CREDIT: Ed Kaiser, The Journal

Kara MacLeod, 14, going into Grade 9, watches mom Kathy pull up her school courses from the end of the last school term on the StudentsAchieve Web site.

ADVERTISEMENT

EDMONTON - Until last year, Janet Olsen had her share of surprises upon opening her two children's report cards.

Not that they weren't hard-working students, just sometimes reluctant to hand over assignments that recorded sliding grades or simply forgetful of the test papers crushed into the bottom of their backpacks.

So last year, when the Northern Lights School Division introduced a new software program that lets parents access their children's marks, attendance and homework assignments on an almost daily basis from home, Olsen took full advantage of it and checked her children's progress on her computer nightly, rather than waiting three months for each report card.

"It's like being able to talk to the teacher every day without having to actually talk to the teacher," Olsen said from Bonnyville, in the Northern Lights district, about 250 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. "When my kids heard mom coming upstairs and tattling on them, it was not always so great for them. But it was also easier to celebrate their successes on a daily or a weekly basis because I finally saw all their marks.

"I think that it allowed us to be more in touch with what they are doing. And it encouraged them to actually do it. They can't slide with this system because too many people know (their daily marks) ... I felt much more part of the learning process."

This week 75 teachers in the Parkland School Division, west of Edmonton including Spruce Grove and Stony Plain, will learn how to post marks, attendance, lesson plans, even messages about a student's behaviour in class or at recess with StudentsAchieve, an Edmonton-based computer program.

Mary Lynne Campbell, superintendent for Parkland schools, said the program is meant to save teachers time, helping them become more organized since they already need to record marks, as well as provide parents with more information secured by a password.

"Parents who are directly involved in their children's lives at school have children who achieve well and are successful," Campbell said, adding that 12 schools are implementing the program this year and 11 next. "I think parents are fundamental partners in the education of children, so I don't see this as Orwellian at all or like Big Brother, monitoring children. I just see this as another means of communication."

Campbell said the software, which costs $125,000 over two years and about $38,000 to maintain each year, won't replace paper report cards, since some families don't have Internet access. Nor will it end face-to-face meetings and phone calls between teachers and parents about discipline problems or student achievements.

She said even though parents will be aware of how and what their children are doing, the program doesn't make students less accountable for their work.

For Kathy MacLeod, the information at the click of a button meant she didn't have to nag her daughter after school each day.

"They feel they're trusted and can do things on their own," said MacLeod, whose daughter attends T.D. Baker junior high in Edmonton, which tested the software last year thanks to a donation from the parents' council.

"I thought it was awesome," she said.

"It's a way for schools to keep parents involved."

In September 12, other city public schools will pilot a similar program called School Zone, designed by the public school system.

jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com