About Searching

Search Basics

Learning how to perform searches is the key to using PowerSchool since you select a student or group of students with whom you are going to work. Before you can do any type of work on a student's record or a group's records, select the individual or group. By performing a search, you make such a selection. The simplest search finds just one student, but it is possible to perform more complex searches.

When performing both simple and advanced searches, it is important to keep in the mind the following:

Any work with student records always begins with a search. You must tell PowerSchool which records to retrieve to work with an individual student record or a group of students.
Enter field names in the Search field exactly as they are written in the field list. PowerSchool cannot find a field when its spelling does not match the fields in PowerSchool. The placement of underscores (_) is just as important. To verify the correct spelling of a field, click View Field List on the PowerSchool start page.
While the spelling of the field name is important, the case is not. Enter gender=f, Gender=F, GENDer=F, or any variation thereof. PowerSchool searches are not case-sensitive.
Separate different search criteria in the command line with a semicolon (;).

PowerSchool provides powerful tools to search the database of students at your school. On the start page, use the box labeled "Search Students" to find students by surname. For example, enter MA to find all students whose last names begin with MA.

Search Command Line

A search command is a line of text that you can use to command PowerSchool to perform a search. The search command is comprised of three parts: a field name, a comparator, and a search argument or value. The command line should appear in this format: [field name][comparator][search argument]. For example, to find all of the students in your school whose first name is Kate, you would enter First_Name=kate in the Search field.

Field Names and Values

PowerSchool stores student information in fields and those fields contain values. Fields are tools that you can use to search and retrieve records. To view a complete list of available field names, click View Field List on the start page.

Comparators

Comparators are tools that you use to search and retrieve records by combining two or more criteria. A combination of comparators and fields are used in searches to narrow the results to a very small group of students at your school. The following are some of the most common comparators:

Comparator	Meaning	Description
=	Equals	Use this comparator to search for records that are the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school with the last name of Jones. Find them with the following search command: last_name=Jones This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return those records that have Jones in the last_name field.
<	is less than	Use this comparator to search for records that are less than the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school who are in a grade level less than 12th grade. Find them with the following search command: grade_level<12 This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return those records that have any value less than 12 in the grade_level field.
>	is greater than	Use this comparator to search for records that are greater than the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school who are in a grade level greater than 9th grade. Find them with the following search command: grade_level>9 This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return those records that have any value greater than 9 in the grade_level field
<=	is less than or equal to	Use this comparator to search for records that are less than or equal to the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school who are in a grade level less than or equal to 12th grade. Find them with the following search command: grade_level<=12 This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return those records that have any value less than or equal to 12 in the grade_level field.
>=	is greater than or equal to	Use this comparator to search for records that are greater than or equal to the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school who are in a grade level greater than or equal to 10th grade. Find them with the following search command: grade_level>=10 This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return those records that have any value greater than or equal to 10 in the grade_level field.
#	does not equal	Use this comparator to search for records that are not the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school who are not in 12th grade. Find them with the following search command: grade_level#12 This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return those records that do not have 12 in the grade_level field.
in	is [field] present in the search argument?	Use this comparator to verify that the value of the field matches any argument in the list you provide. For example, if you want a list of all the ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders at your school, enter the following search command line: grade_level in 9,10,11 In this example, the field is grade_level, the comparator is "in," and the search argument is 9,10,11. Note that the items in the argument are separated with commas. This tells PowerSchool to find all students in grade levels 9, 10, and 11. PowerSchool goes to the grade_level field in each student record and returns the records where the entry is 9, 10, or 11. FROM ABOVE The comparator "in" is a powerful tool that allows you to verify if the value of the field matches any search argument in a list you provide. For example, to obtain a single list of all 9th, 10th, and 11th graders in your school, enter the following search command line: grade_level in 9,10,11 PowerSchool displays all students whose grade level is contained in the list 9, 10, and 11. In this example, the field is "grade_level", the comparator is "in", and the search argument is "9,10,11". The search function looks at the specified field for every student and checks to see if that field matches anything in the search argument specified. When entering a search command line, separate a list of items in a search argument with commas.
contains	is the search argument contained in the [field]?	Use this comparator to search for records that have the value of the field. Suppose you want to find all students in your school who live on Cherry Lane. Find them with the following search command: mailing_street contains Cherry Lane This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return the records that have Cherry Lane in the mailing_street field. It does not matter if the value of a student's mailing_street field is 194 Cherry Lane or 24230 Cherry Lane Parkway. If Cherry Lane appears anywhere in the field, PowerSchool considers it a match and includes the record in the search results. Note: You cannot use the contains comparator for numerical fields, such as student numbers. FROM ABOVE The comparator "contains" is another powerful search tool. For example, you want to find all of the students in your school who live on Cherry Lane. Enter the following search command line: mailing_street contains Cherry Lane PowerSchool displays all students with Cherry Lane appearing in the mailing_street field. It does not matter if the mailing_street field is 194 Cherry Lane or 24230 Cherry Lane Parkway; anything that contains Cherry Lane is considered a match.
!contain	is the search argument not contained in the [field]?	The opposite of the contains comparator is "!contain." Use this comparator to find records that do not have the value of the field. Perhaps you want to find all students in your school whose phone numbers do not contain the number five. Use the following search command: home_phone !contain 5 This instructs PowerSchool to go through each student record and return the records that do not have 5 in the home_phone field. It does not matter if the number is in the area code, the prefix, or the phone number. If there is not a 5 in the home_phone field, PowerSchool considers it a match and includes the record in the search results. FROM ABOVE The comparator "!contain" provides another search function. For example, you wanted to find all of the students in your school who do not live on Cherry Lane. Enter the following search command line: mailing_street !contain Cherry Lane PowerSchool displays all students with Cherry Lane not appearing anywhere in the mailing_street field. It does not matter if the mailing_street field is 194 Cherry Lane or 24230 Cherry Lane Parkway; anything that contains Cherry Lane is not considered a match.
@	Wildcard	Suppose you want to find all students whose first names start with "rob." This includes anyone named Rob, Robert, Robbie, Robby, Robin, or Roberta. To find these students, enter the following in the search field: first_name=rob@ As you can imagine, the wildcard is a very powerful comparator. There is no rule as to where you place it in the command. It can be used anywhere to take the place of a letter, word, or phrase. Enter first_name=@ie to find a student whose first name ends in "ie." This search produces results like Terrie, Debbie, or Eddie but not Terry, Debby, or Eddy. The command first_name=s@n produces results with names such as Susan or Stan. Note: You cannot use the @ or wildcard comparator for numerical fields, such as student numbers. FROM ABOVE The wildcard "@" provides additional search flexibility. For example, you want to find all of the students whose first names started with jen. Enter the following search command line: first_name = jen@ PowerSchool displays all students with the first name that begins with jen.

Special Groups

In addition to simple field/value searching, you may search for special groups, such as "transferred-in". With a single command in the search field, you can select a set of students using criteria that would be impossible to reproduce using simple field/value searching, and which would take a significant amount of effort to produce using the "search in results" functionality.

Search

Who is Selected

transferred-in

All students who have been transferred into this school, but not yet re-enrolled. In database terms, this means that the "SchoolID" is for the current school, but the "Enrollment_SchoolID" is for some other school, AND that the "Enroll_Status" field is "2" ("Transferred Out"). The "/" prefix is implied in this search. This is the equivalent of searching "/Enroll_Status=2", "&/Enrollment_SchoolID#[my school number]".

Search Prefixes

There are three search prefixes you may wish to use. A search prefix adjusts how the search is carried out. Note that you will always follow the prefix by a search term; a prefix is never valid all by itself on the search line.

When the Advanced checkbox is selected, some comparators do not function. You can use the Within button in its place.

Prefix	Effect on Search Line
/	Include non-active students. Normal searches are restricted to the actively enrolled student body of the school. However, especially when transferring students in from another school, you may sometimes wish to locate students who are no longer or not yet active. Use this prefix to search across ALL students (such as active and inactive). Note that this may be placed AFTER (not before) a "+" or "&" prefix.
&	Search within results. For example, to find all students transferred in after 4/10/2006, search first for "transferred-in", then search for "&/ExitDate>4/10/2006". Note that the "&" must come BEFORE any "/" prefix.
+	Add results of new search. For example, to find all tenth graders and all ninth graders with the field "InstrLevel" set to "Advanced" you might search for "Grade_Level=9" and then "&InstrLevel=Advanced", and finally for "+Grade_Level=10". Note that the "+" must come BEFORE any "/" prefix.