Summer School
On this page:
This section outlines the process for implementing summer school within a PowerSchool district. As of 10.1.4, an updated approach to Summer School is supported along with the original method, used in versions prior to 10.1.4. These differences will be noted in the documentation where needed. The updated approach will be referred to as the Remote Enrollment method, while the original method will be referred to as the Direct Enrollment method. As you are reading through this document, be sure you are referencing the correct Summer School method you have chosen to use for your school throughout the entire process.
Choosing an Approach for Summer School
PowerSchool supports two approaches to Summer School, the Direct Enrollment method and the Remote Enrollment method. Depending on the needs of your specific school, one method may be a better fit than the other. It is important to know the differences since you will need to stay consistent with the chosen method throughout the entire process.
Direct Enrollment
The Direct Enrollment method is the only method available to PowerSchool versions prior to 10.1.4. Direct Enrollment requires that students are transferred directly to the Summer School, where they are processed and handled the same as if they were attending the Summer School as their primary school enrollment. This method requires that the End-of-Year (EOY) process is not run prior to the completion of the Summer School term.
Remote Enrollment (Recommended)
The Remote Enrollment method is a new method available to PowerSchool version 10.1.4 and greater. Remote Enrollment allows students to remain enrolled in their home school while the Summer School manages students as if they are remote students. This method creates a Re-Enrollment record for keeping track of the Summer School Enrollment without affecting their home (or Current) enrollment. This is the recommended approach since it has the advantage of not disrupting normal home school operations and allows the End-of-Year process to be run at any time.
Fees, Direct Enrollment vs. Remote Enrollment
One notable difference between Direct Enrollment and Remote Enrollment is the way fees are assessed. Fees are normally tied to a student's home school. Remote schools can assess student fees directly to the student, but School enrollment fees are not available. Course enrollment fees are assessed when a student enrolls into a remote section, however, the charge will only show at the home school.
Storing Grades, Direct vs. Remote Enrollment
Another difference between Direct Enrollment and Remote Enrollment is how storing grades is handled. For Direct Summer School Enrollment, grades are stored at the Summer School, after which the DDA (Direct Database Access) tool is used to change the School ID on stored grades to match the students' home school. Remote Enrollment does not require the School ID to be changed when storing grades. However, the stored grades process must be initiated from each student's home school using very specific settings. For more information, see Storing Grades.
Attendance Reports for Summer School
When using Direct Enrollment or Remote Enrollment, attendance reports can be run as normal.
Example: Navigate to the List Students group function after making a selection of students from the start page. Enter DA in one of the columns to display the full year of attendance based on the selected year context. Other attendance Data Access Tags will work as well. For more information, see the Data Access Tags Supplement available on PowerSource.
PowerScheduler for Summer School
The summer school setup as outlined does not impact the use of PowerScheduler, assuming that all student indicators are set correctly, and the process outlined in this document is followed in order.