I am surprised you would propose this Brian. Direct Postal Mail is the most effective way of marketing. You reach more people, especially those who aren't actively seeking out the information you are promoting.

The students whose parents the teachers need to work with the most are the ones who are the most disconnected from their kids' education. They are also the least likely to actively seek out information, which is what is required with an online grade system.

You are asking parents who already don't participate in their child's education to actively sign up and monitor a website. Much less likely then them checking their mail - which they already do.

I don't see where Brian was suggesting this as a tool for fixing inactive parents.

However, for parent's that are active and have internet access this seems like both a cost efficient and convenient way to keep parents up to date.

My phone company, bank, and gas company all do it this way because it's convenient for me and it saves them money. Why not the schools?

Local Boy,

Thanks for posting. Webgrades has not replaced report cards, it adds details including grades on individual assignments by date.

I agree with you we need to find ways to make it easier to involve families. Can you check with some families you know about their experiences with online grades and then post it?

Mothers used to do the heavy lifting when it came to parent teacher meetings. Now both parents have to work and teachers are feeling ignored.

Some of the wealthy folks had to cut expensive turoring due to the down-turn in the economy. Teachers in wealthy areas are sometimes blessed with just having to be monitors of a child's education rather than a driving force.

Someday companies will provide office space and time for parents and teachers to meet during the day. For many parents this benefit would be the difference in accpeting a position and a company getting the most talented.

Out of all methods of contact the internet is far and away the easiest for positive manipulation of the grades. For a more pernament effect one must "update" the back-up files on disk.

Nobody,

Online grades are copies of a gradebook, not the actual gradebook used to create report cards.

I do agree security is a concern. Can you check with people you know to see if the schools their students go to use webgrades?

Edline is the only one I heard of.
This is a slippery slope to online homeschooling. I bet school is cut to three times a week for high school kids in the future. The other days will be online. There will be games and competitions that get kids excited about learning and once again... we will rule the world.

Although I don't live in Ventura County or California anymore, I do have experience with using a similar program and for an involved parent it's a great tool. I'm not sure how your program is set up, but the programs I've used, you have to register with them. I've used School Loop and Snap Grades. School Loop was an easy site. It showed, grades, assignments, projects due, homework, and due dates for everything. You could also email the teachers. I recommend using a program like these. Both parents and students can view/use these sites. When you register, you have to use a password and you can even receive daily emails letting you know that grades are posted. I have found them to be secure sites.

Our district uses Gradespeed which allows for parents and students to have complete transparency into grades, homework assignments and other day to day facts that keep our kids accountable while keeping us engaged. There are grade "trigger...s" which send us an e-mail or text when a grade falls below or above a threashold we've established.

We are able to be engaged and provide feedback in real time. It's almost made the progress report and report card meaningless because we already have the information when we log in.

Our school district takes student achievement seriously and tools like Gradespeed are a game changer.

Here is a link so you can see for yourself:

http://www.schoolnet.com/corporate/products/products.aspx?product=gradebook

In this age of Facebook and Twitter, School Districts who avoid investments technology do so at their peril.

Thanks Brian for posting this. As a past PTA president, I've had several parents ask me why our district does not have online grade reporting. Several teachers email detailed grades periodically, but not all. While ultimately our kids need to learn to be responsible for individual assignments, they are still just kids. I can't tell you how many times I've asked my middle schooler did you get that test back or how did you do on that assignment only to get an I'm not sure. Having access readily available online 24/7 would significantly improve parents' abilities to stay actively involved.

Would all parents use it? No. But many would. And since teachers are already keeping detailed grades somewhere anyway, this seems like an efficient way to enable further parent involvement. I would much rather catch a problem right away then at progress report or report card time.

My son attends Los Colinas Middle School in Camarillo, CA. They are part of the Oxnard Union School District. I am thrilled that they use Zangle Parent Connect to post all assignments, test grades and semester grades online. This way I know exactly what assignments were turned in, when and what the score was for it.They also post grades for tests and the final semester grades. The site is secure and you have to show a valid California ID card at the school office to get a login.

How can this not be a wonderful thing? No more calling other parents to find out about homework assignments. No misinterpretation of due dates or unfilled daily class logs. I don't have to bug the teacher to find out if my child has missed any assignments. Most of my sons books are available online!

I truly support the digital age and any educational information be available online.

The Conejo Valley USD offers Zangle to access our kids' assignments, grades, progress reports, etc. and to me it is a no brainer effective tool to enable parents easy access to what's going on. While I don't think it should replace physical report cards, it is very handy and has enabled me to check on progress at work, at home, etc.

I am also a teacher at Royal, and I use the Webgrades program. I think it facilitates parent involvement and communication. Also, as a teacher in the special ed. department, it is a very useful tool for monitoring the students on my caseload in their general ed. classes.

In addition, my son attends Simi Valley High School, which does not use any online grade program of which I am aware. As a parent this is very frustrating, especially when I know the program is available.

We push our students to be "proficient technology users," and there is a strong push in staff development for teachers to use technology more efficiently, so why isn't the use of online grade programs more widespread?

Edline has been recognized as a force in technology-enabled education by Newsweek, the New York Times and NBC Nightly News, and in countless newspapers and media across the country.

I think webgrades are a very important under-used tool. For some reason it seems like education fears technology. Will this make parents who don't care and don't check on their children more involved? No, but it won't make them less involved either. This is a tool that will allow parents, to oversee how their child is doing on a day to day basis, not when report cards come out and it's to late. Security is an issue, but then again we place our social security numbers, home address and credit cards on the web all the time. I think this is one of those times when risk is far less than the reward.

Johnny,

Thanks for posting your thoughts. It isn't a question of if but when it will happen. My college grades were posted online and that was years ago. This system will help families track individual assignments too.

An aside to what I said earlier.

I think and hope, that one day teachers will have to place weekly lesson plans online for everyone to see. This would allow students, who are sick or want to study ahead, to see what they should be doing, allow parents and administrators to see the daily goings on. When it comes to education, I think transparency between administration, parents, teachers and students will go a long way to fixing the current education dilemma.

My university exclusively provides grades online. As a student, I've found this method to be accessible and convenient, as I can check for grade updates at any time, calculate my GPA, etc. I can't imagine returning to the days of direct mail report cards, and I imagine that online grade publication would benefit primary-high school students as well

CVUSD offers on-line grades via Zangle - and many teachers have been using Teacher Web and other on-line tools for years. I find it extremely helpful to be able to check everything from test scores to grades to attendance on-line. Some teachers go the extra mile and really utilize websites for students, posting homework, class notes and recommended reading. As on-line information has grown, it has made it much easier on students and parents - especially if your child has been absent - to keep up. The information is password protected and any student info on teacher sites is by student ID number not by name. I like it.

They should post the grades on giant electornic scoreboards in front of all the schools.

Nobody owns sole rights to those grades. The tax-payers paid for a service and they have a rigtht to inspect the merchandise. Many futures depend on those grades not just the parents and students. Those grades are obtained using tax dollars everyone has a right to see them.

Brian,

During my campaign for school board last year, I had many parents ask me why this was not used throughout the district for all grade levels.

I as a parent believe this would be the most valuable tool to keep me actively engaged in my children's education! It is frustrating when a child has forgotten to bring home an assignment. Busy parents should be able to log in from the office, make a phone call home and talk to our children about assignments and test/quiz results. Few of us are blessed with the ability to stay home with our children. Especially now, but all parents can take 5 minutes to check on a child's status and follow up with the child at home or send an email to the teacher, without having to wait for progress reports and report cards.

Additionally, with the possible change in the school year dates next year, many students may miss the first few days of school due to preplanned events.

Yes, having assignments and grades posted on the web is a step towards home schooling, however, our students will continue to report to school, the schools will continue to receive the funding for that child at school, and the administration may get what they are asking for, more parental involvement. Teachers have to track all grades somewhere, put them online instead of in the grade book/excel spreadsheet.

There is no downside to this program if done right.
Let's see S.V.U.S.D. roll it out district-wide.

Public schools have to move with the pace of technology advances as quickly as the auto-makers, health care providers, retail industry, and everybody else. What if the auto industry moved as slowly as the public school system in regards to technology? What if there wasn't anti-lock brakes and air-bags because they didn't get around to it?

What is the future relationship between public education and technolgy? Does anti-drop out technolgy already exist and we just don't know it?