Tighter security, new facilities and updated computer systems will greet many of the 700,000 children returning to metro schools this week and next.
School districts across metro Atlanta are jumping into the 21st century with new computer systems that allow parents to track their children’s performance or expose students to tailored resources outside the classroom.
The promise of ever-improving technology is counterbalanced by growing wariness over safety.
The school systems in Decatur and Gwinnett and Clayton counties are outfitting buses with cameras to catch drivers who fail to stop when students are loading and unloading. And last year’s mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Conn., prompted many districts to focus on security. Some added more police officers, and Clayton even got its own school police force. Others, such as Forsyth and Cobb counties, installed electronic locks at all elementary schools.
“Before, you could just walk in,” said Jennifer Caracciolo, the Forsyth schools spokeswoman. “Now, we have buzz-in doors.”
Forsyth is also deploying a computer system designed to help teachers diagnose their students and assign tailored homework using online resources.
The “its Learning” system was three years in the making and funded by a $4.7 million federal grant. It uses a “recommendation engine” that school technology chief Mike Evans likened to how Amazon and Netflix tailor content to users.
The computer system assesses how each student learns, using data such as test performance. It then recommends homework.
“If they are a visual learner, they may get a video. If they are an interactive, tactile learner, they may get a website,” Evans said. A survey showed that 97 percent of Forsyth students have home Internet access and most frequently use the district’s learning portal in the evening.
Gwinnett is opening a renovated campus for online learning in Lawrenceville, after moving from less central Norcross. Already serving middle schoolers and high schoolers, Georgia’s largest school district is enrolling fourth- and fifth-grade students at the campus this year. It’s the only district in the state to try online learning with students that young, and success with younger students would buck a nationwide trend.
Last week, teachers there were sitting in a training room that smelled of fresh paint, as they got a technology briefing about the district’s email system for smartphones. Much of the communication with students occurs by email and text messages.
The physical distance allows flexibility for athletes with out-of-state tournaments, shy kids who learn better at home or students who want specialized subjects that aren’t always available in traditional schools.
That distance can also be a weakness, though.
“We’ve seen a lot of middle schools that failed, and we called them to see why,” said Christopher Ray, the Gwinnett Online Campus principal. The answer, they found, was that those schools lacked a social element. So the online campus is striving to be more like a regular school, with classes on campus twice weekly for younger students and once a week for older teens. There’s an auditorium where students can gather, and a lounge with Internet access and a big flat-screen TV, where they can work together.
The school has been around for 13 years, serving students from traditional schools who want an online course or two. It went full time with high school students two years ago, and added middle school students last year. When school starts Wednesday, it will have a dozen fourth-grade students and six fifth-graders.
Math teacher Cathy Griffin said she prefers teaching there because she gets more one-on-one time with students, even if the contact is typically virtual. “I know my students much better than I ever did in the classroom,” she said. “I’m emailing all night long with them. I’m texting all night long.”
Griffin described technology that lets her delve into her students’ heads. They use computerized pens to do their assignments, and she instructs them to talk out the problems as they solve them. The pen records both their voices and what they’re writing.
“I can see what they’re thinking as they’re writing,” she said. “In the classroom, you don’t have that. You don’t know if mom did their homework.”
In Clayton County, the school system will unveil a new “parent portal” — a secure website with student information. It was shut down for an upgrade at the end of the last school year and reopens Nov. 14.
Harried parents with more than one child previously had to memorize a separate password for each. The new portal will assign one per household.
“The whole login thing is a nightmare,” said Lisa Young, the Clayton district’s technology chief. She had four children in DeKalb County schools back when that district required a separate password for each, and said she hopes the simplified access will draw in more parents.
The upgrade, paid for with a $2 million federal grant, will allow parents to use a smartphone to check attendance, grades, assignments and other information.
DeKalb County has long had a computerized parent portal. The problem is that less than a third of the parents use it, said interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond. His top priority this year is to increase parent involvement. He plans to reopen parent resource centers that closed during prior budget cuts. Parent training and computer access will be available.
Also, Thurmond expects schools to welcome parents; this summer, principals were instructed to change the culture among teachers.
“There are some schools where parental engagement was not welcome,” Thurmond said. “We believe the key to student achievement is the involvement of a parent or guardian.”
Some parents are heeding the call. The PTA at Redan Middle School has blossomed from a handful of regulars to 150 members “and growing,” said vice president DaShan Sowell-Williams. Members started asking parents why they didn’t come to meetings, and discovered some needed child care, or just a ride. So parents started helping one another, she said.
“I think parental involvement is extremely important,” said the mother of two who is also a substitute teacher. “It’s the key to the life of your school.”
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