Kids' grades just a click away
New school software brings parents into the classroom equation
Slackers, beware! Hiding your report card, forgetting it was in your backpack, changing minuses into pluses -- those are no longer options at a high school in Newton.
Trinity Catholic High School has installed a system that allows students' grades to be viewed daily by parents using the Internet. Educators and parents say it's a useful tool to spur kids to do better in school. Students have mixed feelings.
''I'll say, 'I'm going out to the movies, and my mom'll say, 'Wait, wait, you're not doing so great in environmental science,' " said senior Euridio Evora, with a resigned sigh. ''They used to find out how I'm doing four times a year. Now it's twice a week!"
Such systems are also being used in the Acton and Grafton schools and, according to software makers, a number of other districts across the state.
Mary Treddin, who teaches American literature, speech, and drama at Trinity, said nearly all of her students' parents log on from home to check their children's academic status.
''It puts the fire under them," Treddin said of her students.
Parents can not only monitor grades, they can use the system to track their children's attendance and even how often they volunteer in class. Teachers can use the PowerSchool system to post assignments and correct papers electronically. And students can use it to keep track of assignments, submit papers, and check their grades themselves.
Many an indifferent student over the years has dreamed of rebelling and changing his or her grades on the walk home from school.
But PowerSchool, a division of
Bob Longo, president of the Folsom, Calif.-based company, said most students like knowing where they stand in their classes and what they need to score on their midterms or term papers to earn a certain grade. Disorganized students benefit by having their assignments and schedule in a set location.
Treddin said the software sharply reduces the time spent on administrative chores and helps her spot slumping students by letting her see their grades in other classes.
With two children of her own at Trinity, sometimes in her classes, Treddin was already on the front lines of her son's and daughter's educations. Now, she can see her son's score on yesterday's quiz or the due date for her daughter's next paper. Taking a break from teaching recently, she called up her daughter's personal information, including updated grades in all her classes.
''She could be doing better," she grumbled.
''They'll say they're going out, and I'll say, 'No, you have a paper due. Come and look at the computer'," Treddin said. ''They'll complain, but it's right there."
''There's definitely no hiding for me," said her son, junior Jack Treddin.
Treddin is far from alone in her vigilance -- 229 of 250 Trinity families have used the program. Roughly 50 visits to the site are made every day by parents. About one in four students visits daily.
PowerSchool's competitors include Pearson School Systems' ParentConnect and Chancery Software's K12Planet. State officials don't keep track of how widespread such systems are, but companies say they've made dozens of sales in Massachusetts.
Linda Peterson, interim executive director of the Institute of Responsive Education, a Northeastern University-based research organization, said the evidence is clear -- the more parents are involved, the better students do in class.
''There's very concrete research that shows that when parents, schools, and teachers form partnerships, student learning improves," she said. ''Everybody becomes focused on where the child needs to go."
Peterson and other experts say schools, in an era of pressure for better performance, are increasingly reaching out to parents.
Trinity teachers say e-mail marked a major advance in boosting parental involvement and that posting assignments and grades online has accelerated the trend.
In the Grafton public schools, which implemented PowerSchool four years ago, teachers used to brace for a flood of concerned and annoyed calls from parents on the days report cards were sent home. Now, the phones are quiet.
''Report cards aren't a huge surprise anymore," said Marcia Pereira, the district's technology coordinator. ''Parents don't have to wait 15 weeks to find out how their child's doing."
The systems can also help administrators track academic performance over time, organize budgets and class schedules, and file state and federal reports. The companies that make the systems say it is extremely difficult to hack into them, although some admit it has happened on occasion.
Wellesley public school administrators this fall installed PowerSchool, which costs between $21 and $25 per student, but have not opened it to parents and students. Tom Plati, who directs the district's technology systems, said the goal is to compile information over time to help school officials determine how students learn best. Educators are hoping the system will help them understand, for example, how grades relate to standardized test scores, how attendance affects grades, and whether after-school help sessions are effective.
For Trinity students, the accountability movement sweeping education has now hit very close to home. Says senior Gerry Zegarelli, ''There are so many people who know our grades, we can't slack off."
