Pinnacle, Online Grades, Skipping School and More

Ishkibble writes "The Matrin County School Board has a new way of post a student's grades online for a parent to check. Pinnacle is the name of the program, a simple java applet. Not only does Pinnacle log student's grades, but also attendance and conduct. The way grades are accessed are by inputting the first 6 digits of your social security number and the first 5 letters of your last name. With a logon system as simple as this, one has to question the security and privacy of the students. This has been making my life a living hell for the past 2 months, every night my parents go on and check to see if i have any homework and won't let me do anything till it's done"

Comments

Re:Wow

[cabraverde]

Yeah, it must be a real burden to have parents who care that you're doing well and bother to find out how you're doing. You'd be much better off with inattentive parents that didn't give a shit about you.

Good point. Even if your parents are getting obsessive over this, the problem lies between you and them. Not with the report system.

Won't Happen in My Town

[superid]

You'll never (in the reasonable future) see this in my town. Partly for budget reasons, partly for training, partly for lack of vision, but mostly just because the schools are trying to barely cope with just about everything else that goes wrong day to day.

We're wired *fairly* well, there seems to be at least 1 computer in every classroom, and several labs containing 10-20 full workstations. But from what I've seen (and I've gone to town level I.T. meetings) the "technical staff" (and make big emphatic air quotes around that) is marginal at best and struggles to keep ANYTHING running. I've been told not to piss her off because she makes about $25k/year and there is no way the town could find a replacement.

The other end of the equation is the end user teachers....I was at a parent teacher conference last night and inquired about the computer in the front of the room. I asked "is it online?", she replied "I don't know".

So there are two problems, 1) inadequate technical staff (they will not accept volunteers) and 2) inadequate end user (teacher) training....both of these can be overcome with lots of money and in Massachusetts, it is just not forthcoming.

SuperID

Re:Probably Good and Bad

[pmz]

For some more elaboration on the "day care for teens" position, here's an article [paulgraham.com] that you may find interesting.

The comparision between teachers and prison wardens in the article is a good one. It makes sense why school society is so perverse given the artificial and unbalanced constraints placed on it. But I think it isn't just students; rather, the problems are layered all they way up to the school boards and the parents themselves.