Set up the PowerSchool Student and Parent Portals so that parents can stay current on student progress. Subjects covered include enabling and using the Single Sign-On feature; creating accounts, user IDs, and passwords; and modifying display options. The Parent Portal Setup To begin PowerSchool Parent Portal Setup, ensure that you have access at the District Office and Schools for the following pages: Start Page > System > Security > Groups Start Page > System > Roles Administration > User Access Roles Start Page > System > System Settings > Security Start Page > System > System Settings > Email Start Page > Parent Search > Search Results Start Page > New Parent Entry Start Page > Parent Search > Search Results > Edit Parent Start Page > Student Selection > Access Accounts Start Page > School > Current Grade Display Check Group Permissions Ensure that all staff members required to work with student information in PowerSchool Parent Portal have security group permissions to access the Access Accounts student page. PowerSchool Parent Access Quick Reference Card To add the Access Accounts page to a security group: 1. On the Start Page, click System 2. Click Security > Groups 3. Select a group name 4. Scroll to the Accessible Student Screens section and check Access Accounts 5. Click Submit to save your changes Enable Single Sign-On Parent single sign-on is an optional feature. When you activate parent single sign-on, parents access public information for their students from one account. To activate parent single sign-on at a school: 1. On the Start Page, click System > System Settings > Security 2. For Enable Parent Single Sign-On Security, toggle the switch to On 3. Click Submit Complete the Email Setup Complete the Email Setup for system-generated emails. You must set up an account that matches the email address you enter for the Reply-To addresses on your district's email server. To complete the email setup: 1. Navigate to the District Office 2. Click System > System Settings > Email 3. From the Enable Email Notifications menu, choose Yes Copyright 2014 Pearson 1
4. In the POP/SMTP Server field, enter your PowerSchool mail server address 5. For the Email Address of PowerSchool Technical Administrator field, enter the appropriate email address 6. In the Email From Host For Mail Generated By PowerSchool field, enter the domain name after the @ in your email address 7. In the "Reply-To email address for Electronic Progress Reports Sent to Parents field, enter the auto-reply email address 8. In the field "Reply-To Email for Parent Account Management," enter the auto-reply email address 9. In the last field, enter the email address you want administrators and teachers to reply to when they receive system-generated emails 10. To save your changes, click Submit Set Display Options To modify the Current Grade Display page for each school: 1. From the School menu, select Apple Grove High School 2. On the Start Page, click School 3. In the Grading section, click Current Grade Display 4. Enter the appropriate store code for each Column field, and choose a value from the related Source of Data menu 5. In the Current Grade field, enter the store code used throughout PowerSchool when calculating the student s current GPA 6. Check Hide standards grades in Parent Access if you decide to hide standards grades in PowerSchool Student and Parent Portals 7. In the Parent/Student Access Term field, either leave the field blank for the current term, or enter a term abbreviation for another term to appear in PowerSchool Parent Portal 8. To save your changes, click Submit Determine what parents and students see when they sign in to the PowerSchool Student and Parent Portals by choosing display icons and setting up the Current Grade Display page. To modify display icons: 1. From the District Start Page, under Setup, click District 2. On the District Setup page, scroll to the District Information section and click Miscellaneous 3. For the Balance icon to appear, clear the Do not show the lunch balance on parent/student pages check box, or select the same check box to prevent the Balance icon from appearing 4. Check Allow public access to school bulletin to permit public access to the Daily Bulletin, or clear the same check box to remove access 5. Click Submit to save your changes Copyright 2014 Pearson 2
Assign Usernames and Passwords Generate usernames and passwords for groups of students using the Assign IDs & Passwords group function. Or, enter usernames and passwords manually for an individual student on the Access Accounts student page. To use the Assign IDs & Passwords group function: 1. On the Start Page, search for and select a group of students 2. Click the Select Function arrow and choose ID/Password Assignment 3. Select For the selected [xx] students only 4. Check Don t overwrite any existing IDs or passwords to save existing IDs and passwords 5. From the In case of conflicts append menu, choose a value to append to user IDs or passwords when there are duplicates 6. Check Assign Student Usernames and passwords to assign IDs and passwords for students 7. Check Assign Access IDs and passwords to assign access keys for parents 8. Select the length and type of usernames/access IDs from the menus 9. Select the length and type of passwords from the menus 10. Check Enable access accounts for processed students to activate student accounts 11. Check Enable access accounts for processed parents to activate parent accounts 12. Click Submit To assign a username and password on the Access Accounts student page: 1. On the Start Page, search for and select a student 2. In the Information section, click Access Accounts 3. Check Enable Student Access to activate the student s account 4. Check Enable Parent Access to activate the parent s account 5. Enter the student username and student password, and/or the access keys access ID and password; or to create usernames and passwords automatically, click Auto-assign IDs and Passwords for this student 6. To save your changes, click Submit Copyright 2014 Pearson 3
Parent Accounts Once you activate parent single sign-on, create an account for a parent and then associate the parent account to a student manually. First, search for the parent to ensure that he or she does not already have an account. 6. At the bottom of the page, click Add The added student appears on the Edit Parent page. To create a new parent account: 1. On the Start Page, select Parent Search 2. Enter the parent s first name and last name 3. Click the Search icon Search for the parent by name or email address. If the parent already has an account, edit the parent s name, email address, username, and password on the Edit Parent page as needed. 4. When you know you have a new parent, click New Parent Entry on the Start Page 5. Enter the first name, last name, and email address for the parent 6. Enter a username and a password 7. Re-enter the password for security purposes 8. Click Submit Add Students to a Parent Account To add a student to a new or existing parent account: 1. On the Parent Search page, enter a parent s first name, last name, or email address and click the Search icon 2. Near the bottom of the Edit Parent page, click Add + 3. Enter the student s last name and click Search 4. Next to the appropriate student name, choose the relationship between the parent and the student 5. Check Add Edit Email Preferences To edit the email preferences for the student: 1. On the Edit Parent page, click the pencil icon 2. Select what information to email to the parent, the frequency of the emails, and add additional email addresses 3. Click Submit to save changes for the selected student Or click Submit for all Students to update the information for all students associated to the parent account. Copyright 2014 Pearson 4
Create an Account as a Parent When using the Single Sign-On feature, parents create an individual account associated with all their children. PowerSchool uses the parent access ID and access password to verify that the parent has access to certain students. 6. Choose the relationship to the child from the menu Multiple children enrolled in the district can be entered at this time. Enter their names, Access IDs, Access Passwords, and relationships. 1. Enter the district s server address in a browser and add /public after the address 2. Select the Create Account tab, then click Create Account 3. Enter your first and last name, email address, a username that you will enter every time you log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal, and a password that you will enter every time you log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal The Password must be at least six characters. 7. Click Enter 4. Re-enter the password for security purposes 5. In the link section, enter the student s name, access ID and access password The Sign In page appears again so the parent can sign in with his new account information. Once an account exists, add students at any time using Account Preferences. To make changes to the name or email, use the Profile tab. Click the pencil icon to edit the username or password. To add or edit student information, click the Students tab. The access ID and access password will be given to parents by the school administrator or office personnel. Copyright 2014 Pearson 5
Sign In to the Parent Portal If you don t enable the Single Sign-On feature, parents will use the access ID and access password assigned to each student to sign in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal. The parent must enter the specific access ID and access password for each student account they wish to view. For example, if one family has four students in the school district, the parents will have four different usernames and four passwords to enter each time they log in to check on each of their children. Parents using the Single Sign-On feature will enter the same username and password to access all the students linked to their account. 1. Navigate to the PowerSchool /public web address 2. In the Username field, enter the access ID 3. In the Password field, enter the access password 4. Click Sign In Icons in PowerSchool Parent Portal Parents click the icons in the menu on the left to view student information. Grades and Attendance Click the Grades and Attendance icon to keep track of final grades and attendance totals for the current term or the term defined on the Current Grade Display page. Click a final grade to view additional information for each term. Click an assignment name if the teacher included additional information. Click Show dropped classes also to view any dropped classes. Click the numbers in either the Absences or Tardies columns to view the specific days the student was absent or tardy. If your school uses standards grades, click the Standards Grades tab to view more grades. Grades History Click the Grade History icon to view courses listed per term with grade, score, citizenship grade, and credit hours. Click a grade percentage to access the Class Score Detail page. If a school has selected to set up and assign graduation progress, and make this viewable in the portal, the View Graduation Progress link lists the student s progress in completing the graduation requirements. Attendance History Click the Attendance History icon to view an attendance grid for the current term. The grid is divided by course name and week. Absences, tardies, and other codes are explained in the legend section at the bottom of the page. Email Notification Click the Email Notification icon to modify the information sent to a parent. Select or clear which pieces of information you want sent. If you want to have the report sent to other emails, enter the addresses in the Additional Email Addresses field. Be sure to separate additional addresses with commas. Teacher Comments Click the Teacher Comments icon to view general comments regarding the student. To send an email to the teacher, click the teacher s name. Comments are listed to the right of the teacher names. School Bulletin Click the School Bulletin icon to read today s announcements. Click a calendar at the bottom of the page to show past or future announcements. Copyright 2014 Pearson 6
Class Registration Use the Class Registration icon to request courses for the next school year. The form is not available all year, but the PowerSchool administrator often activates the form during the second semester. Click the pencil icon to select a course. Submit the form when you ve selected all courses. To view requested courses, click View Course Requests. Balance Click the Balance icon to review lunch and fee transactions, as well as a student s current balances. My Calendars Use the My Calendar icon to subscribe to class assignments, scores, and final grades calendars. You must have a personal desktop calendar application that supports the icalendar standard, such as ical for Macintosh, Windows Calendar for Windows Vista, or Microsoft Outlook. After you subscribe to a calendar, add or remove Alarms, Attachments, or To Do items lists. The information will appear in the icalendar application. School Information Use the School Information icon to view the school s address, phone number, fax number, and map of the facilities. Copyright 2014 Pearson 7