PowerSchool QuickTime Movie Tutorials (Get Quicktime)

1. PowerTeacher Gradebook 2.3 New Features
2. PowerTeacher Gradebook: Removing Standards Final Grades (elem)
3. PTG: Remove Standards Final Grades for Dropped Students
4. Logging on to PowerSchool/Changing Password
5. Taking Attendance online
6. PowerSchool Teacher movies by Don Truett:
   1. Saving and Printing Report Cards
7. Entering Comments with PowerTeacher Gradebook
8. Entering Comments in PowerTeacher Gradebook for Elementary teachers
9. Entering Grades in PowerTeacher Gradebook for Elementary teachers
10. PowerSchool Reports look black—If you can't see your reports in PowerSchool, try this trick.
11. Create a Grade Verification report in PowerTeacher Gradebook

Handouts

1. PowerTeacher Quick Reference Card--2 pages-covers web gradebook also
2. PowerTeacher Gradebook 2 Setup
3. PowerTeacher Gradebook Missing Reports?
4. PowerTeacher Gradebook: Missing Assignments Count as "0"
5. Entering Grades in PowerTeacher Gradebook for Elementary Teachers (created by Debbie Seever)
6. Printing Report Cards (created by Debbie Seever)
7. Printing Teacher Comments (created by Debbie Seever)
8. Kinder Comment Bank: PDF | .DOC
9. EUSD Comment Bank—Single page screen shot of them in order.
10. Additional Comment Bank (includes those listed in the online Comment Bank): PDF | .xls
11. Report Card Comment Limits— There is room for 700 characters. This document tells you how you can tell.
12. Printing Elementary Report Cards Efficiently
13. Using PowerSchool Teacher - printing reports, finding student info, etc. (updated 11-2-06)
14. Entering Standards Grades with the Keyboard—It might just save you a little time.
15. Report Card Backs (English PDFs)
    K | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th
16. Report Card Backs (Spanish PDFs)
    K | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th
17. Report Cards - includes K-5 - print just the pages you need - English | Spanish

General Questions

1. What is PowerSchool?  The Board has approved the implementation of a student information system called PowerSchool.  This web-based system will be used to store all our student and staff information.  PowerSchool will greatly improve our ability to provide information to teachers, parents and administrators and to be able to provide mandated information to the Federal and State government.
2. Is this system secure?  The biggest risk is when someone opens the system and then leaves it unattended.  If you currently provide students or  parents with your login and password, you will want to change that practice for 2006 – 2007.  We need to prevent unauthorized access to the system.  Do not allow others to have unattended access to your computer or logon information.
3. How do I get more help?  There are a number of ways to get help with this system:
   1. SCHOOL SITE: TRT, Registrar, Office Manager, and Attendance Clerk have all had various additional training.
   2. WEB PAGE: This FAQ page will answer commonly asked questions. There will handouts and movies available here.
   3. PHONE: Ext.150

Teacher Questions

1. How does this system impact me as a classroom teacher? PowerSchool will empower you to look up student information, such as parent names, phone numbers, etc., on your classroom or home computer.  You will also be able to print reports or labels for your class.  Each morning, you will open a computer screen to take attendance on line.  The system also offers a gradebook application.
2. When will I take attendance?  Note: PowerSchool will automatically log out after 15 minutes of no activity. Initial attendance will be completed at the start of your instructional day, just as it is now.  That process should be completed within 15 minutes or so (check with your office if in doubt). Record “tardy” students in the classroom while you are in the process of taking attendance.  Once you have “submitted” your on-line attendance all other attendance processes will be handled by the office.  Do not allow students to enter without a tardy slip.
3. Do I have to take attendance if all my students are present and on time? Yes. California requires that teachers actively take attendance every day. By default, students are considered present. Therefore, teachers must click "Submit" on the attendance screen in order for attendance to be reported. Do NOT allow students or other helpers to take attendance for you.
4. What if a child is late?  If you still have PowerSchool available, you can simply mark the child as "Tardy".  If you have moved on to curriculum instruction, ask the child to report to the school office.
5. What will happen when a substitute visits my class?  Substitutes will be given a simple job aide to use when taking attendance.  They will use a substitute logon that provides very limited access to technology resources.  They will take attendance at the computer with the green PowerSchool sticker.  There is no need for you to provide any of your passwords.
6. What if my classroom computer is very old?  Principals will make sure that all classrooms have a computer capable of accessing the Internet and running the gradebook application. Currently, classroom computers must be running Mac OS X (10.4.11) or better.
7. How will I be trained?  There will be handouts and movies available.
8. How will I take roll if my classroom computer isn't working?  Check with your office for your school's procedure. At many schools, in your emergency backpack you will have a rollsheet. This sheet should be updated at least monthly.  If the sheet is not completely accurate, record changes.  Send the completed attendance to office.
9. In PowerSchool, after I leave a printing request, how can I just get back to the reports to print without requesting another series of reports? When you open PowerTeacher again, just to the left of the Logout button, there is a little rectangle (a paper w/ the right corner turned down). Click on that opens your Report Queue. Click on the "Completed" blue link and the report will either open up or download to your computer (depending on the browser you are using).

PowerTeacher Gradebook Questions

1. Do I have to use PowerTeacher Gradebook? All teachers will have to use PowerTeacher Gradebook at least to enter final grades and comments for report cards and progress reports (in lieu of the bubble sheets).  Some schools may require the exclusive use of PowerTeacher Gradebook for grading. See your principal.
2. Can I post my grades to the Internet for parents to see? For middle school teachers, all grades entered into the gradebook will be visible for parents. If elementary teachers attaches standards to all assignments, those should be visible to parents as well.
3. Can I have an aide or volunteer log grades for me? You may not give access to PowerSchool or PG to others; it is a violation of the District Acceptable Use Policy. There is not a reduced-privileges login for an aide or student volunteer.
4. How can I add new students to my gradebook? New students are added automatically to your gradebook once the student is enrolled by the attendance clerk
5. How can I see dropped students? Go to the class from which they were dropped. Click on the Students tab; at the top look for the Filter by drop-down and choose Dropped to see your dropped students. Click on the Scoresheet tab to look at their grades.
6. How do I add and format Final Grade Comments? The easiest way to add Final Grade comments is to Control (or right)-click on the final grade for the class you want to enter a comment for and choose Score Inspector. In the ensuing dialog box, you can free type or copy/paste comments that will inherit whatever comment break (space or line) you put in. If you would rather use the Comment Bank, click on its link. Then you will have access to all of the pre-baked comments and it is there where you can choose line-break or space separated comments. Note: line break is the default. After completing one student, use the Up-Down arrows in the top right corner of the Score Inspector.

Elementary PowerSchool Report Card - Info

The TRT at each site is the contact person.
Grades entered in Final Grades PowerTeacher Web Gradebook (PTG) will transfer to the report card. If a teacher uses PTG, he/she must enter report card comments using PTG. Elementary Progress Reports are NOT entered in PowerSchoolTeacher.

Elementary School - all teachers grades entered in PowerSchool Teacher
Tri 1 -

1. PowerTeacher Gradebook should be used by elementary school teachers only for entering Final Grades and Comments. It should not be used as a traditional gradebook because it can pollute GPAs in Middle School.
2. Final Grades and comments can be entered in PowerTeacher Gradebook any time - even before trimester ends. Report cards may be printed any time, but those printed before the notification on Nov 14 will not show comments.
3. Nov 14 - Special Programs stored by district (this allows ELM, SEI, TWP, SBP to be marked on report card. Changes to a student's Special Programs status will not show after this date).
4. Oct 13-14 - Parent Conferences - give parents a copy of the standards
5. Nov 10 - Report Cards - reporting PERIOD ENDS - All Elementary Schools Enter Grades and comments in PowerSchool by end of work day (5 p.m.) (NOTE: Comments should be no more than 700 characters per student or they will print in the next trimesters box). Do not add grades or comments over the weekend.
6. Nov 14 - Grades and comments are stored. When schools are notified, report cards may be printed. Report cards printed before then will not have comments printed on them.
7. Nov 18 - Report Cards - ISSUED - Sent home with students.

Elementary School - all teachers grades entered in PowerSchool Teacher
Tri 2 -

1. Date TBD - grades and comments can be entered online any time - even before trimester ends. Report cards may be printed any time, but those printed before the notification on March 5 will not show comments. (NOTE: Comments should be no more than 700 characters per student or they will print in the next trimesters box). Do not add grades or comments over the weekend.
2. Mar 2 - Report Cards - reporting PERIOD ENDS - All Elementary Schools Enter Grades and comments in PowerSchool by end of work day (5 p.m.)
3. Mar 5 - Grades and comments are stored. When schools are notified, report cards may be printed. Report cards printed before then will not have comments printed on them.
4. Mar 9 - Report Cards - ISSUED - Sent home with students.

Elementary School - all teachers grades entered in PowerSchool Teacher
Tri 3 -

1. Date TBD - Grades and comments can be entered online any time - even before trimester ends. Report cards may be printed any time, but those printed before the notification on June 4 will not show third trimester comments.
2. June 1 - Report Cards - reporting PERIOD ENDS - All Elementary Schools Enter Grades and comments in PowerSchool by end of work day (5 p.m.)
3. June 4 - Grades and comments are stored. When schools are notified, report cards may be printed. Report cards printed before then will not have comments printed on them.
4. June 7 - Report Cards - ISSUED - Sent home with students.

2011-12 Middle School PowerSchool Report Card - Info

The TRT at each site is the contact person.

This year we are only using PTG.
Last year, the Parent Portal was opened. This allows parents to see grades posted online. Only those grades kept in PTG will show.

Tri 1 -

1. Oct 7 - Progress Reports - reporting PERIOD ENDS - Middle Schools Enter Grades in PowerTeacher WebGradebook (PTG)
2. Oct 13 - Progress Reports - ISSUE
3. Oct 13-14 - Middle Schools Parent Conferences
4. Nov 10 - Report Cards - reporting PERIOD ENDS - Middle Schools Enter Grades in PTG (5 p.m.)
5. Nov 18 - Report Cards - ISSUED

Tri 2 -

1. Jan 20 - Progress Reports - reporting PERIOD ENDS - Middle Schools Enter Grades in PTG
2. Jan 27 - Progress Reports - ISSUED
3. Mar 2 - Report Cards - reporting PERIOD ENDS - Middle Schools Enter Grades in PTG (5 p.m.)
4. Mar 9 - Report Cards - ISSUED

Tri 3 -

1. April 20 - Progress Reports - reporting PERIOD ENDS - Middle Schools Enter Grades in PTG
2. April 27 - Progress Reports - ISSUED
3. June 1 - Report Cards - reporting PERIOD ENDS - Middle Schools Enter Grades in PTG (5 p.m.)
4. June 7- Grades stored and Report Cards issued