Parent Access to PowerSchool at LakeShore CSD
Powerschool
What is PowerSchool?
PowerSchool
is a web-based Student Information System (SIS) that provides real-time
information to school administrators, teachers, parents and students --
over the internet.
Parents can check their
student's attendance and grade history by logging into PowerSchool via
the Internet, using their unique Web ID and password. They can also
view the school bulletin and notes and
comments from teachers.
PowerSchool allows secure access for up to the minute
student information including attendance and grades.
Parents' access to PowerSchool
will be by a unique Web ID and password. For families with more than
one Middle or High School child in the District, a separate Web ID and password will be
provided for access to each child's information.
With PowerSchool, parents can accomplish the
following online:
- Access real-time student performance data
- Communicate with teachers
- Track assignments and attendance
- Receive emails and school bulletin announcements *
*Currently under development. Requires data entry of parent email addresses provided through completion/confirmation of the Parent Verification letter mailed in August and February.
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How To Use PowerSchool Parent Access
| Follow these
3 easy steps: |
Step
1 |
You will need a
computer with high-speed Internet access and
any recent browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Safari) to
log into PowerSchool. Connections can be made from home, work, or a
public library. |
Step
2 |
Click on the PowerSchool Parent Access link at the top of
this page or on the PowerSchool Parent Access link in the navigation bar on the left side of the LakeShore website homepage.
Enter your username and password here.
|
Step
3 |
Once you are logged into PowerSchool, you can select from the
following options:
Simply
click on the icon for the option you would like to view, or any
information in blue to link to specific student information. Please note that some features in PowerSchool are not in use because the information is already provided by the District via other existing programs.
Description of Icons:
Grades and Attendance - Displays the student's
current schedule, the last two weeks of attendance, current grades, and
attendance totals.
Grades History - Displays all grades that have
been stored for your student.
Attendance History - Displays daily attendance
for the current term or quarter.
Email Notification -
Displays a sign-up page where parents can request various
email notifications.
Teacher Comments - Displays all current
teacher comments.
School Bulletin -
Displays school bulletin items/announcements.
Class Registration - Allows Senior High students to self-register for classes. This is only available to Senior High students.
Balance* - Lake Shore is not using the meal
balance feature in PowerSchool. *For information regarding lunch accounts, please visit www.MealPayPlus.com. By registering at MealPayPlus, you can add money to your child's account and check meal balances.
My Calendars* - This feature works in
conjunction with
iCal (Macintosh Computers) and Mozilla (PC Computers).
You can subscribe to the teacher's individual class assignments only or
class assignments with scores and final grades and this will
automatically post in your calendar. *For the
School Event Calendar, please consult the calendar on the District website.
SOME DETAILS...
Grades and Attendance Screen
This screen provides a quick snapshot of your student's
current
schedule, teacher names, past two weeks of attendance, and current
overall grades.
NOTE: Key Concept in PowerSchool is that anytime
you see something in blue, it means that it
is a link to more information. Click once to see details of a
particular grade or attendance total.
Class Score Detail
This screen will appear when you click on any grade blue on the Grades and Attendance screen. You can
also click on categories or assignments listed in blue
to view additional information. NOTE: If there is an
assignment listed but there is a "( ) "-
check the due date. This may be an assignment that has been listed to
make parents aware of an upcoming due date.
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PowerSchool - Frequently Asked Questions
Common Technical Questions
Grading and Attendance Questions
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| Basic Facts about PowerSchool information |
| Benefits of PowerSchool Access for Parents |
Please keep in mind access to PowerSchool for parents is intended to encourage positive communication between parents, students and teachers. PowerSchool access does NOT replace report cards or official transcripts. For official grades or transcript information, please contact your child's guidance office. |
| How to navigate |
Words in blue text are a link to more information. Example: Click on the course name in blue to read the course notes. |
| About grades |
Please be patient when waiting for grades to be submitted. It is not realistic to expect teachers to enter grades the same day an assignment was due. Grades will be posted as soon as the teacher's schedule allows.
|
| About gradebook changes |
The gradebook instantly recalculates the overall grade based on every assignment entered. Please check the course and assignment notes or email your child's teacher if you have concerns. |
| About grading policies |
Teachers use different grading techniques, policies, and codes. Please check with the teacher if you are unsure of the grading policy or need clarification on a code. |
| About assignments and scores |
Some teachers use different "weights" for assignments depending on the type of assignment. Some teachers calculate grades by total points. How teachers weight grades is their individual decision. To understand a specific grade calculation, please contact the individual teacher. |
| About email reponses |
If you email a teacher or the PowerSchool parent assistance, a reasonable expectation for a reponse is between 2 - 3 school days. Please understand that unforseeable circumstances may occur - illness or other unanticipated absence - which may prevent the staff member you are trying to reach from responding. Please check first that you have the recipient's correct email address. If it is correct, send a second email inquiry. If you receive no response, please contact the main office of your child's school. |
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| Who should I
contact if I have questions? |
| For
Internet or computer assistance: |
Please contact your Internet service provider or authorized computer repair service provider. |
| For
PowerSchool help: |
Download the Parent Access Guide to PowerSchools from this website.
If you still need assistance, click on the Get Support link on the Parent Access mainpage. Complete all information on the form before pressing the submit button.
|
| For grades and
attendance in a specific class: |
Contact the teacher. |
| For general
attendance questions: |
Contact the specific school's main office.
Senior High main office: 926-2301
Middle School main office: 926-2400
|
| For lost login or password
issues: |
Only general information about PowerSchool will be given over
the phone
or email in order to ensure the student's privacy. Parents of Lake Shore Middle or Senior High Schools can go to the main office to pick up access information or call to
have access information mailed out to them. |
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Technical Questions |
| How do parents obtain access to PowerSchools? |
| A letter containing the login ID and password will be issued for each Middle and Senior High School student and mailed to the parent. Access information is ONLY given through the mail or in a letter picked up by the parent in person. Access information is highly confidential and therefore is NOT provided over the phone or in email. |
| What is required to connect to the Lake Shore PowerSchool server? |
A computer with high-speed Internet access, a current version of either Internet Explorer, Mozilla Foxfire, or Safari web browser, and the parent login ID and password. For best results, use the latest versions of Mozilla Foxfire (www.mozilla.com) and Java (www.java.com)
|
| Are PowerSchool logins and passwords case sensitive? |
| No. However, a common problem is substituting the letter O in place of the number 0 or the letter l in place of the number 1. If you are having problems entering your password, check that you are typing the correct letter or number. |
| Can other people see the grades or attendance of my son/daughter? |
| Each student record has a unique login and password for the Parent Access portal. As long as you do not give your login and password to others, no one but you and the school can view your child's grades or attendance. |
| When I enter my login ID and password, an error message states it is incorrect. |
| Try again, typing carefully to ensure you are pressing the correct keys. Make sure you use the number keys, not a letter to represent a 1 or a 0. |
| What do I do if I forget my login ID and/or password? |
| Click on the Get Support link on the mainpage of the PowerSchool Parent Access site or contact your child's school at the main office to request a new parent access letter be mailed to you. |
| What do I do if my login ID and/or password have been compromised? |
| Please use the Get Support link to alert technology services that your loginID and password have been compromised. The loginID and password will be changed and a letter mailed to you with the new access information. |
| When I log into PowerSchool, I get an error message: "Login Page Expired, Please re-login" or other error message. |
| The message - "Login Page Expired" occurs when PowerSchool is idle for several minutes. PowerSchool will automatically logout when it senses that no interaction has occurred. The purpose of this is to ensure security in the event that the user has walked away from the workstation to prevent others from viewing confidential information. Re-enter your login ID and password to log back into PowerSchool. |
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Grading and Attendance Questions |
| Do all
teachers post grades and attendance? |
| Posting of grades and attendance is only available at the Middle and Senior High School. Therefore only students of Middle and Senior High teachers have grades and attendance available through the Parent Access portal. The PowerSchool Student Information System pulls
this information automatically from the data entered in the teacher's
grade book. Grades and attendance information are available for viewing
as soon as a teacher enters the information in their grade book. |
| How often
can we expect grades to be updated? |
Teachers will have their grades
updated within a reasonable timeframe. The time allowance will vary depending on the assignment or assessment.
|
| How often
can we expect attendance to be updated? |
|
There are two types of attendance records - daily attendance and class meeting attendance.
Teachers are asked to record
meeting attendance each class period. Teachers may
only enter attendance codes for Absence (ABS), Tardy-excused (TEX) or
Tardy-unexcused (TUN). All other codes such as Field Trip (F) or Religious Observation (REL) are entered by the main office.
The office maintains daily attendance using a wide
range of codes as they receive information from parents or other
locations where attendance is monitored. A default absence code is used to mark the day, then updated once a written notice from the parent is received regarding the absence. Procedures for excusing your
child from school remain the same.
|
| What do
codes in the grade book represent? |
|
|
Teachers use a variety of codes to indicate the status of an assignment. The codes used vary by building. Please contact your child's teacher if you need more information about a grade book code. |
| What do
codes in the attendance book represent? |
[ - ]
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AEX
AUN
TEX
TUN
TRU
EDE
EDU
F
M
N
A
TST
OSS
ISS
|
Not in Attendance or not current Quarter date
Present
Absent - excused
Absent - unexcused
Tardy - excused
Tardy - unexcused
Truant
Early Departure Excused
Early Departure Unexcused
Field Trip
Music Lesson
Nurse Visit
AIS - Academic Intervention Services
Special Testing
Out of School Suspension
In School Suspension
These codes are also listed at the bottom of the attendance screen in PowerSchool.
|
| What is the column "Cit" in the Grade History screen? |
|
|
This stands for Citizenship. Schools in some states require a grade in Citizenship. Because PowerSchools is a program used in schools in all fifty states, this is built-in to PowerSchool. Lake Shore does not use the Citizenship column.
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