PowerTeacher, a component of PowerSchool, is an online gradebook providing the latest technology for standards-based grading. PowerTeacher Mobile, launched last fall, is a free App from Pearson that provides teachers anytime anywhere access to the gradebook using the Apple iPad.
At Florida's Marion County Public Schools, Pearson worked closely with school leaders to implement PowerTeacher for its more than 40,000 students."Pearson was able to work with us to customize the gradebook to meet our unique needs at the elementary and secondary level,” said Dr. Diana Greene, deputy superintendent.
James Wood, a chemistry teacher at the district's Marion Technical Institute, said he can tell that PowerTeacher was designed by teachers because of its intuitive interface. "I found that the tracking standard helps me a lot to really gauge where the students are at every moment, especially as we make a transition toward more common end of course exams."
Bonnie Harris, a sixth grade language arts teacher at Oconee County Middle School in Georgia, agrees with Wood's assessment of the tracking abilities of PowerTeacher. "It's very easy for me to track student progress with PowerTeacher because not only can I look at their current grades for the ongoing quarter, but I can look back and see their previous grading periods as well," she said.
PowerTeacher also helps schools to build the home-school connection by allowing parents to log on and follow their children’s progress. Parent Laura Beckham, in Oconee County Georgia has two sons -- one in middle school and one in high school -- but with PowerTeacher she can log in to access the grades for both kids.
And students are logging in as well. Mallory Moore, a senior at Oconee County High School, makes checking PowerTeacher part of her daily online routine. "I check my Facebook and then I check my PowerTeacher," she said. "Last year I was absent for four days because I was really sick and it gave me the ability go on and see what assignments I had missed."
