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Canvas has been the Learning Management System (LMS) for Arlington Public Schools since the 2017-2018 school year. It serves as a central hub for teaching and learning by housing instructional content, assignments, assessments, feedback, and communication — all in one place. Canvas integrates with other tools, eliminating the need for multiple logins and platforms, and it supports differentiation, personalization, and accommodations to meet diverse student needs. Parents can use Canvas to review upcoming or past assignments, check grades, receive alerts about student activity, and communicate with teachers, making it an essential resource for supporting student success.
Canvas for Parents
Parent Observers
What Can Parent Observers Do?
In Canvas, parents and guardians function as Observers. This means you have limited permissions that allow you to see what is going on in a course without participating in the course or viewing the work or interactions of students for whom you are not the guardian.Parent observers can view their student’s courses in Canvas after the teacher has published the course. Observers cannot submit work on behalf of the students they observe.At APS, parents may create a Canvas Parent account and access Canvas via a web browser or the Parent app. It is not required for parents to create a Canvas account. However, with an account, you are ‘co-enrolled’ in all your student’s courses as an Observer and can monitor their progress.APS recommends using the web browser to log in as a Parent Observer because it provides the best experience and the most functionality for a parent.
Create and Set up APS Parent Canvas Account
Set up your APS Parent Observer Account
NOTE: If you and your child have the SAME first and last name, please add something to your Canvas account name to differentiate you from your child. For example, add a “Sr.” to the end of your name, or add a (P) next to your name so we know it’s a Parent: Jose Rodriguez (Sr), or Jose (P) Rodriguez. This reduces confusion for Teachers when using features like Inbox messaging.
Frequently Asked Questions Guide
FAQs – Canvas Guides (browser)
- How do I use the Global Navigation Menu as an observer?
- How do I use the Dashboard as an observer?
- How do I view my favorite courses in the Card View Dashboard as an observer?
- How do I view global activity for my student’s courses in the Recent Activity Dashboard as an observer?
- How do I view the Global Announcements page as an observer?
- How do I view Grades in the Dashboard as an observer?
- How do I view a list of all Canvas courses in which I am an observer?
- How do I customize my Courses list as an observer?
- How do I view my recent page view history in Canvas as an observer?
- How do I log out of Canvas as an observer?