Parents, students get instant access to grades

by COURTNEY LAMDIN | Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

A new electronic tool allows Milton students and parents to access grades and attendance records in real time.

PowerSchool was implemented district-wide to increase communication between home and school, said Scott Thompson, assistant principal at Milton Middle/High School.

“Students can check their grades at any time, and parents can as well, 24/7,” Thompson said. “It just really keeps them informed as to their progress.”

The program allows teachers to keep track of student grades, assignments turned in and attendance. High school students can use PowerSchool to suggest class schedules, and their requests are automatically sent to guidance counselors.

Carrie Adii, a high school math teacher, uses PowerSchool many times daily and said it makes her job easier to enter grades as she goes instead of at the end of the quarter.

“Students can come see you rather immediately and say, ‘Hey, I got a 78 but I really got an 87; you typed it in backwards,’” Adii said, explaining that it is easier to adjust grades in PowerSchool before they are finalized.

Although Adii still returns graded paper copies of homework, her students gain ownership of their grades by having instant access, she said.

“It just gives you a bigger perspective into what’s going on with the student,” Adii said.

Ally Gilbert, an 11th grader at the school, uses PowerSchool once a week.

“I really like it because I don’t have to go to my teacher and ask them, ‘Well, what’s my grade this week and what’s my grade today and tomorrow,’” she said.

Gilbert’s mother, Merryann, doesn’t routinely check her students’ grades on PowerSchool but recognizes it makes their lives easier, she said.

“It’s so handy,” Merryann Gilbert said. “It used to be so hard to get through, by way of telephone, to a teacher to have them check their grades. This is wonderful; it’s at your fingertips.”

Both she and Adii said that having the grades available makes it easier to prepare for parent-teacher meetings.

“I’m ready for parent-teacher conferences before I even get there,” Merryann Gilbert said.

Thompson has mostly heard positive reviews of PowerSchool. Asked if students have complained about parents monitoring them too much, Thompson said, “Our students are involved in their learning. I think they involve their families with their families with their learning.”

In the future, the school also hopes to use PowerSchool’s other features like posting school announcements, lunch account balances and overdue library books.

The school will also discuss using PowerSchool as a replacement for paper report cards, recognizing that not all homes have Internet access, Thompson said.

Thompson spoke about the overall benefit of technology in the classroom, with the school’s new netbook laptops and now with PowerSchool.

“If we can support the students with tools that they can use to supplement their own learning, the benefit is the learning,” he said.