Recently, Freedom has introduced a new way of recording grades in Freedom. PowerSchool, which replaced the former MMS, is now being used by teachers and students alike to keep a record of grades. After learning more about the system and digging deeper into the inner workings of it, PowerSchool has been so far shown to be successful.
“I think that PowerSchool is good, but I have come across a couple of problems with it,” junior Zoey Blanchard said.
One problem PowerSchool has caused for students is that when a student fails to turn in an assignment on time and the assignment goes missing, it doesn’t affect the student’s grade until the end of the nine weeks. This has become an issue because students cannot see how poorly the missing assignment has hurt their grade unless the teacher enters a zero for the assignment.
Another problem some students and faculty have had with PowerSchool is that it rounds up the students final nine weeks average to the nearest whole number. While others may consider this a positive, others are not as big of fans.
As PowerSchool was welcomed into the district, students and faculty alike had to decipher the grading system themselves. Student’s were given their login passwords halfway through the first nine weeks, with no direction on exactly how to use the system.
“So far I do like PowerSchool more than MMS, but I wish we got a tutorial on what all exists on PowerSchool and not just handed it and [told] here’s a new way to look at [grades’],” sophomore Alexis Surenda said.
PowerSchool contains a few other complaints from the students and faculty, but for the most part is praised.
“Putting aside the current technical flaws, I think it is just as good as MMS,” Blanchard said.
A positive of PowerSchool is that unlike MMS, PowerSchool has a more well known downloadable app that allows students to access their grades from the tip of their fingers. This saves students the trouble on having to constantly search the website on their mobile devices when they are away from their laptops. This makes accessing grades easier.
PowerSchool also shows students different important traits they need to know about their grades. For example, a section in the grading system compiles all of the student’s missing assignments and when they were marked missing. This is helpful so student’s know what they are missing in different classes. PowerSchool also contains other helpful tools, including tardy notices, excused/unexcused absence notices, grade drops, grade increases and even wishes you happy birthday on your birthday.
“[PowerSchool is] pretty nice. I like how it shows things MMS couldn’t. For instance, [it shows] the exact days we missed and what classes instead of just telling us we missed a day, had a tardy or early dismissal. I haven’t fully gone through PowerSchool yet except for seeing my grades but I like it,” Surenda says.