Configure Summer School

On this page:

Set Up Summer School

1. On the start page, choose District from the main menu. 
2. Under General, click Schools/School Info. 
3. Click New. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   School Name	Enter the school's full name.
   School Abbreviation	Enter an abbreviation for the school to be used in PowerSchool.
   Is a Summer School	Select the checkbox to indicate that this is a summer school. Note: Do not select this option for regular schools, even if they will be hosting Summer School. A new school must be set up for managing each Summer School even if it is part of a regular school.
   School Address (Full)	Enter the school's address.
   School Address	Enter the school's street address.
   School City	Enter the school's city.
   School State/Province	Select the school's state from the pop-up menu.
   School Postal/Zip Code	Enter the school's postal/zip code.
   School Phone Number	Enter the school's phone number including area code.
   School FAX Number	Enter the school's fax number including area code.
   School Number	Enter the school's number. A maximum of nine digits can be used. Once you enter this number, do not change it. Note: States usually assign school numbers.
   Alternate School Number	If you wish to use a number other than what is listed above to identify the school, enter the number here. Otherwise, leave blank.
   StatePrId	Use only when Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) is enabled.
   Exclude From State Reporting?	Select the checkbox to exclude this school from state reporting.
   Grades	Enter the lowest and highest grade levels at the school. Only historical data in this range of grade levels is used for data such as cumulative GPAs, graduation, and credit. Students at the highest level are affected by the End-of-Year process. For more information, see End-of-Year Process.
   Historical Grade Levels	Enter the range of grade levels from which historical data is pulled, such as cumulative GPAs and graduation credit.
   Default Next School	For Summer Schools, leave as 0.
   Sort Order	Enter the number that indicates the order in which this school appears on school lists and pop-up menus.
   When Scheduling, Display Courses From	Note: Not applicable to Summer Schools.

5. Use the following table to edit information in the fields in the School Administration Information section:

   Field	Description
   Principal's Name	Enter the name of the school's principal.
   Principal's Phone	Enter the telephone number of the school's principal.
   Principal's Email	Enter the email address of the school's principal.
   Assistant/Vice-Principal's Name	Enter the name of the school's assistant or vice-principal.
   Assistant/Vice-Principal's Phone	Enter the telephone number of the school's assistant or vice-principal.
   Assistant/Vice-Principal's Email	Enter the email address of the school's assistant or vice-principal.
   Bulletin Email	Enter the email address of the person responsible for including items in the daily bulletin. This address appears on the Daily Bulletin page for users to link to when submitting daily bulletin items.
   Attendance Secretary Email	Enter the email address of the attendance secretary.
   Registrar Email	Enter the email address of the registrar.
   Email Copies of New Teacher Log Entries To	Enter the email addresses of anyone who wants a copy of new log entries submitted by teachers. Separate multiple entries with commas.

6. Use the following table to edit information in the fields in the County Information section:

   Field	Description
   County Name	Enter the name of the school's county.
   County Number	Enter the number for the school's county.

7. Use the following table to edit information in the fields in the School Fee Information section:

   Field	Description
   Fee Exemption Status	Use the School Fee Information section to indicate the fee exemptions status for all students within the selected school. For more information, see Assign Fee Exemption Status to a Group of Students.

8. Use the following table to edit information in the Auto Enrollment Program Information section:

   Field

   Description

   Special Program Link

   Use the Auto Enrollment Program to avoid having to separately enroll each new student into a program if every student enrolled in the school must be enrolled into a specific program. Students are automatically enrolled into the program specified here when they are enrolled into the school. Only a program in which all students in the school participate should be selected. If there are no programs that meet this criteria, the correct option to select is None Selected. The available programs that can be selected are those defined in Special Programs.

9. Use the following table to edit information in the fields in the School Enrollment Fees section:

   Field	Description
   Fee Type	Use the School Enrollment Fee section to add, edit, and delete school enrollment fees. For information, see School Enrollment Fees.

10. Click Submit. 
11. Repeat these steps for each summer school to be created.

Create a Year

A school year must be created for a summer school.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Scheduling, click Years & Terms. 
3. Click New. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Name of School Year	Enter the school year name.
   Abbreviation	Enter the abbreviation of the school year. For the year term, use numbers. For example, enter 09-10 for the 2009-2010 school year.
   First Day of School	Enter the start date of the summer school session.
   Last Day of School	Enter the end date of the summer school session. Important: This value will determine what school TermID the summer school year is assigned. If after July 31st, the termid will be created for the next year. If July 31st, or before, the prior year. Sections you create in summer school will use this TermID. This will have implications on the sections available when enrolling students and when storing grades. For more information, see related areas in this document.

5. Click Submit. 

For more information, see the Years and Terms.

Define Additional Terms (Optional)

If multiple sessions of summer school are needed (rare), create a term for each session, otherwise only a "year" term is needed and was already created when defining the school year.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu.
2. Under Scheduling, click Years & Terms. 
3. Click Edit Terms next to the school year for which you want to define terms. 
4. Click New. 

5. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Name of the Term	Enter the name of the term, which indicates when it occurs during the academic year. For example, enter Summer Session 1.
   Abbreviation	Enter an abbreviation for the term, such as S1.
   First Day of Term	Enter the date of the first day of the term.
   Last Day of Term	Enter the date of the last day of the term.
   What portion of the school year this term represents	If you need multiple summer school sessions, select the fraction or item that represents the portion of the summer school session during which the term takes place. For example, if you define Summer Session 1 and your school as two summer school sessions, Summer 1 represents one-half of your Summer School session. Note: If multiple summer school sessions overlap, it is advised to use different summer schools for each session.
   Import File Term #	If you plan to import schedule or historical data from another system and the data is different from the abbreviation you define, enter the term code the other system uses to represent this term.

6. Click Submit. 

For more information, see Years and Terms.

Define Periods and Days

1. On the start page, choose School under Setup in the main menu. 
2. Under Scheduling, click Years & Terms. 
3. Click the name of the year term.

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Type	Description
   Periods	Choose the number of periods you want include in your schedule.
   Days	Choose the number of cycle days you want to include in your schedule.

5. Click Submit. 

For more information, see Years and Terms.

Specify General Attendance Preferences

Attendance preferences are school and year-specific. Set attendance preferences for each summer school you create.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Attendance, click Preferences. 

3. Use the following table to enter information in the Recording section:

   Field	Description
   Attendance recording methods	Select the appropriate checkboxes that apply (any combination of the four options is valid): Meeting to record attendance by meeting for this year Daily to record attendance by day for this year Time to record attendance this year by entering a time value Interval to record attendance this year according to a specified time interval Note: Only Meeting attendance is supported for the Remote Enrollment method.
   Audit attendance records	Select the checkbox to enable auditing of attendance. After an attendance record is initially created, PowerSchool keeps track of any change, its previous value, and who made the change.
   Default attendance page	Use the pop-up menu to indicate the default attendance page to display when viewing student attendance. The items that appear in the pop-up menu vary based on the attendance recording methods you select.
   Enable multiple character attendance codes	By default, you can only create single-character attendance codes. To create multiple-character attendance codes, select the checkbox.
   Meeting and daily attendance bridge	Direct Enrollment Only:When using both Meeting and Daily attendance modes, this setting allows you to synchronize attendance records based on a bridge period. You can define a bridge period in each bell schedule. To create and synchronize Daily attendance records based on the bridge period, select One-Way. To keep the corresponding meeting attendance record synchronized whenever a change is made to a daily attendance record, select Two-Way. Note: It is not necessary to bridge Meeting and Daily attendance. Daily attendance can be managed manually. However, bridging attendance does provide a convenient way of automatically creating and maintaining attendance when both attendance modes are in use. Bridging attendance only functions with sections and section enrollments, which reside in the same school.
   Number of school days teachers may alter attendance prior to current date (PowerTeacher)	Use the pop-up menu to indicate how far back teachers can alter attendance in the PowerSchool SIS Teacher portal.
   Number of school days teachers may alter attendance after the current date (PowerTeacher)	Use the pop-up menu to indicate how far forward teachers can alter attendance in the PowerSchool SIS Teacher portal.
   Show Saturday and Sunday on attendance views	Select the checkbox to display Saturday and Sunday on the Student Attendance pages. This is typically not needed unless you have in-session days on weekends where student attendance marks need to be displayed.
   Interval Duration (in Minutes)	Direct Enrollment Only:Interval attendance is primarily intended for alternative education programs that require attendance to be taken every hour. When using Interval Attendance mode, the number of opportunities for which attendance can be recorded during a given class is determined by dividing the bell time for the class by the interval duration. For instance, if a class is 90 minutes long and the interval duration is 60 minutes, then there will be two opportunities provided to take attendance. The first is at the beginning of class and the second is after 60 minutes has gone by. The default for this field is 60 minutes.

4. Use the following table to enter information in the Calculating and Reporting section:

   Field	Description
   Calculation accuracy	Enter the number of decimal places to use when calculating attendance values.
   Count Meeting attendance recorded at another school for students enrolled at this school	If a student is enrolled in a class at another school, and there is attendance associated with that class, select this option to include this attendance when calculating Average Daily Attendance (ADA).
   Count these codes for period conversion	This setting determines what is counted and subsequently used as the value for looking up the day's attendance, specifically for Period conversion. Use the pop-up menu to select Presents if your school calculates attendance using the number of periods a student is present in a day. Select Absences if your school calculates attendance using the number of periods a student is absent in a day.
   Round or truncate	Use the pop-up menu to indicate how you want the system to handle long decimals that exceed the maximum when calculating attendance.

5. Use the following table to enter information in the Daily Attendance Calculations section:

   Field	Description
   Enable ADA Periods and Passing Time Deductions	To enable, see Specify Attendance Preferences for Daily Time Exclusion. For more information, see the Daily Time Exclusion.
   Deduct Passing Time	To enable, see Specify Attendance Preferences for Daily Time Exclusion. For more information, see the Daily Time Exclusion.

6. Click Submit. 

Add an FTE Code

It is imperative to the Direct Enrollment method that all grade levels in summer school have a default FTE assigned. For the Remote Enrollment method, an FTE must exist at the summer school, but is always selected when enrolling students. Defaults by grade level are not utilized with this method.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu.
2. Under Attendance, click Full-Time Equivalencies (FTE). 
3. Click New. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter the name of the FTE as you want it to appear in the Full-Time Equivalency pop-up menu on the Edit Current/Previous Enrollment pages. The pop-up menu is used to associate an FTE with a student's current and historical school enrollment.
   Default Attendance Mode	Choose the attendance mode from the pop-up menu that will be used for reporting purposes if specific mode is not provided.
   Default Attendance Conversion	Choose the attendance conversion from the pop-up menu that will be used for reporting purposes if specific conversion is not provided.
   Description	Enter a description of the FTE code.
   Default for These Grades	Indicate which grades you want the FTE code to be applied to by selecting the appropriate checkboxes. These checkboxes determine what FTE a student of a particular grade level will be assigned when the End-of-Year process moves them into their new grade for the next year. The values should be defined for the upcoming school year's FTEs before running the End-of-Year process for the current school year.

5. Click Submit. 

For more information, Full-Time Equivalencies.

Add Attendance Conversions

Set up attendance conversions to calculate attendance. After creating attendance conversions, set up attendance conversion items.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Attendance, click Attendance Conversion. 
3. Click New. 
4. Enter the name for the attendance conversion.
5. Click Submit. 

For more information, see Attendance Conversions.

Set Up Bell Schedules

Set up bell schedules to correlate periods with the times that the periods meet and to determine which periods are taught on which calendar days. When setting up your school calendar, you can associate different bell schedules to different days of the year. For example, set up a bell schedule called Assembly, where each period meets for a shorter amount of time to accommodate a school event that day.

You must first set up attendance conversions to properly calculate attendance. For more information, see Attendance Conversions.

Note: Do not set up bell schedules until after you commit your master schedule. If you set up bell schedules and then re-commit a master schedule, the bell schedules lose their references to the schedule periods. Without this reference, you cannot take attendance. For more information about committing your master schedule, see When to Commit the Master Schedule.For more information, see Bell Schedules.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Calendaring, click Bell Schedules. 
3. Click New. 

4. Use the following table to edit information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the bell schedule. For example, enter H or Half for half-day schedules.
   Attendance Conversion Method	Choose the attendance conversion from the pop-up menu. For more information, see Attendance Conversions. Note: The number of periods in the attendance conversion must not exceed the number of periods in the bell schedule.

5. Click Submit. 

Set Up Bell Schedule Items

Bell schedule items indicate the start and end times for each period, which can be used to calculate daily attendance and average daily attendance. All periods used for scheduling purposes must have an associated bell schedule.
For more information, see Bell Schedule Items.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Calendaring, click Bell Schedules. 
3. Click Edit Schedule next to the bell schedule you are working with. 

4. Click New. 

5. Use the following table to edit information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Period	Choose the period from the pop-up menu.
   Start Time	Enter a start time for the period. Indicate if it is AM or PM.
   End Time	Enter a finish time for the period. Indicate if it is AM or PM.
   Counts for ADA	Select the checkbox to count this bell schedule item in average daily attendance calculations.
   Day Part	Indicate the portion of the day Average Daily Attendance (ADA) is to be calculated by choosing one of the following from the pop-up menu: Blank – Counts only toward full day ADA. AM – Counts toward full day and AM ADA. PM – Counts toward full day and PM ADA. Note: This field only appears if Day Part Attendance is enabled.
   Use For Daily Attendance	Select the checkbox to use daily attendance for this bell schedule item. If you select the checkbox, enter the start and end times that will be used to calculate daily attendance.

6. Click Submit.

Add Period Items

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Attendance, click Attendance Conversion. 
3. Click (NONE) in the Period column next to the conversion item for which you want to add period items. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Day Attendance Value	Enter the number of attendance points students receive if they are present, based on the number of periods in the preceding field. For example, if students are counted as absent for the entire day if they are present for zero or one period, enter 0 in the fields next to 0 and 1 periods present.
   Comments	Enter any comments that are relevant to this attendance conversion item.

   Note: Alternatively, click Copy From Other Conversion Table to copy period items from another conversion table. Select the attendance conversion to be copied and click Submit.

5. Click Submit.
6. Click Attendance Conversions in the navigation path to return to the Attendance Conversions page.

Add Code Items

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu.
2. Under Attendance, click Attendance Conversion. 
3. Click (NONE) in the Code column next to the conversion item for which you want to add code items. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Attendance Value	For each attendance code, enter the number of attendance points students receive if they are marked with that attendance code.
   Comments	Enter any comments that are relevant to this attendance conversion item.

   Note: Alternatively, click Copy From Other Conversion Table to copy code items from another conversion table. Select the attendance conversion to be copied and click Submit.

5. Click Submit.
6. Click Attendance Conversions in the navigation path to return to the Attendance Conversions page.

Add Time Items

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu.
2. Under Attendance, click Attendance Conversion. 
3. Click (NONE) next to the conversion item for which you want to add time items. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Minutes Present	Enter the minimum number of minutes a student must be present to earn the number of attendance points specified in the next field. Use the first row for zero minutes present.
   Attendance Value	Enter the number of attendance points students receive if they are present, based on the number of minutes you enter in the previous field.
   Comments	Enter any comments that are relevant to this attendance conversion item.

   Note: Alternatively, click Copy From Other Conversion Table to copy time items from another conversion table. Select the attendance conversion to be copied and click Submit.

5. Click Submit.
6. Click Attendance Conversions in the navigation path to return to the Attendance Conversions page.

Set Up Attendance Codes

Use attendance codes to define values, points, and calculations for school specific attendance codes. You must set up attendance codes before taking attendance in PowerSchool.

Add an Attendance Code

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Attendance, click Attendance Codes. 
3. Click New. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Code	Enter an attendance code. Attendance codes can use characters A-Z, 0-9 and _- (underscore and hyphen). Attendance codes are not case-sensitive. There are other restrictions, including the code must be unique for this school and year and cannot be the same name as a Code Category for this school. Note: By default, only single-character attendance codes are allowed. However, to create multiple-character attendance codes, select the Enable multiple character attendance codes checkbox on the Attendance Preferences page.
   Description	Enter a description for the attendance code.
   Presence Status	All attendance codes are categorized as present or absent. Indicate whether the attendance code should be categorized as present or absent by selecting the appropriate option.
   Code Categories	Attendance code categories are used to group attendance codes by classification for reporting and searching purposes. In order for an attendance code to count as an attendance code category, the attendance code must be associated to that attendance code category. Indicate which attendance code category you want to associate to this attendance code by selecting the appropriate checkbox.
   Points	Enter the number of attendance points a student receives for this attendance code, such as absent=1, tardy=2, and present=0.
   Teacher can assign	Use the pop-up menu to choose whether teachers can assign this attendance code in the PowerSchool SIS Teacher portal.
   This attendance code earns ADA credit	Select the checkbox if this attendance code counts towards Average Daily Attendance (ADA).
   This attendance code counts towards membership	Select the checkbox if this attendance code counts towards Average Daily Membership (ADM).
   Sort order for display	Use the pop-up menu to choose a sort order of this attendance code as it appears in the attendance codes pop-up menu on the student attendance pages.

5. Click Submit. 

For more information, see Attendance Codes.

Set Up the Calendar

Before enrolling students in summer school classes, define each field for each date in that year.

1. On the start page, choose School from the main menu. 
2. Under Calendaring, click Calendar Setup.
3. Click a month to view its calendar. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Date	Each day of the month appears, including weekends.
   Day	Choose the cycle day for the specific date from the pop-up menu.
   Schedule	Choose the bell schedule you want to assign to this date from the pop-up menu.
   Tracks/In Sess	If your school does not use tracks and all students attend school on the same dates, select the In Sess checkbox to indicate that school is in session for all students on this date. If your school uses multiple student tracks, select the checkboxes for the tracks for which school is in session on this date. Note: If your school uses tracks, determine which students are on Track A and which students are on Tracks B, C, D, E, and F. These track names are standard and appear only on the Calendar Setup page.
   Memb Value	Enter the attendance value students receive if they are present in school on this date.
   Type	Choose either Holiday, In Session or Not in Session from the pop-up menu.
   Note	Enter any comments to describe the schedule on this date, such as Half-Day, Holiday, or Spring Break.

5. Repeat the previous step for each date needing schedule definition.
6. Click Submit. 
7. Click Back to return to The Calendar Setup page.
   Note: If a "Warning Page Expired" message appears, click the PowerSchool logo to return to the start page.
   For more information, see Calendar Setup.

Add a New Course to the Course List

Use the following procedure to create a new course. One a course is created; it is available to all schools within the district.

Note: This procedure may also be performed when signed in to a school by choosing School, and then clicking Courses.

1. On the start page, choose District from the main menu. 
2. Under General, click Courses.
3. Click New Course. 

4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Course Name	Enter the name of the course.
   Course Number	Enter the number that will be used to identify this course.
   Alternate Course Number	Enter an alternate course number if your school uses this field for state reporting or district purposes.
   Credit Hours	Enter the number of credits a student receives for taking this course.
   CIP Code	In some states, schools use CIP codes to identify courses as part of a state-managed vocational program. Enter this code, if applicable.
   Vocational Class	Select the checkbox if this is a vocational course.
   Credit Type	Enter the type of credit a student receives for passing this course, such as MATH, ENG, or FINE. You can then apply this credit to a graduation type.
   Default Maximum Enrollment	Enter the maximum number of students that can be enrolled in this course.
   Courses Notes	Enter descriptive text regarding the course or course enrollment, if any.
   Grade Scale	Choose the grade scale from the pop-up menu. For more information, see Assign Grade Scales to Courses.
   GPA Added Value Points	Enter any added value for the grade points, such as 1 for one additional grade point. You can also use fractions of a point. Most schools do not enter added values.
   Exclude from GPA?	Select the option to either include or exclude the grade from the GPA calculation.
   Exclude from Class Rank?	Select the option to either include or exclude the grade from the class rank calculation.
   Exclude from Honor Roll?	Select the option to either include or exclude the grade from the honor roll calculation.
   Use the Course for Lunch	Select the checkbox to indicate that this course will be used exclusively for scheduled lunches. Otherwise, deselect the checkbox. Note: For more information, see Scheduled Lunch.
   Exclude on Report Cards/Transcripts	Select the checkbox to exclude all sections of this course from appearing on the schedule listing of Report Cards or the Transcript Object of Object reports. Otherwise, leave blank.

5. Click Submit. 
   Note: If creating a new course at the school level, the new course is automatically associated to your school. For more information about course status, see Edit Course Status.
   For more information, see Master Course List.

Assign Courses to Summer School

Most summer schools will not offer all the same courses as the originating school. Include only the courses offered in the summer on the Manage Courses for this school page.

1. Sign in to the school designated as the summer school.
2. On the start page, choose School from the main menu.
3. Under Scheduling, click Courses. 
4. Click Manage courses for this school. 
5. Do one of the following:
   
   • Select the checkbox next to the class you want to activate.
   • Deselect the checkbox next to the class you want to deactivate.
6. Click Submit.