Quick Reference for Parents This reference will contain general information for parents including how to access Echo and what content is available for viewing. Getting Started What is Echo? Echo is an online learning platform used by New Tech schools to organize daily classroom instruction, track student grades, share documents and resources, and communicate with others in your school community. Getting an Account Every parent needs their own unique account to access Echo. A unique email address is required for each parent account. To ensure maximum privacy and security, each school gathers and verifies parent information before creating accounts and distributing login information. Contact your School Office to get your logon information. Logging In To login to Echo, enter your username and password at: https://echo.newtechnetwork.org Privacy Parents can only view student information, course work, and grades for their own students. Parents do not have access to any other student profiles or other private information at the school. Quick Reference for Parents - 1
Echo Home Page - Quick Access to Courses Quickly See Course Information for Your Student On the Homepage after you first login, look at the section called My Courses. Each block will contain a course that your student is enrolled in. 1. If you have more than one student enrolled at the school, you ll see a link to the right of My Courses that allows you to select the course list for each student. 2. Click on "Course Gradebook" to see current grades for this course 3. Click on the <Course Name> to access the course 4. Course Announcement summary is listed 5. Click on "Today's Agenda" to access the course agendas Quick Reference for Parents - 2
Course Details Access Course Content 1. Using the main navigation tabs for Echo, select the "Courses" link. On the "Courses" page is a list of the courses your student is enrolled in. Click on any of the course titles to be taken to a specific course. 2. The default course view is the current day's Course Agenda. Click on a calendar day that is orange to see the course agenda details. 3. Click on the Projects tab to see a list of all projects in the current grading period (term). Click on a project name to learn more about the project, including a list of all project requirements, resources and associated activities in the project. 4. Click on the Activities tab to see all items assigned to your student for this course, including the due date. Click on the activity title to see more details about the activity. Quick Reference for Parents - 3
Viewing Grades in all Courses Quickly See Your Student s Grades across Courses, Grading Periods, and Years 1. Using the main navigation, click on the Grades link to see the "Student Snapshot" of all your student s course grades in the current grading period (term). 2. Click on the name of a specific course to get detailed information on your student s performance in that course. 3. Use the drop down menus at the top right to view grades for different terms or school years. 4. School Wide Learning Outcomes are displayed as an average across all courses Quick Reference for Parents - 4
Viewing Course Gradebook Quickly See Your Student s Current Course Grade 1. On the Homepage after you first login, look at the section called My Courses. Find the course you want and select Course Gradebook to see your student s current course grades. 2. The current course grade is displayed using your school's grading scale. This grade will only reflect assignments that have been graded and published. 3. This graph respresents the average grade of the learning outcomes for this course for all graded and published activities. 4. An activity that is highlighted in Pink has been designated by the teacher as Incomplete. A student receives a zero for all learning outcome scores associated with an incomplete activity until the incomplete designation is removed. 5. An activity that is highlight in Yellow has been designated as late by the teacher. Each individual teacher determines his/her own policies for accepting late work and can change Quick Reference for Parents - 5
the score at anytime. 6. Any activity that has a blank score means that the assignment has not yet been submitted or it has not been graded yet. In both cases, these scores are not counted in a student s overall weighted. How the Gradebook Works How are Weighted Course Grades calculated in Echo*? 1. Add the points earned for each Learning Outcome across all activities in the grading period (term). Ex. Critical Thinking = 30 + 30 = 60 pts Written Communication = 35 + 45 = 80 pts 2. Add the points possible for each Learning Outcome across all activities in the grading period (term). Ex. Critical Thinking = 50 + 50 = 100 pts Written Communication = 40 + 60 = 100 pts 3. Divide points earned by points possible to get the percentage grade for each Learning Outcome. Ex. Critical Thinking = 60/100 = 60% Written Communication = 80/100 = 80% 4. Multiply the percentage grade by the weighting percentage for each Learning Outcome. Ex. Critical Thinking = 60% x 40% (weight) = 24% Written Communication = 80% x 60% (weight) = 48% 5. Add the weighted outcome percentages to get the student s overall Weighted Course Grade. * Ex. 24% + 48% = 72% * If a learning outcome has no scores associated with it, then the weighting for that outcome is ignored and the overall weighted grade is adjusted accordingly. How are Schoolwide Learning Outcome Percentages calculated in Echo? Schoolwide Learning Outcome grades are calculated using a simple average of the learning outcomes across courses for any given grading period (term). Ex: For Presentation Skills, if a student has 90% in Course Y and 70% in Course Z, then their schoolwide percentage for the outcome would be 80%. Learn More -> http://docs.echo.new technetwork.org/quickref/lessons/gradebook_- Calculations.html Quick Reference for Parents - 6
Additonal Options 1. Changing your Personal Profile To view your personal profile, click on the My Profile link at the very top of every page in Echo. This profile is only accessible by school staff and other parents. The only required information is your name and email address, but you are encouraged to add additional information, including a photo, to help others learn more about you. Click the Edit button to edit the information on the page. Viewing Your Student s Echo Profile Click on the My Profile link at the very top of every page in Echo. On your own profile, look for the list of My Students on the left side. Click the name of your student to see their school profile. Changing Your Password Once logged in, parents can change heir password at any time using the My Settings link at the very top of every page in Echo. 2. Joining a Group Using the main navigation, click on Groups and select the All Groups tab. Click on Join to request membership to an existing group. Once the group moderator approves you, you ll have access to the group and see it on the My Groups tab as well as your Echo Homepage. Note: some schools choose to manually manage group membership for parents, so parents will not see any groups listed in All Groups. 3. Finding Contact Information for Teachers and Parents Using the main navigation, click on the People link to see a list of all staff members and parents at your school. Use the filters in the yellow box to narrow down the list. Click on a name to view the person s profile and see their available contact information. 4. Finding School Documents Using the main navigation, click on Library and select School Resource Library. Browse through categories to find specific documents and resources posted by your school. 5. Kudos and Behavior Reports Quick Reference for Parents - 7
Using the main navigation, click on "Tools" and select with Behavior Tracker or Kudos. In all tools, you will only be able to see the awards, kudos, or behavior reports that have been given to your student(s). Printing Information in Echo You can print any page in Echo using the web browser s normal print button. In the browser menu, select File > Print. In the future, Echo will have easy to use print buttons throughout the application. Addtional Resources for Echo Please visit our Echo Help Center for additional support documentation: http://www.docs.echo.newtechnetwork.org/quickref/index.html Quick Reference for Parents - 8