, holds her half-brother Jaiden Fonchenela, 1, while Smith looks on. Smith is one of thousands of grandparents in the country increasingly involved in their grandchildren's education.

—Jenn Ackerman for Education Week

Laws often bar those adults from enrolling children in school

By Sarah D. Sparks

Years after she’d thought her parenting days were behind her, Minneapolis retiree Sandra L. Smith got the news that her grown daughter in Ohio had been badly injured in an accident.

Ms. Smith found herself with custody of her granddaughter, Jonea, who was just entering 1st grade. She had to help the child cope not only with a new home but also a new school.

“It did change my world a great deal,” Ms. Smith recalled. “I was disabled when I got her, but I got into a routine of getting up early where I hadn’t before. I got involved more;...