Several school systems have started, or are working toward starting, grade-tracking software that parents can access online.

"When you just get report cards, you don't get to see where it is they are messing up," said Radford teacher, and parent, Blenna Patterson.

Radford's newest system is called PowerSchool. It was put into effect this semester and allows parents to preempt students having trouble with lessons from reaching the point of no return, she said.

For instance, she's been able to track her son's grades and talk with him about what he might be able to improve.

Several school systems in the valley chose education company Pearson's program this academic year. With it, parents can receive a private log in, and use it to access information pertaining to their children. It can accessed through the school system's Web site.

It replaces SASI, long known as the student information system of choice for school systems. SASI was outdated, said Harvey Goodwin, technology director in Montgomery County. It did not allow for the level of communication across the school system and to parents that now is expected.

That system is what teachers and school officials used to track information about students internally and it did not have the capability for parents to use it. To combat that, some teachers created blogs and other online communication tools.

The PowerSchool system is designed, in part, to increase communication for both parents and teachers, but it also lets schools organize their schedules, testing data and more.

That system is just the beginning of a host of one-to-one correspondence between schools and parents.

In Montgomery County, schools also are using a $21,000 alert system that teachers or principals can use to individually phone specific populations of students. Down the line, it will even allow the transportation department to phone parents to let them know if school buses are running late, said transportation director Rebecca Mummau.

Parents have long signed up for listservs or phone trees to hear about school delays. Right now, about 2,100 parents receive e-mails or phone calls about weather delays, Goodwin said. It combines with Montgomery County's new student information system, called STAR, which also will allow for online parent grade-tracking soon, Goodwin said.

At Shawsville Middle School, administrators already this semester have used its phone-dialing system to remind parents about schedule changes, such as early-release days, said elementary supervisor Lois Graham.

In the past, some parents had forgotten to pick up their children on early-release days. That has not happened this year, she said.