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Technology that Keeps Pace

Lexington County School District One

(Richmond, VA)— A school district Web site and individual teacher Web pages were fine, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the communications needs in Lexington County School District One. After almost four years of school administrators, teachers, students and parents utilizing the same Internet tools there was a call for dynamic solutions that offer grades, test scores, attendance records and report card information online. The district recognized the importance of teacher involvement and how improved technology might increase parent participation.

Research demonstrates that when parents are given an avenue for involvement, students show improved grades, test scores, attitude towards school work, self-esteem and homework completion. Other benefits include higher attendance rates, lower dropout rates in high schools and fewer suspensions [Patrikakou, E., Weissberg, R., Redding, S., Walberg, H.; School-Family Partnerships for Children’s Success; (pg.24); New York, Teachers College Press].

To achieve such improvements, Lexington One needed a partner. Edline offered the creativity and flexibility the district wanted. The world’s leading web-based solution for K-12 schools, Edline helps students succeed through parental involvement. This system provides more than just progress reports; it’s an opportunity for parents to teach children how to manage priorities and juggle complex schedules. It provides a 360-degree view that includes upcoming quizzes, homework, sports practice, and field trips. After reviewing Lexington One’s needs, Edline worked with school staff to create a unique Web-tool that fit their requirements. Powered by Edline, the new portal is named Lex-Connect.

“We came across Edline at a national school board conference in Denver and they were saying all the right things—then we found out they actually could deliver everything they said,” remarked Patrick Hanks, Director of Instructional Technology.

The rollout for all the schools was a great undertaking. After a pilot launch at an elementary school, middle school and high school, Lexington One released Edline to another 20 schools at once.

To help with implementation, Lexington One developed an Edline team and devoted a full time specialist that would help encourage teachers to integrate technology into the classroom. Now teachers have four to eight Edline pages depending on the number of classes. Before users could only view one page per teacher, whether they were in all the classes or not. The schools even hosted technology nights and Edline nights to showcase the new features to parents.

“I like it because it lets me know different things that I might not know otherwise, like announcements, things that the kids should hear that they may not,” said Tammy Mallard, parent. “It gives you a connection to know what’s going on at the school.”

Echoing that statement, Hanks explained that “when the student becomes more independent, information doesn’t always get into the parents hands—that’s why Edline is so important to us.” The schools began to hear from the parents that information didn’t need to be sent home, they had already gotten the news off the Web. And, teachers commented that they liked going paperless with their assignments, using Edline to post new homework.

To measure Edline’s success, the district regularly does school surveys that analyze administration and parent response to the system. Responses show that parents feel well-informed and feel Lex-Connect has improved school-family communication. The surveys also indicate that students with high achievement also have high Lex-Connect usage rates.

“Our data supports the research that it’s important to get parents involved,” Hanks added. “That’s why Edline is so important to us.”