At the end of what Education Minister Andrew Fahie called a three-year journey, the territory’s public secondary schools are set to launch the PowerSchool programme, Mr. Fahie announced at a press briefing Tuesday.

For parents, PowerSchool means access to their children’s academic records wherever they can access the Internet, education officials said.

For teachers, it means accountability and a way to give comments about students directly to parents via the Internet.

And for students, the programme could mean the difference between success and falling through the cracks, according to Mr. Fahie.

Under the former system, the minister said, parents and students might only see an indication of a student’s performance once a term at report card time. But access to a daily update of students’ grades and attendance will mean problems get identified while there is still time to fix them, the minister said.

The programme will be launched in all the public secondary schools in the territory this month, but primary school implementation won’t happen until next year, Mr. Fahie said.

See the June 2, 2011 edition for full coverage.