Students Grades Now at Families' Fingertips

What might you have done differently in school if your parent could have accessed your grades on a smartphone?

Montclair Public Schools are putting student grades, schedules, attendance reports and more at families’ fingertips this upcoming school year with a new student information system.

Skyward’s Family Access portal replaces the 15-year-old software program called StarPortal previously used by the district — and brings with it lots of new bells and whistles.

An email invitation with instructions and a temporary password to log on to Skyward was sent to homes this month to help families get acquainted with the system before the start of the school year. 

The first thing parents can do is electronically complete the summer packet of forms. Information, according to the district, will be saved on a secure database and yearly updates should be much quicker. Summer packets will continue to be mailed to homes in the last two weeks of August.

Families are also encouraged to use the portal to “opt in” to the school directory, which will be generated more quickly and efficiently than ever thanks to Skyward.

The web-based Family Access portal can be accessed from smartphones, tablets and computers. Alternative arrangements will continue to be made for families without Internet access.

Language barriers will also be addressed. The new system comes with site text translation from English to a number of languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Haitian and more.

For more information, visit the district website or contact Anthony Keys, Interim Supervisor of Technology, at akeys@montclair.k12.nj.us or 973-509-4018.

Have you logged on to Skyward? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.