Miami-Dade County Public Schools rolled out a new version of their web portal on Monday which provides increased online resources to parents, students and teachers.

On the new portal, you can look up school bus routes, check grades, report a dirty school bathroom, or even order groceries. Information is tailored for Students, Parents, Employees & the Community. Under community, you can learn about local blood drives, mentoring and more.

Students have unbounded resources. From news to academic assistance, resources for learning, career prep, a virtual library, and a portal they can log into for private information such as online collaboration, assignment postings and online versions of their textbooks. Parents have access to the same information, including textbooks to assist in homework.

The information for students & parents is immediate and up-to-date. Achievement can be monitored more closely on a single organized site, and resources for improvement are more readily available. Grades are available online, as well as information on missing assignments and absentee listings.

To set up an account, parents have to obtain a PIN number from their child’s school. Parents must get a PIN number for each child and, for security reasons, must go to the school in person. ”The schools know which parents belong to which children,” said Debbie Graper, a technology administrator with the district.

The Miami-Date project is designed to get parents more involved in their children’s schoolwork, a key to student success. The project, which cost $3.2 million and was done in partnership with Microsoft, serves 53,000 employees and 342,000 students.

Earlier this year, 13 Miami-Date schools were named in Newsweek’s Top High School list.

Via Miami Herald ; Tags: miami dade, miami dade school district, school portal, education portal, education technology, school technology, online learning