Online tools let parents peer into their kids' school day

Alana Semuels:

What's he eating for lunch? Is she showing up for class? What subjects are they weak in? Software is helping unravel the mystery.

It's tough sending little Bobby or Suzy back to school. Parents may worry what kinds of teachers their children will encounter, whether they'll be as smart as their classmates and whether bullies will steal their lunch money.

But technology is helping eliminate some of the guesswork about what happens after kids climb onto the bus. Increasingly common Web programs let parents track lunch-money spending, schoolwork habits and tardiness.

"There's this black box -- a child goes away and comes home, what happened during this time?" said Shelley Pasnik, director of the nonprofit Center for Children and Technology in New York. "Now, new information and communications technology allows for the mystery of what transpires on any given day to unravel."

The programs, from companies such as Pearson School Systems, Aries Technology Inc. and Horizon Software International, are gaining popularity as more parents demand transparency in schools, Pasnik said.

Successful use of these systems is a wonderful thing for parental involvement. That requires teacher AND parent participation.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 5, 2008 2:23 PM
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