Here we go again By: Naomi Smith -George, assistant feature editor

Students and staff say goodbye to Teacherease and hello to pupil path with wide open arms. However, pupil path may not be just as most thought it would be. Teacherease and pupil path are online grading systems that schools across the nation use to allow students and parents to see progress throughout the year within their grades. The two systems allow teachers to input assignments, grades, and attendance for their students, which have made grading systems easier and paperless.

“Teacherease was established for a way of communication for students to be able to follow up on their progress in all aspects of school. Students and parents were able to check missing assignments and attendance” Ms. Schneider, principal, said.

WJPS has used teacherease from the start in 2006. Teacherease provided a way for educators to connect with their students. Recently, the school has opted out of Teacherease for Pupil Path. Pupil Path is an upgraded version of Teacherease which also allows teachers to create simple grading systems for their students. During the last ‘tech’ grading system,  some teachers weren’t using Teacherease as much as students liked, and it seems as if pupil path is repeating the standard.

“I feel like the teachers have no idea how to use it and, I get confused with it a lot. I don’t really feel secure about using it and its accuracy on my grades” said Katherine Eglezos, junior.

On the other hand, there are some students that find the program really helpful and efficient.

“I think Pupil Path is a good way to look at our grades. I think it’s  better for me so I Know if I need to improve or if I’m missing many assignments, it keeps me on track” said Yura Shin, freshman.

The Problem:

Pupil Path and Teacherease have polled to be great sources for teachers, students, and parents  but the question that most are asking about these on online grading system aren’t getting answered.

“I Think pupil path is alright, It helps me keep track of my work, but not all of my teachers use it effectively, I only have two teachers who actually use it.” said Gabriela Luciana, junior.

Pupil Path consists of different components for grades, assignments, anecdotal logs, attendance and messages. Pupil Path users confirm that it supplies a great ray of information from your grades, including test scores from elementary school in its record. With all this wide range of information, some students find it frustrating that teachers are not using it to its full potential.
Some students have even complained about the frustration pertaining believing one grade on pupil path and hearing another grade from their teachers.
“It’s like teacherease cause the grades on Teacherease we always inaccurate and I think Pupil Path is too, you can never tell.” said Eglezos.

What many students don’t know is that Pupil Path is a consistently upgrading system. Pupil Path continues to change and revise itself that sometimes it can be confusing and frustrating for teachers to use as well.

“In the beginning of the year, Pupil Path might have been a bit confusing for teachers because once you thought you got the hang of using Pupil Path, something would change. This is probably why students were getting the wrong interpretation of their grades at times” said Ms. Keane, Geometry and Financial math teacher.
Pupil Path continues to be a learning process for teachers and students. Although students are able to log on and see their letter grade achievement, Pupil Path is established to show the progress that students have made throughout their semesters and evidently, be able to improve what ever needs to polished.
“It’s not about the grade, forget about the grade, it’s about meeting standards, improving and learning. Teachers need to be communicating with their students, and were pushing really hard to set that standard for all teachers so our students aren’t so confused. If we could get rid of numbers on pupil path, we would; however, it is not in their system to do that”, Ms. Schneider said

Solution: Student Voice
Teacherease and Pupil Path are both grading systems that offer easier and efficient opportunity’s to teachers, students, and parents, however it’s no use if students cannot be sure about their grades and confident that they are doing the best of their ability.
Different students have different takes and experiences with Pupil Path, and
its important that those concerns and needs are heard by those providing a stable education for their students.
“ I like Pupil Path, it gives me a heads-up on my grades and It’s like the new and improved Teacherease.” said Norman Carmona, seventh grader.
“I think Pupil Path is a great upgrade from teacherease when it comes to accessibility and ease of use, but I still don’t think it’s professional enough to use as a way to check our grades because most of the time, it is either wrong or the teachers might make a mistake and cause unnecessary panic.” said Erik Kim, senior.

Pupil Path is going to take some time to get used to, but it still proves to be a great communication source between teachers, students and their grades. For teachers that use it effectively that is.

“My English teacher Mrs. Marks gives us our grades and explains why we got that grade and how we could of improved it” said Shin.
“For me personally, I’d like it if there was a simpler way to check our grades without all this hassle, but with the technology that’s been integrated into our schools it’s sort of commonplace for things like this to appear.I dislike the fact that in the beginning, we had to go through so much trouble to get our account information. Other than that, I just wish that it’d be more accurate.” said Kim.