missing assignments | West Des Moines Community Schools Technology

About a year ago, we started using Infinite Campus to send out weekly email notifications to both parents and students that had active missing assignments. Are the notifications helping?

How have parents reacted to the notices?
Although a very limited number of parents have requested not to receive the notices – most have expressed appreciation for the weekly notices that help keep track of missing assignments. In fact, many have reported that this is one of their favorite features of the system.

If parents feel that it’s working and helping them… then how are the numbers? Are notifications driving down the numbers?
Although families are reporting appreciation for the notices, the overall number of missing assignments is still comparable to previous semester (about 12,000 missing assignments per semester on average).

Here’s a look at the specifics….

Sept 2013 thru Jan 2013 total number of missing assignments

Aug 2012 thru Jan 2013: Number of student who had at least one missing assignment

Earlier this year, we tallied the total number of missing assignments in the district and found the grand total was just over 10,000 (reference: https://wdmtech.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/10000-missing-assignments/ ). We then set up automated email notifications to students and parents each Thursday night, giving them the exact list of missing assignments per child.

I was recently asked the following questions related to this….

Question: “What happened after the parent notifications were turned on… did it lower the number of missing assignments? Will we continue to send out missing assignments notices to students and parents next school year? “

Answer:
Although the parent response from the notifications was extremely positive, it did NOT lower the number of missing assignments. In fact, the number of missing assignments continued to rise the reminder of the school year. Despite this, we are planning to continue the student/parent notifications related to missing assignments for next school year since the parent response was so positive.

NOTE: A missing assignment is defined as an assignment for which a student has received an “M” for missing. The “M” must be manually marked by the classroom teacher – it is not an automated feature. The charts below are the total number of “M’s” marked in the grade book.