A Grapevine-Colleyville spokeswoman would not comment on McKenzie’s case because individual student information including grades, behavior and health-related matters is confidential.

“We receive only a few formal requests from parents for their child’s academic records each year,” said public information officer Megan Overman, who said teachers and campus administrators try to provide parents with information on their students throughout the year.

McKenzie, however, has enrolled her son in a state-accredited virtual school out of Houston.

“It’s gone very well,” she said. “He gets immediate responses from teachers; they call him and e-mail him within a day.”

Carroll trustees and administrators are providing some options in their new guidelines.

For this school year, Carroll teachers will give back tests to students or provide a “comprehensive review document” for students to take home. For the document option, students will go through their tests and write down the concepts they did not understand, using a standardized template, said Darrell Brown, Carroll schools’ executive director of teaching and learning services.

“It’s going to be an opportunity for students and the teacher to reflect on items that might have been missed and why and an opportunity to use that information to help them on future tests,” Brown said Friday.

The Grapevine-Colleyville district’s policy regarding student records is available on the district website, www.gcisd-k12.org. It is also provided in the Parent-Student Handbook, which parents sign during registration at the beginning of each school year and is also available at the district website.

McKenzie said she wants to get the word out so her own frustration won’t have been in vain.

“People need to know that they need to fight for their children’s education,” she said. “They need to fight for the right of the parent to not be denied.”

For the rest of the article, go to Carroll school board to explain modifications to grading and records guidelines

He proposed the expansion of the virtual school network to help high school dropouts earn diplomas; increased funding for science, technology, engineering and math programs; and supported the creation of the Texas High School Project designed to improve performance among low-income and at-risk students.

Despite the efforts, some educators and local political leaders said the state is failing to educate and Perry’s education record won’t translate well nationally.

For the rest of the article, go to Perry’s education record questioned

SAN ANGELO, Texas — If you’re a student in a small, rural school district, how do you get that advanced calculus course so you can pursue your dream of becoming an architect? Or that fourth year of German to carry you into college? Or dual credit courses that give you a boost when you hit college?

For many of those students, Texas offers the Virtual School Network, administered as a cooperative through the Texas Education Agency. Maybe one school had the good fortune to have a great math teacher or another a German language instructor. Their courses were “filled” by students across county lines, offered online and through live webcasts.

For the rest of the article, go to SCHOOL BELLS: Virtual School Network hard-hit