MalloryKeaton

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/technolo...ch_grades.html

Schools Making Grades Available Online For Parental Review
By The Associated Press
(02/02/05) — Gone are the days when parents would find out how their kids were doing in school only when report cards came home or during parent-teacher conferences. A growing number of teachers and schools are making grades available nearly in real-time over the Internet. Some teachers include pending assignments, written comments, class participation and disciplinary actions as well.


Many schools also let parents check whether their kids skipped first period, or whether they had chips or an apple for lunch. And as schools further integrate their computer systems, parents one day might also be able to see what library books their children have checked out and whether any are overdue.

Debbie Karl's after-school chats with her two sons are typically brief: How was school today? Fine. Anything going on? Nothing.

The Internet now lets the Texas college professor find out when her kids are hiding something such as the fact her younger son, Derek, is failing.

"My sixth grader has not bothered to tell me he is failing math for the first time in his life," Karl said. "I was just perusing (the Web site) and he's got one, two, three, four, five zeros. I have immediately put a call in to that teacher."

Karl, chairwoman of computer information technology at Texas State Technical College in Abilene, Texas, wishes more teachers would participate.

"If everybody would use it and use it more, we could be more involved in our children's education," Karl said.

No figures were available on the percentage of schools offering parental access online, but school officials say it is relatively low although such offerings have been around for years. One vendor of systems for managing student information, Pearson Education, estimates that only a quarter of its 16,000 school districts buy the optional parental-access package.

And even in districts with the capability, not all schools or teachers have signed on. Only some schools require teachers to participate, though sometimes parents pressure them to do so.

Among the chief complaints:

Teachers, particularly those used to calculating grades by hand, aren't always comfortable using software or don't want to take the time to enter grades. Rosemarie Young, an elementary school principal in Louisville, Ky., said she would rather see her teachers spend their limited time with the kids.

Some teachers guard their grade books zealously and worry that making individual grades open for inspection would let parents quibble or would reduce their discretion in adjusting grades for factors that tests might not pick up.

Parents can nag teachers who fall behind in grading.

"They know their kid studied all night and they know their kid took a test at 10:10 in the morning. At noon, they are online and asking, `Where's my kid's test score?'" said Kenneth Bird, superintendent of Westside Community Schools in Omaha, Neb., which use Apple Computer Inc.'s PowerSchool system.

Furthermore, many parents lack Internet access or computer skills. And technology alone won't always make inattentive parents suddenly involved.

But it might help those parents who skipped parents-teachers nights because they were juggling three jobs: Now they can check grades as easily as a stock quote.

"It doesn't mean necessarily that we're turning every kid around, but I think we're intervening more effectively than we did before," said David Stedman, who teaches U.S. history and American literature at Mead High School in Spokane, Wash.

Web access gets the community more involved and "gives parents a good feeling they have a good understanding what's going on at school," said Bonnie Bracey, a former schoolteacher who now trains teachers on technology.

Bird said many doubters have come to realize that improved dialogue can only be good. The focus of parent-teacher conferences, he said, now can be less on performance and more on what to do about it.

Before, parents had few opportunities to follow their kids' performance. Report cards and progress reports go out every several weeks or months. Parent-teacher conferences take place once or twice a year. Teachers call parents only when things get dire. Notes that go home with students often get "lost" before reaching the parent.

So parents must wring information out of their children directly.

"Kids don't always bring the bad stuff home," said Lynn Brokus, a parent who serves as a webmaster for Tri-City Christian Academy in Somersworth, N.H.

With the school's Gradeworks and Easy Grade Pro packages, Brokus can see instantly what assignments hadn't been turned in.

Before, she might have found out from a progress report sent midway through a term, but by then, "you've missed half a semester, and they could still have more stuff missing for the second half."

Many teachers say they appreciate such parental involvement even if it opens them up to the occasional quibbling or nitpicking about individual grades.

"We want to find ways to keep parents more informed so they can be more involved in their child's education," said Noelle Kreider, a technology integration coach at the Rialto Unified School District in California.

Open access also lets parents correct mistakes so children don't get penalized for absences that should have been marked "excused," said Virginia Warner, a high school teacher in Virginia City, Nev.

Val Jerdes, a Milpitas, Calif., high school English teacher who uses the ThinkWave software package, said students can also log on and see for themselves how their efforts correlate with their grades.

"I've seen C and D students rise up to the B and A category," Jerdes said. "I would attribute a lot of that to the program."

For parents without Internet access, schools sometimes use their software to print out weekly reports to send home. Vendors are also exploring alternatives such as voice recognition technology.

One school even partnered with a grocery store chain to install Internet kiosks, said Shannon Flesch, manager of marketing operations at software vendor Skyward Inc.

Tom Doohan, who is piloting the Skyward package for Colbert Elementary School in Colbert, Wash., said the Web access hasn't reduced his other obligations: completing progress reports, calling and meeting with parents, writing letters home.

But with the software, he said, "there will never be a surprise as to grades or work that's out."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Lovesbitch

As a future teacher I think the idea of parents being able to check their children's grades online is a great tool. It allows the parent time to kind of step in and help the student get their grade up instead of being obvlivious to it until the report card comes.

Although I'm slightly disturbed at some of the other aspects of it. I mean, seeing which books your kid checked out from the library? Kids do need some privacy in life and if the book is in the school library it is generally accepted as ok to read.

*Lauren

As another future teacher, I also agree. This seems like a good idea, as long as its clear there will be a wait for most things (as in exams won't be avaliable for a while, especilly if they're humnaties)

I also agree allowing them to see library books it taking it too far.

AuburnGrad

As a teacher, my school has put grades online for several years. We also post homework assignments, field trip notes, other important documents, and discipline reports. We do not, however, post what their children ate for lunch each day or what library books they are reading. I really don't understand why that is necessary.

*Jo*

As a teacher, I think that some of this is useful. I wish it existed at the school I work at now, where I took over this timetable recently to find what should be a high-achieving class almost all getting very average grades. There was a parents' meeting earlier this week and most of them were shocked and, understandably, not a little angry that they hadn't been informed earlier. But, discipline record apart, there was no proceedure to inform parents of this before reports were written and only then in matters of serious indiscipline.

TheAngel

We've had the grade program at my school since Sophomore year and it works well. I can get online before finals and find out what I need to do well, or I can see where I am before report cards. My parents rarely use it but I'm honest with them about my grades. In general I think it's a good idea, although I agree that the whole, knowing what books your kid checked out, has a "Big Brother" edge about it.

-Kelly-

Great idea but more pressure for kids

mh67511

Great idea. I'm in college and love being able to check my grades on BlackBoard. It's so hard to keep track of grades with some professors - some assignments get handed back, some don't. I just wish they made it a RULE that they had to use BlackBoard for grades! Some prof's don't and you have no idea what your grade is. It's not good to have to ask them every week what you grade is; looks bad and could piss them off.

The only reason I can understand putting lunch and library information is that parents with kids who have diabetes or an allergy could see what they bought. And they could also see if the kids have overdue books. Many kids lose books and then owe large fines at the end of the year because they have forgotten. But still I wouldn't suggest spending money on this part of the program as it really isn't critiical as the library could inform parents of overdue books without this fancy technology.

Mio

This is a great idea beacuse I know there have been many times when I didn't want my parents to see my grades (they never got mad, never) or how many absences. I skipped a lot but at the advice at some teachers since I was ahead of the class all the time.

Great idea!

SweetLisaLisa

I love this idea. I supervise my 11 year old cousin's school work. Everyday, "How are you going in school?" His reply, "I don't know." He seems to never know when something is going on. So, I don't hesitate to look through his bag at his home work and check everything. He may not like it but it's my right to see what's getting in school.

Elizajoey

I think this is a good idea but to the extent of what the kid had for lunch and what books they borrowed are going too far imo.

As well as kids needing discipline and boundaries, they also need freedom to develop themselves - with them being 'followed' so excessively with what they chose to eat means that they can't develop themselves - they will always be 'babied'.

I also think it is not a good precedant to allow parents to see what books their children are borrowing. Kids might not want to talk to their parents about things but instead of 'educating' themselves through playground gossip, they borrow a book to learn more about something but instead the parents find out. There is a fine line between privacy with children but I think that crosses it.

Puddlemere

We started this online grade thing this year and as a student, I like it. I have the password to log in so I can check my grades whenever I want. We also have the feature that shows what the child had for lunch, but I think it's because our lunch payment system is all computerized now. You punch in your number and it deducts the amount of money from your account, plus it differentiates between actual school lunch and an ice cream bar or something.

That thing about recording what books the kids are borrowing from the library is a bit much I think. I know I wouldn't like having my parents being informed on every single detail of my school life including what books I was reading.

*Ledi*

We've had this for as long as I've been here. It's pretty useful.

mh67511

If the parents are paying for the kids lunch, who cares if they see what their kids bought? Maybe the parents don't want their kids to "develop" into a porker. I know my parents would be pissed if they gave me lunch money and I bought junk every day.

A.Film.By.Tiff

I had a teacher in high school who had a website where she posted our grades online for us and our parents, but she got lazy half way through the quarter and never updated it again.