The school started to work with a new online grade system, JupiterEd, to encourage better teacher, parent and student communication.

“We still have to use MISIS for the attendance but MISIS has not launched the online grade book yet for
students and parents to use,” Principal Deb Smith said. “MISIS is being used to record grades and print report cards but it’s not viewable by students or parents.”

JupiterEd is an independent company the school will have a contract with in order to allow students’ grades to be viewed online. The school is currently on a free trial but they could ultimately end up paying a yearly price of $8 per student and $49.95 per teacher, according to the JupiterEd website.

Students were surprised on Sept. 11 when they were given their login information in order to use JupiterEd for the first time. Grades were available to see but errors were bountiful.

“It said I was failing two classes, which I’m not. I think teachers should

update their grades more frequently to keep them accurate,” sophomore Kimberly Chavez said.

Various students are against the use of JupiterEd simply because their grades aren’t something they want their parents to be able to see. Parents will have the option

to receive weekly emails telling them their child’s grades in all their classes. They can also receive emails if the student’s grade in a certain class drops below a C.

“For me, it saves a lot of time between communication with parents in which things get lost. Such as a progress

report gets sent home, but parents never see it. I assume they saw it, but I never get it back for whatever reason,” social studies teacher Davy Mauermann said. “With Jupiter, parents can access grades anytime they want to. They can shoot me a message anytime based on what they see, if anything needs clarifying. You can also upload files in which parents can see what the assignments look like. There are also reminders that tell parents and students when assignments are due, so you can really stay more on top of what is going on in the classroom.”

If parents will be taught how to use the system’s various features at Back To School Night on Sept. 17.

JupiterEd’s success will be up to the parents and students of Daniel Pearl Magnet High School. Only time will tell if the newest program will thrive or simply be replaced in upcoming years.

“I like JupiterEd because we know what assignments are missing and if we have a bad grade we can easily talk to our teachers about it,” sophomore Yareli Macedo said.