Here’s my report on the new Star_Portal cyber tool RISD has established: It ROCKS!
Yeh, yeh, yeh, our high schoolers may not be crazy about it but as a parent, here’s what I found very useful: Being able to concisely see my daughter’s daily schedule and the assignments associated with each class she attends. I immediately had a clearer idea of her workload, and from being able to see the different subject matter she’s learning, a better understanding of any mood changes that could occur after school, perhaps dependent on a difficult, challenging or exciting new lesson.
While signing up and "getting cleared" was easy, I had a hard time figuring out how to set my pin and log on. But tech help was only an email away and they responded in less then 24 hours. Once on, tabbing from ‘Attendance’ to ‘Schedule’ to ‘Grades’ to ‘Summary’ was very easy.
I would urge all parents to sign up and regularly use this tool. So often our kids might not want to share with us the things they’re learning at school for any number of reasons: They’re maybe not doing so well, they’re a bit overwhelmed with the lesson, they simply forget. With this tool, we parents can initiate conversation about what our kids are learning in a way that’s non-invasive like going through their backpacks!
To access Star_Portal™ parents need an Rportal account, which can be requested here
