Most schools offer parent portals so families can monitor their student's performance and attendance. Often they don't spend time working with families to understand what to look for and what to do if they have concerns. This session explores how schools can work with families to better use the parent portals available and build relationships that empower families to address any concerns that arise.

1. Beyond the Login
Logging In is not enough—What
parents need to know
Jenni Brasington, Scholastic
Sherri Wilson, Scholastic

2. Jenni Brasington
• Former PIRC Director
• BFF of Sherri Wilson
• Collects keys
• Operates on own time
• Loves decorating and
redecorating

3. Sherri Wilson
• Former PIRC Director
• BFF of Jenni Brasington
• Collects crowns
• Hates being late
• Loves MINI Coopers and
passport stamps

4. What kinds of
conversations should
families be having with
their children?
As an educator, what
do you want families to
do and what do they
need to know to do it?

5. Time to
LIVE IT!

6. 1.2 million students
between the ages
of 15 and 24
dropped out of high
school in 1 year
alone (US DOE)
Why Worry?

7. Why Worry?
75% of students
dropped out of high
school because they
lacked sufficient
parental support and
educational
encouragement (US
DOE study conducted
on 5,000 high school
dropouts).

8. What’s happening?
• Dallas Morning News (12-2012) article:
– 158,000 students in the Dallas school district
– Only 13% of parents have signed up for the parent
portal
– Few of the 223 schools have more than half of their
parents enrolled
– No schools track how often or how well parents
utilize the data
• Why is a tool with so much potential to engage parents in
their child’s learning so underused by both schools and
parents?

9. What Should
Parents Check?

10. What parents should know…
1. How often they should login
2. What to focus on after they login
3. How to know if there is a problem
4. Why the student is having a problem
5. How to talk with their child about the problem
6. How to help their child take responsibility for resolving the
problem
7. What to do if their child is not successful in resolving the problem

11. How many times do students need to hear
something before they change their
behavior?
So what does this mean for how you
train parents?

12. Log In Page
• Can they log in?
• How often
should they log
in?
• What should
parents look at…
– Daily?
– Weekly?
– Monthly?

13. Homepage
• What should parents look at first?
– Attendance? Notice? Inbox? Grades?

14. Week in Review
• How can this page help parents?
• What should they look for?

15. Language Arts
What
information
this page
can help
parents?
If a score is
low, what
should
parents do?

16. Science
What information
on this page can
help parents?
If a score is low,
what should
parents do?

17. Social Studies
What information
on this page can
help parents?
If a score is low,
what should
parents do?

18. Attendance
What should parents look for
related to attendance?
– How many absences are
acceptable?
– How many tardies are
acceptable?
What should the
parent do when they
see too many absences
or tardies?

19. Student Work
• Should parents check for missing homework?
Low-scoring homework? Quiz and test grades?
• What do they do if homework is low or
missing?
• Who should contact the teacher (parent,
student)? What should they say?
• What is desired for quizzes and tests?
• What do they do if quizzes and tests are low
grades?
• Who should contact the teacher (parent,
student)? What should they say ?
• Are there inconsistencies in the data? (For
example…Good homework and class grades
and poor test grades? )

20. Attendance Tracking Tool
Attendance Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Total Absences
Unexcused Absences
Total Tardies
Unexcused Tardies
↗ Parents could sit down with their child each week and record
the following information. If they find a problem they could
make a plan to address tardies or absences.

21. Grades Tracking Tool
Grades Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Missing Homework
Late Homework
Class work <C
Quizzes <C
Tests <C
↗ Parents could sit down with their child each week and record
the following information. If they find a problem they could
make a plan to address missing or late homework or low
performance on test and quizzes.

22. What we need to know from staff
• How many absences/tardies are acceptable?
• If homework is missing or incomplete, what
do they want parents to do? Can students
make this up for credit?
• If quiz or test grades are low, what do
teachers want parents to do?

23. Implementation Plan
• What is your take-away from today’s training?
• How will you utilize the information from
today’s training in your current practice
• What are you immediate next steps? Future
Steps?
• Who do you need assistance from to
implement?
• Timeframe?

25. Jenni Brasington, Scholastic
jennibrasington@gmail.com
Sherri Wilson, Scholastic
isherriwilson@gmail.com