Thursday, September 23, 2004

Parents of eighth- and ninth-grade students are piloting a new program to allow parents to access their children’s grades online.

Parents received information about the program as well as a username and password following the eighth- and ninth-grade meetings on Sept. 13 and 14. Those parents can now log in any time they want to see their child’s average in a class, grades on individual assignments and teacher comments at grading periods.

The pilot program follows two years of research and testing by Episcopal faculty and staff. The goal is to pilot the program for eighth- and ninth-grades this school year and offer it for the entire student body in the 2005-2006 school year.

The online grade program will help achieve “a close partnership between families and the school,” said Walt Warner, assistant headmaster of curriculum and instruction. “Central to that close partnership is the most timely and effective communication that we can produce.

“Utilizing the web to help families stay in close contact with their child’s progress can only strengthen the communication between school and family, which we believe will lead to greater student achievement.”

Teachers of eighth- and ninth-grade students received training for the online grade program from Michelle Chenevert and Arthur Perkins.

Grading guidelines for teachers are posted on the Upper and Middle school web pages so that parents can know how often to expect their child’s grades to be updated online. A user guide for the online grade program is posted on the parents’ page of the school website.