“Do you have any homework tonight?” asked the mother. Her son replied, “None today. The teacher said I had finished everything at school.” The mother has her doubts as this is the third day in a row there hasn’t been any homework. She could try to call her son on it but he will likely just deny it. It is already late, so the teacher won’t be available to ask. A parent’s options can seem quite limited in this commonly experienced situation. This is how the “no homework” dance has operated for many years.
However, technology has added a new step in the dance that is in the parents favor. All schools in Kentucky have adopted an Internet-based record keeping system called Infinite Campus. Infinite Campus allows parents to keep updated on their children’s academic progress. In many districts, teachers are required to put each student’s grades into Infinite Campus. This has the advantage of allowing parents to closely monitor their child’s academic progress. If questions do arise, Infinite Campus makes communication with teachers easier as it provides a way to direct communicate with the teacher and school.
One of the many goals of Infinite Campus is to provide better access to student records for parents and to get parents more involved in their children’s education. One way to do that is to have all school information located in one place. In addition to offering a child’s grades online, Infinite Campus has other tools which include a calendar of upcoming events and standardized test results. The standardized test results give parents the option of seeing how their child’s academic progress compares nationally as well as which skills he has mastered and which ones he is still working on.
As children get older, new concerns develop such as what classes adolescents are taking and whether they are skipping school. Infinite Campus gives parents access to their teenager’s class schedule and attendance.
Infinite Campus represents one more tool that parents can utilize to become more involved in their children and adolescents education. If you don’t have access to your child’s Infinite Campus account, call your school district and request access to the account. There is even an Infinite Campus app so you can access your child’s academic progress on your smartphone. Now the “no homework” dance will be done to a different tune.
This article was published in the Richmond Register Health Beat Magazine in April 2012.
