Teachers may set up a “Extra Points” default setting by editing the properties of their assignment categories. Detailed instructions are available here: http://slcedtech.net/powerschool/extra_credit.pdf

Click here for list of features.

The following handout was created for middle school teachers who were preparing for Quarter Three grades, but it includes information on entering citizenship scores and report card comments appropriate for any term:
http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/prepforQ3Reportcards.pdf

This handout demonstrates the procedure for entering citizenship marks:
http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/citizenshipmarksPT.pdf

Our own nine-page PowerTeacher Gradebook instructions can be accessed by clicking on the following:
http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/PowerTeacherWebJune08.pdf

Near the top of your Scoresheet within PowerTeacher gradebook, you should see “Mode” followed by the buttons labeled Assignments and Final Grades. If you don’t see a Final Grades button, it is most likely because your screen resolution is set too low.

Here are instructions on changing your screen resolution:
http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/screen_resolution.pdf

More tutorials and PowerSchool information can be found by clicking the PowerSchool link at www.slcedtech.net.

Please feel free to contact Eric Jarvis if you need any assistance in using PowerTeacher Gradebook or PowerGrade to prepare for report cards.

It turns out that not all of the buttons and features are available if your screen resolution is set too low.  Those who could not see the Final Grades button had screen resolutions set  to 800 by 600.  Bumping that resolution up to 1024 by 768 fixed the problem.

Here is an instruction sheet on how to adjust your screen resolution:
http://slcedtech.net/powerschool/screen_resolution.pdf

If you don’t require the illustrations in the handout,  you can simply right click on your desktop.  Then select Properties and click on the Settings tab.  There you will see a little slider that allows you to change your screen resolution.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance, and THANK YOU to the teachers who discovered this issue and brought it to my attention.

powerteacher
PowerSchool has finally released the long-awaited PowerTeacher Gradebook version 1.5.  This version doesn’t include a seating chart, but we hear that one will be included shortly.

As soon as our district installed version 1.5 on our test server, I began working with it. I created a little video tour that can be found at the following URL:    http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/powerteacher1-5/powerteacher1-5.html

I’m very excited about the new features included in this gradebook.  Some of the new features are very basic and should have been included long ago (e.g., ability ot add citizenship scores).  Other features were things I didn’t expect, but was pleased to see (e.g., ability to import scores).

Below is a list of some if its new features:

• Assignment scores may be imported from other sources (e.g., Moodle, student response pads, handheld devices, etc).
• The scoresheet may be filtered so that a single student and all of their scores is displayed on the screen.
• Final scores & grades are calculated in real time; the previous version calculated the final score only after the teacher clicked “Save.”
• Citizenship marks can be added from within the gradebook, and teachers may use the “fill” feature to instantly assign each student a mark.
• The “fill” feature works on the final grades, allowing teachers to delete all progress report comments instantly and/or assign each student a CR for their advisory class.
• Teachers may “finalize” term grades; administrators and registrars may then see if a teacher’s grades are ready to be stored.
• Teachers may filter by two or more categories simultaneously.
• Student groups are easier to set up and manipulate.
• Teachers may use the “fill” features for specific groups.
• The gradebook offers greater flexibility in setting up gradescales.

I’m looking forward to our teachers being able to use this much-improved version of the PowerTeacher Gradebook in 2009.

Some have argued that posting grades and attendance online has taken the responsibility of academic achievement OUT of the hands of students and turned it over to the parents.  This, as demonstrated by our own access data, is clearly not the case.  Students are checking and monitoring their own academic progress, and this is building good habits that will benefit them now and when they are attending higher-education institutions.

The new default grade scale is shown below:
A+ 98 -100; A 93-97; A- 90-92 ;
B+ 88-89; B 83-87; B- 80-82;
C+ 78-79; C 73-77; C- 70-72;
D+ 68-69; D 63-67 D- 60-62;
F 59 AND BELOW

Once IS&T makes the above changes, PowerTeacher Web-based gradebook users may initiate the new grade scale for each class by clicking on TOOLS and selecting RECALCULATE FINAL SCORES. This procedure will need to be repeated for each class. Please click the following link for more detailed instructions: http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/recalculate_grade_scale.pdf

If a teacher using PowerTeacher Web-based gradebook does not follow the above procedure, the new grade scale will be initiated automatically for a specific class after changes for that class are made and saved.

These changes to the grade scale will NOT affect progress report or term grades that have already been stored, nor will it have an effect in cases where the teacher has used the Manual Override to enter or change term grades.

Teachers who are still using the older PowerGrade gradebook may initiate the new grade scale by clicking UTILITIES from the top menu and selecting REBUILD DATA FROM SERVER. A Rebuild Data pop-menu will appear; they should then select Administrative Settings and click OK. This will initiate the new Grade Scale for all classes.

If a PowerGrade user does nothing, the new grade scale will not take effect this school year.

Please click the following link for more detailed instructions on initiating the new grade scale from within the PowerGrade gradebook: http://www.slcedtech.net/powerschool/recalculate_grade_scale.pdf

In other words, their quarter ended on October 24th.  On October 24th, they could not enter the due date of October 24th for an assignment.  They were, however, able to make enter the due date as October 23rd and then change the due date to October 24th on October 25th.  They could also enter October 24th as a due date on any other day except October 24th…confused yet?  So am I.

This was a strange error and PowerSchool is aware of the situation. 

Long story short, try changing the due date of an assignment if PowerTeacher Gradebook doesn’t allow you to enter an assignment.

The following link is to a PDF that demonstrates how to add comments and manually override grades:
http://slcedtech.net/powerschool/ptweb_comments_override.pdf

Here as a link to a PDF that demonstrates how to change citizenship scores using PowerTeacher:
http://slcedtech.net/powerschool/changing_citizenship_scores.pdf

Below is a video on the same topic (changing citizenship scores):
http://slcedtech.net/powerschool/changing_citizenship_scores.pdf

Printing absence reports from PowerTeacher is demonstrated in the following video:
http://slcedtech.net/powerschool/reports/reports.html

There are more tutorials available at the San Luis Coastal EdTech Website at http://slcedtech.net/ . Click PowerSchool for the tutorials on using the gradebook.

I did notice that our Internet connection was a little slow yesterday.  If the situation hasn’t improved, it may take a minute or so before the online videos begin to stream.  The progress bar only needs to make it to the 10% mark before the video begins to play.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any help getting ready for progress reports.

Please note that each school has a different due date for progress reports.  If you need information about your school’s progress report due date, please contact your school’s administration; however, do not hesitate to contact me if you need any other type of assistance.

Note:  The current term for LOMS and LAMS is Q1.