"It's a great way to find out what's going on," Beeny said.

Given the full range of information PowerSchool reveals about Jazzy, you'd think the 15-year-old junior would be just a little peeved about her mother's hovering eye. But you would be wrong.

"She uses it as much as I do," Beeny said. "If it shows she's missing an assignment, that means she can go to her teacher to see why it wasn't recorded. Sometimes assignments get lost."

In an age when teenagers post their most private confessions on MySpace, and with text-messaging and webcam technology proliferating, the chance of losing anything seems lower every day. The same goes for school, where new technologies give teachers, students and parents easy access to information that's more instant, visible and, some might say, ethically questionable.

Student information systems such as PowerSchool, ParentConnect and Grade Book are staples at many of Utah's biggest school districts. The Alpine School District has used PowerSchool for so long, according to spokeswoman Ronda Bromley, it's already outgrown the software and is searching for a new one. Ditto for Jordan district, which is in the process of switching out PowerSchool for the Skyward system, which beside student grades and performance records offers information on immunizations, vision and hearing tests, graduation requirements and fees paid and outstanding. Parents can also request instant e-mail notification should their child's grade or score drop below a certain percentage.

Again, it's not always parents who are most eager to know. "When it gets close to the end of the semester, my kids have been on there every day to check their performance to see where they stand," said Michael Kelly, a spokesman for the Utah Education Association with two children who graduated from Bingham High School and another at South Jordan Middle School.

Online monitoring isn't only for parents and students. The SynchronEyes program in use at some Utah schools allows teachers to monitor the desktop computers of students to make certain they're following a lesson as a group, rather than shopping or surfing the Internet for other pursuits.

Monticello Academy, a charter school in West Valley City, plans to install web cams in its classrooms for a variety of purposes. "Initially, these will be on a closed-circuit type system only accessible to school administrators for the purposes of improved teaching quality and job performance and improved student behavior," wrote Kim Coleman, school director, in an e-mail.

The web cams also fit into a larger goal of "virtual learning" beyond the classroom. Coleman noted the same technology also would allow sick or absent students to view classroom lessons via a computer or television screen.

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Student information systems by select school district

Alpine School District » uses PowerSchool, available at www.alpine.k12.ut.us. Individual schools provide parents and students with log-in and password.

Granite School District » uses the Grade Book program for all grades, available through individual school Web sites.

Davis School District » offers a "student information system" at www.davis.k12.ut.us/.

Jordan School District » mails out individual log-in and password information to families. Its "student grade book" program may be linked to at www.jordandistrict.org.

The Salt Lake City School District » uses an AAL Solutions program for its electronic student information system at www.slc.k12.ut.us. Parents are given log-in and password information by their child's school.