Students attending Oxford Middle School or High School – be afraid – be very, very afraid. . .
Beginning this Friday, Jan. 23, letters will be sent out to parents across the district describing exactly how they can access your grades online at Edline.net. Yes, that age old rite of passage of hiding those nasty report cards from your parental units is now a thing of the past.
Edline.net is a companion website that uses the teacher’s electronic grading programs to post student information online. By logging into Edline.net, parents will now be able to check their children’s grades, attendance and homework assignments. The website can even allow parents to receive e-mail alerts when new grades are posted, receive e-mails with school or class information and read notes from their children’s teachers.
“All we’re trying to do is increase the communication between the teacher and the parent,” said Technology Director Tim Throne. “We’re trying to fulfill a request made by parents for this kind of information in real time, and we think this will be the tool to do this with.”
Students can also use Edline.net to see their own grades, find links for class research projects and download documents to help with homework. Class assignments will also be posted.
“This is not going to be any more work for the teachers because we’ve been using GradeQuick for several years and this just pulls the information from that,” explained Throne. “It’s just now that we’re able to post this in real time online.”
Edline.net is a completely secure site that uses encryption, Secure Socket Layer, firewall technology and secure hosting facilities. Parents and students will have individual log-in codes and every user’s ID with be authenticated so that only the information relating to that child will be displayed.
However, Throne warns that as with all confidential information, some care must be taken on the part of the user. For example, parents and students should make certain to always log out of the system, especially when using a public computer. He compared remaining logged-on to the system at a public computer to leaving your child’s report card laying on a desk at the library.
“It’s a secure system, you can only see your student’s information,” Throne explained. “At the same time, you need to be careful with it just like you are with any other personal information on the Internet like your social security number or a credit card number.”
Edline.net can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection.
Parents will be receiving letters about the new website over the next week.
Each letter will contain the necessary information to activate the individual accounts, as well as contact information in case there are difficulties.
As always, the district will continue to send printed report cards and progress reports. Parents are also encouraged to contact teachers with any concerns or questions throughout the school year.