Grades hit the information age.

Byline: Bradford L. Miner

SPENCER - For parents of students at Knox Trail Junior High School, the wait for progress reports and report cards is over - as well as any uncertainty over how their children measure up academically.

Detailed information on a student's academic performance, from homework assignments to major exams, is a mouse click away.

At an initial training session Thursday night in the library media center at Knox Trail, Principal John P. Williams told 40 parents that PowerSchool, a pilot program, will give junior high school students and their parents online access to academic and attendance records.

Attendance at a training session, which lasts about a half-hour, is required. There is already a waiting list for the next training session, to be held Feb. 7 at the junior high school. Additional training sessions will be held this month and next, as needed. Parents should call Knox Trail at (508) 885-8550 to sign up for the training.

Parents who already have access to PowerSchool but have technical support questions should call the academic services and technology office at (508) 885-8558.

Responding to fears expressed by some parents, Mr. Williams and David R. McNeaney, lead technology teacher for the Spencer-East Brookfield School District, explained that no telephone numbers, photographs, addresses or other personal information would be accessible.

"And no, students will not be able to hack into the program and change their grades," quipped the principal.

To participate, parents must sign a confidentiality agreement to receive a user name and password. Parents with more than one child at the school will receive access codes for each student.

"In all likelihood this user name and password will stay with the student until they graduate," Mr. McNeaney said. After the meeting, he said that if the program is successful, it more than likely would be extended to David Prouty High School.

"It is our expectation that parents of eighth-graders at Knox Trail will have access to their son or daughter's academic records as freshmen next year at David Prouty," he said.

He said the intent is to give parents as much information as possible about their children's academic progress, fostering dialogue at home between students and parents, as well as providing an avenue for parents to ask questions of...