Progress reports; you either look forward to seeing the progress that you’ve made, dread that little piece of paper, or just don’t care about it.

In Prince George’s County, towards the middle of the quarter students are supposed to receive progress reports. However, that rarely ever happens. Students usually receive progress reports with about only two weeks left in the quarter, sometimes an insufficient amount of time to increase their grades.

Prince George’s County has an online family portal called SchoolMax. With SchoolMax any student can see a daily updated version of their grades, which is one of the reasons why progress reports are an issue. Caroline Campbell, a junior at Roosevelt, doesn’t believe progress reports should still be around.

“Progress reports are outdated because they come out so late after going in,” said Campbell. “They don’t show an accurate representation of our grades. They should be discontinued considering we have SchoolMax now. They are a waste of money.”

Guidance counselor Mrs. Lolethia Lomax- Frazier had a similar sentiment.

“Progress reports are important; however they come out to early and give someone a false positive. Now since you all have SchoolMax, it’s like a progress report every day,” said Mrs. Lomax-Frazier. “If the county could stop releasing them, they should, it could save lots of paper. However it may be a procedure or law that students receive a paper form because of students or parents who don’t have access to SchoolMax.”

Assistant Principal Benjamin Pryor had a different view on the whole progress report situation.

“Progress reports are useful because halfway through the quarter you can see the students’ progress. We need the numbers, the numbers shows us who needs help, to see who we can push, to see who we can encourage,” said Mr. Pryor.