Program lets parents follow children’s progress

By: Manasee Wagh
Burlington County Times

January 4, 2009

The days of short answers to “What did you do at school today?” are over.

Now moms and dads in the Centennial School District can get almost instant feedback on daily schedules, grades and attendance thanks to the district’s new Web portal just for them.

With a password, parents can look up pages of information about their children on the district’s free Skyward Family Access site.

Middle school parent Grace Loscalzo thought the myriad details were arranged in an organized, easy-to-read manner. She finds the calendar feature on the site especially helpful because it shows a daily record of assignment grades as well as a preview of assignments due the next day, she said.

“I really like it. I think the whole district Web site is doing really well. It’s a huge improvement in the way the district is trying to communicate with the community at large,” said Loscalzo, a parent-teacher organization co-chairwoman for Klinger Middle School.

When parents log in, they can choose to view numerous menu items: a calendar of daily classes, a numerical grade sheet listing every grade a teacher has assigned in a course, a page of overall course grades, an academic history, disciplinary records, health records, the family’s emergency contact information and much more. They can sign up for weekly emails that give an overview of this information and request changes easily if some data appears incorrect.

The service has been accessed more than 17,000 times since it was launched in mid-November, Amy Campbell said Tuesday. She’s the district data processing and Web specialist who keeps Skyward running smoothly.

The system is up and running for middle school and high school students but is still being developed for elementary schools, she said. In the past two weeks, sixth through 12th graders got access to the site to see their grades and online assignments.

Loscalzo’s 13-year-old daughter, Ella, doesn’t use the system, but she said her mom keeps a closer eye on her work at Klinger since Skyward came into their lives. Loscalzo thinks that’s a positive development.

“She’s not overly enthusiastic about me knowing everything, but I think it’s helpful for her, too,” said Loscalzo. “It helps her keep track of time better. They have six to seven classes, which is a lot of information to keep track of.”

Karen Rodriguez, president of the parent-teacher organization at Willow Dale Elementary, said she finds it helpful to double-check her middle school daughter’s records toward the end of a marking period without necessarily spending time asking her teachers.

District teachers were already using a similar system to keep student records in an electronic grade book. This past September the district switched to Wisconsin-based Skyward Inc.’s program for its added parent access feature. Teachers continue inputting the same information that they did before, only now parents can see what’s in teachers’ grade books through the family access portal, said Campbell.

As a full-time working parent, Angela Gartland said she enjoys being able to check her children’s progress during lunchtime, evenings and weekends.

“It’s nice to have all that information and not wait till the progress reports and report cards come home,” said Gartland, co-chairwoman of the Klinger Middle School parent teacher organization.

Some teachers don’t update reports on Skyward as often as others, she noticed.

A William Tennent High School teacher said she keeps her students’ records as up-to-date as possible.

“It is more work but it keeps me current as opposed to waiting till the end of the semester to enter it all. It’s helpful and it’s worth it,” said Shannon Martin, a calculus and algebra teacher. The system is an efficient communication device,” she said.

New Hope-Solebury and Neshaminy School districts use a similar program called Home Access Center to provide parents a frequent summary of their student’s performances, including schedules, attendance, discipline records, class work and report cards.

Other local districts have resources like teacher homepages that allow families to see grades and assignments online. Districts are also trying to reduce paper waste by posting school information online. Council Rock provides families with fliers, letters and other community resources through its E-Friday Folder Web link.

In the future, Centennial looks forward to allowing students in grades eight through 11 to make the following year’s course selections through the portal starting in February, said Campbell.

The district also hopes to phase out regular paper report cards in favor of electronic reports on Skyward. Families can still get paper copies by requesting them, Campbell said.

Implementing Skyward cost Centennial $6,578, plus an annual licensing fee of about $1,500, according to the district.

Board member Mark Miller is happy with Centennial’s progress in staying in touch with its 6,600 students and families.

“It’s light years ahead of things we’ve had before,” said the parent of a Tennent student. As a board member, he checks the site often to ensure that it’s working well, he added.

“I think we got our money’s worth,” he said.