ProgressBook helps parents track student achievement

  • By Sharon Haught
  • January 11, 2010
  • 651
                        
With households where both parents work becoming increasingly common and children busier than ever with a whole host of extracurricular activities, it’s harder than ever for busy families to keep track of students’ academic progress during the school year. An innovative software program launched a number of years ago by the Wooster City School District called ProgressBook is making it a little easier for parents and students alike to keep a watchful eye on students’ grades. During their final meeting of 2009, members of the Wooster City School District Board of Education received an update from Bizzie Cors and Chad Leggett, technology resource teachers, on this important method by which the district’s faculty and its parents communicate electronically. According to Cors, the online grade book system is used by the district to report grades and to prepare grade cards. When a student enters the district as a kindergartner, the student is assigned a ProgressBook code, which follows the student throughout their academic career in the district. By logging into ProgressBook, which can be accessed from the district’s main Web site at www.woostercityschools.org, parents are able to track their child’s academic progress at any time, day or night, throughout the school year. Starting in fourth grade, students are also able to access the information. Depending on whether or how much a teacher utilizes the ProgressBook software, the program can provide students and parents alike with a whole host of information, from the student’s class schedule and attendance record to their overall grade for any given class, the components that make up that grade, and homework assignments. The information provided through ProgressBook can be a powerful tool in helping students strive for academic excellence and overcome areas of weakness. For example, Cors said, the detailed listing of the grades that comprise the overall average for a given class can provide parents with a snapshot of where a child’s strengths and weakness are - be it homework, tests or projects - which allows the student to concentrate on areas that need improvement. It also helps students become responsible learners. “It has helped with motivation and engagement and taking responsibility for their own learning,” said Cors. For example, the monthly planning calendar can help students plan ahead for longer term projects. And while some teachers post homework assignments on ProgressBook, not all of the assignments are normally posted “because keeping track of assignments in their agenda is part of the learning process,” said Cors. While teachers are not required to use ProgressBook, Cors noted that over the last three years, the district has seen an increase in teacher use. Students and parents are using it more as well. Leggett noted that in November alone the high school had 800 accounts log on the system. ProgressBook is particularly useful for the parents of middle school students. “It’s the nature of the beast with kids in junior high that communications between parent and child begin going in a different direction,” said Cors, noting that parents appreciate ProgressBook “because it is a way to stay in touch without badgering the child if they’re not willing to share as much.” The district plans to add another powerful tool in the ProgressBook toolbox when it activates a feature that will allow parents to receive automatic e-mail messages when a student fails to turn in an assignment or when a student’s grade on a given assignment or test falls below a threshold set by the parent. Cors noted that the date for activating the feature has not yet been established.


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