December 1, 2004
By Mike Caplan
It's time to resume our salute to excellence in education. This week Class Act does not focus on a teacher, a parent, or a student. It's about an innovative program that's keeping them all in touch.
Kimberly Lane spends a good part of her day at the computer. Lane heads up the science department at Chicago's Whitney Young High School, and is one of the leading proponents of a program called "Edline"
"I personally use Edline for everything that happens in my classroom," said Kimberly Lane, science teacher.
Here's how Edline works. For the past two year, teachers at Whitney Young have been sending out detailed e-mails to students and parents covering anything from class notes, to assignments, to test scores. Edline keeps the channels of communication wide open, enabling parents to better help their kids when their grades start to slip.
"Eventually mom and dad will find out, now we can nip it in the bud. If there's a problem week two, we can deal with it in week two, not week 10 when it's too late," said Kimberly.
Paddy Lauber and Kerry Shintani did just that with their son Rob last year, thanks to Edline.
"It allowed us to track his performance on homework and quizzes and when we saw his grades were dropping, it alerted us to the fact we needed to step in contact his teachers," said Paddy.
To some, Edline may seem like snooping, but most students find that Edline makes them more organized, and more responsible at school.
"I think it's better in the long run since you can't pull the wool over their eyes. I've tried that. It worked for a little while... not with Edline, you can't do that," said Rob Shintani, sophomore.
The Shintani family continues to rely on Edline. Rob's grades have come back up, and mom and dad have learned how to better use the information they receive to help their son.
"We stopped mentioning it on a daily basis, we stopped greeting him at the door, with "well you didn't do too well on that chemistry quiz," so things have lightened up a lot," said Paddy Lauber, parent.