Back in December, our school district was looking for an elementary school to pilot online report cards. We have Infinite Campus as a student information system district wide and our secondary schools have been using the report card feature for a year or so since we started using Infinite Campus. The secretary and I were pushing very hard for our school to be the school to pilot the elementary report cards online. We knew we could pull it off because she's the best secretary in the district dealing with Infinite Campus and I have had great results helping my staff with new technologies. They are very willing to go ahead with new projects and we were willing to put forth the effort. Well, we weren't chosen. One of the reasons is because one of the tech leaders in the district is, well, I won't say anything. Another elementary school was chosen and we knew it wouldn't work as well as if we did it. The librarian who was involved is not very confident as far as technology goes - she's awesome with books, but not technology. She's also not a fast learner and for this new project, that skill is needed.
The project was not going very well and we knew it. There were complaints from the school piloting the report cards and all the secretary and I would say to each other was something like "We should have been doing this."
This past Monday, the secretary stops me after school as informs me that the Director of Instruction called from her office with other administrators in the room to ask if our "offer" was still on the table. That's right, they've finally come to their senses and are going to have the best team (I know, it's bragging) on board with the project. We quickly ran the idea passed our staff and they didn't have a problem with it at all. It was confirmed today and we are in! It's going to be a lot of work, time consuming, and probably stressful, but we are very excited. I'll keep you posted on the project. Now, we can't wait to pull it off and sit back with a smile on our faces saying "We told you we could do it!"
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We use IC. I love the parent portal to grades feature. I hardly ever get phone calls or emails any more.
Lots of teachers stuggle with the technology and have dubbed the program "impotent campus". I also understand that our tech guys struggle with PC/Mac issues. I'll admit that using it isn't intuitive, but like I've said, it has made my life easier.
Regarding parent communications -- I think it helps that I mainatain a class website as well.