I think I was a freshman in high school when I got my first C-in Algebra II-on my report card. I was sick about it. I knew I had been struggling, but I guess had foolishly hoped that when all the final grades were in, I’d end up with a B (which I had also never gotten before, but figured that was better than a C-gasp!). After receiving the tainted report card, I walked around all day with a pit in my stomach, agonizing over how I could possibly show it to my parents.
I went to work after school and then came home, had dinner, practiced the piano, and then holed up in my bedroom under the guise of doing homework (when what I was really doing was plotting my strategy). In my fear-induced haze, I settled on an absurd plan: I would wait until my parents were in bed, then tip-toe to their bedroom door, slide the report card underneath, knock quietly, and run away.
Yes, I actually did this. It was like a nerd’s version of ding-dong ditching.
A few minutes later, I heard a knock on my door. It was one of my parents-I can’t even remember which one-coming to talk about my report card. I was shocked to hear that they weren’t going to disown me. They were concerned and wanted to know how I could improve the grade and were somewhat annoyed by the way I had communicated (read = failed to communicate) to them, but they weren’t mad.
From this experience, I learned a few things:
- Algebra wasn’t really my forte.
- My parents were quite reasonable people!
- It was my responsibility to do a better job communicating with them.
Today’s kids are missing out on these experiences. Our school district-and many others across the nation-have embraced GradeSpeed, an online student tracking system. GradeSpeed allows parents to go online at their leisure and see all their children’s grades and absences. As soon as a teacher posts a grade, a parent can receive an email notifying the parent that a new grade has been entered. So it’s possible-and very likely-that a parent will find out about a C on a report card (like mine!) even before a student. A parent can also sign up for “trigger” emails to be sent every time the child’s grade drops below the average chosen by the parent. While at open house last night, I heard several parents’ responses after hearing how GradeSpeed works. One gleefully said, “Yes! I can find out about all his bad grades before he even gets home.” Urg. One seemed to be channeling Cruella DeVille as she smugly said, “Well, now, won’t that be handy?”
I don’t love this. It removes all responsibility from the kids for managing their grades and communicating with their parents and gives parents more power and information than I think we need. I have not (yet) experienced a child who really struggles in school, so maybe I can’t (yet) fully appreciate this service. Do we want automated email notifications to tell us about our kids’ academic progress, or should we want them to manage this on their own? Are they missing out on something by not having to tell us about their bad grades (and by not getting to tell us about their good ones)?
Do other parents use these services? Do you like them? Why/why not?
Heather, I’ve was really happy about the idea of an online grade book, but the reality has been less than thrilling. As far as I know, ours does not have the email features you describe, so I’m not sure how that would play in to it. I’ve encouraged my kids to look things up themselves, since they (especially my high schooler) can be vague about what grades they actually got on some things so it’s good for them to know as well. The main problem is that many teachers don’t enter grades regularly, so I can be in a panic about things and then it all turns around, OR I can be complacent and then several grades are entered just before the end of the grading period (which happens more often than the first scenario as you can imagine).
The main improvement I’d suggest (other than requiring teachers to input grades weekly) is to make the High School level the STUDENT’s access, rather than the parents, but the parents could also have access. It would be more like college this way and lots of kids are online more than their parents. This would also solve the problem we have where it’s one family log on and each kid can see the other’s grades (since it’s set up for parents).
BTW, if my kids’ reports looked like Kennedy’s I’d be SOOO HAPPYYYYY
Also, so interesting they get grades in advisory. And can I saw HOW COOL IS IT THAT SHE HAS MUN FOR A CLASS???!!! I would have died and gone to heaven. We worked out butts off after school.
She’ll probably just do MUN for the fall semester and then get into another elective for spring. The competition is in mid-January, so they’ll do all the work this semester. It just counts as a local elective credit, but it seems like a cool class. It’s mixed grade levels, so she has the opportunity to get out of her comfort zone, etc. So far, so good.
Ouch. I wish I had the luxury of sharing your sentiment. Let me offer a different perspective.
Our school district uses an online grade system is called schoolloop. It gives grades, but it also lists all of the assignments, projects, and when they are due. Students can post questions to each other to get help and tutor each other. They can email their teachers with questions when they need clarification. (for shy kids, it’s genius) It’s like an online organizer. My high schooler also is able to do quite a bit of his work, paper-free by going to the locker for each class, doing the work on the computer and putting it in the teacher’s box before midnight. If they lose a form (we lose paper on a daily basis) you can print out the worksheet from online. It’s been a lifesaver. I would have died and gone to heaven if I had been able to use a system like this as a student.
When you deal with ADD and go to school, life can be torturous. You try so hard to cross every i and dot every t, but it just seems impossible. You work twice as hard as everybody, and get plenty of C’s. (ADD kids often get a split report card – half A’s, and Half C’s… thank goodness for the talents to keep up the GPA) Hell, sometimes you’re happy for C’s. What a relief to be done with school, due dates and the pressure of testing (even though I totally enjoy the process of learning). So, when I had to enter academic life again with my three kids, at three different schools, it’s overwhelming.
I might feel the same as you if I had a child who didn’t bring home C’s, but I don’t. The online system doesn’t absolve responsibility from the kids, it empowers them to keep up with their assignments and grades on a daily basis. It keeps the teachers accountable for their assignments (we’ve had teachers before schoolloop who wouldn’t give precise due dates, and then mark down when the work wasn’t finished.) and helps students and their parents communicate.
So much about school is learning how to study and stay on top of a workload. I love having the tools to do that. College is increasingly more demanding and the kids need higher tech tools to stay on top of it all. God bless schoolloop.
Laurie, great perspectives. I hope you read my line where I said I have not (yet) had a child who really needed this service, so I’m glad to hear from a parent whose kids really benefit from it. It also sounds like the service y’all use is more extensive than what we have. Ours is just to see kids and absences.
But it also sounds like you’re genuinely grateful for it–and not just in a “gotcha” sort of way, which is what I was feeling from the parents around me at open house.
My boy has just started middle school (they start at 9 in the UK) and he is really overwhelmed. They make the kids keep planners, but he is so much more comfortable on the computer that I think he would love a tool like this. I don’t like the “gotcha” element either, but I think tools like this depend on the user (just like FB or any other communication device).
I’m more concerned about how ugly Firefox is on a PC. J/k.
My kids are still bringing home their grades on dead trees, so I don’t have any first hand experience, but an email with “grades” in the subject line will get my attention way faster than sorting through the reams of fundraiser announcements and PTA newsletters my daughter brings home every day.
Does this really take away responsibility from the child to GET the grade in the first place? It sounds better than the quarterly fire-drill I had with my parents in the far gone 90’s.
Colin, you’re right–it doesn’t help kids GET a good grade; it’s more the communication piece that concerns me.
Colin said, “I’m more concerned about how ugly Firefox is on a PC. J/k.”
Thanks for the big laugh! :)
Laurie, our system has the due dates, etc as well …. if only more teachers used it! It’s not very fun when the art teacher is the only one putting in assignments (how’s that for busting stereo types!). I’m totally with you on the ADD report card…. btdt.
Do any of you have experience with Edmodo? It’s a system several of the kids more motivated teachers have adopted. Social networking for your spanish class! Kids can ask for help, turn in assignments, find old notes, print out copies of things, etc. all at the site. Pretty cool.
Edmodo sounds great, Claire.
I noticed the first year or two with schoolloop, the teachers weren’t so committed to staying on top of it. Here’s the benefit of having involved parents though…. now – a few years later, most of them are really, really good about it. If the assignments aren’t listed, they will get emails from parents holding them accountable. Annoying for the teacher? Yep… until their students start turning in work consistently and they can use the system to quiet the parents who insist that their child has been wronged. Win-win.
Some of them lag in posting grades, which is totally understandable, but not the assignments. I love that the teachers are responsible for clarifying and posting the work they want the kids to do. In our 12 years of parenting school kids, I’ve realized that the years my boys have struggled the most have been when they have a non-structured teacher who isn’t clear on their workload. I’ve gone in myself to meet with some of the teachers about what is due, when – and left with my head spinning. A visual copy is so lovely for visual people.
School isn’t a kind place for kids who are easily distracted, who are physical or tactile or visual learners. It just isn’t. With all of the struggles that public teachers have – huge classes and lack of resources – tools like schoolloop make all the difference.
I bear my testimony that schoolloop is true. I say this in the name of Saraswati – Amen.
Again, Laurie, this is good for me to hear. As someone who’s in teacher education, I’m glad to hear this perspective.
I agree that knowing what’s due when/how is important. It IS frustrating for kids (and parents!) to not have a clear understanding of what’s due and when. I don’t think teachers in our district are posting due dates/assignments, etc.–just grades.
Stuart has been using Edmodo this year! Ha ha! He and his buddies agree to meet in their class chatroom at 5:00, for instance, and chat. I haven’t actually seen them do it because I’m at work during their virtual meet-ups, but I love the idea! I didn’t realize how many other things you could do with it.
At Phoenix Youth at Risk we started doing school-based programs a few years ago. I have seen how the kids in our programs (almost all are failing out of classes and receiving no credit for some or all classes). Not only do their parents have access to their grades online similar to your example in the OP, but so do the mentors!
Accountability can go a long way. But it can be used for good or evil :) If a parent or mentor is using this as weapon, then it’s never going to work for the student and will set off the alarms that Heather is talking about. But if a parent or mentor is using it as a tool to support their child/youth, then it’s invaluable. It’s an opportunity for that student and their mentor or parent because the students are accountable, open and direct about their grades. No hiding, no shame, no ability to sweep them under the rug.
This would have been very helpful for me as a high school student. (I can say that now, though if I had been there I would have probably done my fair share of wailing about how it “wasn’t fair”, yadda yadda…)
Good points all around. Your comment reminded me that CASAs can also have access to GradeSpeed for the kids assigned to them. I haven’t done that because the kids I’m assigned to are 3.5 and 4.5 (ha ha), but I can see where it would be a great tool.
My son’s school had a similar system and after a few years of using it, I also came to think it’s not a great thing. And, I have a kid who is slightly ADD, and was very unmotivated in school. Using a system like this transferred too much of the responsibility for school to me and my husband, when in the past, it would have been between him and his teachers. I think that by the time a kid’s in high school, they need to learning to handle school themselves. What are they going to do in college if their parents have been monitoring them all the time? I finally just backed off and quit checking it. I explained to his teachers that I wasn’t going to monitor it anymore, and after he got a D, and had to go to summer school, he became much more responsible on this own. (Although he liked the summer school class a lot, and said he learned more there than in his regular class. So much for consequences.)