PBIS Rewards Family

Not sure which version this issue began, but I am currently on 3.1.08. When I open the messages, it opens and keeps me at the first message ever sent by the teacher. I then have to scroll all the way down to find the latest message. When I scroll down, the back arrow moves up as well. So to get out of the message, I then have to scroll all the back to the top to get out of the message. This was not always an issue. Please fix this! Mobile apps should be mobile friendly!!!

I love the idea of being able to easily communicate with teachers but this app is so glitchy that’s it’s almost unusable. I haven’t been able to open photos that the teachers will send for a few weeks, every time I try, it just automatically keeps scrolling to the top of the page of messages and now it’s just scrolling to the top for no reason when I try to look at the new messages I get from the teacher. I’ve made sure it’s up to date so I know it’s not my phone. FIX THE APP!!!

There are so many problems with the app it is likely I will forget something. For this I am a parent first, but also a teacher who is thankful I am not required to use this with my own students. Problems 1. Access to posts from teachers is either impossible due to not being able to scroll back far enough to get info or impossible because as one tries to access it the screen hops all over and doesn’t allow enough time to be able to click on posts/links from teachers. Possible solution: have a secondary document access area for parents to access posted attachments and a search function that could take the parents to posts with keywords. 2. Photo quality is horrible. The teachers try so hard to share nice images with families but their time is wasted because the quality of the images is so bad. 3. That red circle! The red circle suggesting I need to view some information in the app does not go away even after opening every single drop down. Thus I am more likely to miss messages because I never know if the red circle is a real message or one I’ve already looked at and cannot spend my whole day checking to see if a real post has been made 4. There either is no web based version for access or it is impossible to find. I had hoped to login on a desktop to see if accessing attachments would be possible there, but found no way to login to the parent info. We’ve been forced to use this by my daughters school after years of using ClassDojo (which worked great, by the way) and I have been unimpressed, annoyed, or frustrated every since time I have to use this app.

Okay, I'm a software engineer, so, this app isn't ready for mobile. I have the student info copied from the email, but the only way in the mobile app to add a student with with a QR code, and that QR code can only be scanned via the camera -- not from a photo or other screen. No way to copy the info from the email/webpage that directs you to the app. This is a non-starter user experience.

Just wanted to add anther perspective. I think it’s a great app of it does what it’s supposed to do, which is encourage children to behave in class so that teachers can teach. Sure, it would be wonderful if all children behaved appropriately out of the kindness of their heart. However, that’s not what happens, realistically, in a classroom full of children with very different needs and patterns of behavior. There’s no one size fits all and teachers need all the tools necessary to manage a classroom of children who come from many households, who have many unique parenting styles, behavior management styles, etc. This is simply a tool. Some kids will behave anyway, without a point system. Some kids need an extra incentive to behave, outside of just the desire to follow the rules because it’s the right thing to do. I taught for two years and goodness, that was the hardest thing ever because every child is different and I had to use a wide variety of behavior management techniques. Guess what, points/reward systems worked for many students. Additionally, even as adults at work it feels good when our bosses recognize and reward our hard work. Yes, you should do a great job at work just to be a good employee, but man does it feel good to get a gift/accolades for doing my best. And yes, some efforts may go unnoticed, as in the real world.

My daughter just started kindergarten 4 days ago and we are already not liking this new “points system”. It is not an equal way for all students to be rewarded for good behavior and disciplined for negative behavior. My daughter was already using phrases about “getting points taken away” during her free play as a way to tell the other child she was not liking how they were playing/acting. It’s a fear mongering tactic that is not healthy for children. This is also taking time and attention away from the students. My daughter gets 7-9 different situations of points throughout the day (there’s a time stamp when points and comments are added) and there is 18 kids total in her class alone. If you do the math, that’s a long time the teachers focus is away from the students and the education that they are supposed to be giving our children. In situations where one student is being praised and other students are being left out creates criticism between students. Maybe the teacher just didn’t noticed the good deed or correct behavior and now that student gets missed on those points for the day. I could go on and on about the cons of this program! Some parents like it because they can use the points to purchase things at the school. While that is great for maybe middle/highschools that typically have a school store. Our elementary school, like most grade schools don’t have opportunities to purchase extra things so the use of the rewards goes away for the students making it again a pointless way to manipulate children into behaving in a way that each individual teacher sees fit.

The app worked for the first week of school. Without any prompting on my part my wife and I both lost connection to our child. I read on her to press the reconnect button and all that did is make it so the app only shows the scan to add button. Still no child and no reconnect button. Not sure why our school switched to this by class dojo did not have these problems.

Every time it updates and you have log in the scan codes don’t work is a pain

I had all 3 of my kids on here and for no reason at all the app crashed. I deleted the app to reinstall now I can’t get all 3 of my kids to be back on even after requesting for 3 separate teachers to send me the QR code yet again! I have 2 on the app currently and when I click “add” it gives an error that “scanning failed: scanning already in progress” I’ve tried it 20-30 times just now. Deleting the app redoing it. The option to reconnect students doesn’t work either. So I’m just frustrated and it shouldn’t be this damned difficult.

I am a teacher and a parent. I do not use this as a teacher. I am extremely frustrated. I had my son all logged in . I got rid of the QR paper because I had scanned him in. You claim the reconnect a student works but it worked for my husband on his phone. Mine is still demanding for the QR code again. When I click reconnect it says no student to reconnect. I have not been able to see my sons points since September. I should not be required to constantly ask his teacher for the QR code to get my son back. His teacher has not resent the paper so here I am frustrated that I can’t see my son’s points and talk to him about his day. There needs to be a second way you can connect your student without relying on a QR code to be printed! I’m so over this!