<p>So my DD's High School has a new online service available: </p>
<p>We will be giving parents and guardians access to up to the minute student data. You will be able to go on line, log in, and then get information on:
Students class schedule
Students daily attendance
Students grades and progress reports
Students discipline/incident files
Students transcripts
Students progress toward graduation</p>
<p>I'm not sure how I feel about this. As a parent I already know her class schedule and daily attendance. I know there are no discipline/incident files, I know her progress toward graduation. I have seen transcripts from time to time as she progresses toward the end of her sophomore year. </p>
<p>I'm not sure I want the temptation of being able to look at her grades and progress reports. This system will actually allow parents to look into the teacher's online grade book and see every assignment grade, every missing assignment, etc. </p>
<p>They already bring home progress reports periodically that the teacher's want the parents to sign. </p>
<p>Hmm...sign up for it or not? What say you other parents?</p>
<p>At Ds h/s parents are given access to similar information as you described above. Most parents, students and teachers are pleased with the system. Once an exam is taken or an assignment is turned in, the grades must be recorded and available online within two weeks. The major advantage is that problems or mistakes can be identified and handled more quickly.</p>
<p>Personally I feel that it should be up to the teacher to contact parents when there is a problem. I am a good student but if my parents could see every single assignment I'm sure they would find plenty of faults. I think it's infantilizing the students not to allow them a chance to work things out with the teacher before it gets to the parents. It's a nice idea but I fear that it will turn into ammunition for obsessive parents.</p>
<p>My kids have it from 5th grade on. I like it and I use it. More so with the high school boys than the middle school boy. I only look every couple weeks and most often it's the kids begging me to get on and see what they got on a test or exam because the teachers post up quicker than they pass the tests back, although the user names and passwords are right next to the computer and they can certainly log on and look for themselves. I don't necessarily view it as solely a "parent tool". Our school's system will send out weekly e-mail progress reports if you request it (I don't). Ours also shows the food $ balances, classes they've signed up for in the next year, the daily bulletin and other assorted info. I have never, ever considered it an invasion of their privacy, but again I rarely comment on what I see unless I see significant slippage or missing homework and then I generally ask the boys what is going on or ask if they need help. Several times, there appeared to be missing homework and it was teacher error and by seeing that before the semester end it enabled the kids to approach the teacher and ask about it.</p>
<p>Etselec - I would never brow beat the boys. I figure I'm not going to be there looking over their shoulder in college so they have to establish their pattern, that said, until they leave our house for college we're responsible for getting them to that point. Call it a trust check-up if you will. Every family is different and I have friends who do brow beat their kids because they can see every assignment, every tardy, every grade. Who knows maybe their kids got into better colleges, got better merit scholarships...in the grand scheme of things every family dynamic is different. As a parent I think it's a helpful tool not a derisive tool and honestly I don't think the kids mind that I see that stuff. When they were in elementary school we went through their papers every night so why does that parent support suddenly end when they hit high school? They won't have it when in college and I bet they will miss it sometimes when they get behind in a class, which they will no doubt, plus I don't have enough time in my life to look at all that info every single day, only every couple weeks or so.</p>
<p>I have never tried to use it because there is no need. But the students also have access to it, and my daughter uses it all the time. I think it's quite useful. When errors turn up, the student can usually spot them immediately and tell the teacher, who can correct the problem before it affects something that's harder to modify, like a report card grade. Also, the system seems to motivate students to complete their work promptly and teachers to complete their grading promptly; there's nothing like a listing full of blank spaces to prove that someone has gotten behind schedule.</p>
<p>Nobody's requiring me to snoop into my kid's daily life. I don't think it's necessary at this point (12th grade), so I don't do it. But with a different kid, I might take a different approach.</p>
<p>I don't like the idea of making the information available to parents but not to students, though.</p>
<p>Marian and others make a good point. I think I will sign up for it so DD can check her own stuff. Not sure how much I will use it. She tells me about her grades, etc. </p>
<p>I guess I just felt it was a little infantilizing the students as the above student poster said.</p>
<p>Our school district started that this year. My son also likes to watch his grades and make sure that the teachers put them all in. I think it's mildly interesting. We were also given two passwords, one for him and one for us.</p>
<p>My school has had that for quite a while, and I personally love it. Teachers aren't very good at handing things back but the update the actual grades online pretty quickly. Its a problem for some students with overbearing parents though. With progress reports every 6 months, you're parents never know about that one test you failed because you've already brought the grade back up. With this system they can watch every assignment and punish accordingly.</p>
<p>At our high school, we have all of those things plus more. Namely, they even keep track of what we buy during lunch now, and our parents can view that.</p>
<p>Personally, I didn't really mind it, because it helped me just as much as it helped my parents. Like, I'd be able to see exactly how well I was doing in each class, not to mention, I could see my grades on tests and stuff before they were returned to us. </p>
<p>In fact, I actually use our online system more then my parents do now, though they use to use it alot. Now they've kind of gotten use to it, and no longer obsessively check it.</p>
<p>zkevin,
I really don't want to know what my kids buy for lunch. My goodness.<br>
I like the idea of the online system for the kids being able to check grades, progress reports, etc. but it is exactly the kind of thing you point to that I think is too much.
I have seen similar posts by parents of college freshmen who use the internet systems to check what their children buy with their dining dollars, when they buy it, etc.<br>
Personally, my "kid" in college is 18 years old, and able to take care of himself in most matters. My daughter who is a HS sophomore is almost there. I consider that good parenting and I don't need to know what and when they eat.</p>
<p>I got divorced when son#1 was in jr. high. With all of the responsibilities of career and running a home, I no longer had the time to "hover". He had to be responsible for organizing himself, getting his homework done, and even making his lunch. This ended up being a real benefit to my son. He managed just fine. The younger one needed more guidance of course, but I realized that he also needed to learn to self manage. </p>
<p>I do help them choose their classes each year, and I go to open house at the beginning of the year so I understand what each teach expects. After that, I have a conversation with the boys about how they'll approach the assignments, but then its up to them. </p>
<p>We get mid-period progress reports if grades fall below 75, and usually some notice if major assignments are missing. Only then do I have a conversation with them about what they plan to do to raise their grade. But its totally up to them what they do.</p>
<p>Both know they can ask for my help if they need it, with only one rule - if they want me to buy something for a school project, they must tell me in advance - otherwise they have to make do with what we have in the house.</p>
<p>It's always been like that at my school. Parents can check their children's grades/attendance records at anytime online.</p>
<p>Teachers and administrators want parents to become more involved, since it makes their life much more easier. Involved parents push their kids which means better grades/scores etc, easier time in class for teachers, as well as better teacher records.</p>
<p>I think it's a pretty good system, even though I feel for myself personally there never was any need. Imagine trying to explain to your parents that those 5 Zs in homework wasn't going to affect your math grade in any way, or that that C in a quiz was just a fluke, but still having to listen to an hour lecture about (you play too many games, how can you have C in class!).</p>
<p>I think if you use it the way momofthreeboys describes (as needed), it is harmless and pretty beneficial. If parents are obsessively monitoring kids to see if they fell from a 97 to a 95, then obviously that's not a situation where such a service is being used practically. But the truth is, in situations like that, it isn't really the service that's the problem. When people are choosing to engage in any kind of excessive behavior they will probably find a way. Without this they could just email the teacher constantly, call, look through the backpack, etc. </p>
<p>It is true that it could confuse parents since due to an absence, or a quiz hasn't been made up, or homework was inadvertantly missed once, or instructions were misunderstood, etc, all resulting in a lower grade that may not appear in/affect the final average. And I don't think that unless it is a chronic problem that need addressing (in which case you'd be more likely to find out from teacher complaints too), that a high school senior should have to come home and explain how every worksheet went so their parents don't get upset about what they see in the grade when it doesn't reflect the final outcome. But in a situation like that, I think you'd need to sit down and talk with your parents about expectations at this stage and try to work out the problem, because it isn't the result of this information being available, and even without it the problem is still going to be there in some other manifestation.</p>
<p>Our school has this as well and it is more of a defense mechanism then anything else. Many parents used to complain that they were not aware Junior was failing, or cut class, or did not turn in an assignment etc.. With the new system parents have no excuse and cannot blame the school. Yes, teachers do call and send home progress reports but kids have been known to steal them from the mailbox. This makes things slightly easier for the teachers and in a school of 3000 easier is better.</p>
<p>My high school is also doing something similar next year but it's going a bit further...
it gives the teachers access to student information (telephone numbers, addresses..even directions from mapquest or something similar, amongst other biographical and person information).
the idea is teacher's already supposedly have access to the information but putting it online makes it easier for the teachers to contact home if their is a problem (one less person to go through...)
although it does make things easier on teachers it opens up the possibility of the information being used for other purposes than they were intended for. teachers having to go through someone else for the info was sort of like a check to make sure the info was being used for it should be used for.
also, parents, as of now, don't have a choice about whether or not they want to participate in the new program...what do you guys think?</p>
<p>they do that at my school.
Attendance is always up, and so is schedule and transcript grades and graduation requirements. But, not all my teachers use it for grades (semester grades go up always, but teachers dont have to show students current grade in the class). I love it. My parents dont ever use it to check my grades because always keep them updated on what i have. Its really nice when you can always check your grades (especially when the teacher updates it very often.)</p>
<p>Thinking back to when I was in high school, I would have hated this. The parents who already put too much pressure on their kids, who already snoop into their lives in other ways, are only going to abuse a tool like this and create problems in their kids lives. I can only imagine the problems this would have led to in my family, and I'm not talking about a little yelling match here and there. I know that for the majority of students this would probably be a good thing, but because of my own family's dynamic I sympathize a lot with the kids whose parents would use this as another instrument to browbeat them with.</p>