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No matter what tradition you may celebrate
during this holiday season, have a safe and joyful time
off
From your Grant Wood AEA
PowerSchool Support Team
Grant Wood AEA and PowerSchool©
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Grant Wood
AEA now supports 226 private and parochial Iowa schools
with PowerSchool Premier and PowerTeacher Gradebook.
This support includes hardware hosting and support,
training, consultation, and help desk services. A list
of those schools and links to their websites are
available by clicking on the GWAEA PS Schools link on
the left menu. |
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STORING GRADES
AGAIN!!!
Don't forget it is
time to store your end of term grades again.
Click
here to go to the Task page to see what else you
need to be thinking about.
Transcript
Downloads
Nine new transcript reports have been
added to the Reports & Labels tab for you to download to
your site. Each has a preview of what the
transcript will look like. Once you have decided on the
one you want, load it to your site using the download
instructions on that page for .pst files.
We can work with you to customize these
so they are more toward your liking. Additionally,
they may have to be tweaked for the GPA and Class
Ranking methods that you use.
New Task Tab
On the right tab bar you will notice a
new tab called Tasks has been added. Clicking on this
tab will provide you with a page that lists nine
different tasks someone at each school will want to
review at the end of each term. Many of those tasks have
links to documents that explain how to accomplish the
listed task.
On the same page are links to other
documents that provide instructions on various tasks
that you will be performing at various times of the
year.
Two New Report
Card Docs
Two new documents have been put on the
site that explain how to setup a new report card and how
to use historical grades in your report card. the
documents can be found by clicking on the GWAEA
Documents tab on the left or by clicking on these links:
Tutorial Report Card Setup.pdf
Report Card Tutorial- Historical Grades.pdf
How to Clear Java
Cache
Mac OS X 10.4 and many OS X 10.5
operating systems will now prompt to install a new
version of Java (1.5.0_16). The same Java version was
also previously offered in a Windows update.
There are issues inherent in this
version of Java that prevent PowerTeacher Gradebook from
functioning properly and, in some cases, from launching.
Workaround:
A patch file is now being applied to
all sites. Please contact us before proceeding with the
following at the user workstation.
Mac
- On the client workstation, exit
PowerTeacher Gradebook.
- Navigate to Applications
> Utilities > Java.
- Open Java Web Start.app.
The Java Application Cache Viewer appears.
- Select the User
tab.
- In the Application column, select
all PowerTeacher Gradebook listings.
- Click Remove Selected
Application.
- Close the Java Application Cache
Viewer.
- Launch PowerTeacher Gradebook.
Windows
- On the client workstation,
exit PowerTeacher Gradebook.
- Navigate to Control
Panel > Java. The Java Control Panel
appears.
- Select the General
tab.
- Click Settings
under the Temporary Internet Files section. The
Temporary Files Settings dialog appears.
- Click Delete Files.
The Delete Temporary Files dialog appears.
- Select both checkboxes, and
click OK.
- Close the Java Control Panel.
- Launch PowerTeacher
Gradebook.
Midterm Progress
Reports
Some may be ready to issue
Midterm Progress Reports in the next few weeks. Check
out the document
Setup Report Card Templates to see how to put
together your report.
If you only send reports out
to students with Ds & Fs use the at Risk report or use
the Low Current Grades report that you can access and
copy to your PowerSchool by clicking on the Reports &
Labels tab on this page, then loading the report.
Enrollment Summary
Graphs
You might not know that the
Enrollment Summary page has some pretty cool charts that
you can easily access.
Click on the Enrollment
Summary then click on any of the blue title links along
the title row on top or on the grade level column on the
side. A graph of enrollment by ethnicity or an
enrollment by grade level will appear. This can be view
both by individual school levels or by the district
level for a complete summary graph of all your schools.
Keep Elementary
Parents from Seeing Gradebook Details
If your elementary schools
only want parents to login to PowerSchool to see
attendance, bulletins, and teacher comments, but no
grades from the grade book, simply do not fill out the
Current Grade Display which is found under the Grading
category under the school menu.
By leaving these settings
blank the parent quick lookup screen shows only this
week and last weeks attendance, email link to parents,
and attendance totals. No grade book information is
shown.
Sort Quick Lookup
Screen
by Periods
If your school is
expecting the Quick Lookup screen to list the
classes in order by period, but they are not, this
could be due to the Day and Period Precedence
setting in the Scheduling Preferences.
An example Quick Lookup
screen could show a listing like the following:
 | 1(A-F) English I |
| 2(A-F) Earth
Science |
| 3(A,C,E) Fitness
for Living |
| 5(A-F) Algebra I |
| 6(A-F) Lunch |
| 3(B,D,F)
Photography |
| 4(B,D,F) Spanish |
In this example, the
Quick Lookup screen is sorting the classes by day,
and not by period. To resolve this, change the sort
order to Period then day:
- Navigate to
School > Scheduling Preferences.
- Under Class
Sorting, change the Day and Period Precedence to
Period then Day.
- Click the Submit
button.
Gary
Olsen, Cartoon College
|
 At the end of each
term your school's grading terms you may use the
Permanently Store Grades function to copy and store
the students' current grades as historical grades.
This process is used as the foundation for Reports,
GPA's, Class Rank, and Honor Roll.
Understanding this
process is critical and should only be completed by
administrators who have been trained in the process.
Grades can only be stored within a 30 day window
after the end of a term.
Documentation is
available in the GWAEA Documents area of this page.
Search for Store Grades. Click on the Task tab on
the left to see all the processes you need to
consider at the end of the term.
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Setup
Parent Access to PS |
There are several things
you need to do to get PowerSchool setup for your parents
to view their students' grades, attendance, teacher
comments, and other information. Here is a starter list
for you to consider. Click on each link to see
documentation about each subject.
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Set all parents to
receive weekly summary of grades and attendance.
Click Here |
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Set all parent and or students logins
and passwords.
Click Here |
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Using Quick Export of Student/Parent
Logins and PWs to merge into documents you create
for parent notification.
Click Here |
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Send Parents form
letter with login and passwords as well as
instructions on using PowerSchool. Change this
sample to your own settings.
Click Here |
Before sending your
letters to parents or finishing your web page with
parent logon information please contact us and let us
review your settings.
The goal of this site is to
facilitate support for PowerSchool©
in the most effective and efficient
manner possible. Please refer to the
information below to determine the
best option for support issues.
Following Implementation
Following implementation,
all support questions should go to
your District PowerSchool©
Administrator (DPSA), or your school's
PowerSchool©
contact person first. If these
individuals are unable to provide
support, you should pursue one of
the following support options as
appropriate.
Help Menu
Click on the question mark on
each
PowerSchool©
screen where the issue resides.
Training
Guides
Use the training guides from the
Teacher and Administrative training
sessions for general reference on
how-to processes.
Grant Wood
AEA PowerSchool©
Documentation
Use the documentation material on
this site to research a possible
resolution to your problem.
Grant Wood AEA Support
Grant Wood AEA provides telephone
support, site visits, training and
workshops, documentation, hardware
hosting and system support.
If none of the previous support arms
are available to a user they should
call or email Grant Wood AEA PowerSchool
support for help on their problem.
Release Notes
DPSAs should read release notes
carefully and pass important details
on to users in their district. The
release notes are distributed via
email to district.
Statewide and Mini User Groups
Administrators, secretarial staff
and teachers are all invited to
participate in the national and
statewide user groups. The users
groups provide support and
information for PowerSchool©
users on a regular basis. See link
below for information on subscribing
to these groups.
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Iowa
PowerSchool©
Users Group |
PowerSchool©
users in Iowa have put together a very useful
Users Group where they exchange ideas, comments,
questions, reports, and organize their state Users Group
meetings. Grant Wood AEA participates in this
Users Group and encourages you to sign up too. |
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Grant Wood Area Education Agency
4401 Sixth Street SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404-4499
(319) 399-6700 • 1800-332-8488
Fax 319-399-6457 •
TDD 319-399-6766
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Grant Wood AEA
Grant Wood
Area Education Agency is one of 12 Iowa area education
agencies (AEAs) established by the Iowa Legislature in
1975 to provide equity in educational programs
across the
state.
Iowa’s
AEAs work as educational partners with local public and
accredited private
schools to
help assure that all children reach their potential.
Iowa AEAs
are widely regarded
as one of
the foremost regional service systems in the country,
offering programs equitably,
efficiently, and economically on a regional or
cooperative basis among school districts.
Grant Wood
AEA provides support to Pearson PowerSchool to our partnered school
districts. Our support includes server & system hosting,
technical support, daily user support, site visits,
training and workshops, and documentation.
The Grant
Wood support staff has completed the PowerSchool
Advanced Certification Program and will provide
PowerSchool users with the same high level of customer
service the school we service have become accustom to
over the past three decades.
Grant Wood Area Education Agency extends equal
opportunities in its employment practices, educational
programs and services, and does not discriminate on the
basis of color, gender, race, national origin, religion,
creed, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital
status, disability, veteran status or as otherwise
prohibited by law. If you believe you or your child has
been discriminated against or treated unjustly, please
contact the Agency’s Equity Coordinator, Rob Little, at
319-399-6886 or 1-800-332-8488 or TDD 319-399-6766,
Grant Wood AEA, 4401 Sixth St SW, Cedar Rapids, IA
52404.
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