Teachers,
PowerSchool is being upgraded during the summer to PowerTeacher 1.6. At a meeting in early May, one of the Pearson representatives shared with a user group some of the changes. Here are some things you may find interesting:
*You will be able to copy Multiple assignments into any class - at present you had to do them one at a time.
*Standards can also be entered in the gradebook and can now be seen by parents in the Quick Lookup (standards for grades 1-4 are the "Behaves appropriately, completes tasks on time, etc.) For kindergarten this means that parents will be able to see the measurements on line.
*The comment field will now have a 4000 character limit. Keep in mind though that our report cards will not accomodate that amount to be printed in the comment boxes.
As I learn more I will be more than happy to share :)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Not enough space on Report Cards for comments?
Teachers,
The report cards we use in PowerSchool are set up in the same format as the hand written report cards. Just as the former paper copies, the space allotted for each quarter for comments is limited. Some teachers would like to take advantage of the ability to write more in depth for each child and would like more space. This seems to be more of a problem for middle level grades than lower grades since the student has many more teachers. More space on the report card is not possible, however, there is another avenue you can take.
Teacher comments can be entered through the "backpack." Although these comments do not appear on the report card it allows the teacher to write more verbiage than to share space with other teachers for the limited space on the report card. The report card comment can then read, "Please log onto your child's account and view the comments above your child's grades for (name of the subject) class."
The report cards we use in PowerSchool are set up in the same format as the hand written report cards. Just as the former paper copies, the space allotted for each quarter for comments is limited. Some teachers would like to take advantage of the ability to write more in depth for each child and would like more space. This seems to be more of a problem for middle level grades than lower grades since the student has many more teachers. More space on the report card is not possible, however, there is another avenue you can take.
Teacher comments can be entered through the "backpack." Although these comments do not appear on the report card it allows the teacher to write more verbiage than to share space with other teachers for the limited space on the report card. The report card comment can then read, "Please log onto your child's account and view the comments above your child's grades for (name of the subject) class."
Friday, March 27, 2009
Getting ready to Verify grades for Report Cards
Teachers,
The third marking period is upon us. Your school office will let you know the cut off date for adding grades for this marking period. Remember, if you are entering grades after Friday, March 27th you must make sure you use a date of March 27th or before in order for the grades to calculate in the third marking period.
Kindergarten grades and grades 1-8 checks and pluses are found in PowerTeacher, through the backpack in the homeroom section only (grades 1-4, subject level for grades 5-8.)
Grades must be VERIFIED to the school office prior to closing date. You can use either the Progress report in PowerTeacher under Reports, or the Final grade and verification report in Power Teacher. Either way, make sure that the grades are correct - changing them later is difficult and can not be done at the school level.
Questions? E-mail me.
The third marking period is upon us. Your school office will let you know the cut off date for adding grades for this marking period. Remember, if you are entering grades after Friday, March 27th you must make sure you use a date of March 27th or before in order for the grades to calculate in the third marking period.
Kindergarten grades and grades 1-8 checks and pluses are found in PowerTeacher, through the backpack in the homeroom section only (grades 1-4, subject level for grades 5-8.)
Grades must be VERIFIED to the school office prior to closing date. You can use either the Progress report in PowerTeacher under Reports, or the Final grade and verification report in Power Teacher. Either way, make sure that the grades are correct - changing them later is difficult and can not be done at the school level.
Questions? E-mail me.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Important!! Upgrade will occur on March 31st
Teachers,
An important upgrade is set for Tuesday, March 31st at 3 pm. This upgrade will fix a few issues that are important in all areas of PowerSchool. The ones that affect you the most are: Marking period dates are recorded correctly, the gradebook will now launch with JAVA version 6, and parents will now be able to SEE the checkmarks, late and missing icons!
PowerSchool should be down no more than a few hours. Please make sure you are not logged on and working in the program at this time or you will lose any information that was not saved correctly.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Adele
An important upgrade is set for Tuesday, March 31st at 3 pm. This upgrade will fix a few issues that are important in all areas of PowerSchool. The ones that affect you the most are: Marking period dates are recorded correctly, the gradebook will now launch with JAVA version 6, and parents will now be able to SEE the checkmarks, late and missing icons!
PowerSchool should be down no more than a few hours. Please make sure you are not logged on and working in the program at this time or you will lose any information that was not saved correctly.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Adele
Monday, March 02, 2009
A Podcast on Completing Report Cards
I'm rerunning a podcast I did over a year ago on how to get ready for report cards. Click on the play button to listen.
reportcard.mp3
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Reminder - Clear out Progress Report comments before Report Card printing
Teachers,
Now that the 3rd marking period comments have been sent in Progress Reports, you will probably want to clear them out prior to the printing of report cards. Most of the time those comments will no longer apply. In the beginning of this school year you needed to go into each child's quarter grade and open the comment and delete it. Since we had the upgrade in December there is an easier way to mass delete comments for all the children. Open up Fill Final Grades by right clicking on the quarter final grade for any student in the class with a comment (little blue "c".) Once you have Fill Final Grades open,first click in "replace all", then click on the "Manual Override" box and last at the bottom click in "Comment." Delete the comment in the box and click "Ok." All comments will be deleted and you will see the little red "i" in the grade column. This just shows that an override took place. You are then able to use the Score Inspector to add any new comments needed for 3rd marking period or any marking period of the school year.
Now that the 3rd marking period comments have been sent in Progress Reports, you will probably want to clear them out prior to the printing of report cards. Most of the time those comments will no longer apply. In the beginning of this school year you needed to go into each child's quarter grade and open the comment and delete it. Since we had the upgrade in December there is an easier way to mass delete comments for all the children. Open up Fill Final Grades by right clicking on the quarter final grade for any student in the class with a comment (little blue "c".) Once you have Fill Final Grades open,first click in "replace all", then click on the "Manual Override" box and last at the bottom click in "Comment." Delete the comment in the box and click "Ok." All comments will be deleted and you will see the little red "i" in the grade column. This just shows that an override took place. You are then able to use the Score Inspector to add any new comments needed for 3rd marking period or any marking period of the school year.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
***My 100th Post!*** And, 3rd quarter Progress Reports are now available
Happy 100th Post!!!
Too bad I didn't have the forethought to have it coincide last week with 100 days of school! Anyway, for those of you who use the Progress Reports to send mid quarter reminders to parents, the 3rd quarter data is now available. To run the reports, click on the little printer icon on the right side of your screen in PowerTeacher (in Homeroom only) and then choose the report from the menu (it will have some version of Progress Report in the title.) The report will be created for all of the children in the homeroom, however you can print it for all or chose individual reports. This report contains up to date information so as the gradebook changes running this report again will change.
Too bad I didn't have the forethought to have it coincide last week with 100 days of school! Anyway, for those of you who use the Progress Reports to send mid quarter reminders to parents, the 3rd quarter data is now available. To run the reports, click on the little printer icon on the right side of your screen in PowerTeacher (in Homeroom only) and then choose the report from the menu (it will have some version of Progress Report in the title.) The report will be created for all of the children in the homeroom, however you can print it for all or chose individual reports. This report contains up to date information so as the gradebook changes running this report again will change.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
New Info Regarding JAVA updates
Teachers,
Pearson has sent a notice regarding updates for JAVA. Since some teachers have been experiencing an issue lately, please read the following and see if it pertains to you:
"An issue has been discovered with the recent release of Java 1.6.0_12, which prevents PowerTeacher 1.5 from launching on Windows clients. Teacher workstations should not be updated to this version of Java until this issue has been addressed. If a workstation has already been updated, reverting to Java 1.6.0_11 will restore PowerTeacher 1.5 functionality."
Adele
Pearson has sent a notice regarding updates for JAVA. Since some teachers have been experiencing an issue lately, please read the following and see if it pertains to you:
"An issue has been discovered with the recent release of Java 1.6.0_12, which prevents PowerTeacher 1.5 from launching on Windows clients. Teacher workstations should not be updated to this version of Java until this issue has been addressed. If a workstation has already been updated, reverting to Java 1.6.0_11 will restore PowerTeacher 1.5 functionality."
Adele
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
If you override the Final Quarter Grade
Teachers,
This is an issue especially with those teachers who teach specialized subjects - if you override the quarter grade you MUST give a corresponding number to validate the grade for printing on the report card. For instance, if you override the grade using the Score Inspector and give a student a VG, you must insert a numerical value as well or the system counts the grade as "0" and will not print the letter since it has a value of zero.
Schools need to have all grades verified prior to storing grades for printing. Please follow the above directive to ensure your grades are saved and printed correctly. This will save valuable time and paper for the school office.
This is an issue especially with those teachers who teach specialized subjects - if you override the quarter grade you MUST give a corresponding number to validate the grade for printing on the report card. For instance, if you override the grade using the Score Inspector and give a student a VG, you must insert a numerical value as well or the system counts the grade as "0" and will not print the letter since it has a value of zero.
Schools need to have all grades verified prior to storing grades for printing. Please follow the above directive to ensure your grades are saved and printed correctly. This will save valuable time and paper for the school office.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
End of Second Marking Period is January 23rd
Teachers,
The end of the marking period is here. Please remember, if you are adding assignments and grades during the weekend for the second marking period, you MUST date the assignment either January 23rd or before. Anything dated January 24th or beyond will count as 3rd marking period. Also note, you will not be able to see attendance for the quarter in your attendance view. If you need for any reason the absent or late dates for the 2nd marking period you can click on the child's Quick Lookup and click on the year totals for the the dates.
For reminders of pluses and checks and comments - see previous blog entries around November.
Keep warm!
Adele
The end of the marking period is here. Please remember, if you are adding assignments and grades during the weekend for the second marking period, you MUST date the assignment either January 23rd or before. Anything dated January 24th or beyond will count as 3rd marking period. Also note, you will not be able to see attendance for the quarter in your attendance view. If you need for any reason the absent or late dates for the 2nd marking period you can click on the child's Quick Lookup and click on the year totals for the the dates.
For reminders of pluses and checks and comments - see previous blog entries around November.
Keep warm!
Adele
Thursday, January 15, 2009
URGENT - A Necessary Upgrade for January 15-16, 2009
Teachers,
We apologize for the short notice, but PowerSchool will not be available from just after midnight tonight, January 15th until midday tomorrow, January 16th. You will NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE ATTENDANCE OR INPUT GRADES AT THAT TIME. Once the system is back up in the afternoon you will be informed and you can then take attendance.
Thank you for your patience, this upgrade will help all teachers who use category weighing.
Adele
We apologize for the short notice, but PowerSchool will not be available from just after midnight tonight, January 15th until midday tomorrow, January 16th. You will NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE ATTENDANCE OR INPUT GRADES AT THAT TIME. Once the system is back up in the afternoon you will be informed and you can then take attendance.
Thank you for your patience, this upgrade will help all teachers who use category weighing.
Adele
Friday, January 09, 2009
Kindergarten teachers - your report cards are standards based
Teachers,
The elementary teachers who use the pluses and "x's" for behavioral and academic standing use them for an "as needed" basis. For the kindergarten teachers, the whole report card uses standards and is created in the same place.
Kindergarten teachers complete their report cards from the "backpack" in PowerTeacher. Click on the "backpack" from homeroom and choose a child's name on the left side. In the upper right hand corner, click on the choice arrow and choose "Final Grade Entry Standards." Complete all standards for quarter 2 and click submit on the bottom of the screen. Standard grades do not go through the storing process that other grades do which means the kindergarten teacher can change standards as necessary.
The elementary teachers who use the pluses and "x's" for behavioral and academic standing use them for an "as needed" basis. For the kindergarten teachers, the whole report card uses standards and is created in the same place.
Kindergarten teachers complete their report cards from the "backpack" in PowerTeacher. Click on the "backpack" from homeroom and choose a child's name on the left side. In the upper right hand corner, click on the choice arrow and choose "Final Grade Entry Standards." Complete all standards for quarter 2 and click submit on the bottom of the screen. Standard grades do not go through the storing process that other grades do which means the kindergarten teacher can change standards as necessary.
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