You can imagine some parents getting carried away with this.

Dave Huber reported at the College Fix.

Keeping on top of your kids’ grades online: boon or bane?

Another school year is right around the corner, and school districts and colleges across the country seek to improve communication between teachers/professors and parents/students.

A few days ago, one of my favorite edu-bloggers, Joanne Jacobs, linked to a two-year-old article in The Atlantic titled “I Will Not Check My Son’s Grades Onlien 5 Times a Day.”

At first thought, you might think having access to your kids’ grades via a point and click is one of the marvelous inventions in this Internet Age. And the vast majority of the time, it is.

But, alas, there’s always some … issues:

I like that parents can check grades and I encouraged them to do so. I feel that open communication between home and school is essential in educating children, and only sending midterm and final grades home makes grades seem like a big secret. With parent access on PowerSchool, there are no secrets. I am bothered, however, by parents who CONSTANTLY check … sometimes 5 or 6 times a day. These parents tend to be the ones who push their children the hardest and are the first to complain when grades aren’t entered on the DAY an assignment is due. As a language arts teacher with 60 papers to grade, I just can’t do that! I’m not sure parents realize the school can see how many times they access the portal. — Mindi Rench, mother of two and junior high literacy coach and education blogger

Indeed, if you’re a helicopter parent, improvements in grade reporting access will only serve to increase your “helicopterness.”

When my fellow educators and I first implemented online grading/access at our school, we thought it would be the panacea for teacher-parent communication.