Online programs help parents monitor students’ progress

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.

Before granting an extra hour's grace on the weekend curfew, Ed Breen can log on to Silverado High School's Web site and find out what his son's teachers have to say.

A glance at Edline - one of the online programs being used about district's schools - allows parents to check everything from daily attendance to quiz scores to homework assignments.

"If he's slipping, I can address it right then and not have to wait for the report card," Breen says.

Edline is being used at about two dozen Clark County secondary schools, while another program, Edulink, is in place at 57 campuses.

Similar programs are becoming more common at schools nationwide, but Clark County appears to be ahead of the curve. Silverado was the first Clark County school to test the program four years ago.

Aaron Breen, a senior at the Henderson campus, said he is working harder all around, partly because of Edline.

"It's a little annoying when they (parents) can find out about stuff right away," Aaron said.

But when asked whether that might not be such a bad thing in the long run, Aaron concurred.

"Definitely - that's why I've gotten such good grades this year," he said.

In the 24-hour world of the Las Vegas Valley, where many families have two working parents, open houses and teacher conferences can be difficult to work into the schedule.

While programs such as Edline and Edulink can help with that, Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Clark County School District, stresses that online programs, while beneficial, are no substitute for direct parental involvement.

"It's an outstanding tool, but it's just that, a tool," Kohut-Rost said. "I don't want to lose the face-to-face contact between parents and teachers. There's still going to be a need for human interaction - to further explain, to ask questions."

For Michelle St. Clair, Edline has eased her son's transition from elementary school to sixth grade at Schofield Middle School.

Her son, Tucker, has gone from having one classroom teacher to having six different teachers for individual subjects. That has required her son to be more organized and keep better track of his work, and Edline helps, St. Clair said.

Her daughter, Hannah, a freshman at Silverado, said most of her classmates' families use Edline regularly. But some students don't have home computers or live with older relatives who are resistant, Hannah said.

"They're reluctant to go into the computer age," Hannah said.

While the school offers an orientation for new parents to familiarize them with Edline, the school perhaps should provide a basic computer skills class as well, St. Clair said.

Currently, principals who opt for the online program must pay for it out of their individual campus budgets.

Phil Brody, assistant superintendent of technology and information services for the district, said he would like to see all of Clark County's schools use the same parent communication system. He's planning to put out a bid for vendors and expects both Edline and Edulink to submit proposals.

"It can be expensive to do school by school," Brody said. "If we had one contract, I imagine we would see a substantial savings."

Silverado Principal Kim Grytdahl said his school is the district's "showboat" when it comes to Edline, offering more online information to parents than campuses still learning the ins and outs of the system. But that breadth and depth comes at a cost, Grytdahl said.

"We've actually taken a math teacher out of the classroom two periods a day to be our Edline strategist," Grytdahl said. "To pull a teacher out of a high-needs area like math, it's kind of tough to justify."

If the district moves ahead with plans to purchase an online system for all schools, the cost of providing campus technical support should be factored in to the cost, Grytdahl said.

Mary Ella Holloway, president of the Clark County Education Association, said the teachers' union is all for better communication with parents. But programs such as Edline can mean teachers must keep two sets of record books - one in print and one online.

"Some of our high school teachers have 200 children - that's a great deal of inputting," Holloway said.

While the original intent of the online program was to allow parents to track their children's academic careers, it has also allowed one mother to keep her eye on someone else's job performance.

"Mostly, I keep track of the teachers," said Korby Miller, whose daughter attends Silverado.

Miller has found several instances where the teacher has typed in the wrong score on a test or quiz, negatively affecting her daughter's grade. The teachers fixed the errors promptly when notified, Miller said.

"My daughter's getting four A's and two B's, which would have been lesser grades if we didn't see the mistakes ," Miller said. "I don't blame the teachers. They've got a lot of kids to look after. They're only human."