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Ready for online grading Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Steve Pierce, a seventh-grade social studies and video production teacher, gets a lesson Thursday with his colleagues on how to use new software at Hedrick Middle School. The program allows parents to track their children's grades and progress on the Internet. Link will give Hedrick parents quick access By DAMIAN MANN Parents soon will take a virtual peek into classrooms at Hedrick Middle School. A new Internet-based program will provide almost up-to-the-minute breakdowns of grades, homework, handouts and missing assignments. For most classes, parents will be able to find out why their child is getting bad grades, when homework is due and also keep in better contact with teachers. They will see announcements about coming events as well as an explanation as to how a teacher comes up with a particular grade. Hedrick's program is the first of its kind in the Medford district. "I am hopeful this program will increase parent accountability," said Cindy Heim, who has two children at Hedrick. Because parents can learn about their children online, she said, "I'm hopeful teachers find more time for other programs." Paula Wiley said the program will allow her to work more effectively with her eighth-grade daughter on developing goals, but it will also help with her son, who is entering sixth grade. "He stores his homework in his backpack but often forgets to turn it in," she said. By checking online, Wiley will know when assignments are due and make sure her son turns them in. Both parents think the program will be particularly useful for sixth-graders who are part of a volunteer program that puts them in middle school rather than elementary school. Heim said elementary school students have just one teacher, making it relatively easy to follow their progress. But middle school students have more teachers, making it a more complicated process that could become easier through this program. About 50 of Hedrick's 65 teachers have signed up for the pilot project, which will cost the school $1,700 for a three-year period. Science teacher Larry Vaughn, who was teaching teachers how to use the ThinkWave program Thursday, said he was able to get eight of his colleagues to try it last year. "It really cut down on the nuisance things with parents, who could now just look online," he said. He is hopeful it will also increase communication. "I had parents outraged at me saying, 'Why won't you tell me how my kid's doing,' " he said. If a parent doesn't have a computer, many libraries make them available. Hedrick also will allow parents to log on to one of its computers. Most teachers said they would update the records once a week, primarily on Friday, to allow parents a chance to review the Web site over the weekend. Vaughn said the only missing link is the inability to check on attendance. The district has a separate system that keeps track of attendance, and it is not available online. Vaughn said most of the teachers who decided not to participate in the project have elective classes such as band or chorus and grade more on participation than on tests. Computer teacher Chris Rich tried the program last year and said it's useful in goading kids into finishing their assignments. He posts grades and homework on the Web site at 3:30 p.m. every Friday and makes a point of announcing it during class. "I had kids running into my room at 3:25 saying, 'Here's my paper.' " Rich believes about 80 percent of parents of kids in his classes used the Web site. Science teacher Jim Colloran found the computer program somewhat intimidating. "Ask me how I feel in about three weeks." But Colloran admits to being something of a technophobe. "I was dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century, but I'm still a millennium behind." To access ThinkWave, parents will log on to www.thinkwave.com. They will need to obtain both a password and a number to identify their child. Students' names won't be listed on the site. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.