PowerSchool - The Great Replacement

PowerSchool (sometimes referred to as PowerTeacher) is a student information system which includes grading and communication mechanisms accessible electronically. If I remember correctly, PowerSchool was introduced in my district, Elizabeth, in 2008. PowerSchool became a one-stop for multiple functions – attendance, communication, grading, progress reports and documentation.

As with many things, the implementation of the program was met with hesitation because we felt that the school district now had administrative access (and oversight) to our grades where they could alter them if need be.  While perhaps marginally paranoid, the ability to potentially override or overrule our professional decisions was worrisome for the faculty. However, as with most things, the collective belief became that if you do your job, you probably have little to worry about.

Programs such as GradeKeeper and Genesis have similar functionality and common in many school districts. What I like about PowerSchool is the ease of navigation among different functions.

The first function I truly enjoy is gradebook. I can easily set up categories in my gradebook (Homework, Classwork, tests, etc) and determine what weight each of them are for calculation of averages. I can calculate the weights of everything. I also have the ability to marking an assignment late, exempt and make comments for each individual assignment.

The school also generates student progress reports. The comments that the teachers make (for the quarterly grade – not the individual assignments) end up being what is on the progress report. Teachers have a choice of premade statements from the comment bank such as (classwork satisfactory, in danger of failing, etc) or have the ability to add a customized comment such as “efforts do not match abilities.” I also use that comment section to write “grades modified as per IEP” for any special education students. 

Power School permits me look at the attendance and be able to excuse or mark them absent as a result. With this, I can also look at my students’ attendance in all of his or her classes. This serves two positives: I can see if they did not attend my class or I can see if I made an error in my attendance and fix it later.

My last function I enjoy is the “log entry” section. This where I can make comments about anything and the students and parents are unable to see it. If a student misbehaves I can document it. If I contact a parent or vice versa, I can document it. If I hold a conference with a student, I can document it. Now, if another teacher wishes to make comments about that same student, they may do so, but only the teacher who submits the comment is able to see what they wrote. On the other hand, an administrator or guidance counselor is able to see all comments made.

PowerSchool really does make everything exponentially easier.

Website: http://www.powerschool.com/powerschool-sis/