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10 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MARCH 2020 THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! PupilPath Tracks Student Progress By Steve Benoff It's time to take a break from local store apps to focus on an app you'll likely never use. Nevertheless, I'm going to discuss PupilPath to demonstrate the state-of-the-art in smartphone applications. I mentioned in a previous article an app that alerts me to my granddaughter's location. As it turned out, she didn't like the phone required to use that particular system. She switched to Jiobit for Families. Instead of a phone, it uses a small, rechargeable device that clips to her book bag but can be attached to anything you like. Each day I get a notification when she leaves her home or school and another notice when she arrives. At any time, I can see her location on the app. Or more correctly, I can see the location of the device. PupilPath is part of a comprehensive attendance and grading system implemented on the school district level and each school has the option to use it or not. It's used by students, teachers, and parents alike to monitor any number of factors. In can be accessed on a computer through the PupilPath website or on the PupilPath app. To quote the Apple App Store description: PupilPath is a parent and student portal, the PupilPath mobile application allows parents, teachers, and students to have instant access to student information on the go, including: • Notifications when a grade is submitted, or when a student is marked absent/late • Recent Notifications view • Up-to-date classroom progress • Attendance live as it is taken • Grades and status of assignments and exams • Assignment due dates and descriptions • Student GPA and averages in grading categories • Report card grades • Student transcripts • Student schedules • Mail My granddaughter, Eva, is in middle school in Brooklyn. Her schedule is arranged on a six-day basis. That is, she has a different class schedule for each day in a six-day sequence. Consequently, it's unlikely that she'll have the same class schedule on the same day of the week more than eight times in a school year. This schedule is so variable that you can't even see it on the app. Eva, her parents, and I use the website for that. But on the app, I can see her courses. Eleven of them plus Phys. Ed. If I select any one of them, I can see the percentage of completed homework assignments, her percentage on classwork and participation, and also on major assignments. These scores are averaged and displayed on the main courses screen. On the individual course screen, I can select assignments and see every assignment issued in the semester. And within that assignment I can see a description of the work assigned, date assigned and due, details of the assignment including points earned and points possible, and materials needed for the assignment. I can see her record of attendance. Arranged as a monthly calendar, I see mostly green dots and only a couple of red dots. Also available will be her report card when it is issued. This is very personal data and access to the information requires more than the usual setup procedure. You need to know the exact name of the school, the student's ID number, and a registration code issued by the school. Once you're set up, however, you only need user name and password for the website and, once you've logged in initially, your fingerprint for the app. All I can say is that our grandchildren live in far different times from when we went to school. Who's to say if things are better or worse; probably some of both. I can say we now live in a world of technology, and this app is an excellent example of how technology can apply even to our sixth-grade granddaughters. If you have an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net.

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