Gilroy
– High school students who think they can slip that low grade
past mom or dad should think again. Gone are the days when a lost,
unmailed or ruined report card could keep Gilroy High School
parents from keeping tabs on their child’s Grade Point Average.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – High school students who think they can slip that low grade past mom or dad should think again. Gone are the days when a lost, unmailed or ruined report card could keep Gilroy High School parents from keeping tabs on their child’s Grade Point Average.
Grade posting is just one of the ways the high school community will be able to use the Edline Web that, starting this week, offers a new, convenient way to track students’ progress and communicate with educators.
At back-to-school night Wednesday, some parents were given a demonstration of Edline, a Web site that allows parents – and students – to see updates of what’s going on in class, view handouts and even check grades.
“It can be a communication for the school to get information out to everyone,” said Greg Camacho-Light, GHS assistant principal.
Or, he said, it can be used by certain groups to communicate only with specific people. This is because each user, from teachers to parents to students, receives an activation code.
Parents can pick theirs up from the office, or teachers will hand them out next week. This activation code only allows that person to see pages on Edline that he or she is allowed to see.
For example, parents can access a teacher’s messages directly to them, while students may not be allowed access.
Students will be able to tailor their accounts based on the classes in their schedules. Any type of file can be posted, so teachers will be able to give parents electronic access to anything they hand out in class. Student and parent groups can use Edline, too.
“If everyone’s utilizing it, it’s quite an ambitious attempt to get it going,” Camacho-Light said.
Teachers are currently being trained in how to utilize Edline, and will finish in November.
It will probably be a couple months before teachers begin posting grades, but the site can be used for other communication – for example, attendance rates – immediately.
“It becomes a viable tool for parents right off the bat,” Camacho-Light said.
The school is working on a way to post each day’s attendance records so that parents will quickly know whether or not their student was marked absent.
Camacho-Light said Edline is “the best tool” he’s seen for getting classroom information online and accessible.
Teachers will not have to build a Web site from scratch and there will be general guidelines for how frequently updates should be made, he said.
Details: visit www.edline.com.
