Federal Way schools call homes with grade report

Published 9:56 am Monday, April 12, 2010

FEDERAL WAY — Federal Way students who receive a grade of C minus or below have recently started getting phone calls at home that they don’t want to hear — and some might even try to block their parents from hearing it.

The recorded message goes like this: “Greetings, this is (school name), calling to notify you that your student (first name) is currently not meeting standards, or is in danger of falling below standard, in one or more classes.”

The message then advises parents to check their child’s grades online or to contact their school.

The automated calls for slipping grades started March 16 for all five high schools and seven middle schools in Federal Way Public Schools. Before that, the district began sending the messages in October at Federal Way High School and Kilo Middle School as a test project.

The goal is to notify parents so they can intervene more quickly, find out why their child is struggling, and help him or her find a solution, Federal Way school spokeswoman Diane Turner said.

“We find that parents are, in fact, checking those grades online,” Turner said. The district is reaching more parents earlier about poor grades, she said.

Turner acknowledged some students might try to stop the messages from reaching their parents by deleting them from their home phone.

“We’re going to assume some kids may be doing that,” Turner said.

Pressing the erase button on the home answering machine might not be enough to block the bad news.

The message is sent to the designated contact phone number for the parents — and for many moms and dads, that’s a cell phone.

The calls go out about every two weeks to any student with a C minus or below at that point in any class.

In the fall, the district will add the option of receiving the grade messages by text message or e-mail.

One official in the nearby Tacoma School District said Federal Way had found “a pretty imaginative way” of dealing with low grades.

Tacoma takes a different, opt-in approach for grade notices, said Pat Cummings, director of research and evaluation. Since last fall, he said, parents have been able to request that they get an e-mail and/or text message when their student’s grades fall above or below a level they set.

Parents also can look up grades and missing assignments online.

Tacoma uses its automated calling system for vacations and absences, but not for telling parents about slipping grades.

Federal Way Public Schools also uses its Blackboard Connect automated phone message system to notify parents about vacations, special school events, unexcused absences and emergency notices.

The Federal Way district reports 11,026 calls were made from Nov. 1 to Jan. 28 for poor grades. That was just for Federal Way High and Kilo students.

At Federal Way High School, the number of students passing their classes has increased since the calls started, Principal Lisa Griebel said.

More parents have requested meetings with their child’s teachers, she said.

“We have found this is increasing the parent-teacher communication,” she said. “We like it.”

The purpose of the calls is to help students do better, Griebel said. “It’s another tool in our communication tool kit.”

Grades also are mailed home every six weeks, Griebel said.

Pat Larson, principal of 650-student Kilo Middle School, said the phone calls are helping students, even though they didn’t like them in the beginning.

“It has generated the conversations that we want to have with parents about their student’s progress,” she said. “It doesn’t allow kids to get way behind and not have the opportunity to catch up.”

Information from: The News Tribune, www.thenewstribune.com