Written By: Faryal Zubair, Editor-In-Chief
One of the reasons, besides the SSR oriented Fridays, that students dread advisory is report cards. Anticipation can be noticed on the faces of those who have been wondering about their grades for weeks. Did I get the A I worked so hard for? Did my B fall to a C since progress reports?
Such confusion isn’t as common this year. Students and their parents can check grades online using power school. All a student needs to do in order to log onto power school is know their full name and the last four digits of their social security number. Knowing one of these facts tends to be harder than the other.
Teachers add each assignment done in class to power school and update grades as well as attendance.
“I like power school. I feel like I can stay up to date with my grades and I don’t have to bother talking to teachers about my grades unless there is a mistake,” said junior K.J. Washington.
Washington said that he visits the website almost every other day.
“I visit it a few times a week to see how I’m doing in classes, not only is it beneficial for me but also for my parents to see how I’m doing,” said senior Suzi McLean. “I think it’s better than being sadly surprised at the end of the nine weeks.”
World history teacher Carol Coyner said that her students have become more aware of their grades.
“Students stay on top of grades, do their make-up work, and parents stay on top of their kid’s grades,” said Coyner.
Coyner, who initially didn’t have many expectations for Power School to become a hit, now said that she felt that the program facilitates communication between teachers, students, and parents.
What could be possible disadvantages to power school? Some students don’t exactly appreciate their grades being broadcasted to their parents. Others don’t like that teachers don’t update as frequently as they should. This shows a lack of consistency in grades that might have improved.
Secretary Sandy Hall said that she gets fewer questions from parents about attendance since Power School has come into the picture but she also has a concern about the new program.
Her only reservation about Power School is that students and parents get confused about tardies. Some teachers don’t regularly mark tardies and Power School doesn’t show the exact number of tardies a student might have. Thus, they get confused about whether they’ve hit that dreaded number of five and if they’ll be getting Friday Night School soon.
To visit the website go to, www.wpspowerschool.com.
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