PowerSchool for Counselors

Searching for Inactive Students:

• Use the “/” key in the Search Students entry box to search for inactive students in your school.  
• Key in / and click Enter to get a list of all active and inactive students in your school.

Searching Student:

You can search on any field in the Student table.  Click on the “View Field List” link to see available fields.  Click on the field name and it will appear in the search box.  Type in your operator (=, >, <, #, or contains) and the value you are searching for select enter or click the magnifying glass.  Review the “How To Search” for ideas on student searches and meaning for comparators (=, >, <, #, etc).  To combine 2 search criteria separate with ; for example:
*cumulative_credit_hours<20;grade_level=12.

PowerSchool Features/Terms:

• PowerSchool Logo:  Click on the logo at any time to return to the Start Page.
• Remember to use the Help link at the top of the page to the right of your name.

Current School and Term:

Make sure you are viewing the correct school at the top of the page.
Make sure you are viewing the correct term.  If you are logged into “Semester 1”, you will NOT be able to see any classes scheduled for Semester 2.  If you want to select classes for the entire year make sure you are in the year term.

Quick Export:

Quick export produces a list of students and information from the Student table that can be viewed in Excel.

1. Select students.
2. In the “Select a Function” drop-down, click on Quick Export.
3. Type in the desired field names or click the “Fields” hyperlink and click on desired fields.
4. Submit – it will ask if you want to Find or Save, select Save, select Desktop, name the file and Save.
5. From your desktop, right click on the file you just saved and Open With and select Excel.

Search Grades:

1. Select a group of students .
2. On the left select Special Functions.
3. From the list select Search by Grades/Attendance.
4. Click on All students OR your selected students.
5. Check the desired box and make choices regarding grade search*.
6. Uncheck Scan for Attendance.
7. Make remaining desired choices regarding grade search and results.
8. Submit and the students who meet this criteria will be your selection.

* Grades are separated by commas and no spaces.  Have also found that starting from the lowest to highest may give you more accurate results – eg:  F,D-,D,D+,C-,C,C+

Historical Grades:

Historical grades are final grades permanently stored and used for Transcripts.  They were copied from the teacher’s gradebook to Historical Grades shortly after the term ended or hand entered from the transcript of another school if the student has taken classes that count toward graduation.  If grades are hand entered for classes taken in your district that need to count toward graduation, they need to be entered using the single entry option so the Course & Section number can be entered which are required by the State.  There is a normal view of the screen which summarizes the grades, and a detail view which provides more information for each class/grade.  Any changes made to historical grades are recorded.  Remember that the GPA points, percent, earned and potential credits are not automatically filled in when you enter a grade; each field must be filled in by hand.

Transcripts:

Transcript information is pulled from the Stored Grades  table which houses all the information you see on the student’s Historical Grades and Cumulative Info screen.

Graduation Plan Progress:

Graduation Plan Progress is a flexible and robust tool that you use to track a student’s progress towards graduation.  The planner is set up at the district level. One graduation plan may have different versions which apply to different school years.  Post-secondary plans can also be setup.  A student may have several plans set.

Live-Scheduling:

Searches to find holes in schedules:

• *number_of_classes=0 (students with NO classes)
• *number_of_classes<x  (where x is the number of periods in your school will display students with incomplete schedules)
• *not_enrolled_in_period=x (where x is the period you wish to search displays students that do not currently have a class that period)
• *cumulative_credit_hours<xx (where xx is your cutoff point)
• *hours_requested<x (where x is your cutoff point)
• *enrolled_in=xxxx (where xxxx is the desired course number)