I have come to believe that parental involvement with regard to a child’s progress in school is extremely important. I’ve noticed, however, that parents fall at both extremes in terms of being involved with their child’s progress. There are some parents who are constantly aware of what their child is learning and then there are others who do not seem to have any involvement in their child’s school work. I have been dealing with both these types of parents and I will tell you that it can be frustrating at times.
The school in which I am doing my student teaching has an online grading system called PowerSchool . Parents have access to this program at all times. Every time I input a grade in for particular students I receive a stream of e-mails from parents questioning me as to why their child received that specific grade. Recently, I had a parent who sent a lengthy e-mail which included the statement, “My child is not a ‘C’ student” and strongly suggested that I change the daughter’s grade.
I also have had parents who do not want any involvement in helping their child improve their grades. My cooperating teacher and I have called a few parents of students who are getting D’s or F’s as a way of trying to help that student. Some of these parents did not care and made it clear to us that it was our job to teach their child, not theirs.
Most parents do not make an issue. It is just the parents who fall at either end of the spectrum that can make life difficult. It seems that with online programs such as PowerSchool, parents are expected to be constantly vigilant as to what their child is doing in school. This is beneficial because it allows for parental/teacher/student cooperation. However, I feel as if it should be used in moderation. How does everyone feel about parental involvement at their schools? Is it important at the school you are in? Do the parents in your school have daily access to their child’s grades? Do you find that to be helpful? Do you have any similar issues with parents? Would you prefer that schools did not use programs that gave parents daily access to grades?
At my school we dont have much parental involvement. We use genesis as our grading site and rarely if ever get feedback from parents. The only feed back I get comes from the student if a grade is posted incorrectly. I understand how parents that are too involve can be annoying but speaking from a school that gets close to no feedback from parents I can say this extreme is also sad. My students dont get much support from parents and phone calls home dont help very much.
ReplyDeleteWe also use Power School and I think it is a great idea. When I lived in a building I would see the across me kid always running back from school at the end of each market period to get the report grade before his mom gets back home. Most people are now connected and can easily see the grading. I never had so far parents writing about grades, but I can see how this program can arise such problems. On Monday i post the students homework on my teachers web so parents can also see what their kids are responsible for and when they will have a quiz or a test, so if they have few zeros they can't complain much to the teacher for incomplete work and lower grade.
ReplyDeleteMy school uses Power School as well. It is a great program. The students and parents both have access to their grades at any given moment. However, the unfortunate issue at my school is that 80% of my students' parents do not get involved and actually seem as if they do not care at all. My cooperating teacher, as well as my team of teachers, constantly call parents every other day relaying the message of failing students. This is frustrating to me. I wish I had more involved parents who cared if their child was doing poorly.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to what you are going through. At my school we use something called “homework hero”. It is a similar system where parents and students can view homework assignments, upcoming tests, projects, and grades posted by the teacher. I think this is beneficial to both students and parents because those parents who care about their child’s progress can view how they’re doing. I’ve also dealt with parents who complained about their child’s grades. At the school where I’m teaching, only the honors students are allowed to take a foreign language, so these are generally A/B students who are very concerned about their grades. However, learning a foreign language isn’t always easy, and there’s a few students who aren’t doing as well as they want to be doing. A few parents have complained, but in those cases I explained why and how they got the grade. I find that when completing projects or larger assignments it is always good to create a rubric, this way you can send the parent the rubric so that they can understand why their child received the grade. No matter what we do though, I feel there’s always going to be parents that complain. This system is helpful in keeping everything organized and accessible FOR CONCERNED PARENTS.
ReplyDeleteAt my school we use genesis. As of right now they are trying to set up the portal in which parents can check their kids grades online. The only problem is for this to be set up all the parents need to sign a consent form and give an email address and a lot of the parents haven't done this yet. I have parents that are opposite ends of the spectrum as well. Majority of my kids parents could care less and that's why I would think genesis may help because maybe if they actually see first hand how their kids are doing it might change something in them and want to help. But also I see parents that want to know how their kids are doing in school. Its hard I don't think you can ever win in these situations, you just have to do your best with what you have.
ReplyDeleteI see this issue every single day. My school uses a similar program, yet the teachers are still required to contact the parents in order to inform them of their child's grades. This, to me, is frustrating as a teacher. I feel this way because the technology and opportuntities are there for the parents, yet teachers are still required to add more to their workload by contacting them anyway. Parents are definitely involved at my school and they are constantly emailing my cooperating teacher several times a day. What I don't understand, is why the students themselves can't address these issues with the teacher? I'm not sure if it's this generation or just the way the youth is being raised, but it seems the students are becoming less and less independent. They need to be told whhat to do, when to do it, etc. I believe the parents are just making it worse by being too involved. However, these sites seem like a great way for parents to monitor their child's grades. Unfortunately, they seem to be taking advantage of it by nitpicking every single grade the teacher inputs. Also, I don't think it's fair that administration and parents complain the teachers are not keeping them informed when they have complete access to the website. To me, it seems counter-productive at times.
ReplyDeleteMy school also uses Power School and I think it is a great program. As of yet I have had no feed back from any of my students' parents. I believe my students would benefit if their parents were more proactive. However, the SES of my district sometimes does not allow for parents to be as proactive as they would like. A lot of the parents work 2-3 jobs and simply do not have the time to stalk their child's progress in school. Often parents find out their child's grade only when the teacher calls home.
ReplyDeleteThe district that I teach in does not have many helicopter parents. The vast majority of my students are first generation and many of their parents do not read or speak English, therefore making it difficult to even call home.
All in all any extreme is bad, but at least you can communicate with your students' parents
My school does not offer an online grading system, but my cooperating teacher is very tech savvy so she set up an Engrade online grade book that all the parents can access. The kids love it because they can check their grades as soon as we input them. At my school some of the parents use it, but we get very few emails or requests for meetings. Some of the parents are checking the grades but not bothering us about it which is really great.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent myself, I have access to my children's grades through Genesis. It's nice to be able to verify that they are doing well. Although I confess that I rarely check the grades - usually only if I think my child is struggling. If I see a grade that seems wrong, I tell my kids they need to talk to the teacher first and if that doesn't go well then I will send an email. So far, I haven't sent any emails this year. :)
As much as we would like to tell all these parents how we think this should be done, we really can't. Until you've been there yourself, handle the helicopter parents as gently as possible. Some of them are dealing with kids who really can't speak up for themselves yet. Hopefully they will be able to back off as these children mature. Some of them are parenting kids with serious issues and they're just doing the best that they can...
I see a great deal of potential for a grading system such as PowerSchool. What appears to becoming a problem with these, especially in my school, is the reaction some parents have to this direct way of receiving grades. No matter what you do as a teacher, there will always be criticism from parents and at the same time there will be parents who are sadly unconcerned. Luckily, I feel that a majority of parents fall into a sane and "normal" category somewhere between those who are aggressive and defensive and those who don't seem to care. My advice to you is that you document everything! Print emails, write down calls or left messages and save all letters from parents. Also try to give a heads up to the students before the grades are posted by requiring students to have their tests signed. The only thing I see difficult with this is that it works great for my seventh graders but on a high school level it could be problematic to regulate.
ReplyDeleteI find grading systems such as PowerSchool very helpful for both teachers and parents. At my high school we use a system very similar to yours called Genesis where the parents can monitor their students grades as I imput them. To be honest, I have not had a lot of problems with parents asking about their students grades. The only time I receive an email from a parent is if their curious about their students behavior in class and to let them know what tests, essays, and projects are coming up so that the parent can ensure their student gets the work done well and on time. I don't know if the lack of parent emails means my parents don't care or if they're well aware of their child's potential and the grade reflects that. As for you Aricel, I would document everything each time you speak to a parent and perhaps sit down and speak with the student in order to figure out how to help this student improve his grade. Unfortunately, you're always going to get the parents who believe their child is perfect and you, as the teacher, are making the mistake. In that case, don't let it get you down, just take a more proactive stance and work closely with the student, then when you send the parent an email that their child is showing improvement they may be more inclined to back off and not attack you via email as often.
ReplyDeleteI see this at my school as well. We have an online grading system that parents can always see, and as great as this is for the parents who want to stay ontop of the student doing work, it is also one of the reasons parents send emails and question the grade that has been posted. I have found that some parents will email my cooperating teacher and I before even asking the student. Therefore, I have also found that you have the parents who are helecoptor parents and question every grade you put into the system, and then there are parents who do not look at them until the end of the semester. I had one parent email us because the student did not do his homework and she was afraid it would drop him below high honor roll and wanted us to change his grade so he could get a high A again before even asking the student what happened.
ReplyDeleteIn our district the grades are also posted online and parents are able to monitor student progress at any point in the school year. All assignments are posted online through Blackboard for all core subjects including homework and units covered. The parental involvement does not stop here though there are parent teacher conferences during lunch periods on a regular basis which is typical in this district. Students are not present for these meetings but it is my first time with conferences during prep periods rather than after school. Parent emails consistently are received by the teacher which often overwhelms and distracts from teaching and the demands of the classroom. I think that management of such frequency of parental involvement is essential is keeping a healthy balance of what is general concern and what is over-saturation of topics or parental involvement.
ReplyDeleteThe parents of the students in my school have access to their child's grades. The students also have the same ability to log in and view their academic progress. As a student teacher, I think its a great idea to grant access to parents who are interested in how their child is doing. However, I find that only a handful of parents have actually accessed the site. I have no problem with parents being able to access grades. I love to hear that they are taking an interest in their child's progress. Although few access the site, the ones that do will call to schedule a meeting with the teacher if their child is doing poorly but that rarely happens. The parents of the students' in my school do not take a strong interest in their children, which is a bit disappointing.
ReplyDeleteStudents and parents at my school are only able to access grades online during progress report times an report card times. I'm teaching seniors and haven't had to deal with any helicopter parents (luckily). At a faculty meeting, our principal made an important point about online grade reporting. With students and parents having access to grades and assignments online, it is important for teachers of similar classes (for example, all 12 Honors teachers) to discuss the number of assignments in each category (test, quizzes, homework, classwork) and to consider having a similar number of assignments in each category to ensure that similar classes have similar workloads.
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