Academics
On-line, Annotated Grade Reports Replace Paper at WPS The old cartoon that shows a child sitting by the mailbox, hoping to waylay a worrisome report card, is out of date—at least at Woodside Priory School.
Today, a Priory
She and a team of student with some colleagues selected explaining—or some the program after bragging! — to do will more than a year have to distract his/ of study because it her parents from the promised systemfamily computer, not wide accuracy and the telltale envelope. reliability that was Grade reports now lacking in the former The online report form includes, over the top, a photo, name and class arrive online via a grading software. (deleted here to protect the student’s privacy). On the left is the student’s password-protected It also offered quick schedule, then courses, followed by every grade, absence and tardy in every Internet account. access to frequentlyclass. At the bottom are the current GPA and an attendance summary. Grade information used information, is available to parents and students, as soon as it is rather than a maze of screens, she said. posted, all the time. But online grading is the feature that directly As teachers grade tests, quizzes and papers, impacts families, and in that way it is a sea change. they enter each grade online. Each entry instantly Parents are suddenly much closer to grade issues than updates the student’s grade record, and this record ever before—or, they have the capability to be. Does is available to the student’s academic advisor, college this new “data immersion” change the dynamics of counselor, administrators, and the student and parental involvement with student performance? parents. Administrators no longer are plagued with Should it? inconsistencies in students’ files. Asked for feedback after the first grading period, A student or parent checking online will see the sixty parents responded and all the comments were new grade, together with the already-entered grades, positive. Parents expressed appreciation for access to and a blue link to any teacher comments. more information, complete information, and current Online grade reporting is actually “the icing on information. A counter on each student account the cake” to PowerSchool, the software that makes shows that most are being accessed a reasonable it possible, says Jennifer Martin, Academic Dean. amount—not constantly, not too infrequently. All accounts have been accessed at least once.
Parents are suddenly much closer to grade issues than ever before—or, they have the capability to be.
