There’s an excellent article in last week’s New York Times on the downside of checking kids’ grades constantly through an electronic portal for parents. Here are a couple of excerpts:

The reality, at least in high-pressure school districts, is that some parents interpret the school’s invitation to constantly monitor grades and scores on the portal not as an option, but as an obligation. This obligation adds to the mounting anxiety students and parents feel in these districts.

In areas with high levels of student stress…, school officials who are seeking to dial back the focus on grades and scores might consider establishing restrictions on portal use. Many schools enforce parental restraint by limiting access to the portal to once or twice a term, usually at the midterm or just before final grades are due. Other schools open the portal only once a week on an appointed day so parents can check in, but can’t obsess over the minute details of daily grades and scores.

Cautionary tale: last September one of my students got a 2 out of 4 on the first homework assignment because it was a day late — not a very big deal — and then I immediately got a panicked email from a parent asking why their kid was failing Honors Geometry (50% average, after all). This is not healthy.

(Thank you, Erica Cole, for posting the link to the Times article!)

Categories: Teaching & Learning, Weston