Aragon uses School Loop, a well-known online learning management tool, to allow students to check their grades and homework daily. But students are not the only ones constantly checking their grades. For many students, School Loop sends daily emails to their parents, updating them on their students’ grades and homework.
Says freshman Jason Leung, “It gets a bit uncomfortable that my parents can check my grades at any time and that they’re updated about every day, but at least they don’t check it constantly.”
For Leung, the usefulness of School Loop outweighs any nuisances it may present. “It definitely keeps me on track with my classes. I usually check my School Loop a lot for grades and homework, and I keep it open when I do my homework,” he says.
Junior Amy Yu checks School Loop multiple times a day. Her situation with her parents and School Loop is different. “I get an email every day, and it’s definitely more convenient than annoying. My parents don’t get any emails on my homework, so they’ll just have to wait until the six-week grading period.”
When students sign up for School Loop, they have the option of whether or not to share their grades with their parents. “My parents checking School Loop definitely makes me feel pressured to do better in school. They don’t really freak out too much. When I do get a bad grade and it doesn’t improve after a few days, they go Super Saiyan [get very upset],” says freshman Nick Wen.
Aragon math teacher Cheri Dartnell has encountered many parents who are stressed about their children’s grades on School Loop. “I’ve got frightened parents over their child’s grades before,” she says. “It doesn’t happen much anymore. School Loop is as helpful as you make it. As a teacher, I try to update it as often as I can, so the parents will know what’s going on with their child’s grade. I’ve got the School Loop thing down to a science.”
Sophomore Cecily Bohannek and her parents benefit from grade updates. “If I do get a zero, hopefully I get that notification early. I actually think I’m harder on myself than my parents are on these things. By the time they’ve seen it, I’ve already started working on improving it,” says Bohannek.
Dartnell has had experience with School Loop as a mother and a teacher. “I’ve got two wonderful kids,” she says, “and one goes to middle school, so he uses School Loop. I like it, actually. I get daily emails on my son’s progress, so if he runs into trouble, we can fix the problem early. I think my son is fine with me seeing his grades every day since there’s not a lot of nagging or yelling on my part.”
Leung’s parents also communicate with him about his grades. “Even though I’m pretty up to date on my grades, sometimes my parents do get around to checking it. If my grades aren’t that great, they’ll pretty much sit down and have a conversation with me. But usually, my grades don’t fall that far behind,” says Leung.
