By the middle of March, every single parent of a public school student in the parish will be able to check their child’s grades from the comfort of their own living rooms at any time.
In fact, several schools, such as Hahnville High School, Destrehan High School, Albert Cammon Middle School and J.B. Martin Middle School, already have the new program installed. With the program, called a parent portal, parents or guardians have the ability to view grades that may have been entered by the teacher only minutes before.
“Parent portal software allows parents to access all scores on any graded assignment through a secure internet connection that only they can view,” Stephanie Steib, the school’s director of information technology services, said. “This is just another communication tool that would allow us to share real-time data with our stakeholders.”
Aside from viewing grades on tests, quizzes or homework assignments, parents will also be able to view up-to-date attendance records for their child. If parents do not check the site often, they can still request that grade and attendance information be sent to them in their e-mail.
Destrehan High School is also using the portal to list news and pertinent information about special events or topics on the portal’s home page.
Steib said that all middle schools in the parish should have the parent portal system up and running by Feb. 11.
Elementary schools with children in the third grade and up will be phased in next, with all schools scheduled to be online by the middle of March.
The schools that have the software have hosted kick off nights where parents hear about the new system and get their login password.
“We have been very pleased with the feedback we have received from parents,” Steib said.
All public schools in St. Charles Parish currently use an electronic program to track grades and assessment data for students between third and twelfth grade.
Information about attendance is also kept electronically, but in schools that don’t have the software installed, the information is only available to teachers and staff. Before this new system was in place, parents who wanted a report of this data had to request a printed copy from the school.
“Before this, parents were not able to view student grades except whenever reports were sent out quarterly or when parents requested that the information be printed out for them,” Steib said. “The community and the board members asked about making this information available to parents at any time, and we began looking at a parent portal software system as just another tool for us to share information with parents.”
The school system already offers several electronic communication tools that allow parents to become more involved in their child’s academic career. Teachers have web pages that outline assignments and test dates, and all teachers can communicate with parents via e-mail.
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