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Hernando Today

Portal To Progress

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: November 21, 2008

SPRING HILL - The days of hiding a ghastly grade in the bowels of the book bag and getting away with it are over in Hernando County.

A Web-based program called Parent Portal that allows parents to keep track of their child's grades and assignments is now available in all 21 of the district's schools after a launch last month.

"I know what their test scores are before they get home," says Heather Gray, whose son Kyler and daughter Tara attend J.D. Floyd K-8 School in Spring Hill.

Parent Portal started as a pilot program at Floyd last year and proved to be a powerful tool to keep parents informed about their child's progress, homework, extracurricular activities and events at their school, said Melissa Harts, director of technology and information services.

"It really closes that communication gap between teachers and parents," Harts said. "The information is there within the parent's grasp, at the parent's convenience."

Parents log on to edline.net to create and access their account. A home page for their child's school pops up, offering a menu of links to graded assignments and test scores. Teachers can even attach the assignment itself for students who miss a day of school.

The program keeps track of a student's extracurricular activities and updates a calendar with information on, say, basketball practice or theater rehearsal.

The portal also features school news, a calendar of events and messages from the administrators. There are links to education aids such as FCAT Explorer, among other features.

Just as students can't hide grades or let assignments sneak up on them, parents have even less grounds to blame the school for not notifying them if their student is faltering, school officials said. Parents can come into parent-teacher conferences well-prepared without fears of being blindsided by troubling news.

"It increases everyone's accountability," Superintendent Wayne Alexander said.

The program costs the district $115,000 annually for licensing rights for all 21 schools. That includes a help line for parents and teachers who have questions or run into problems, Harts said.

So far, roughly 7,600 accounts have been activated out of a possible 22,295 in the district.

Participation rates vary widely by school. Chocachatti Elementary School has seen more than 75 percent of parents sign up.

Teachers are following up with parents who haven't registered yet, said Chocachatti Principal Maria Rybka, who uses the portal to check the progress of her own daughter, who attends the school.

The program means more work for the teacher, but the effort pays off come parent conference time, said Joe Clifford, Floyd's principal.

"I think (parents) have a better command of what we're trying to do and feel more confident when they come in for parent-teacher conferences," Clifford said.

The technology is one more step toward a paperless society. At Floyd, four-week reports are printed only for parents who ask for them.

Floyd offers access to computers for parents without one, something school officials said they expect will happen at other schools in the district.

Gray, the Floyd parent, logged on Thursday to check the account for Tara, a first-grader at the school, and saw more good news: Tara is acing her spelling tests. Gray also noted that a book report is due next week.

The portal can be a little too engaging, Gray admits.

"Don't laugh at me, but I'm usually on here every other day," she said, laughing.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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