[JHeath]

Personally, I'd love to see MCAS move to something like this.

http://heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=388637

‘It’s kind of handy’

Danielle Gingerich

LA PORTE -- Kids who attend La Porte schools are going to have to get more creative if they want to change those Fs to Bs. A few strokes of the pen will no longer do.

A new online program on the La Porte Community School Corporation’s Web site (www.lpcsc.k12.in.us), called Parent Access, allows parents of La Porte schools students to access their children’s grades online with a login name and password.

Gloria Ballard, director of technology for the school corporation, said the program was initiated at the beginning of the school year.

“It helps the La Porte Community School Corp. communicate better and easier with parents,” Ballard said Wednesday. “They’re able to see when a child is having problems.”

Parental involvement in the program is strong, Ballard said.

As of Wednesday morning, 1,780 parents had created accounts on the site, representing about 2,550 students.

“It enables parents and teachers to work together for the betterment of the child’s education,” Ballard said. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive comments with parents.”

Karen Rice, who has two kids at La Porte High School, uses the program about two to three times a week.

“I like to just to make sure they’ve got their assignments completed,” she said. “It kind of lets you know how they’re doing in class.”

The program offers online information on children in grades one through 12, including grades, attendance, discipline, standardized test scores, progress reports, schedules, transcripts, and emergency information.

In about 30 seconds, Rice is updated on her freshman daughter’s and junior son’s progress on extra credit and quiz scores.

“If I see anything that’s questionable I can communicate with them,” Rice said. “They know I’m watching.”

The information is updated as soon as a teacher enters the grades and other data in a grade book.

Students may also access the program with parental permission.

Rice’s daughter keeps track of her schooling online.

“It encourages her to see ‘I need to do it,’” Rice said. “It’s kind of handy.”

For the future, La Porte schools may include a login for secondary students to track their own progress.

[Southsider2k12]

Another nice thing would be a password accessed area for parents to be able to easily exchange messages with the teachers. It would also an easy step to get software which posts homework and in-class discussions so that parents could monitor that stuff as well.

[Ang]

They have that here in Casper. I can get online, view my kids' grades, see progress notes, daily homework assignments, test scores, behavior grades, and there is a link to each teacher's email plus a "contact me" link if the parent doesn't have an email addy. You can leave a message and the teacher will call you. They haven't set it up for elementary schools just yet, but they are working on it. So right now it only works for middle and high schools. But, you can enroll your student for the next year from the website also.

NCSD (Natrona County School District) has an open enrollment, which means you can put your kid in any school in the county so long as there is space available and you have reliable transportation. There are buses, but the bus stops are at each school, so if you live by School A, but your kid goes to school B, they can pick up the bus at A and get a ride to B. You call the bus garage and tell them the pick up school and drop off school and they'll tell you the bus number and time. It's that simple. There are good schools and bad schools, and often a waiting list for the good schools. By having the online enrollment, you can register early with the school you want and hopefully be near the top of the list. Of course, kids returning to the same school have first priority. But every year you have to let the school know if your kid will be returning. They send a form home for returning students in March and you have a deadline to return it or your child's space at the school may be given to someone else.

Sounds crazy I know, but it actually works very well.

[Roger Kaputnik]

We had this at Queens, and I thought that I read in the ND (!) that mcas was studying this. Howsabout IMPLEMENTING it.

[JHeath]

We had this at Queens, and I thought that I read in the ND (!) that mcas was studying this. Howsabout IMPLEMENTING it.

Not another study...can't anyone make a decision in this town?

[Southsider2k12]

It would really fit into the MCAS strategic plan. The pages could easily be integrated into the framework of their current site, by adding the pages as links onto the individual school pages. Having wasted way too much of my life on message boards and the internet, I know it would be relatively cheap and easy to do.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Queens did it , it worked great, and believe me, they do not have the resources of mcas!

[RedDevilMC]

We have Edline at Queens. It's wonderful, I get reports of any new grades on a daily basis. MCAS actually has the tools but I believe the issue is with the contract and them (teachers) having the time to input data. I'm not sure but I heard it was a lot of push back from the union.

[Ang]

Ours is set up so when the teachers input the data in the students' files, the info automatically uploads to the site. Teacher's don't have to spend extra time updating pages.

[Roger Kaputnik]

That is how it is done. The names, etc., are put into the apporpriate sections, and the teachers input the data. Really no more time is used, just in getting the thing set up.

[Ang]

Students at the high school maintain the MCAS website. It's part of the computer webbing class (I don't know the official name of the class). Cheryl Koepke used to instruct that class but now that she is retired, I don't know which teacher is running it. The students break off into groups (3-4 students per) and each group is responsible for a different area (elementary, middle, each department at the high school, plant planning, admin, etc). No teachers, other than the computer class instructor, have anything to do with the website.

[Roger Kaputnik]

This thing would have to be separate, of course, but that does not make it more complicated or less desirable.

[Ang]

This thing would have to be separate, of course, but that does not make it more complicated or less desirable.

I agree

[Roger Kaputnik]

Unfortunately, we have to wait for Admin to act.

[Ang]

Unfortunately, we have to wait for Admin to act.

Can you say "oxymoron"?

[Southsider2k12]

Commence holding breath....

[JHeath]

Commence holding breath....

Are you turning blue yet?

[Roger Kaputnik]

Not yet (hmmmmmmph)!