Especially for Scouts BSA, do we really want parents to be able to sign off on requirements in Scoutbook? That would seem to be an easy way to create conflicts, say if an over-eager parent really really wanted her Scout to get Eagle.
There’s been a lot of debate back and forth on this since the BSA mandated the change. At the end of the day, it’s going to take convincing the BSA to change their mind and/or change to the permissions structure to make it feasible for breaking advancement loose from Full Control in other areas.
Unless the parent is also a leader in the unit in Scoutbook, the parent cannot sign off on anything (that is, mark items as Approved). A parent can mark items as Completed in Scoutbook, which is equivalent to saying that the Scout is ready to be tested.
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I understand this from a certain point of view, but at the same time I keep coming back to the difference in meaning between “Completed” and “Ready to be tested”. The former implies that the task is complete, whereas the vast majority of Scouts BSA (at least) advancement tasks involve a demonstration step of one form or another. Therefore, it can’t be “Complete” until demonstrated, which is the testing phase (currently called “Leader Approved”).
I think a lot of folks would be happy with a name change to “Ready for review” or something similar, if that’s the intent.
And there I go wandering down the rabbit hole again… 
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For older Scouts, it should probably say something like “ready for testing”, which would make it clearer. “Ready for review” might confuse things with the fourth step in advancement (the Scout is reviewed by a board of review).
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Alright, I didn’t know that. That at least alleviates some of my concerns.
And it says who marked it as completed/approved, so I guess this really isn’t a big deal.
Thanks for clarifying.
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The completed state (white checkmark in green box) means the same thing as putting a check mark in the left hand column of the Scout’s handbook. Just as you can’t prevent the parent from putting a check mark in the handbook, you can’t prevent the parent from marking an item complete in Scoutbook. The big difference is Scoutbook tells you WHO marked the requirement complete whereas with the handbook, it is very difficult to determine who entered the check mark.
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