POC+Training+Notes

Training Agenda PowerTeacher Notes are below Objectives- Highlight new features of PT version 2.0 and answer questions or address concerns. Web Address []

Username = First.LastName Password = email address

POC Log - 6 hours of Inservice Credit Available - PLAN - 563.2588 POWERSCHOOL POC SUPPORT - 2010 - 2011 Must be completed and submitted to Helen Gooch by April 15.
 * Resources are available on the Technology Wiki** - http://empowerstudents.wikispaces.com/PowerTeacher

Many resources are available. Please note the following:

PowerTeacher Basics – From PowerTeacher – This is a mini-manual – posted as pdf QuickStart Guide for teachers – Just for the Powerteacher Portal – posted as a doc Timeline for Report Card data – includes timeline for progress reports – this document will be updated as dates change – posted as xls Year End Grade Calculation Data – set-up information by grade level – posted as doc S, NI, and U – Step by step directions for choosing this grading scale for science and social studies (1st and 2nd grade) and handwriting (Elementary) PowerTeacher Training Videos – created by a teacher in our district – as of right now, these are for version 1.5 Tips Every Teacher Should Know – links to a page on the wiki – describes steps for running some reports Kindergarten Standards Reporting - instructions for recording Standards Mastery Using PowerTeacher in Kindergarten – posted in both pdf and doc

The following New Features were highlighted: responsible for transferring grades.
 * Kindergarten - Mark standards 1 time! (N1, N2, etc …Final Grades/Standards)
 * Copy **Multiple** assignments at one time
 * Extra Credit / Maximum points w/alert if entry is over
 * Lock your Gradebook …there is a get-around…so make sure to log out of Gradebook and Powerteacher
 * Mouse over to see comments…you no longer have to click to see comments
 * Additional grade scales for selected populations (special ed…ELL… these will only be for students on a formal IEP – the system will denote this with a small gray circle with a G so everyone will know that a separate grading scale is being used)
 * Missing, Late, Collected, Exempt show in Quick Lookup for parents, teachers, and administrators. Missing icon will disappear when a grade is given UNLESS the grade is a zero.
 * Term In Progress/Final Grade Completion – this may be used as an alternative to printed Grade verification forms…has not yet been approved by administrators – method will be a school decison
 * Printed Reports/Portal Access (Creating Groups for ease of Printing)
 * We SUGGEST that you Do NOT enter grades for the first 10 days! This is a school decision. If movement of students occurs…transfer of grades is very tricky. Within the first 10 days, if a school chooses to put grades in before the ten days, the school is
 * Ability to export assignment, put in grades while off line, then import grades back into grade book
 * New Alerts screen on main menu
 * Some new alerts available…one is a Pencil…it will be used to designate Special Ed. It will not show on the alerts page…only on demographics screen.
 * New button on the Gradebook (Final Grades) for posting behavior characteristics for the report card.
 * New features on the Class Content tab of the Gradebook


 * Right now, Kindergarten will still need to print progress reports from the Powerteacher Portal.**

Technology ALERT – for Macs – If the operating system is 10.5.7 or above…a java upgrade must be done…even though it does not come up in the software update. Otherwise, the Gradebook will not show!

The upgrade is located on the www2.cmcss.net server in the Sharing / Technology / Java for Macs – Download the program Close all browsers Run the Update Restart Launch Powerteacher and Gradebook…it should work fine now!
 * Either contact the tech department or run the upgrade yourself or for your teachers.

New “Recommendations” Tab may show – It is not to be used this year

Under Personalize – Do not Change Password or Display Section Number

Gradebook- There are two places they need to get used to checking –
 * 1) Are they in the right year? (eventually several years will show)
 * 2) Make sure you are in the correct reporting term

Lock (gradebook) = Control/L for PC Command/L for Mac File/Lock Gradebook (any of the three work)


 * Weighting Grades** – Total Points or Category Weights

Category Weights must be done Correctly, Consistently, Persistently….there are several opportunities for teachers to double weight by mistake.

Teachers must do set up at the beginning for each class and for each nine weeks! It is time consuming but MUST be done. There is an explanatory document on the wiki above.

Total Points – What I am saying is that I will weight by making each category worth a different number of possible points. Ex. Test = 100, Homework = 5, Classwork = 20, etc…and students are accustomed to getting a 4 out of 5 on homework and a 15 out of 20 on classwork and 85 out of 100 on tests. Using varied points possible on different types of assignments is one way to weight. It is pretty cut and dried….*be sure to leave “weight” in each assignment screen as 1.0

//Set Up Categories whether you are doing Total Points or Category Weights.//

Category Weights –
 * The first thing a teacher should do is realize that all assignments should have 100 points. So, no weighting is done in the points possible. To weight…then…you must weight categories in order to be fair. Otherwise, if grading all assignments on 100 points possible…then a homework assignment has the same value as a test. Use caution not to double weight.

Elementary and middle can set up for each nine weeks for the whole year. High school must set up one semester now and the other at semester two time.

Assignments – Another place that double weighting has occurred is in the Assignments window.

Our suggestion is to have teachers leave the weight in the assignments window at 1.0

Grade Verification Window – In the Scoresheet window for EACH Course….a teacher will click the “In Progress” button and check the box for Grades Complete…teachers can then type a comment, such as, “Tracey Hoover verifies that all grades are correct.” Then submit. The tab on the scoresheet will then say…Grades Complete…and info will be available in the office that verification has occurred. Principals have the authority to decide to use this feature or to use the printed grade verification forms.


 * Web Access – We have heard that the emergency card has a place for parents to choose to have a printed progress report or to decline printed and choose web access. We are not sure if this is in effect. There will be info sent to parents one way or another.

Groups - (Only the teacher can see groups)
 * New – Two groups have already been added to each course…Active and Dropped.

Teachers can create groups….we suggest they do one Group Set called Reportin Method, with the groups “Printed Report” and “Web Access”/. They can then drag students into the two groups. Later they can select the printed group, and click the Forms button and print progress reports (Student Multi-section Reports) for that group ONLY! This is good.

Students can be moved to from group to group within a set as needed.

New Feature – Filters within groups. Teachers can click to highlight a student, then change the “Highlight Selected” tab in the Student Groups section and change it to “Filter Selected”. This will then show grades for only that one child. This is useful when talking with parents and showing the gradebook. You can also change the “Filter Off” button in Categories…to “Filter On” and click test (for example) and then only the one student will show, and only tests will show.

Be sure to change both these settings back so that all of your students will show!

Right Click/ Control Click on the Title Box of the assignment (in the scoresheet section)…. and choose “copy assignment”, a window will appear that shows all assignments in that course. Click the boxes beside all of the assignments you want to copy. Click Submit. A new window will appear with all of your courses listed. Click the box beside the course where you want the copied assignments to appear. Click submit.
 * New Feature – Copy Multiple Assignments

Class Content Tab – at top of Gradebook Note that tabs withing this section include Class Info, School Content, and My Content. Eventually, documents loaded in a teacher’s Sites folder on the www2 can be linked to this place and available to parents.
 * Some items here are new…it will eventually be a great feature…right now it is crawling and slow.

Grade Scales – To see alternative grading scales…from within the gradebook, click on Grade Set Up and then click the Grade Scales tab. You wills see available scales.


 * Kindergarten**

Kindergarten teachers will now mark their Standards mastery in the PowerTeacher Gradebook NOT the PowerTeacher Portal. They now have more functionality and parents will be able to view marked standards from the Parent Portal.

From the Gradebook scoresheet, teachers can click the “Final Grades” tab and it will show all of the mastery standards for Kindergarten. *Teachers will now enter N1, N2, N3, or N4…in the box when a standard is mastered. They will NEVER have to mark that standard again!
 * Note – Teachers MUST mark standard mastery in Y1** (**Not** in the N1, N2, N3, or N4 terms). This will ensure that standards need only be marked ONCE!