Courses

The Courses page is the central point from which you can manage courses and course-related information at the district and school level.

View the Course List

Use the following procedure to view Course Information all courses for the district.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.

2. To narrow the list of courses, use the following table to enter information in the Filter Results section.

   

   If you apply a filter, those settings are retained and available each time you navigate back to this page.

   
   Click the arrow to expand this section. Click the arrow again to collapse this section.

   Field	Description
   School(s)	To narrow list of courses by school, select the checkbox and choose the school by which you want to filter. This field only appears at the district level.
   [Status]	To narrow list of courses by course status, any combination of the following course statuses by which you want to filter: Active - School(s) in which courses have been made available and is currently active. This is the default setting. Inactive - School(s) in which courses have been made available, but is currently inactive. Unavailable - Course(s) that have not been made available. When in district mode, this filter is applied to the list of courses associated to the schools selected using the School(s) filter, or all schools if none are selected, and to the selected Year filter. When in school mode, this filter is applied to the list of courses associated only with the school selected in the School menu in the navigation toolbar, and to the selected Year filter.
   Year	To narrow list of courses by school year, select the checkbox and choose the school year by which you want to filter.
   Course Number	To narrow list of courses by course number, select the checkbox and enter the course number by which you want to filter.
   Department	To narrow list of courses by department, select the checkbox and enter the department by which you want to filter.
   Course Name	To narrow list of courses by course name, select the checkbox and enter the course name by which you want to filter.
   Prerequisite Note	To narrow list of courses by prerequisite note, select the checkbox and enter the prerequisite note by which you want to filter.
   Has Relationships	To narrow list of courses by courses that do or do not have course relationships, select the checkbox and choose Yes or No. This field only appears at the school level.
   Has Fees	To narrow list of courses by courses that do or do not have course fees, select the checkbox and choose Yes or No.
   Has Sections	To narrow list of courses by courses that do or do not have course sections, select the checkbox and choose Yes or No. This field only appears at the school level.

   The list of courses displays based on the information you entered.

   Click column headings to sort in ascending order. Click again to sort in descending order.

   Field	Description
   Manage Courses for This School	Click to access the Available Courses for [Year] page. For more information, refer to the Edit Course Status section. This field only appears at the school level.
   Print	Click to print the course list. For more information, refer to the Print Course List section.
   New Course	Click to create a new course. For more information, refer to the New Courses section. This field only appears at the school level if enabled by this district.
   [Course]	Do one of the following: Select the checkbox in the header row to select all filtered courses. Select the checkbox next to each course you want to work with.
   Number	The number used to identify the course.
   Name	The name of the course.
   Department	The department the course is associated to.
   Prerequisite Note	Descriptive text regarding academic requirements or authorizations that must be fulfilled prior to an enrollment in a course.
   Fee	Indicates whether or not course enrollment fees are associated to the course.
   Relationship	When in school mode, indicates whether or not a relationship exists between this course and another course.
   Sections	When in school mode, only courses that are active for the school you are working in appear.
   Active	When in district mode, schools in which this course has been made available.
   Inactive	When in district mode, schools in which this course has not been made available.
   Edit Availability for Schools and Years	Click to edit which schools the selected courses will be made available to. This field only appears at the district level.
   Edit Prerequisites	Click to add prerequisites for selected courses.

Edit Course Status

The Available Courses for [Year] page is comprised of two tabs. The Available tab displays a list all courses available for the selected school and year. Using this page, you can change a course's status from active to inactive or vice versa. Additionally, you can remove all the courses from the list that do not have sections taught in the current year. The Unavailable tab display a lists all courses that are unavailable for the selected school and year. Using this page, you can change a course's status from unavailable and inactive to available and active making the course available for the selected school and year.

In addition to this procedure, you can make additional courses available for this school by editing course availability information or you can make additional courses available for multiple schools and years by editing availability for schools and years.

This procedure may only be performed at the school level. When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Click Manage courses for this school. The Available Courses for [Year] page appears.
   By default, the Available tab appears selected.

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

   Field	Description
   [Text]	The following informational text appears on the page: This page lists all available courses for the selected school and year. To make a course active for the selected school and year, select the checkbox and then click the Submit button. Only available courses should be used in PowerScheduler and only available and active courses can be used in live scheduling. Unavailable courses are not included in this list. To make courses available or unavailable, use the Edit Availability for Schools and Years district level function or the Availability tab on the district level Edit Course page.
   New	Click to create a new course. For more information, refer to New Courses.
   Active	Do one of the following: Select the checkbox next to the course you want to make active. Deselect the checkbox next to the course you want to make inactive.
   Course Name	The name of the course appears.
   Course Number	The number of the course appears.
   Department	The department of the course appears.
   Credit Type	The credit type of the course appears.
   Remove all courses from this school's course list that do not have any sections taught this year	Select the checkbox to remove all courses from this school's course list that do not have any sections taught this year (optional).

4. Click Submit.

Make Courses Available

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Click Manage courses for this school. The Available Courses for [Year] page appears.
3. Click the Unavailable tab. The Unavailable Courses for [Year] page appears.

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

   Field	Description
   [Text]	The following informational text appears on the page: This page lists all unavailable courses for the selected school and year. Only available courses should be used in PowerScheduler and only available and active courses can be used in live scheduling. To make courses available or unavailable, use the Edit Availability for Schools and Years district level function or the Availability tab on the district level Edit Course page.
   Make Available and Active	Select the checkbox next to the course you want to make available and active. This column only appears if your district allows schools to adjust course availability.
   Course Name	The name of the course appears.
   Course Number	The number of the course appears.
   Department	The department of the course appears.
   Credit Type	The credit type of the course appears.

5. Click Submit. The Available Courses for [Year] page appears.

   

   The Submit button only appears if your district allows schools to adjust course availability.

Print Course List

Use the following procedure to print the course list in a printer-friendly format.

This procedure may also be performed when signed in to a school by choosing School, and then clicking Courses. When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Click Print three times.
3. Close Course Prerequisite Rule Notes.

Edit Course Information

Course information can be edited at the district level, as well as the school level. When at the district level, you can edit District, Fees, Prerequisites, and Availability information. When at the school level, can edit District - General, District - Standards, Fees, Prerequisites, Availability, Relationships, Scheduling, and Equivalencies information.

This procedure may also be performed when signed in to a school by choosing School, and then clicking Courses. When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.

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

   Field	Description
   View Course Information By Year	Click to access the View Course By Year page. By default, the current year is selected. Choose a year to view course information for a different year.
   District - General	Click to access the Edit Course District - General Information page.
   District - Standards	Click to access the Edit Course District - Standards Information page.
   Fees	Click to access the Edit Course Enrollment Fees page.
   Prerequisites	Click to access the Edit Course Prerequisites page.
   Availability	Click to access the Course Availability page.
   Relationships	Click to access the Edit Course Relationships page. This procedure may only be performed at the school level.
   Scheduling	Click to access the Edit Course Scheduling Information page. This procedure may only be performed at the school level.
   Equivalencies	Click to access the Course Equivalencies page.

Edit Course District - General Information

Using the Edit Course District - General Information page, you can manage general information for the selected course.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click District - General.

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

   Field	Description
   Course Name	The name of the course appears.
   Course Number	The number used to identify the course appears.
   Course Name	Edit the name of the course.
   Course Description	Enter a detailed course description that will appear on the student course request pages and in the printed version of the course catalog.
   Alternate Course Number	If needed, enter an additional number used to identify the course.
   Credit Hours	Enter the number of credits a student receives for taking the course.
   Max Credit Hours	Enter the maximum number of credits a student receives for taking the course. The value must be greater than or equal to the Credit Hours. Once a value is entered, the value will be evaluated against the credit earned on stored grades to determine if it should be excluded from graduation progress/graduation planner based on the association to the grade policy related to the grade scale for the course or section. For more information, refer to Repeated Course Grade Suppression.
   CIP Code	If needed, enter the CIP code to identify courses as part of a state-managed vocational program.
   Vocational Class	Select the checkbox if the course is a vocational class.
   Program for All Sections	For the purpose of continuation education programs. Any program specified here will automatically be considered the program that every section of the course will belong to. Since this is stored for the district this will be true for all schools that use the course. If schools other than continuation education schools use the course then specify this as no selection (blank) and designate the proper program to each section of the course created within the continuation education schools. The programs available for selection can be defined in Special Programs.
   Credit Type	Enter the credit type to indicate which credit type to display on the master schedule, such as MATH for mathematics courses, ENG for English courses, FL for foreign language courses, VOC for vocational courses, or ELEC for electives. This credit can then be applied to a graduation type, if applicable.
   Default Maximum Enrollment	Edit the maximum number of students who can be enrolled in this course.
   Department	Click Associate to select the department for this course. Click Department to create or edit departments at your school.
   Subject Area	Edit the subject area for the course.
   Course Notes	If needed, enter descriptive text regarding the course or course enrollment.
   Exclude from Attendance	If enabled, all new sections of this course will be excluded from ADA/ADM by default.
   Exclude From Storing Final Grades	Select the checkbox to skip this course when storing grades. This setting is useful in cases where storing grades may not be appropriate, such as study hall or lunch.
   Grade Scale	Choose the grade scale from the Grade Scale menu.
   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.
   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, deselect the checkbox.
   Update the Course in the District Course Archive for [Year]	Do one of the following: Select the checkbox to update archived course information, as well as current course information. Leave the checkbox blank to only update current course information. This field only appears if the end-of-year process has been completed. For more information, refer to End-of-Year Process.

5. Click Submit.
6. Click Back to return to the Edit Course page displays the edited course.

Edit Course District - Standards Information

Using the Edit Course District - Standards Information page, you can manage standards information for the selected course.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click District - Standards. All of the standards associated to this course for the current year appear.

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

   Field	Description
   Basic Filter	To filter the information that appears on this page, enter search criteria. If needed, click the arrow to expand this section. Click the arrow again to collapse this section. To filter by columns: Click +. Choose one of the following: Standard Identifier Standard Name Weight Percent

5. Enter filter criteria in the field to the right of the menu.
6. Click Apply. The page refreshes and display filtered results.

The Filter (0) header refreshes and displays the number of applied filters. In addition, the header displays the fields being used to filter results.

To add another filter:

1. Click +.
2. Repeat Step 1 through Step 4.

The + appears shaded if all filters have been added.

To delete a filter:

1. Click - next the filter.
2. Click Apply. The page refreshes and display filtered results.

To remove all filter selections, click Clear.

• Click Submit.

Edit Course Enrollment Fees

Using the Edit Course Enrollment Fees page, you can manage course enrollment fees for the selected course. For more information, refer to Course Enrollment Fees.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

Edit Course Prerequisites (Individual Courses)

Using the Edit Course Prerequisites page, you can manage course prerequisites for the selected course.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

Edit Course Availability Information

Using the Course Availability page, you can manage school associations for the selected course by associating or disassociating a course with one or more schools. Once a course is associated with one or more schools, it is available and active on the Available Courses for [Year] page for the selected schools. From the Available Courses for [Year] page, the school administrator can fine-tune which courses are active or inactive.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

Edit Course Availability Information at the District Level

Use this procedure to adjust which schools a course is available at for a selected year.

When accessed at the district level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Availability. The Course Availability page displays a summary of year and schools associations for the course.
   If an ellipsis appears in the Schools column, there are additional schools associated to the year.

4. Click Edit.

   

   If you have view only access to this page, the Edit button appears as a View button.

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

   Field	Description
   Unavailable	All schools where the course is not available for that year appear. To make a school available: Click the school you want to make available. Click the single arrow pointing right. To make all schools available, click the double arrows pointing right.
   Available	All schools where the course is available for that year appear. To make a school unavailable: Click the school you want to make unavailable. Click the single arrow pointing left. To make all schools unavailable, click the double arrows pointing left. Available schools that appear shaded are associated to sections and cannot be made unavailable.
   Reset	Click to reset the Unavailable list and Available list back to their original state before you began moving schools from one list to another.

6. Click Submit.

Edit Course Availability Information at the School Level

Use this procedure to adjust which years a course is available for a selected school.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Availability. The Course Availability page shows a summary of year and schools associations for the course.
   If an ellipsis appears in the Schools column, there are additional schools associated to the year.
4. Click View to view the School Availability for [Course] in the [School Year] menu.

5. Click Edit Availability.

   

   The Edit Availability button only appears if your district allows schools to adjust course availability.

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

   Field	Description
   Unavailable	All years the course is not available. To make a course available for a selected year: Click the year for which you want to make the course available. Click the single arrow pointing right. To make a course available for all years, click the double arrows pointing right.
   Available	All years the course is available. To make a course unavailable for a selected year: Click the year for which you want to make the course unavailable. Click the single arrow pointing right. To make a course unavailable for all years, click the double arrows pointing right. Available years that appear shaded are associated to sections and cannot be made unavailable.
   Reset	Click to reset the Unavailable list and Available list back to their original state before you began moving years from one list to another.

7. Click Submit.

Edit Course Relationships Information

Using the Edit Course Relationships page, you can manage the relationship between courses. The scheduling engine uses these course relationships when building a student's schedule. If you define a relationship for a course with another course, you do not have to define the relationship for both courses. But, you can define the relationship for both courses so that it is easy to identify this relationship regardless of which course you are viewing. The following three types of course relationships are used in PowerSchool:

• Prerequisite: Indicates relationship between two courses ensures that the student will be scheduled into the specified course so that the course is completed prior to the beginning of the second course.
• Corequisite: Indicates relationship between two courses ensures that the student will be scheduled into both courses so that the courses are taken concurrently.
• Postrequisite: Indicates relationship between two courses ensures that the student will be scheduled into the specified course after the student has completed the first course in the relationship.

This information is either captured as part of the PowerScheduler commit process or can be manually defined (added, edited, deleted) using this page.

This procedure may only be performed at the school level.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.

3. Click Relationships.
   Do one of the following:

   Action	Description
   Add	To add a new relationship: Click New. Click Associate. Select the number of the course for which you want to define a relationship. Click Submit. Choose one of the following: Prerequisite Corequisite Postrequisite

4. Click Submit.

Edit Course Scheduling Information

Using the Edit Course Scheduling Information page, you can manage course-specific scheduling information used by the scheduling engine when building a student's schedule. This information is either captured as part of the PowerScheduler commit process or can be manually defined using this page.

This procedure may only be performed at the school level.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Scheduling.

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

   Field	Description
   Allow Student Repeat in Same Term	Select the checkbox to allow the system to schedule a student in more than one section of this course in the same term. For example, occasionally students need to double-up on a course within the same term. This is usually done for elective courses, such as Work Release.
   Allow Student Repeat in Different Term	Select to allow the system to schedule a student in more than one section of this course in different terms. Use this option for either academic or elective courses.
   Load Priority	Enter a numerical value of 1 to 99 (1 being the highest priority) to prioritize in which course the system should schedule a student when a conflict between two of the student's requests arises. You can enter the same load priority number for several courses. For example, enter a load priority of 10 for all academic courses to ensure that students are loaded into these courses first, 20 for academic electives, and 30 for non-academic electives.
   Load Type	Choose whether this is an academic, elective, or alternate course. The system uses this classification to balance the types of courses in which the student is scheduled during a schedule term. For example, if your school's scheduling terms are semesters, the system does not schedule the student in all elective courses the first semester and all academic courses the second semester.
   Use Pre-Established Teams	Select if you want the system to reference teams when scheduling students into this course.
   Use Section Types	Select if you want the system to schedule courses according to section types.
   Don't Allow Substitutions	Select if you do not want the system to attempt to schedule a student in alternate courses if this course is full.
   Global Substitution 1	Click Associate to select the first course substitution you want the system to schedule for every student who cannot be scheduled in this course.
   Global Substitution 2	Click Associate to select the second course substitution you want the system to schedule for every student who cannot be scheduled in this course. The system will use this substitution if Global Substitution 1 is no longer available.
   Global Substitution 3	Click Associate to select the third course substitution you want the system to schedule for every student who cannot be scheduled in this course. The system will use this substitution if Global Substitution 2 is no longer available.

5. Click Submit.

Edit Course Equivalencies

Using the Course Equivalencies page, you can manage the relationship between a course and its equivalent. For example, if EHS101 (course) and EHS102 (course equivalent) are stored, then EHS102 courses can replace EHS101 grades. EHS102 is "equivalent to" EHS101. Once defined, course equivalencies are then used by the repeated course grade suppression process when calculating permanently store grades.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

View Course Equivalency

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Equivalencies. The Course Equivalencies page displays the following information:
   • Relationship
   • Equivalent Course Name
   • Equivalent Course Number
   • Start Date
   • End Date

Create a Course Equivalency

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Equivalencies.
4. Click Add.

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

   Field	Description
   Relationship	Indicate whether the equivalent course number Can replace or Can be replaced by the selected course.
   Equivalent Course Number	Enter the course that is equivalent to the selected course. As you begin entering the course name or number, PowerSchool automatically provides a list of suggestions that you may choose from.
   Start Date	Do one of the following: Enter the date the relationship begins or click the calendar icon to select a date. Leave blank. Data cannot overlap with an existing course equivalency.
   End Date	Do one of the following: Enter the date the relationship ends or click the calendar icon to select a date. Leave blank. Data cannot overlap with an existing course equivalency.

6. Click Submit.

Edit a Course Equivalency

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Equivalencies.
4. Click the Pencil icon of the course for which you want to edit a course equivalency.
5. Edit as needed.
6. Click Submit.

Delete a Course Equivalency

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Choose the name of the course you want to edit.
3. Click Equivalencies.
4. Click the name of the course for which you want to delete a course equivalency.
5. Click Delete.
6. Click Confirm Delete.

Edit Availability for Schools and Years

Using the Edit Availability for Schools and Years page, you can adjust course school associations by associating or disassociating courses with schools and years. Once courses are associated with schools and years, the courses are available and active on the Available Courses for [Year] page for the affected schools and years. From the Available Courses for [Year] page, the school administrator can fine-tune which courses are active or inactive.

This procedure may only be performed at the district level.

1. Navigate to the Courses page.
2. Select a course.
3. Click Edit Availability for Schools and Years.
4. In the Select Years section, select the checkbox next to each school year you want the selected course(s) to be available.
5. Click Next.

6. In the Select Schools section, enter information as needed:

   Field	Description
   School Source List	To narrow the list of schools, use the Basic Filter. To associate this course to a school, select the checkbox next to the school. To associate this course to all schools, select the checkbox in the header row.
   Association Type	Do one of the following: Select the Make Available option to make the courses available and active for the selected schools and years.  Select the Make Unavailable option to make the courses unavailable and inactive for the selected schools and years.

7. Click Next.

8. In the Summary and Confirmation section, verify information:
   Associations with conflicts will not be processed.

   Field	Description
   Courses Affected	Click to view the Courses Affected, which displays the courses you selected.
   Years Affected	Click to view the Years Affected, which displays the years you selected.
   Schools Affected	Click to view the Schools Affected, which displays the schools selected.
   [Available/Unavailable] Associations that Already Exist	Click to view the [Available/Unavailable] Associations that Already Exist, which displays any associations that already exist for those associations you are trying to make.
   Total Associations to be Added	Click to view the Total Associations to be Added, which displays the associations that will be added making the selected courses available for the selected schools and years.
   Total Associations to be Removed	Click to view the Total Associations to be Removed, which displays the associations that will be removed making the selected courses unavailable for the selected schools and years.
   Total Association Conflicts	Click to view the Total Association Conflicts, which displays the associations that were requested but not allowed and the reasons why the request was not allowed.

9. Click Submit.

Edit Course List Prerequisites (Selected Courses)

Using the Edit Course List Prerequisites page, you can manage course prerequisites for selected courses.

When accessed at the school level, only courses that are available for the selected school and year appear.

Edit Course Settings

Using the Course Settings page, you can control whether or not schools are allowed to create and edit certain course-related information.

This procedure may only be performed at the district level.

1. Navigate to the Course Settings page.

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

   Field

   Description

   Only allow new courses to be created at the District Office

   Indicate whether or not schools can create new courses by doing one of the following: Select the checkbox to only allow new courses to be created at the District Office. When selected, the following do not appear when signed in at the school level: New Course button on the Courses page. Courses the Table menu on the Quick Import page. Courses in the Import into this table menu on the Import Template page.

3. Deselect the checkbox to allow schools to create new courses. When deselected, the following appear when signed in at the school level:

• New Course button on the Courses page.
• Courses in the Table menu on the Quick Import page.
• Courses in the Import into this table menu on the Import Template page.

By default, this checkbox is not selected.

• Click Submit.

Edit Course Group

Using the Course Groups page, you can group like-courses together making it easier to manage similar courses.

This procedure may only be performed at the school level.

Create a Course Group

1. Navigate to the Course Groups page.
2. Click New in the courses menu.

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

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the course group. If there are multiple high schools on your server, you may want to create a system for naming your course groups so that they sort in a certain way. For example, you might call Apple Grove High School's course group containing ninth-grade core courses AGHS-9-Core Courses. If you followed this system, all of your high schools would sort together, as would the grade levels within them.
   Type	Choose the type of course group: Scheduling Only: Course group is used for scheduling purposes only. Graduation Set Only: Course group is used for graduation requirement purposes only. Both: Course group is used for both scheduling and for graduation requirement purposes.
   Applies to	Choose whether you want to apply the course group to all schools or only to the current school. By default, course groups are only applied to the current school.

4. Select the checkbox next to the name of each course that should belong to this group.

5. Click Submit.

Edit a Course Group

1. Navigate to the Course Groups page.
2. Choose the course group you want to edit from the courses menu.
3. Edit as needed.
4. Click Submit.

Delete a Course Group

1. Navigate to the Course Groups page.
2. Choose the course group you want to delete from the courses menu.
3. Click Delete.
4. Click Confirm Delete.