No access to grades other than mid-term and final. I think that’s the way it should be. Time to cut the apron strings.
Same here @Golfgr8 — no access to grades until mid-tri grades come out. I believe students, advisors, and tutors have access as soon as teachers post grades. I agree with @doschicos. We never had real-time access in the lower grades (like I believe some public schools do), and I think it would make me crazy. I just tell DS, “Please no surprises.”
Yep @CTMom21 - so many middle schools and lower schools have daily or weekly online updates for grades that I believe it is difficult for new parents to “cut those apron strings” when starting BS. It’s part of the learning matrix. It’s a good thing there are no daily or weekly updates - kiddo would claim I was a “stalker”!!?
Our public schools have that “real time” parent portal thing, even for high school. You know every single assignment when it is issued (down to the specific math problems), and then the grade when it comes back. I haven’t seen the high school version, but the middle school version even graphed the fluctuation in grade over the year. Down to two decimal points. The kids obsess over it, and my guess is parents do, too.
The Cate parent portal clearly has the ability to track that info, but it is turned off. It surprised me, because I was conditioned to believe that kind of access is expected. I am so glad they impose that separateness. I will take the detailed midterm evaluations over the daily grade graphs any day. And I definitely prefer the teachers spending time teaching rather than doing data entry – the public school teachers must hate that part of their job.
That said, I would like to occasionally read an essay or see a video of a presentation just to know what he is working on – I would get to know that if he were home just by osmosis – but that is for kiddo to share, not the school.
My kid has had to post some oral/visual presentations to YouTube, but I only hear of these things way after the fact and have never seen one. Occasionally he will mentioned something big that he’s worked on, or we’ll see something in the classroom during conferences, but, yeah, I have virtually no insight into what he’s done at BS. It makes you realize how independent they are when there’s never even a thought of getting a parent to proofread something or help st the last minute.
I met with CTKid2’s tutor at his day school (beginning of 9th grade) and I think she was delighted when I told her that I have gotten in the habit of being totally hands off and pay virtually no attention to school assignments. There we just get a brief weekly update from the tutor to identify any concerns, which is about as much as I need!
My kids weren’t a fan of the public school online grading portal in middle school because I frequently knew the grades on assignments, tests, and quizzes before they did. 
Not having access is actually much more relaxing as parent and helps create independence for the student.
There was a thread awhile back in the general section of CC about parents helping students edit papers (or more) in college. I was floored by how common that seems to be. I’ve already done my college stint. I’m certainly not going to repeat it with my kids. Nor did they need my help after 4 years of BS.
Wait, what? Editing COLLEGE papers? I can see maybe proof reading high school papers, if asked. And if I were asked to look over college applications, I wouldn’t say no. But parents work on their college kids’ papers? Wow.
That’s like way beyond snow plowing or helicoptering. What is that?
Yeah, I was surprised at how many posters didn’t seem to have an issue with it.
Here’s the thread if anyone is curious:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1984948-parents-editing-college-students-papers-p1.html
That’s ludicrous. I sort of remember reading that thread before. My kid can use all the help he can get on writing mechanics and stuff, but I think the last thing I read that he wrote was his BS application essays. I will take independence and using the resources available to him over the higher grades that may result from parental help every day of the week. That just blows my mind.
No access to BS grades until Quarter ends. For my youngest, there is access updated for every assignment but I’m happy to say I haven’t checked it since last Fall. This is my kid who worries about grades so I really only look at the report card.
Kids have always put cell phones in a basket when doing homework and they were turned off. Had a lapse in middle school with “group” projects. But kids realize phones and texting are huge distractions. They don’t have time for social media given all their activities. With sports, ecs and school they need time to sleep. They’ve said tons of kids are online all the time.
I thought my kid had the homework under control alas all the sudden they have a huge cluster of assignments (midterm grade reports are approaching which is likely part of the reason) and there is a lot of struggle to get it all done. But of course my child wants to be involved in everything which makes time really scarce, and adequate sleep is the first casualty. We get no read from school on the grades at all till the midterm reports come out right before parent weekend. Which will be rather interesting, as the average grades are definitely well below parental expectations and according to my kid a lot of friends are putting their heads in the sand and not saying anything so their parents have no idea and still expect all As. We have heard enough not to have any such expectations but still worry it may be worse than advertised. And teachers will have some 10 minutes in speed dating format to address it all.
Yes @417WHB - this is reality at many schools. FWIW, there are several boarding schools that give P/F marks for that first quarter or first midterm grades. At the same time, some teachers have not yet posted grades for assignments or tests at this point. Do have a list of questions ready for your kid’s teachers…meanwhile, your kiddo should be taking advantage of office hours and arranging to meet with the teacher if there are any concerns.
“Which will be rather interesting, as the average grades are definitely well below parental expectations”
Time to start resetting expectations.
Either that or bring in reinforcements of some sort? From sideline chatter this weekend I gathered some parents are on it already. Once the rest is clued in, all the bets are off.
What kind of reinforcements?
Some can be warranted but some aren’t, IMO.
I do think many parents, regardless, have to reset expectations if they are expecting their child to still be a straight A student. Some will be but the majority won’t be any longer. And that’s okay.
I do suggest factoring in life balance and minimizing stress into any game plan and remembering that a student doesn’t need to be a perfect student in the new school to be a “success”.
I’m surprised you could even hear the chatter over the sound of the whirling helicopter rotors. 
I may well be considered helicopter too as I have made it to all the Saturday games so far-
Oh, I went to ALL the games, too. Just bring cookies for the team and everyone will be happy to see you.
I definitely did not expect the homework to be a cakewalk but my daughter saw a good friend who’s at Andover this past weekend and they discussed homework a bunch. Man, Andover IS a cakewalk in comparison!
Some things I realized:
Taking the 6th class is a big deal. Shorter class time but teachers are trying to cram in the same amount of info which means they go faster in class and expect kids to just memorize huge mountains of stuff. There is little engagement with material and a lot of “memorize all this.” Biology is a great example of this. Things that I thought were easy because we took the time to really understand when I was in highschool are made hard because they are memorizing stuff without really understanding how it works or why. This creates a lot of work, it’s not reading speed and it’s not learning to not be a perfectionist. This is a disappointment in terms of learning methods and styles. It’s not what I expected from a school like this.
My kid just has a bad schedule. Our Andover friend has actual free blocks. Mine is lucky if she has a 25 minute free. Not really enough time to get to study hall and do work.
I realize I asked the question and people are well-meaning in their responses but to all the “she’s probably wasting time on her cell phone” comments. They take her cell phone during study hall at night and she can’t have it out during the day in study hall.
“Andover” and “cakewalk” are 2 words that I never expected to appear in the same sentence. 