Dist. 59 can check grades, assignments online

There's now little room to fudge about so-so grades and next-day quizzes for students in Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59.

District staff worked this summer to standardize technology at all elementary schools, including implementing software that allows parents and guardians to check students' grades and assignments online, Cathy Savage, District 59's director of information systems and services, said Monday.

Parents were mailed instructions about how to log into the Skyward system. Each parent is assigned a login ID and password, and the "Skyward Family Accesss" web link can be found on each of the district's schools' home pages.

The program allows teachers to enter grades online, which will save the time spent shuffling report cards back and forth between teachers, Savage said. The report cards can be viewed and printed in English or Spanish.

As well, all District 59 teachers now have their own laptops, said Randy Haack, instruction department coordinator.

In order to maximize use of the new laptops, cadres, or small groups, of teachers at each school - three teachers at elementary schools, four at junior highs - will be provided four full days of technology training by Apple Inc. Each cadre will then train fellow teachers at their respective schools, Haack said.

Altogether, the district spent about $1.5 million, budgeted for the 2009-10 fiscal year that ended June 30, for the technology, said Ruth Gloede, assistant superintendent for business services.

Installation of a new school video distribution system was also completed this summer at Grove Junior High and Forest View, Juliette Low and Ridge elementary schools, at a total of $438,000. The expense is budgeted for the 2010-11 fiscal year, Gloede said. Now all schools are equipped with the system.

"Our technology mission is of providing anywhere, anytime access, so to speak," she said.

All 7th and 8th graders in District 59 have their own laptops.

More than 50 percent of the districts' 6,250 or so students are from low-income families who often don't have computers at home, which makes school technology all the more crucial, Boswell said.

"If (students) have to go out and earn a living in the 21st century, they have got to have the technological skills," she said.