Grade Setup - Screencast III

Teachers,

Here is the third screencast created by me to help you work with PowerTeacher. This one is on weighing categories to set up your grades. As in the two others below, you will need to click twice on the arrow in the middle of the page to start the video. It may take a minute to load depending on your Internet speed.

Click here Grade Setup Screen Cast.

Also, I would like to know if you find these screencasts helpful. Please take the time to take a three question survey. Click on the following link to the survey:
Click Here to take survey

Happy New Year - more to come in 2008!
Adele

Report Card Comments on PowerTeacher - ScreencastPart II

Here's is the second screencast for putting comments on the Report Card through PowerTeacher Grade Book. This screen cast also includes information on more than one comment. Remember, click twice on the arrow in the center of the page and wait for it to load. Click here Report card comment part II.

Adele

Putting in Comments for Report Cards - Screencast

Teachers,

Here is the first part of two screencasts to share how to put comments in PowerTeacher Gradebook that will print on the report card.

Click here Report Card Comments for Report Card

Again, it might take a little time to load and you will need to click on the large arrow in the middle of the page twice to run the video. Please let me know if this is helpful.

Adele

Screen cast on the new attendance codes

Teachers,

I plan to be adding screen casts to this blog. For this one, click on the link Attendance Screencast and click on the arrow in the middle of the page. You may have to click twice. Make sure your speakers are on to hear the details. Let me know if you find this helpful.

Adele

New Codes for Absences

Teachers,

Starting on Monday, December 17, 2007, there are two new attendance codes for you to use. Please NO LONGER use the “A” for absent code. It needs to be left in the choices because it was used in the beginning of the year, but it is not for use from this point on. If you are reading this message after the 17th, please do not be concerned if you used the code this week – until January 2, 2008 this is transitional. Here’s what you use:

If a child is absent and you are not aware of the reason, always choose “UA” which is unexcused absence. These are absences counted as absences. If a child is absent for the following reasons ONLY: this is when you choose “XA” which stands for excused absence. Excused absences do NOT count against the student’s attendance record. It shows the student was not in the building that day however it was an approved absence. The only reasons for an approved absence at this time (I will add as needed to this list) are: Attending the funeral of immediate family, court appearances, for eighth grade one day for freshman for a day, take your child to work day. Vacations, illnesses, personal days off for any reason are not excused absences. If you are unsure, check “UA”, the office can change it later if necessary.

Contact me if you have any questions. Thanks!

Adele

More info on getting rid of those pesky automatic fill-in 'dots' in the password box

Tracy from St. Phillip and James shares the following:

IE 6 remembers passwords until you go in to delete them.
In case anyone needs a way to stop it, this is how:
Tools
Internet Options
Content tab
Auto Complete button
Then you can uncheck the 'Usernames and Passwords on
forms'
and the button that says 'Clear Passwords'
To get rid of all the old passwords.

Thanks Tracy!

Do you see the "Terminate Other Sessions" when you log on?

Teachers,

If you see "Terminate Other Sessions", not to worry. This means that you did not log off of your last session properly or you accidently clicked twice to bring up your gradebook. No one has entered your account. To avoid seeing this in the future, log off by going to File and choose the log off option. If you did that and you still see the "Terminate Other Sessions" you may have clicked twice. Either way, just click on the "Terminate Other Sessions" to enter your gradebook.

Adele

Coming Soon - Screencasts!

Teachers,

Coming toward the end of this week I will start posting short screencasts - it will be my voice over typing on the PowerSchool program. I will start with certain functions; Grade Setup, Categories, etc. Please feel free to email me with whatever you'd like to view.

Adele
aellis@diometuchen.org

Tired of erasing those "bubbles" in the password section that aren't right?

Teachers,

For those of you that orginally said "yes" to remember this password and are frustrated by how you now have to try at least twice to enter PowerTeacher, here is a way to fix that issue if you have Internet Explorer 6, possibly 7. Go to Tools at the top of your page, click on Internet Options. It should be open to have a General Tab as the first tab. On that page click on Passwords to delete saved passwords. Then click OK at the bottom. This should take the passwords out. When you type in your password again and the dialog box comes up, Do you want to remember this password, before you say NO, click in the box that says do not ask this question again, then say NO. This will stop that problem of having the encrypted password saved incorrectly.

Adele

Attendance Issues

Teachers,

At present if you look at the attendance of a child and it lists more days than you know the child was actually absent, look further into the details of the number for correct info. For example, the Quick Lookup may say that the child is absent 4 times when you know the child was absent 2 times and was early dismissed 2 times. If you click on the blue number 4, it will take you to a page that lists the 4 dates with the correct codes next to them - A for absent and ED for early dismissed. Computers "think" in two ways, either you're absent or you're not. Since the student was not in the full day, the system enters the data in the absent page. You don't have to worry about this, but if you have the circumstance of a parent concern, you can give them this information. Counting children toward perfect attendance is the discretion of the school.

NEW INFORMATION REGARDING REPORT CARDS

We have new information regarding report card issues:

For the standards on the elementary report cards the checkmark was coming out on the report card as *a with a tilde above the a. PowerSchool acknowledges that the system can not recognize a checkmark so it was changed to the "X". For those of you who submitted the checkmark already, you need to go back in the system and resubmit the "X" for the correction to be made for the report card. This step will not be needed for the future quarters, you will only need to chose the plus sign or the X once for those quarters.

Also, unfortunately, it has been discovered that comments for the report card can only come from using Score Inspector in the webbased gradebook. The comment section from PowerTeacher and the backpack section are viewable by parents but do not print to the report card. It is probably best to put all comments in through the Score Inspector. Please make sure you are viewing the correct quarter at the time you are posting the comments.

Thanks for your patience as we continue to provide this avenue of communication to our parents for the sake of our children,

Adele

Replacing Checkmarks and Excused in the Webbased Gradebook with numerical grades

Teachers,

It has come to our attention that when replacing the Ex for excused with a numerical grade the number is not calculating in the total. We have found the reason - the EX (or the checkmark) must be cleared before putting in a grade. When you want to replace the EX, first right click on the score and choose CLEAR SCORE. Once the score is cleared you can then type in a numerical grade that will calculate in the total. How do you know this will work? A grade that is not calculating in the total will have a "grayed" effect.

Adele

Last Day for Certificates is November 1st and I will be unavailable for Nov. 2-4th

Teachers,

All must have completed the Webbased Gradebook training tutorial by Tuesday, October 30th. All requests for certificates MUST BE to me by email no later than Thursday, November 1st. I will no longer issue certificates after that date so please do not try to email me and tell me you forgot to tell me you finished it a while ago. There will be NO exceptions.

Also, I will not be available by phone or email from Friday, November 2nd to Sunday, November 4th. If PowerSchool is not working on Friday, please call 732-562-1990 and ask for the help desk. All other concerns can be sent to me by email and I will gladly answer them for you on Monday, November 5th.

Next step ~ Report cards for 1st Quarter ~ See below for instructions.

Thanks and have a great week!

Adele

Change of Address for PowerSchool on 11/2/07

Teachers, please note that the address change for you is from:

http://powerschool.diometuchen.org/teachers

to

https://powerschool.diometuchen.org/teachers

The only addition is the "s" after the http.

Read the rest of the parent information.

Thanks!

Adele

Important Information regarding First Quarter Report Cards

Teachers,

In a few weeks you will be getting ready to provide the first quarter grade for storage and report card printing. Those schools who are not printing the report cards from the system will still be required to provide a final grade in the system for storage and accuracy of student grades.

To prepare for grade verification that will prepare for storage and printing, teachers are required to do the following: either listen to the podcast provided through this link ReportCard podcast or read below:

For teachers who have been adding assignments and grades all quarter, please check the Q1 grade for each student in each of your classes. If you need to make any adjustments to the quarter grade, either right click on the Final Grade and bring up the score inspector to change the letter grade and numerical grade to match. Once the grades are confirmed, click on the reports icon on the top of the page. Choose the report Grade Summary and Verification Report and double click on it. Click on run report at the bottom right hand side of the page. A dialog box will appear and ask you where you want to save the file, it will save only on the computer you are working on. Once you have saved the file you can minimize the gradebook and go to the place you saved the file. Open the file and print it. Send it to the principal or school office for verification. Once the school receives all teachers verification sheets they will call me to store the grades. Report cards can then be printed out from the office only. Any questions please contact me.

For the two schools just starting, follow the above directions once you put in the system the grade that you plan on printing on the report card.

Checks and minuses on the report card

Teachers,

In order to add the checks and minuses to the report cards for the schools that will be printing this first quarter (that is at least 15 schools), you must do that through PowerTeacher, not the gradebook. ****THIS CAN ONLY BE DONE BY THE HOMEROOM TEACHER. Here are the steps:

Once you open PowerTeacher, click on the "backpack" of the class to get to the student information. Student names will appear on the left hand side of the screen. Click on the student name (doesn't matter whether its first or last) and then look on the right side of the screen for the drop down arrow. Click on the arrow and chose "Final Grade Entry (Standards). This should open a screen that allows you to see the standards that are listed under the grades along with comment lines. PLEASE DO NOT FILL IN THE COMMENT LINES. Only chose the plus or minus sign as needed. You do not need to chose one for every child for every standard. Chose only the ones the parents need to see, pluses should be used sparingly and minuses should have a comment added to the first quarter box on the back of the report card. Information regarding comments will be posted later today or tomorrow.

As always, if you have questions please send an email. Thanks! Adele

Reminder for the PowerSchool Tutorial

Teachers,

The last three weeks are here for the free tutorial. All elementary teachers are required to complete the training. Remember, your ID is the email address in its entirety you used to sign on to Pearson's program. The password is the one you entered as a new training user. Do NOT worry if you completed a unit and it does not change from "in progress" to "completed." It is a bug that is acknowledged by Pearson. As long as you know you completed the unit to the "Test Your Knowledge" section you are finished with that section. Once you have completed all six units contact me through email at aellis@diometuchen.org to receive your 6 hour professional development certificate. The certificates available on the site are for their employees only.

Progress Reports for Elementary Schools

Teachers,

If your school is one that uses the diocesan Progress Report here are directions and reminders. If your school does not have access to the progress report and would like to see it, please send me an email.

REMINDER: for lower grades (grades K-4) comments for report cards and progress reports are only "pulled" from the homeroom, not the individual classes. Grades 5-8 can place comments in the individual classes.

If you are using the "canned" comments from the Comment Bank, when using more than one comment, you MUST put a space between the numbers or they will not print the comments, they will print the numbers instead.

The comments must be placed on the quarter grade for it to show on the progress report or report card. If you do not want the progress report comment to repeat on the report card you must remember to go into the student's record and either remove or change the comment prior to the printing of the report card.

PRINTING DIRECTIONS: From PowerTeacher: Either click on the button "Reports" on the left hand side of the screen or click on the printer icon on the right side of the screen. The choice of Class Attendance Audit or Progress Report will be available for any school that already has the progress report. If you do not see a Progress Report then your school does not have one yet. Choose whether to print for all students and click submit on the bottom of the page. You will then be taken to a screen that is called the "Report Queue." In the top right hand corner next to the log out button you will see what looks like a piece of paper being written on. In the middle of the page you will see the report name toward the left and the word "running" on the right. Above the list is a blue "refresh" word. Click on this word until the word "running" becomes the word "completed." Click on the word "Completed" and the reports will come up in another window, more than likely an Adobe file. You can print them for distribution.

This report is saved. If you ever want to go back to it and print any copies again, click on the small paper in the right upper corner by the log out button. Any reports you no longer need can be deleted from the Report Queue by clicking on the trash can on the right.

For teachers with a new grade scale (primary grades and specials)

This year I have to assign the grade scales for grades 1-2 and specials to their classes. Once you have sent me your numerical scale and I have a chance to build and attach the scale to your classes it will be available. Thanks to Carolyn from Immaculate Conception, we have discovered there is a second step. In order to see your grade scale grades properly you will have to recalculate the final grade. This is very simple. Go to tools on the top of the gradebook page and click on "recalculate final grade." It will correct the grades already in your gradebook to the new scale.

What Parents see or don't see

As we use the new program and features, it has come to our attention that some of the wonderful features that we see are not visible to the parents. The checkmark and the little late "L" are not shown on the parent side. PowerSchool has been made aware of this not only by me but many other schools as well. Hopefully it will be available in the next upgrade. In the meantime, please add comments to the grade through score inspector as necessary.

Also, although the sections do appear on the PowerTeacher main page, they are still not visible in the Gradebook. That has also been sent to PowerSchool.

Please remember that all things new need evaluation and revision. This program is a great tool for communication and the adjustments for our needs are secondary to the valuable asset of greater communication with parents for the success of the children.

Adele

Having Password Problems?

The most common password problem comes from Internet Explorer. If at any time you answered "yes" to saving a password in Internet Explorer it will automatically enter it in a password entry box. Unfortunately, it will usually not be the password that you are using for PowerTeacher and you then will receive an error message. Since most users do not know how to delete the password from the automatic insertion, here's what you must do:



After typing in your user name, once you see the "bubbles" appear in the password box, delete the "bubbles." Once that is completed type in the correct password and hit enter. This should help you get into the program.

Looking to view section numbers next to the class info?

PowerSchool listens to feedback. Starting Monday, September 24th you will have the option to view the section numbers of your classes next to the description in the upper left hand corner.

As updates are available I will continue to keep you informed.

Adele

Parent Portal

Teachers,

The question has been raised regarding what parents see in the parent side of PowerSchool. You can see it yourselves - when you log on to PowerSchool Teacher and click on the "backpack" for a student go to the "Quick Lookup page." It's the page that has the attendance information and shows each of the classes the child has with the entered grade for the quarter. This is the grade that calculates as you add assignment grades in your gradebook. When they click on the grade itself they will be taken to a page with the assignments listed and the grade received for the assigments. If the name of the assignment is in blue they will see the instructions you have left for them to see. IF the grade is in blue they will click on it and see the comment you left for them to see. Try it. You WILL NOT be given the ID and password of the parents to get into the account at all. What you see on Quick Look UP is what they will see. Questions? Contact me.

Adele

Now available - Printable manual for PowerTeacher

Hi all!

I hope you are working on the free tutorial ~ remember, it is no longer free after October 30th. In the meantime, I can email you a paper guide (it prints to 54 pages) that was covered in my training. You can print it for yourself. The last pages describe what the parents will see when your school opens the parent portal. Unless you are a parent that received the parent password from your school you will not have access to the portal. If you want to see what parents do see choose one of your students to view and click on Quick Lookup. That is the screen that is accessible to parents.




Send me an email to aellis@diometuchen.org to request the PowerTeacher training manual. Save it to your computer once you receive it or print it out.



Adele

News for the New PowerGrade Teacher

Hi all!

The IT department is putting the finally touches on the webbased book, but PowerSchool is open again. If you have trouble getting in we did change the IP address so your old shortcuts or favorites will not work. Delete the shortcut or favorite and then type in this address on the address bar of your Internet Explorer or other browser: http://powerschool.diometuchen.org/admin for administrators or http://powerschool.diometuchen.org/teachers. Then save these as the new favorites.

The password to get into the classes for the webbased grade book is PSS@01GB. PowerSchool tells me its not case sensitive but I suggest you type as is. Please give this to your teachers, some of them are waiting for it to get started.

At present it is very hard to call back during the day - please email me and I can respond quicker by email. No worries - we will be ready!

More to come and this will be posted on the blog as well.

Adele

What kind of reports will you need?

As you return from Easter break, 4th quarter is upon us and its time to think toward the future. At present there is a progress report available for all teachers to use. What other types of reports do you, as teachers, need access to for you to communicate better with parents? What reports will make it easier for you to determine in a glance how a student is doing? Send me an email so I can begin to find ways to provide these tools for your use.

Separating Comments Printed by Department

For schools already printing report cards and those who will do so in the future, grades 5 - 8 pull comments for report cards from all core subjects. The problem has been that the comments are not separated by subject so the parent would not be able to know which teacher created which comment.

The teachers at Sts. Philip and James were experimenting with this concept and came up with a solution. They put a space before listing the subject, a dash then the comment numbers and another dash.

Here's the way you write it:

[space] SCI - [11], [9] [space] *you don't write [space] -this just means to click the space bar to create space.

Here's how it looks:

REL - Uses time wisely, Participates in activities. MATH - Good effort! LA- Contributes to discussion, Good test results. SS- Pleasure to have in class!

Grades 1-4 have comments for report cards only pulled from the homeroom.

Looking for a way to find Attendance Totals after the Marking Period ends?

I've received many inquiries from teachers regarding finding attendance totals for the marking period after it has ended. In PowerSchool Teacher the only view a teacher is allowed is that of the present marking period. Once the start of the following marking period begins the dates are no longer visible. So other than asking the office to give the dates to the teacher what is an easier way to find them?


While training on the snowiest day in March at St. Bart's, we discovered the answer: using Attendance Totals from PowerGrade.

In order to use this function, you must be in the Homeroom section. The Homeroom is the only class from which daily attendance is recorded. Once in the Homeroom section of PowerGrade, across the top of the page, click on Windows. The third choice down from the list is "Attendance Totals." When this dialog box opens you will see the attendance totals on the left side of the page and the breakdown of the types of attendance codes on the right. At the top of the box you have the option to chose the dates you would like to view. From here you can change the dates to the previous or prior marking periods. Once the totals are available if you roll your mouse over the number in the attendance code box it will show you the dates of that code.

I also have a rudimentary video (my first try so forgive me until I get better at it) to show you how to chose the Attendance Totals. Let me know if any of this information is helpful.

Do you need PowerGrade to drop a lowest grade?

Some teachers drop the lowest grade for a student in the marking period. In order to schedule the lowest grade to be dropped you need to input the information in the final grade setup for each of the classes you wish to drop the grade.

This is also where you choose the weight of categories. To enter this area, either click on "Windows" then "Final Grade Setup" or "Windows" then "Categories." If you chose using the "Categories" section then chose "Weighing" and it will take you to the "Final Grade Setup" screen.

The third choice in the dialog box is "Drop." This is where you chose to drop grades. The number needs to go in the specific category in which you want to drop a grade. For example, if you want to drop the lowest homework grade, chose the "Drop" box on the same line as "Homework." The program will drop the lowest grade for each category you chose.

The next step is to chose the number of grades you wish to drop. If you only drop one lowest grade, then the number "1" should go in the "Drop" box. That tells the program you want to drop only 1 grade in that category (please do not put the parenthesis there - I used them to focus on the number.) If you drop 2 lowest grades in that category then use the number "2."

Questions? Call or email.

More information on the new Web-based gradebook

Taking a second look at the new PowerSchool Web-based gradebook here are more details:

First of all, those of you who are familiar with itunes, that is closer to what the new grade book looks like – it is easier on the eye than PowerGrade.

Here’s some cons:

*You will only be able to see one quarter at a time.

*The copy class information or assignment information from one class to another is NOT available in this first version.

*The “Fill Score” feature is also NOT available in this version.

*There is NO seating chart in this version.

*Attendance is not taken from the gradebook – not a problem for the Diocese since I have encouraged all of you to take attendance from PowerSchool Teacher anyway.

MORE PROs:

Midterm and Final Exam grades will be much easier to add to the quarter grades for a semester grade.

There are “sub” filters. You can view by Category and then assignments – i.e., Reading then broken down to tests, quizzes, etc.

You can create assignments that can be given a checkmark (no grade required) to show that it was handed in. You can also chose what assignments to make public to parents and which to hide from view.

There is a function called “Score Inspector” that allows you to do the above and flag an assignment as late or exempt. This is now where you can also type in comments related to that assignment.

Student alerts are now visible in the Grade book where they were only visible in PowerSchool Teacher in the past.

I will be testing the program probably in April. I will keep you informed. Schools already on PowerSchool for the 2006-2007 school year will have the option of choosing which gradebook they want to use for 2007-2008. New schools will start on PowerGrade for the first year.

Did you know you can personalize your student screen?

On PowerSchool Teacher, when you click on the "backpack" to view information on the students in your classes, the default screen is the student's schedule. Many times teachers then click on the drop down arrow in the upper right hand corner to chose the screen they wish to view; most times being student demographics, others final grade entry.

Just as you can personalize your password, you can also personalize the student screen view. From the opening page, chose "Personalize" on the left hand menu. Chose "student screen" and then chose the screen that you view the most to be the default view. This should save some steps and time as you move through your students.

Getting ready for the webbased gradebook!

Hi all!

We had a demonstration today of the webbased gradebook. It will be available for use in September and I will begin training at that time. Some news to note:

The webbased gradebook will be accessed through PowerSchool Teacher - you'll need to go to only one icon and both programs will exist on the web directly into the Diocesan server. The look of the webbased grade book is "cleaner" than the PowerGrade book and does have some easy to use features that capture the good portions of PowerGrade.

What's new:

- the ability to click on an assignment and then a student's grade in that assignment to highlight that student's information across the row.

-the ability to see a student's medical alert on PowerGrade, not just on PowerSchool.

-even easier way to leave notes for parents to view on individual assignments.

-you can create subgroups of students in a class. For instance, in your Language Arts class you may have three different groups of students; lions, seals, and turtles. These children can have different assignments assigned to just their group.

-assignments that are handed in but not graded can be input and only checkmarks to show the assignment was handed in are visible (daily homework as an example.)

-you can hide assignments from view and set a release date for the viewing in advance (nice feature!)



What's not there presently:

-the ability to view more than one quarter at a time. Although grades calculate for the year when you enter grades for the quarter, you will need to switch views to see the year.

What's still there:

-the same reports are available for printing.

-the same ability to override grades as necessary.

We are considering the option of allowing those who wish to still use the PowerGrade program to do so, however the decision must be a whole school decision, not teacher by teacher in the school. Also, you can not switch from one program to another during the school year so in September the decision will be final. Unfortunately, the decision must be made by the beginning of the school year before the students arrive. I will be in touch with your principals so decisions can be made at the returning faculty meetings prior to the first day of school for the students. I do not have access to share the webbased grade book to all until after the summer.

I will keep you posted, but start thinking now of which sounds like a good choice for you and your school.

Timing Out when working on Attendance or Grades

The connection to PowerSchool, either through PowerSchool Teacher or PowerGrade, like many other internet programs "times out" when not in use. If you leave the window open and come back to work later you will see the page, however the information will not be sent to the PowerSchool server.

Here is an example:

In the morning you open the PowerSchool Teacher website and click on your homeroom "chair" to prepare to take attendance. After the children come in and a number of other events take place you go to the computer and click on the choices for attendance codes to complete the attendance on the children. When you click the "submit" button the login page suddenly appears again. YOUR INFORMATION WAS NOT SENT. You will need to login again to complete the attendance.

The same could happen inputting grades. PowerGrade and PowerSchool are recommended to use and close when not in use. These guidelines will save your work more efficiently.

Interested in Hiding or Showing Other Quarters in PowerGrade?

If you are not interested in seeing all 4 quarters or year end in your PowerGrade, or if you are interested in seeing only those with grades, here are the instructions to do so:

Showing Other Quarters

Note: This has to be done for each class

1. Open a class
2. Go to Windows, Final Grades Setup
3. Use the drop down arrow and choose the quarter that you want to display
4. Check the box that says, Show on Spreadsheet
5. Click Accept
6. Your spreadsheet will now display a column for the quarter you chose

Hiding Quarters in PowerGrade

Note: This has to be done for each class

1. Open a class
2. Go to Windows, Final Grades Setup
3. Uncheck the box that says, Show on Spreadsheet
4. Click Accept
5. Your spreadsheet will no longer display a column for Q1

PowerSchool Teacher - what do you want to see first?

As we approach report card time again, you might want to check attendance records for your students. Schools that print the report cards directly from the PowerSchool program will have attendance automatically recorded on the form for them.

Schools who are still handwriting report cards at this time can use the following feature to determine absences and tardies.

On PowerSchool Teacher - click the "backpack" of your homeroom (at this time only homeroom attendance counts as daily attendance.) Click on the individual child's name on the right hand side. The page will have a drop down menu on the upper right section - to view attendance choose "Quick Look up" and attendance records should appear with class schedule and grades.

If the Quick Look Up is not the default page and you would like it to be, you can change the page appearance.

Click on the PowerSchool logo in the upper left hand corner to return to the opening page. On the left side chose "Preferences." Here you have the ability to change your password and your default student screen. Choose "Quick Look up" and submit. Now when you return to the classes and follow the above instructions the Quick Look Up page will automatically appear for each child as you choose their name.

Revision to the last blog regarding upgrade PowerGrade

Teachers - it has been brought to my attention that the upgrade is not available at this time on PowerSchool Teacher. The upgrade must be done from PowerGrade itself. In order to do this, open PowerGrade, Open any class, and then click on File -Close Class. Once you go to log off, a prompt will appear and ask you if you want to upgrade to the newest version - say "YES." Follow the instructions from there.

For some reason it was taken off of the PowerSchool Teacher site. I will let you know when it's back.

Adele