POWERSCHOOL
Giving Students Power (School)BY ELIZA ROSS ON DECEMBER 19, 2013
With the rise of the technological age, the Pitt County School system has taken advantage of the PowerSchool app which allows students to see where they stand in each class at the click of a button.
“Teachers are all for things that give students the opportunity to have more freedom,” social studies teacher Kenny Kirkland said. The responsibility is placed in the hands of students now more than ever, because with this PowerSchool app, they can access their grades in each class whenever they would like. If students are wondering what their grades are, whether assignments have not been turned in, or how many absences they have, all they have to do is login to the app and scroll down to select the class. While many students do not have the app yet or do not have a smartphone where they can access it, the students that do have the app have only positive things to say about it. "It helps me keep up with my grades and lets me know whether I need to do better in classes," senior Tjana Pugh said. Where some students focus on their grades with the app, others look at the app often to check the record of their absences. “This is so convenient because I now can know how many absences I have without having to ask my teacher constantly,” senior Keiman Hall said. Parents are starting to learn about the app as well, which will cause them to be more on top of their children's school work by monitoring their grades more frequently without needing a progress report to do so. “As a parent who is an educator, I found this to be refreshing to be able to see things such as attendance, grades, announcements, etc. at the click or slide of a button,” administrator Uvonda Willis said. “This app has the potential to get a lot of parents involved even more in their child's educational experience.” However, some students chose not to inform their parents about this app. "I don't show this to my parents because the only thing that matters is the overall average, but it shows every grade and if my mom were to see a bad grade she would flip out," Pugh said. While students love being able to see all their up to date grades, some teachers find it a nuisance. Math teacher Lauren Shultz said that she does not like this new app because it is a huge disruption of her class when students are continually interrupting and asking her about grades and missing work they have seen through the app. On the other hand, there are also some teachers who love the app. "I think that the PowerSchool app is great,” English teacher Vanessa Iorizzo said. “I give progress reports out weekly and if the kids have the app they can look on their phone and it saves me the trouble of printing out progress reports." HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
|