Powerschool Parent Packet

Parent Informational Packet Christian Brothers High School Sacramento, California

Logging in to PowerSchool: 1. Make sure you are connected to the Internet. (For help with connecting to the Internet contact your Internet Service Provider.)

2. Open an Internet browser. (i.e. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape Navigator or FireFox, etc.)

3. Access the PowerSchool server: A. Go to http://powerschool.cbhs-sacramento.org/public.

4. The following login page will appear.

5. Type in the username (Confidential ID) 6. Type in your password (included with the Confidential ID) 7. Click on the “Enter� button

Note: Do not forget when you are done in PowerSchool to Log Off from the site. That is done simply by clicking on the Log Out button which is available in all screens. If you have questions, comments or problems, please email us at: parents@cbhs-sacramento.org.

POWERSCHOOL Available Features of PowerSchool

Grades and Attendance Provides access to a summary of your child’s current grades and attendance at one glance.

Attendance History Provides access to the complete attendance record for your child for the current term.

Email

Grades History Provides access to your child’s current year report card with current term grades. (Please note that Q1 grades may not match the report cards you received last month. These were posted late and included some Q2 grades.)

Notification Provides access to Automatic email notification configuration. It is here that you can set up to receive periodical emails with your child’s grade and attendance information.

Teacher Comments Provides access to each teacher’s current comments for your child.

Click the name of the teacher to open a blank email that you can send to that teacher

Grades & Attendance

Click on the score to view the Class Score Detail page.

The Grades & Attendance page is the default page when you log in to PowerSchool. This page gives you a quick look at how your child is doing in school. From this one screen you have access to attendance information for the last two weeks, names of and email links to teachers, current grade averages, and attendance totals for the current term.

Key Concept in PowerSchool: Anytime you see something in blue it means that it is a link to more information. There are three different spots on this page where this is available: 1. Teacher’s name – if you click on it you are able to email that teacher (Note: you must have your email settings set correctly for this to work. This works with Outlook or other client applications and does not work automatically with webmail.)

2. Attendance totals – anytime you see a number in the attendance columns listed in blue you can click on it for more specific information about that absence or tardy.

3. Class Averages – you will notice that the score below the grades is listed in blue. By clicking on that number you will display the Class Score Detail page (seen below).

Class Score Detail Page: The Class Score Detail Page displays specific class assignment and grade information. As with the Grade and Attendance page, if you see something written in blue, it is a link to more information.

The Assignment, Assignment Category, and the Score all have the potential for more information about them.

At the top of the page you may also find grading information that the teacher has posted. This can help you understand the class expectations, grading policies, and grading philosophies of the teacher for this particular class. Teachers are still exploring this function.

Key Concept: If there is an assignment listed but there is no score – check the date. This may be an assignment that has been listed to make parents aware of an upcoming due date. Teachers will also use codes such as RU (Received, Ungraded), NW (No Work Shown) and NHI (Not Handed In) to convey information to parents. Also note that year long courses show assignments from first semester as well. You will need to scroll down and find the assignments listed by the appropriate date.

Attendance History The Attendance History page allows you to have a detailed view of your child’s attendance in school during the current semester. At the bottom of the page you will find the attendance legend which shows the attendance codes that are used at Christian Brothers High School.

Note: A student absence that is the result of a school related activity (coded as “SRA”) may remain an absence (AB) for a couple of days following the trip until it is changed by the Dean’s Office.

Parents are encouraged to re-read the absence policy in the Christian Brothers Parent/Student Handbook.

Grade History The Grade History page allows you to view a list of all grades that your child has earned up to this point in the year. In one sense, this view becomes essentially a report card screen. In this view you are able to see the letter grade, percentage grade, and the credits earned (seen after the semester is completed). The marks you see may not match that of the First Quarter Report Card. There is also a Citizenship mark that Christian Brothers uses as well.

When accessing this page you will see the following tables: S1

= Semester One grades

Note: You will also see additional grades depending on the time of year when you are accessing the page.

Much like the Grades and Attendance screen you will notice that the percentage grades are listed in blue. To click on one of these numbers would bring up the Class Score Detail page which would show the assignments and the grades that made up that particular score.

Email Notification The Email Notification page allows you as a parent to set up an automatic email update that is sent to your personal email account at home or at work. You will need to choose the settings you will want and then submit those (see diagram on the next page).

There are four areas that need to be defined or set up for email notifications to start being sent to your personal email account.

The first item you need to configure is the type of information you want sent to you. You have 5 options to choose from. (Note: the more you select the more email you will receive.) o

Summary of current grades and attendance - Sends out one email giving a summary of curren grade and attendance totals for each of your child’s classes. This is the option we most recommend for parents.

o

Detailed reports showing all assignment scores for each class - Sends out one email for each class with each assignment for the quarter with scores. (Note: if your child has 7 classes you will receive 7 emails, one for each class. If you have multiple students at CB you can be receiving over 14 emails with detailed information – for that reason we are not recommending this option.)

o

Detailed report of attendance - Sends out an email containing detailed attendance for each class your child is enrolled in for the current term.

o

School announcements –The school announcement link will take you directly to the daily bulletin on the school’s website.

o

Balance Alert - – Christian Brothers School does not have this function available to parents at this time.

Once you have chosen the above option you will need to configure the “How Often?” option of the notifications. You have 5 options to choose from: Never, Once a Week, Once Every Two Weeks (recommended option), Once a Month, Daily.

Note: Because grades do not change dramatically over a short span it is recommended that you not choose the Daily option and that the “Once Every Two Weeks� is the best option for most parents.

The next item, Send Now, allows you to have these emails sent to your email account now. At any time you can come into this screen and check this box and click the submit button to have these emails sent. If this is not checked you will receive the next update according to the choices made above. The server sends out these updates automatically on Mondays.

Note: At any time you can come back to this configurations screen and make changes to your choices. Upon hitting the Submit button those changes will take effect.

Finally you need to configure what email accounts you want these emails sent to. Type in the email address of the account that you want email sent to. You can have these emails sent to multiple email accounts by simply separating the email accounts with commas (no spaces).

Teacher Comments The Teacher Comments page allows you to view any comments that teachers may have submitted for your child. From here you are able to view your child's current schedule and who his/her teachers are. As with the Grades and Attendance screen, if a teacher has email available you can click the teacher’s name and send an email to them.

Corresponding with Teachers PowerSchool was purchased as a tool to increase communication between parents, students and teacher. Before PowerSchool, parents received grade information only upon request or at scheduled times – progress reports, end of each quarter, end of the semester. With PowerSchool it is possible for you to check grade information at any point in the semester. With that in mind, parents need to know and understand the following:

1. Each teacher has his/her own grading system. Some teachers work on a straight points system while others weight the scores according to assignment categories (tests, quizzes, etc). Some give grades for class participation while others do not accept late work. Our teachers inform all of their students at the beginning of the year of what their expectations and grading policies will be for the class. This is available to each student.

In some cases, it is also posted on the CB website.

2. Grades can change dramatically in the first few weeks of each semester. In the beginning of each semester you may see wild shifts in the class average of your child. This is simply because when there are only one or two assignments in the grade book, a low or high score can make a dramatic change in the overall grade.

3. Teachers need time to grade essays, projects, assignments, and tests. Each day teachers are expected to have new material and lesson plans ready for class. Many teachers are also involved in co-curricular activities that take time to plan and attend. With that in mind teachers need time to get the assignments graded. For example, a teacher will not be able to post grades for an essay assignment the next day when he/she has 25-30 students in each of their classes. We have asked our teachers to post graded assignments at least every two weeks. Please be patient as it does take time. To help in communication teachers are encouraged to use codes in their gradebooks, some of which are: RU = Received but Ungraded/Unrecorded NHI = Not Handed In NW = No Work Shown (e.g. math or science homework) Suspended SUSP = Unex Abs = Unexcused Absence AB = Absent

Corresponding with Teachers When a student’s grade(s) is of concern for a parent we ask that you follow these steps: 1. Talk with your child first. Ask him/her what the situation is with his/her grade(s).

2. Read the grading philosophy and policies of the teacher. This may answer the question of why the student has received the grade or explain how the assignments add up to the current average. You can find each teachers grading philosophy/policies in the course information materials given to the students during the first week, on the school’s website or, for some teachers, at the top of the Class Score Detail pages (clicking on the student’s class average in the Grades and Attendance page will take you there).

More teachers will be taking advantage of this third option as they continue to learn PowerSchool.

3. Check to see if there is an assignment description. In the Class Score Detail page, if the assignment is listed in blue, it will have more information about the assignment. This may help you in understanding what was involved or expected for a particular assignment.

4. Check the date of the assignment. An assignment handed in late may receive deductions from its score. Also, as stated previously, early in the quarter overall grades can fluctuate dramatically because of the lack of assignments in the grade book.

5. In trying to clarify a class average, see if there are any missing or late assignments that could be affecting the overall grade average.

6. At anytime you can email a teacher for clarification about grades, but the above mentioned steps may answer some of your questions or concerns. If they don’t, click on the teacher’s name to send an email, and the teacher will be happy to reply and help clarify the situation.

Special thanks to the people at Dalat International School for the screen shots and template for this information packet.