With the new school year beginning for Suffolk’s public school students, parents not already signed up are being urged to take advantage of an online tool to track their children’s performance.

Parent Connection gives parents “direct access into teachers’ grade books,” district Lead Technology Resource Teacher Christine Lafferty said.

“Teachers’ grade books used to just sit on their desks, and you really didn’t know what was in there,” she said, saying that the system in place since 2005 changes that.

Parents create an account at gradespeed.spsk12.net, completing a registration form. Then they visit their child’s school with photo identification for the account to be approved and to add students to the account.

“It provides parents with direct access into teachers’ grade books to see their students’ performance on any assessment and scores,” Lafferty said.

Parents are also able to view daily attendance and classroom work.

Individual registrations for Parent Connection are 7,897 to date, with 15,650 active student links, Lafferty said.

Some students may have multiple links, she said, such as a child whose parents have individual access.

The system encourages dialogue about school between parents and their children, Lafferty said.

Parents are already up to speed, she said, and no longer have to ask children when they arrive home from school, “What did you learn today?” or “How did you go on that test?”

“It also helps students be more independent,” she said.

“What we have seen over time is, initially, parents that have children in elementary school were very interested” in signing up.

“As those kids grow up, they see the benefit and stay with the program.”

But parents of families new to Suffolk, especially military families, often do not know Parent Connection exists, Lafferty said.

She encouraged those parents to contact their school, the district’s department of technology, or visit the website for more information.