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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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Online system keeps parents in the loop
PIONEERPRESS - Sept 15, 2005
A quarterly report card is no time for a freshman parent to find out their new high schooler is floundering in algebra.
At Lake Forest High School, parents, teachers and students stay on top of a student's performance through an online communication system, Edline, that posts students' attendance records, homework assignment results and links to teachers' web pages to make sure no one is surprised with a bad grade.
In its second year, the system is a boon to communication with teachers and particularly helpful to freshmen and their parents.
“Edline allows us to very rapidly publish a student's class load and schedule online in a private account for each student and family so they can go online and get information about classes they have,” said Gary Pickens, director of technology at LFHS.
Tailored to individual students, the system can only be accessed by LFHS students and their parents who have the correct log-on and password. Once they get online, parents can call up their child's screen. If they have more than one child at the high school, they have access to each child's account on the same screen.
“If a student's got five classes they're taking at the high school, when they log onto Edline along the left side of the screen will be five classes with links to personalized web pages,” Pickens said.
Depending on how much their teachers use the system - Pickens describes some teachers as “rudimentary” users and others as “exotic” users students and parents can check upcoming assignments and perhaps even download worksheets. Grades are automatically posted because Edline and the online grading system are interfaced.
That feature alone makes the system, which costs a little under $2 a year per student, a winner, said Pickens. Teachers agree.
“You don't want parents or students to be blind-sided by a poor grade,” said Evan Richards, a physics teacher who is a big proponent of Edline. “With regular updates, there are no surprises. Students can see they dropped down and work harder to bring that grade back up.”
Parents can see the same slipping grade, which the kids might not like but parents and teachers find useful. If a student tells a parent everything's “fine” in school, parents can go online and check themselves.
“A student might have missed a whole slew of homework checks in chemistry class,” said Richards, which means they didn't do their homework. That will reflect negatively on their final grade and understanding of future material.
“If something's not going well, we want to nip that in the bud and be proactive and get involved before it gets worse,” Richards said.
Through Edline, student and teachers can communicate via e-mail. So can parents and teachers.
“Students aren't always so excited about that, but parents are,” said Richards, who has taught at LFHS for 25 years. “It facilitates communication between teacher, parent and student.”
In that way, "there's no misunderstanding," said Richards.
Information available online isn't limited to classroom work only. Richards, who coaches the debate team, also has a link to the debate team web page, which both students and parents use.
“We have very busy, very active young people,” said Pickens. “They're involved in all kinds of activities. This is a good tool to share information, it's not a backpack message system.”
Relying on clectronic communication does not diminish the sense of community that exists at LFHS, said Pickens.
“One of the nice things about Lake Forest High School is that it is a community high school,” said Pickens. “Edline doesn't take away from that. It builds upon it and allows for even better communication.”
This school year is the second that Edline has been available at LFHS. The system started two years ago with probably 100 or less students in a test run.
“Last year all students and teachers had active accounts, and parents were also added to the mix,” Pickens said.
This year, mailings to freshmen and new students will go out this week with information on the system, screen names and passwords.
”It's just a very valuable and wonderful tool,“ Pickens said.