NBC News has launched a mobile app it describes as “a one-stop online resource for parents navigating their children’s development in the classroom and beyond.”
It may be all that, but the Parent Toolkit App is confusing to navigate, requiring a circuitous route to find information. And the child profiles required to personalize the app could be a privacy concern.
Dashboard for the Parent Toolkit app. My kids are grown, so my profile features two fictitious names with pictures of my dogs. Screen capture from iPhone.
The NBC Universal privacy statement notes that any information entered by the user is collected for use by NBC Universal and its partners. A major sponsor is Pearson, “the largest education company in the world,” according to The Washington Post. Pearson recently landed a “whopper” of a Common Core testing contract, though a judge has put a hold on the contract while bidding procedures are reviewed. The multinational company, which has numerous contracts around the U.S. for testing and materials, also markets online learning tools.
So a company that specializes in assessments is providing financial backing for a tool that tells parents what to assess. And the same company (which sells personalized instruction tools), has access to your contact information and your child’s profile, presumably including any areas in which a child’s education needs support.
The customizable app is an offshoot of NBCs Parent Toolkit, a website launched in conjunction with the widely publicized NBC News Education Nation initiative. The site provides “growth charts” for academic success, health and wellness for grades preK through 12. (Social development benchmarks are coming soon.)
The website offers lots of useful information for parents wondering what is “normal” development in the areas of math, language arts, nutrition and physical development. More than 80 child development experts from all over the country contributed to the website’s content and numerous national and local education resources are provided for parents who need more information.
The health and wellness benchmarks cover nutrition and physical development. The nutrition benchmarks include the food groups, sugary drinks, sodium intake and hydration. Physical development benchmarks include physical activity and gross- and fine-motor skills.
The Parent Toolkit website won a 2014 Webby Award in the family/parenting category.
The app has all the same benchmarks, guidelines and parent tips, but it can be customized. Personal information requested includes parents’ and children’s names, child’s grade level and an email address. There’s a place in the profile for your contact list of friends, kids’ tutors, teachers, schools, etc. There are buttons for connecting via Facebook and Twitter, possibly giving the app developer a multidimensional social media peek at families.
The app’s benchmarks are useful for tracking physical development changes and growth in specific skills. Tips for parents to use at each grade level could supplement a child’s schoolwork and provide structure to one-on-one time at home.
Some of the tips I liked:
identify essential information while reading
have your child research questions online
help your child identify reliable resources online
These tips are applicable to any age, even adults.
The app is available for Android and iPhone/iPad or at ParentToolkit.com/App.