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“ The best part is that I don't have to remember to go looking for grades, when new grades are available, an email says so. All I have to do is log on and type in my screen name and password. Then I am either pleasantly surprised or rather annoyed.”
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'Edline' goes online at Hernando Christian Academy
Hernando Today - March 13, 2004
Brooksville - Judy Bird doesn't ask her 15-year-old son Michael what his school assignments are anymore.
Michael no longer takes mid-term progress reports home from his teacher to give to his mother, and Judy no longer has to call his teachers to ask for those progress reports.
But Michael never, ever forgets to do his homework.
Usually, his mother knows exactly what's due on what day at the same time Michael does.
It's because information on Michael's class subjects, grades, and assignments are only a mouse click and an Internet browser away.
Michael Bird is a ninth-grader at Hernando Christian Academy in Brooksville, and the small private school has lifted off into cyberspace to better facilitate communication between teachers and parents.
Via a subscription service through the Chicago-based Internet company Edline, teachers at Hernando Christian Academy can post school news, homework, attendance, and exam grades online for parents to peruse.
"I love it," Judy Bird said about Hernando Christian Academy implementing Edline. "It's the best thing the school has ever done..."
He added that Hernando Christian Academy has 425 K-12 students, and currently, 60 percent of those students' families have logged on and activated an Edline account.
"In education, communication with parents is important," Holtzhouse said. "With Edline, parents can't say, 'My son's missed five assignments, how come I didn't know?' "
When parents and their children log on to Edline, they have to enter their name and password. A browser screen then opens, which is structured like popular homepages Yahoo or MSN.
The difference?
On a general Edline home page, school news dominates the middle column, class activities are flushed to the left column, and links to homework, grades, and a calendar are on the right.
It's like AOL exclusively built and tweaked for elementary, middle and high schools.
A student's grades and assignments are updated every Monday, Holtzhouse said.
Judy Bird said she and her husband, Jim, log on regularly every week.
"Sometimes I check it every day," she said.
Bird said that her son was a bit wary of the Edline program when it launched at the school January 5.
"At first, he was like, 'Oh gee, Mom and Dad knows exactly what I'm doing,' " Judy Bird said.
But now Michael doesn't mind, his mother said, because the Edline updates ensure that he "does the little things every day."
"Now I can ask him, 'Michael, don't you have a book report due in a month?' " Judy Bird said. "Or, 'Are you even reading the book?' "
Bird said the online progress reports are not for getting on her son's case or a know-it-all tool used to nag him to do his schoolwork.
With Edline, parents can know exactly what subjects their children need help in, Bird said.
"Like math," Bird said. "We can catch the problem right away. You don't have to wait until it's too late for help...."
Parent-teacher calls and in-person teacher-parent conferences have been reduced because Edline allows for near-instant communication between administrators and families.
Dan Clark, a science teacher at Hernando Christian Academy, said that there was a little extra work teachers had to put in when Edline went online.
"For me, it's about learning new habits," Clark said. "I'm an old dog, and I'm getting into a new groove."
But Clark doesn't mind the new methods. He said that "punching a few buttons" on a computer keyboard has paid dividends in the classroom.
"The parents who've taken advantage of (Edline), you notice their kids are more conscientious in class," Clark said. "Teachers are more accountable to parents. It's a tremendous tool."
Holtzhouse said that as far as he knows, Hernando Christian Academy is the only school in the county that's using Edline.
Clark said that when he left the county's public school system three years ago, no school was nowhere near talking about posting online progress reports and exam results.
"We're not sending home a bazillion notes that may not even make it to parents," Holtzhouse said. "Now, there are no more excuses."
Michael Bird said he's now accustomed to logging onto Edline to double-check his homework assignments.
And when the 15-year-old becomes a parent one day, he hopes that by that time, Edline will be as widespread as old-fashioned printed report cards, he said.
"I wouldn't want my kids doing bad in school," he said."