School grades online

Grades aren't the only information more and more schools are putting on the Web for parents. "Some teachers include pending assignments, written comments, class participation, and disciplinary actions as well," the Associated Press reports. "Many schools also let parents check whether their kids skipped first period, or whether they had chips or an apple for lunch." The holdup in putting all this information online, it seems, is how much parents are using it. There's a bit of a lag. "Many parents lack Internet access or computer skills," though some parents are pressuring schools to put their kids' performance on the Web. The AP cites figures from one company that sells student-info-management systems, Pearson Education, showing that "only a quarter of its 16,000 school districts buy the parental-access package."

Meanwhile, some students and parents want *everything* to be online - including classes and school itself. The US Department of Education says online public schools are experiencing "explosive growth," the New York Times reports, in a fascinating article about how one got started in a teeny town in Colorado. Parents, too, are engaged in online learning. Though the student in this article at Techlearning.com is a mom, her experience offers unusually good insights into what online classes are like - for parents considering online school for a child.