I would have been absolute toast if my parents had access to the online grading & attendance system... but as a parent, it is such a wonderful tool.

[I think that "obsessively checking" might be a little strong, but if those danged teachers would just update grades more often & reliably, I wouldn't *have* to check so much!]

Originally Posted by master of none
We are close to high school, not there yet, and I'm interested to see just how easy those As are.
We're friends with the families of two out of three recent valedictorians and they definitely were not slackers. Some classes like Health, PE, Band just require a reliable heartbeat to get an A, but the Honors & AP courses are known to be tough, and not just in terms of volume.

Originally Posted by master of none
I just wish that colleges didn't care so much about those high averages so that students didn't feel the pressure to push for every point.
There's definitely been a shift, at least at the UC schools to which I applied. My GPA & SAT scores (far too dismal to share) wouldn't even get me on the front lawn were I applying today... not even close. So, really, the kids don't have much choice but to watch & protect their grades closely if they really want to go to college. (Think of the Tiger progeny they are up against for those slots!)

In addition to being constantly (ok, maybe obsessively) aware of the grades, the online system has brought to the surface blatant errors related to attendance and grading that would have been very difficult to ferret out back in the day. Assignments errantly marked "missing" are much easier to tackle immediately after a grade is posted, rather than trying to figure out the mysterious low grade on the report card weeks or months later. I've been amazed at the number of simple errors made by teachers that would have resulted in a big problem if not caught & corrected.


Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house. - Fran Lebowitz