Online Gradebook
While this post may be redundant for those teachers already using an online gradebook as a stand alone application/website or as part of a Student Information System (SIS), hopefully, for those teachers that do not use an online gradebook, it will provide some motivation into branching out and giving one a try. I’ve been using an online gradebook for about 5 years. The reason for switching to an online gradebook resulted from the fact that I found myself answering the same questions over and over to a multitude of parents, students, and academic counselors. The questions asked were centered on “what was this assignment,” “what does that score mean,” and “how did the score on the assignment have an effect the student’s grade?” After answering these questions on many emails and phone calls, I figured there had to be a better way to get this information out to the parents. The “better way” I found was to use an online gradebook that allowed parents, students, and academic counselors to view the individual scores that made up a student’s grade. I’ve know teachers that would post a .pdf file of their students’ grades and hide the students’ names by using their ID numbers or some other identifying mark. But this did not seem to protect the individual student’s academic privacy. So an online gradebook was the option I chose.
This past school year (2007-2008), the staff at my school has chosen to move to an online gradebook. In the first quarter of that school year we started with three teachers, myself and two others, as a demonstration of the online gradebook (I teach at a middle school that has quarterly grading periods). Starting the second quarter of that year, about a dozen more teachers signed up and started using the online gradebook; the next quarter we added a dozen or so more teachers. As of now, all but a couple on the teaching staff, all of the academic counselors, and the school administration are using the online gradebook. Also, two other junior highs in the district has started using the online gradebook, one of these schools has all but one of their academic teams using the online gradebook. The use of an online gradebook has gotten so much interest and support from parents that the district is coming up with the funds to pay for all of the teachers at all junior high schools in the district to use an online gradebook next school year, if they choose to. The best way of having any idea adopted is from the bottom up. Teachers decided to use this online gradebook based on the recommendations of other teachers. Teachers are the admins of the online gradebook at each school site. The move to an online gradebook was not mandated by administration, just supported, and now being funded next year for the entire district.
Since I, and the staff at my school, have been using an online gradebook we have noticed that the questions we now get are more focused on specific assignments and the scores that were given to those assignments. Once a parent received their student’s 5-week progress report, or requested a bi-weekly progress report, where the grades were not what was expected the parent’s first conversation was to a counselor or the teacher. This may seem the thing to do and is considered the norm at most schools. We now notice that the first conversations about grades are not between parents and teachers or parents and academic counselors. The conversations are now between parents and students with the teacher and/or counselor involved only if needed. I’ve also noticed that the staff does not claim ownership of the scores and grades as they used to. I’ve heard many teachers refer to the scores they give on assignments or tests as “my” scores or “my” grades. Since using an online gradebook the teachers have changed their language usage in describing grades and scores. The staff now uses “the students’ scores” instead of “my scores.” This change in ownership has given the students the ability to view grades as their responsibility and not the teachers’ arbitrarily assigning grades. The information given to students and parents about individual scores, individual comments about the scores, and how the final letter grades are calculated has given students and parents a new insight into the classroom. The transparency of students’ grades has opened positive and productive communication lines among teachers, students, and parents.
The online gradebook we use has a feature that sends a weekly email home to parents and students if they have any assignment in any class that has been marked as ‘missing’. An email is also generated when the student’s grade drops below a specified letter grade. I initially set this feature up so a grade below a “D” generated the email. Since this feature is editable by the parents’ account, I’ve seen many parents that have raised the grade to generate this email up to a “C” or even “B”.
With no statistical backup, the vast majority of teacher contact with parents about grades is typically negative in nature. An email to parents and students sent by the teacher through the online gradebook stating that grades have been updated is seen by parents as a positive contact from the teacher even if the grades are not what the parent has expected. Many parents have emailed me stating that receiving positive information is something new and well-liked. An online gradebook also gives the parents a chance to give positive reinforcement to their students.
We give our parents a survey at the end of each school year. Two years ago when asked if, “teachers inform parents of student progress on a regular basis” 76.6 % of parents responded with ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’. This was before the majority of the staff started using an online gradebook. This past year’s survey yielded 90.4% of the responses stating ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ to the same question. The increase of 17.8% is dramatic in my view. Since we now have more teachers using the online gradebook, this year I think the percentage of ‘agree’ or ’strongly agree’ will rise even higher.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Eddie,
I like the idea of more information as a way for both students and parents to be more INVOLVED in education. Was there any drawbacks to the system? What system dir you use for the online gradebook?
On an unrelated note:
1. Any chance you would be willing to send me a copy of your parent feedback form? We are just starting to build our first parent and student feedback forms.
2. Are you a member of any other Nings? I am a math teacher and tech coordinator, but your Ning looks limited to your school/district. If interested in collaborating, visit my blog and leave a comment (http://johnfaig.blogspot.com)
Thanks
JDF
April 29th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Thanks for the comment.
To answer your questions:
Was there any drawbacks to the system?
There are a few that teachers at our school have found. But, for the most part they are just things that they may have had in a previous gradebook. An example would be a way to reduce points given by using a percentage of the points given and not a percentage of the point the assignment is worth.
What system did you use for the online gradebook?
I didn’t want to give a plug to the website we use in the post. If you go to my school’s website, http://www.hartdistrict.org/placerita there is a link there to the online gradebook we use. I chose to go with this online gradebook because of the ease of use for the teachers, ease of setup on the admin side, and it had all the features I was looking for. This was the second online gradebook website I’ve used.
Any chance you would be willing to send me a copy of your parent feedback form?
There is a link on the lower right column of the home page of my school’s website (I’m the webmaster) that shows the questions and results for our parent survey.
Are you a member of any other Nings?
The Nings I’m a member of are not just for school or district. Granted they are mainly for California teachers. I’m a member of the CUE (Computer Using Educators) Ning, the CLMS/CLHS (CA League of Middle Schools/ CA League of High Schools) Ning, and just joined the MoodleMeet Ning. There are links to the first two (CUE and CLMS/CLHS) on my blog.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Our school has been using Snapgrades for a few years now. It has raised the level of concern that the students have for their grades and has given parents and students the tools they need to monitor them without having to constantly call or email the teachers. I like the convenience of being able to input student grades from home, as well as the email feature which allows me to send a quick reminder about due dates or upcoming tests to one or all of my students. The program is easy to use and I’ve heard nothing but positive comments about it from parents. One parent recently lamented that she was concerned that there might not be funding to continue the program. I assured her that our school would make its continuance a top priority because we see the value in this program. My son’s school has not adopted it, and I just have to rely on his communication to me about his grades. If his school used Snapgrades, I would feel so much more informed!
April 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Our team piloted Snapgrades at Rio Norte this year and we LOVE it! In addition to the comments above, it has reduced our amount of parent emails (and time spent responding) by about 90%. It’s wonderful even just for that reason.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I love the online grade program. The parent phone calls regarding grades have ceased. I now receive emails that are specific to missing assignments or future tests. Parents know at any moment how well their child is doing. No more frustration from me or from parents.
April 29th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I read what you wrote and I agree with it completely. For myself, as a resource teacher, Snapgrades gives me up to date information on how my caseload students are performing academically in their general education classes. Previously this information was only obtainable by asking the teachers to printout individual student reports for me. This entailed shifting additional responsibility to them, not all of them would always have working printers, the teachers would have to look up each class and then go student by student and then they would have to let me know that the reports were ready for pick up or they would deliver them to me. I then would make copies of these printouts, as many of my students would lose the reports when I sent them home for parent review and signature. Again, more paper and more ink cartridge use. I would repeat this request every two weeks, adding consistently to the general education teacher’s workload; not a comfortable or positive situation for all involved. I also like the option of the area to put in individual comments.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I was very hesitant about moving from IGPro to Snap Grades; as an English teacher I feared hassles about how long it took me to grade a set of essays and parent phone calls bothered about, “Why did he get a B- and not a B?” etc. Much to my surprise, I have experienced just the opposite. Parents can now hold their kids accountable for missing assignments; I can add comments next to an assignment telling both student and parent that an assignment was late or incomplete (thus explaining the low grade it received); I can post my homework (if I choose to) or upcoming projects for parents and students to see. The remarkable thing about SnapGrades is that parents’ attitudes toward my class have become very positive because finally parents feel involved in their child’s status in the class; this higher level of parent involvement is making a huge difference with many of my otherwise “disaffected” students.
I was also afraid that SnapGrades would be a “sea change” that would take a long time to grasp. Wrong! SnapGrades is much easier and more efficient than IGPro was, and required little setup (much less than IGPro). As far as SnapGrades goes, it probably made the biggest improvement in my teaching this year.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:53 am
As a school counselor, SnapGrades has become invaluable. Parents used to have to request bi-weekly progress reports, which was a lot of paper and time. Now parents can quickly access SnapGrades for up-to-date and detailed information about their children’s progress. Our parent phone calls are down and our student grades are up! If parents do not have access to a computer, teachers or counselors can print out the grades for students to take home. In parent conferences, we can access SnapGrades and see how often the parent has logged on. If not often, we can mention it right then and there. I absolutely recommend SnapGrades to any school and I know our parents are putting pressure on the high school to get SnapGrades. The only downside I can see is that it does cost money and our Awards Night was substantially longer because more students are getting straight A’s.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
As a counselor I have found the SnapGrades program to be an amazing tool. The program has enabled me to have up to date grade information at my fingertips when counseling with students and assisting parents. The feedback that I have received from parents is that they are no longer shocked when they receive their child’s progress report or report card, because with the SnapGrades program, they have the ability to monitor their student’s grades, test/quizzes, and assignments on a regular basis. With the SnapGrades program in place, students feel empowered, because at any given time, they can check their grades and know how they are doing in their classes. They can also see if they have any missing assignments that they need to make up. Some of the teachers that I have spoken to have mentioned that they especially like the built-in features that the SnapGrade program has to offer. One of the features is that they can set up the program to send an automatic email to parents notifying them that their child is missing assignments. They can also send parents an email to let them know of upcoming projects and exams. I would whole-heartedly recommend SnapGrades to any school who is considering implementing an online grade book program.
May 21st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
SnapGrades is an outstanding tool for student and parents. This online, easy-to-access program tracks student performance on homework and tests. As an administrator, it has opened a new dimension in checking students’ current progress on a day to day basis. With live updates, I can check a student’s academic progress every time he or she visits my office. With this terrific program administrators and counselors can encourage students to stay current on their daily assignments.