MAISD PowerSchool

May 2023 Newsletter

The MAISD PowerSchool Support Team has created this email newsletter to keep our district contacts and stakeholders updated on current needs, future updates, and tips and tricks to make using PowerSchool more convenient and effective.

Please let us know someone else should receive this newsletter by emailing Joel Selby at jselby@muskegonisd.org.

Feature Explorer

Using New Contact Information in Reports and Letters

Since contacts have been moved over to the Unlimited Contacts system, there are new ways you can use this data in your reports and letters.

PowerSchool has a system to access data like this called Data Access Tags (DATs). DATs can be used across PowerSchool to pull in information about the current student or staff member. Because the data around Contacts is so unlimited, there are special DATs you can create to access their information. A plugin was created by a PowerSchool user to help you build these DATs.

Please note that we are using the new data to update the old legacy fields of "cnt1_firstname," "cnt1_email," "cnt1_street," and so on, so those fields are still able to be used in reports and letters.

To access the DAT builder, from the admin portal in PowerSchool, open either District or School Setup under the Setup menu option. There will be a new heading for 'Contacts' with a link to the builder. Follow the on-screen instructions to generate DAT tags which can then be copy and pasted for use throughout PowerSchool.

To access the pre-built quick Contact DATs, click the Contact DATs link on either the Quick Export or List Students page, which will be located next to the Fields link. You can select any of the listed options to add a single field DAT based on the relationship or the order of the contact. When a DAT is selected, it will populate in the corresponding field box for export or listing.

Reminders

May Reminders

District-Level

Your term dates and final grade/reporting term dates for next year have been set up in PowerSchool based on this year's dates. If the dates differ once they are finalized, please submit a MAISD PowerSchool Helpdesk ticket to have them updated.

End-of-Year (EOY) Reminders

We recently held our annual End-of-Year reminder meeting. If you were unable to attend, check out the agenda and notes here. You can also view the recording here.

Coming Late Fall 2023 - Navigation Updates in PowerSchool

PowerSchool recently released a major update to navigation in PowerSchool. The new update includes these improvements:

New Fly-Out Menu eliminated need to go back to the home page and jump around School Setup and System Setup pages
Quick Search feature lets you search students, staff, contacts, and pages from anywhere
Updated Student Selection tool to make navigating groups of students easier
New Favorites tool lets you set your own favorite pages

In order to be ready for this update, the MAISD PS Support Team will need to make updates to all of our existing plugins and customized pages. Our current plan is to switch over to the new navigation system in Late Fall/Early Winter 2023-24.

How can the MAISD PowerSchool Support Team help you?

Training

New Staff

Be sure to notify the PowerSchool Team when new staff members are hired. New staff will be given a PowerSchool Training account and assigned the appropriate learning path. Learning paths include online courses relevant to the job the staff member will be performing. This will provide a foundation of PowerSchool knowledge. Once the online training has been completed, we suggest scheduling a one-on-one in person or virtual training with a PowerSchool team member to answer any questions and provide further instruction.

Ongoing Training

The PowerSchool Team is available to provide training to staff on an as needed basis. Please contact us to schedule training.

Throughout the School Year

The PowerSchool Team holds annual training sessions throughout the school year for elementary scheduling, beginning of the year, end of the year, and PowerSchool 101. Please contact the PowerSchool Team for dates and times. Training dates are also published in this newsletter.

Custom Modules Developed by the MAISD PowerSchool Team

SWIS Integration - Allows log entries in PowerSchool to be sent to SWIS.
Enrollment/Registration - Online enrollment, yearly forms and demographic info update within the Parent Portal.
Chronic Absenteeism - Allows districts to quickly view students who have met attendance thresholds, generate attendance letters en masse, track parent meetings, and generate reports as needed.
Accommodation Log - Allows teachers to enter accommodations offered (accepted and refused) for students with an IEP or 504 plan. The data is stored, reportable, and accessible to parents.
Other - Chromebook Tracking, 31a Reporting, Online Report Cards, among others.

Data Integration

The PowerSchool Team can create automated jobs that integrate the flow of data between PowerSchool and third party software applications, removing the need to compile data and upload it manually.

Report Writing

The PowerSchool Team can write a variety of reports, including data reports, detail reports, analytical reports, and student performance reports (report cards, progress reports, transcripts).