AUBURN — Report cards for Edward Little High School students in the past have been mailed home.

Not this year.

Parents are being asked to look online for their students' grades for the quarter that ended Oct. 30. Once parents get their user names and passwords from the guidance department, they can log on to the school department's Web site (www.auburnschl.edu) and see their high-schoolers' grades, attendance records and homework patterns, among other things.

Report cards are going home for other Auburn schools, Superintendent Tom Morrill said.

The online reporting, called PowerSchool, is a way to save taxpayers money — about $3,000 in annual postage costs, administrators said. Across Maine, most high schools are posting grades electronically, which allows parents and students to constantly monitor grades and other important information.

"I love it. It's instant information," said Assistant Principal Steve Galway. "Parents, at any point in time, 24/7, can access very important grade information, attendance, and click on the student's teacher's name and create an e-mail to have contact directly with the teacher. That can facilitate additional discussions."

This is the third year Edward Little has had electronic grading, but the first year report cards will not be mailed home. Parents who don't have access to computers, or who are not comfortable looking at grades online, can call and let the school know, Galway said. In those cases, report cards will be mailed home, he said.

Teachers like PowerSchool, said biology teacher Jessica Somers. "You can't put comments down on a regular report card, but you can electronically."

Students also like online grades, seniors Emily Dumont and Hanna Mogensen said, demonstrating how PowerSchool works.

Using their laptops, both logged onto the school's Web site, clicked on PowerSchool, then typed in their user names and passwords. Parents and students have been assigned individual passwords and user names. They cannot access data for other students.

A screen pops up showing the student's class schedule, current average, how often he or she was absent or tardy. Until a quarter ends, the grade shown is the average, so far. Students and parents can look to see how that grade was reached by clicking on the grade. They'll see scores for homework and tests.

If students missed homework assignments, the grade will be a zero, which means the student didn't do the work. Many students check their grades several times a week. "Even students who don't work extremely hard in school," Dumont said. "If they've just taken a test, they want to see how they did."

Teachers can attach notes, which will show up in blue. A teacher might say he or she only received part of an assignment, asking the student whether they have the rest. "You can go talk to the teacher," Mogensen said.

For parents, PowerSchool is a way to check a student's grades, long before the quarter ends, to see if their child is having trouble, Dumont said.

Because parents have early information on their student's performance, many parents get involved, which can improve schoolwork, Galway said.

"It happens all the time," he said. "Sometimes there's a discrepancy between a student's grade expectation and the parent's."

He offered one caution to parents: If your student is telling you something different from what you see, check with the teacher before hitting the roof.