MAISD PowerSchool

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 if someone else should receive this newsletter by emailing Joel Selby at jselby@muskegonisd.org.

Join us for a workshop specifically for Secondary Counselors and Registrars! This full-day workshop will be offered in two halves so you can attend the portion that best fits your experience level.

8:00-10:30 AM Session (Beginner):

• How does PowerScheduler work?
• What support does the MAISD offer?
• Setting Timelines

11:30 AM-2:15 PM Session (Intermediate):

• Setting Prerequisites for Student Course Requests
• Teacher Recommendations
• Graduation Planning

We will also be offering follow-up work sessions where you can join us to work on these scheduling items with on-site support throughout the school year.

• As we head into the holiday season, please ensure your Calendar is set up and holidays, half days, PD days, and breaks have been entered. (School Management > Scheduling > Configure Calendar)

We're working on adding more helpful reminders and tools throughout PowerSchool. Here are a few recent additions:

• Adds labels for each portion of the student name on the New Student and Student Demographics pages.
• Expands the Multiple Historical Grades entry page to 14 entry boxes, adds labels for the Store Code columns, and the ability to automatically calculate the GPA Points on entry when you choose a Grade Scale and enter a letter grade.
• Adds automatic calculation of GPA Points on Single Historical Grades Entry page.
• Adds display of the number of course registrations in each Term and Reporting Term.
• Adjustments to the Data Quality Alert on students for accuracy.

When you choose a grading scale on the page, as you enter each letter grade, the page will find the corresponding GPA Points value and enter it for you.

We recently installed the Quick School plugin across all districts to help users with admin access to multiple buildings get around quicker!

The Quick School feature is enabled at the user level and is customizable to YOUR needs.

One awesome feature is that the page you were on will be remembered when you switch schools, instead of always being directed to the Home Page when you switch schools. Please note, however, that you will still lose any student or staff selections you've made when switching schools.

Once you've enabled your settings, the page will refresh and your buttons will appear. Remember, you can always click on the small blue down-arrow to the left of the first button to open the traditional school switcher to access the buildings you elected not to include in your buttons, as well as see the School IDs.

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.

• Asset Tracking - Allows admin staff/technology departments to track ownership of Chromebooks and/or other devices, as well as keep repair logs.
• Community Service - Allows staff to log community service hours for students, the total required, and keep track of the cumulative total. Information is also displayed in the Parent/Student portal.
• Positive Behavior Acknowledgments - Allows teachers and admin staff to acknowledge students' positive behaviors, track data over time, and automatically notify parents and students.
• SWIS Integration - Allows log entries in PowerSchool to be sent to SWIS.
• Enrollment Queue (Registration)/Demographic Update - 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 - 31a Reporting, Online Report Cards, among others.

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.

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).

Day to day support, secondary scheduling, standards support, and all things related to PowerSchool!

Submit a PowerSchool Helpdesk Ticket

Bill Smith, SIS Support Specialist

Joel Selby, SIS Support Specialist

Heidi Strong, SIS Helpdesk

Website: https://www.muskegonisd.org/techservices/ps/
Location: 630 Harvey Street, Muskegon, MI, USA
Phone: (231) 767-0414