Parents

Why Use Parent Access?
For a summary of reasons to register and use this feature, view a multi-media presentation which summarizes plans for the future: Why You Should Use Parent Access.

A Statement Regarding Parent Access
After years of searching, researching, planning and creating, WISD is pleased to announce the implementation of Assess+, our electronic gradebook, created by WISD, for WISD. An exciting feature of Assess+ is Parent Access, which provides registered parents of WISD students the ability to monitor the grades and attendance of their students.

Wylie ISD realizes the importance of working with our parents in the community to make our district the best in the state. Parent Access is yet another avenue of communication in pursuit of our continual goal of collaboration and communication between teachers, administrators and parents.

1. Will parents have to sign up again every year to maintain this access?

Once a student/parent account is registered into the Parent Access system, that account will continue from year to year. If a new student enrolls or transfers into the district, or is promoted into the second grade, the parent will have to go through some procedure to enter their child into the system. This should be an easy process handled at each campus.

2. Is there any way for parents to tell if an assignment has been given, but not yet graded?

In Assess+ Parent Access, the only way a parent can know if an assignment has been given and graded is if the teacher indicates it there. The due date for each assignment will be displayed with each grade. Teachers are professionals who need the freedom to enter the assignment at the appropriate time, because often lesson plans must be altered for re-teaching or other needs.

3. Is there any way to tell what day the assignment was given to students?

When teachers enter their assignments, they are only required to label the grade with a due date.

4. What are some of the features of Parent Access for the future?

There are many! Some parents are choosing to rely solely on their students' access, but the information provided through their view is very limited when compared to Parent Access. Here are just a few plans for the future of Parent Access, not available with the students' access:

On-line forms may be signed electronically.
Check on lunch account balances (exploring the possibility of on-line payment for lunch accounts).
Special announcements for parents.
Parent accounts last from year-to-year; student accounts are wiped out each summer.
E-mail alerts when students’ averages drop below passing.
If a parent has more than one student, all of their students will be accessible through one interface without having to log in for each child.
Parents will not be subjected to random, forced password changes as students (and WISD staff members) are.
Future avenue for parent input through district surveys.
Print off student schedules on-line.

Agreement with Acceptable Use Policy is a requirement for everyone who uses Parent Access. Parents will need to indicate their agreement at the time of their first log in to Parent Access. After that, it will no longer appear.

Upon your agreement with the Acceptable Use Policy, you will need to change the temporary password you were given at your registration. You will want to change this to a password to something more meaningful to you, but please consider some of the following suggestions below:

Consistent policies have been created district-wide to ensure equity in grading. In most cases, grade levels have age-appropriate weightings by percentage, and are generally divided into two categories: Major and Minor grades.

***It is important to remember these percentage reflect an averaging of all individual grades in each of the two categories. In other words, if a secondary student had an 85 and a 92 for minor grades (count 25%) and an 87 for a major grade (counts 75%), the minor grade average would be 22.125 (88.5 x 25%) + the major grade of 65.25 (87 X 75%) = 87.3, or a current average of 87.

This view only shows the current six weeks' and semester averages in each class.

Gradebook Symbols
Note the red circle which highlights the Legend in the picture above. These symbols carry significant meaning, of which parents should have a clear understanding. Please see the table below:

Viewing Individual Assignments
To view specific, class assignments, click any six weeks average listed for a class. Some very important things to remember:

You may change it on-line. This refers to changing your password or your e-mail address (happens when you change Internet Service Providers (ISP's).