“You’re always working to improve communication between school and home; it’s just so important,” said Merritt, a former fifth-grade teacher. “Anyone whose child has trouble getting their work turned in will probably love this.”
When students fail to turn in assignments by the due date, teachers list the work as “missing” in Progress Book. The new system would scour Progress Book for “missing” notes each night and send email alerts to those parents who sign up.
The low-grade alert is only for students in grades six through 12, and parents customize it. Parents set a grade benchmark for each class their child is taking, and will receive an email alert when the student gets an assignment grade below that level. Merritt said some parents may want an alert when their child gets an F, while others may want an alert about a grade of C or worse. Those alerts go out once per week.
Some parents said not all teachers update Progress Book frequently enough to make the missing assignment feature valuable. But others said the system is a crucial tool to helping students succeed.
Sandra Hay, whose daughter attends Kettering Middle School, called Progress Book “the best thing Kettering schools have ever done.”
“I was on Progress Book yesterday, and it said my daughter’s language arts grade was a C because she had two missing assignments,” Hay said. “I asked her, and she said, ‘Mom, I just turned those in today.’ ... Day by day, I can see the grades. I don’t have to wait four weeks or nine weeks.”
To access Progress Book for Kettering City Schools, go to www.ketteringschools.org and click the Progress Book link on the left side.
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