The Story

Even in a large school district, it is often individual staff members who move ideas and innovations forward. Debbie Tate, the Principal at Inglewood High School in Inglewood, CA, took it upon herself to make electronic communication a reality at her school. Her goal was to find a way to communicate with parents. Inglewood Unified School District has over 17,000 students, and for many English is a second language. The district has special challenges both with integrating technology and with implementing innovation.

Challenges

When Mrs. Tate was first introduced to the idea of E-parent at her school, Debbie wanted to make sure her enthusiasm coincided with the guidelines of NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act) and Title I. First, the software-acquisition process for the Vplex E-parent had to be legal. Second, the Vplex Software had to enhance student achievement. And third, they had to increase parental involvement and participation. After thorough research Vplex had met all her criteria-and then some. "She saw the importance of the technology," and wanted every parent in Inglewood to participate in the Vplex Program. When it came time to crunch the numbers for the Vplex Software, Debbie became even happier. For the money she was spending on 4 classroom computers complete with software (about $3,000 each), she could get all of her families email addresses, internet access, computer training, and computers in their homes. The math was instantly compelling. The ability to communicate with all of her families through email sealed the deal. "[It was] more cost effective to buy the Vplex Software than to buy 4 computers," Debbie realized.

Vplex E-parent™ Solution

In September of 2003, Inglewood High School had implemented Vplex E-parent. By January of 2004, 10 schools out of 17 had enrolled. The rest came on-line in September of 2004 (just one year).

Benefits

Mrs. Tate has seen tangible benefits. Parents and kids were excited by the Vplex Computer-based lessons, says Debbie. You could hear it in the halls. "When you hear parents and students talking about learning, you know you're making a difference," she says. Vplex didn't supplant the communication process, they enhanced it. In addition, instead of wasting valuable time printing, copying and mailing important information, administrators are emailing notes and outlines to parents at work and at home. This alone "increases time for faculty, and gets more information out at much cheaper costs," comments Mrs. Tate. Mrs. Tate envisions every student and parent using computers at home on a daily basis, instead of fat, cumbersome, mailings. "The intrinsic allure of web-based technology gets parents and kids to teach themselves in ways they won't do if they're uninterested," she says.

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