In a development that would have stricken terror in me in my elementary-school days, a Langley, BC school district is employing a new software platform that allows parents to monitor their children’s work – and grades – on a daily basis. Vancouver Sun author Tracy Sherlock writes:
Report cards are entering the social media age as new software called FreshGrade allows real-time sharing and reporting on student progress.
Tracy Cramer, a kindergarten teacher at Richard Bullpit elementary school in Langley, has been using FreshGrade since the beginning of this school year and says she loves it because it makes communicating with parents so easy and it makes doing her students’ report cards relatively painless.
“Teachers get anxious around this time because of report cards. But I have all my evidence there … so I just have to go in and add a few comments and my report cards are done,” Cramer said.
She says the program gives the kids — even in kindergarten — ownership of their work.
“They will do something that they’re so proud of and they will say to me, ‘Can you put this on my portfolio so mommy and daddy can see it?’” Cramer said. “I can do it instantaneously — I push ‘share’ and the parents get it right away. The communication with the parents is amazing — they understand because they can see it.”
