PowerTeacher Gradebook
Released June 2011 Document Owner: Documentation Services This edition applies to Release 2.3 of the PowerTeacher Gradebook software and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions or updates. The data and names used to illustrate the reports and screen images may include names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of the data and names are fictitious; any similarities to actual names are entirely coincidental. PowerSchool is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. All trademarks are either owned or licensed by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.
Contents Welcome... 6 Introduction... 6 Get Started... 7 About Getting Started... 7 Log In to PowerTeacher Administrator... 7 Reset Your Password... 8 Set Security Questions... 8 Change Your Password... 9 View PowerTeacher Administrator Start Page... 9 PowerTeacher Administrator Help... 11 About PowerTeacher Administrator Help... 11 Set Browser Preferences... 11 Launch PowerTeacher Administrator Help... 12 PowerTeacher Administrator Help Window... 12 Security... 14 About Security... 14 About LDAP Settings... 14 Manage LDAP Settings... 14 Set Up Security Groups... 14 Set Up Administrator Login... 15 Manage Administrator Account Settings... 16 Manage Account Settings... 16 Change Your Password... 16 Gradebook... 18 About Gradebook... 18 Set Gradebook Preferences... 18 Set Up Email... 18 Launch Gradebook with Administrator Login... 19 View Grade Scales... 19 Manage Standards and Measures Settings... 19 Set Standards Final Grade Calculation... 20 Edit Most Recent Scores Calculation... 20 Class Content... 22 About Class Content... 22 Contents 3
Create Link Groups... 22 Sort Link Groups... 22 Edit Link Groups... 23 Create Links... 23 Sort Links... 23 Edit Links... 24 Delete Links... 24 Push Links... 24 Remove Pushed Links... 25 Data Exchange... 26 About Data Exchange... 26 View the SIS Configuration Page... 26 Schedule Imports... 26 View Exchanged Data... 26 Import Data... 27 Export Data... 27 Search... 28 About Searching... 28 Perform Searches... 28 Groups... 31 About Groups... 31 Create Groups... 31 Edit Groups... 32 Create Temporary Selections... 32 Reports... 34 About Reports... 34 Run the Section Readiness Report... 34 Quit PowerTeacher Administrator... 35 About Quitting... 35 Log Out of PowerTeacher Administrator... 35 Appendix: Tables... 36 Account Details Page... 36 Account Search Dialog... 37 Account Settings Page... 38 Automated Import Schedule Page... 39 Calculation Page... 39 Contents 4
Course Search Dialog... 40 Edit Import Schedule Page... 41 Email Setup Page... 41 Export Status Page... 42 Grade Scales Page... 43 Import Data Manually Page... 44 Import Status Page... 45 LDAP Settings Page... 45 Link Details Dialog... 46 Link Group Details Page... 47 Manage Class Content Page... 47 Manage Data Page... 48 Manual Batch Export Settings Page... 49 School Search Dialog... 50 School Usage Page... 50 Section Readiness Report Page... 51 Section Search Dialog... 52 Teacher Search Dialog... 53 Term Search Dialog... 53 Contents 5
Welcome Introduction As more teachers in a district use PowerTeacher gradebook, the management of those teachers' gradebooks becomes more significant. Tasks such as pre-populating settings and providing them to teachers via their gradebooks are some of the important responsibilities of PowerTeacher gradebook administrators. With PowerTeacher Administrator, system administrators can complete and distribute gradebook information to a number of teachers, thereby maintaining organization and minimizing teachers' workloads. When making information in PowerTeacher Administrator available to teachers, the district and school administrators can work with a single teacher or section, all teachers at the school or district, as well as a selection of teachers based on school, course, grade level, subject area, period/day expression, and any other teacher or section attribute. This provides the administrator with flexibility and efficiency when managing gradebooks. Welcome 6
Get Started About Getting Started To get started, you must log in to PowerTeacher Administrator. If you forget your password, you can reset it; however, you must first set up security questions so that you can reset your password from the login page. For more information, see Reset Your Password. To change your password for security purposes, you can also reset your password after logging in to PowerTeacher Administrator. For more information, see Change Your Password. Log In to PowerTeacher Administrator Typically, PowerTeacher Administrator is accessed via PowerSchool and the PowerTeacher portal. PowerTeacher Administrator may also be accessed using your school's PowerTeacher Administrator URL. Before you can log in to PowerTeacher Administrator, you will need your school's PowerTeacher Administrator URL, your username, and your password. If you do not have this information or if you have questions, contact your system administrator. Note: Do not use someone else's password or give your password to anyone else. How to Log In to PowerTeacher Administrator 1. Open your Web browser to your school's PowerTeacher Administrator URL (http://[server IP]/powerschool-psweb). The PowerTeacher Administrator login page appears. 2. Enter your username in the Username field. 3. Enter your password in the Password field. Note: The characters in the Password field appear as asterisks (*) to ensure greater security when you log in. 4. Click Submit. The PowerTeacher Administrator start page appears. Notes: o o o If your PowerSchool administrator has issued you a temporary password, you may be asked to reset your password upon first logging in. For more information, see How to Reset Your Password. If your password has expired, you may be asked to reset your password. For more information, see How to Reset Your Password. If you have exceeded the number of login attempts allowed, you may become locked out of PowerTeacher Administrator. If so, contact your school. Get Started 7
Reset Your Password Reset your password when you either forgot your password or want to change it for security reasons. If you forgot your password, you can use the login page to reset your password if you previously set up security questions and answers. You must set up your security questions prior to resetting a forgotten password. How to Reset Your Password If your PowerSchool administrator has issued you a temporary password or if your password has expired, use this procedure to reset your password. 1. Log in to the PowerTeacher Administrator. The Change Your Password page appears. 2. Enter information in the fields provided. For more information, see the Change Your Password Page field description table in the Appendix.: 3. Click Enter. The PowerSchool Administrator start page appears. Note: If one of the following messages appears, re-enter your password accordingly: Current password is not correct. New password must be at least [number] characters long. New password must contain at least one uppercase and one lowercase letter. New password must contain at least one letter and one number. New password must contain at least one special character. The verification password you enter must match the new password. The password entered was previously used. Please enter a new password. The next time you log in to PowerSchool Administrator, use your new password. Set Security Questions After successfully logging in to PowerTeacher Administrator, set your security questions and answers so that you can reset your password from the login page when necessary. For more information, see Reset Your Password. Security questions should be personalized and include answers only you would know. For example, enter "Where did I attend high school?" or "What is my favorite breakfast cereal?" For each question, provide the appropriate answer. How to Set Security Questions 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click My Account. The My Account Security page appears. 2. Enter a security question in the Question field and enter its answer in the following Answer field. Repeat for any additional security question and answer fields. 3. Click Update. The Administration page appears. Get Started 8
Change Your Password After successfully logging in to PowerTeacher Administrator, you can change your password if either its security has been compromised or you prefer a different password. If you cannot log in to PowerTeacher Administrator because you do not know or remember your password, you must reset your password. For more information, see Reset Your Password. How to Change Your Password 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click My Account. The My Account Security page appears. 2. Click Change Password. The Change Your Password page appears. 3. Reenter your new password in the Confirm Password field. 4. Click Submit. The PowerTeacher Administrator start page appears. Notes: If your PowerSchool administrator has issued you a temporary password, you may be asked to reset your password upon first logging in. For more information, see How to Reset Your Password. If your password has expired, you may be asked to reset your password. For more information, see How to Reset Your Password. If you have exceeded the number of login attempts allowed, you may become locked out of PowerTeacher Administrator. If so, contact your school. View PowerTeacher Administrator Start Page When you log in to PowerTeacher Administrator, the start page appears. This page serves as the central point from which you begin your PowerTeacher Administrator session. The PowerTeacher Administrator start page consists of the following main areas: Navigation Bar Main Menu Groups Sidebar Note: For more information on the Groups Sidebar, see About Groups. Navigation Bar The navigation bar appears at the top of the PowerTeacher Administrator start page and is common to every page in the application. The navigation bar includes the following information: PowerTeacher Administrator Click to return to the start page. Get Started 9
My Account Logout Help Click to change your password and set up password security questions. For more information, see Set Security Questions. Click to log out of PowerTeacher Administrator. For more information, see Log Out of PowerTeacher Administrator. Click the Help button to find answers to your questions as you work in PowerTeacher Administrator. For more information, see About PowerTeacher Administrator Help. Main Menu The main menu appears at the top of the page and includes pop-up menus you can use to access each feature in PowerTeacher Administrator. These features are organized by the following menus: Administration Gradebook Reports Click to perform functions such as managing accounts and importing data. Click to perform functions such as setting gradebook preferences and managing class content. Click to access PowerTeacher Administrator reports. Get Started 10
PowerTeacher Administrator Help About PowerTeacher Administrator Help PowerTeacher Administrator help provides comprehensive information on navigating and using PowerTeacher Administrator. Use PowerTeacher Administrator help to follow procedures and find answers to many common questions. PowerTeacher Administrator help also provides a search function that searches all procedures. Set Browser Preferences Before you begin using PowerTeacher Administrator help, check your browser preferences to make sure your browser is set to open in a new window. If you do not set your browser to open in a new window, the help window launches in the existing open window or in a new tab, replacing PowerTeacher Administrator. Also, if you are using Internet Explorer, you must add PowerTeacher Administrator to the list of trusted Web sites. Note: Supported browsers include Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 7, or Safari 3. How to Set Browser Preferences for Firefox 1. Open Firefox. 2. From the menu bar, choose Firefox > Preferences (Mac) or Tools > Options (PC). 3. Click Tabs. 4. In the "New pages should be opened in" section, select the a new window option. 5. Click the Content tab. 6. Deselect the Block pop-up windows checkbox. 7. Click OK, or close the dialog. How to Set Browser Preferences for Internet Explorer Note: For PC users only. 1. Open Internet Explorer. 2. From the menu bar, choose Tools > Internet Options. 3. Click the General tab. 4. In the "Open links from other programs in" section, select the A new window option. 5. Click the Security tab. 6. Select Trusted Sites. PowerTeacher Administrator Help 11
7. Click Sites... 8. In the "Add this Web site to the zone" field, enter the URL for PowerTeacher Administrator. 9. Click OK. 10. Click the Privacy tab. 11. In the "Pop-up Blocker" section, click Settings. 12. In the "Address of website to allow" field, enter the URL for PowerTeacher Administrator. 13. Click Add. 14. Click Close. 15. Click OK. How to Set Browser Preferences for Safari 1. Open Safari. 2. From the menu bar, choose Safari > Preferences (Mac) or Edit > Preferences (PC). 3. Click the General tab. 4. In the "Open links from applications" section, select the in a new window option. 5. Close the dialog. 6. On the menu bar, choose Safari and verify that Block Pop-Up Windows is not selected. Launch PowerTeacher Administrator Help Launch PowerTeacher Administrator help to search for a variety of topics. How to Launch PowerTeacher Administrator Help On the Navigation Bar, click the Help button. The PowerTeacher Administrator Help window appears. Note: You can resize the help window and move the help window to a convenient location on your desktop so you can continue to work with PowerTeacher Administrator. The PowerTeacher Administrator help window remains open until you choose to close it. PowerTeacher Administrator Help Window The PowerTeacher Administrator help window is divided into two panes: the navigation pane on the left and the topic pane on the right. PowerTeacher Administrator Help 12
Navigation Pane The navigation pane on the left contains the Contents, Index, and Search tabs, as well as navigation buttons you use to access and navigate the help topics. Contents Tab The Contents tab shows the organization of the help into folders. Each folder contains related topics with conceptual and procedural information. Click Contents to view a complete list of the different folders. Click a folder to show the topics related to that section. Click the folder again to hide the topics related to that section. Click a topic to view the information in the topic pane. Click X to hide the navigation pane. Index Tab The Index tab provides a way to search for information interactively. The index behaves differently depending on the computer you are using. If using Mac, topics are sorted by alphabetical listing. Click the letter that corresponds to the first letter of the index entry you want, and then click the topic. The information appears in the topic pane. If using Windows, a text field appears. Click Index and enter a keyword or phrase in the text box. The topics containing the index term display below the text box. Click the appropriate topic and the information appears in the topic pane. Search Tab The Search tab provides a way to locate occurrences of a specific word or phrase in the help. Click Search, enter a keyword or phrase in the text box, and then click Go. The topics containing the search phrase display below the text box. Select the appropriate topic and the information appears in the topic pane. Topic Pane The topic pane on the right displays individual help topics, such as information about PowerTeacher Administrator concepts or step-by-step procedures for using specific PowerTeacher Administrator features. Links Within help topics are links to additional information or procedures. These links display as underlined text. Click the underlined text to display the additional information. PowerTeacher Administrator Help 13
Security About Security Each PowerTeacher Administrator user has an account with a username and password. Users are assigned to security groups, which are sets of security permissions that can be assigned to users to control access within in PowerTeacher Administrator. By utilizing account and security management, you can assign users to security groups, permissions to security groups, and custom permissions to users. About LDAP Settings LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) functionality enables administrators to establish a single source for securely managing user authentication. Depending on your SIS, LDAP allows you authenticate a PowerTeacher login. Active Directory (AD) is supported by this mechanism. Manage LDAP Settings For all PowerTeacher user accounts, configure LDAP settings. Note: LDAP is either active or inactive for all user logins. How to Manage LDAP Settings 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > LDAP Settings. The LDAP Settings page appears. 2. Enter the required information. 3. Click Update. The settings are saved. 4. Click Validate Server Connection. If the settings are correct, a message appears at the top of the page stating "Settings Tested Successfully". If the settings are incorrect, the message states "Settings Incorrect. Please Try Again". Set Up Security Groups Security Groups are sets of permissions that allow administrators to quickly assign permissions to users in PowerTeacher Administrator. When a user s permissions vary only slightly from the permissions included in a particular security group, you can assign the user to the security group and then manually override that user s permissions. This may be preferable to and more efficient than creating a new group for such users. For more information on adding or removing permissions for a user account, see Set Up Accounts. Security 14
How to Set Up a Role 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Security Groups. The Security Groups page appears. 2. Click Add Group. The Manage Security Group page appears. 3. Enter a Name for the new security group. This is a required field. 4. Enter a for the new security group. 5. Select the Enable checkbox next to each function to assign to this security group. 6. For each function, select the checkbox for each level of access given to this security group: Read: Allows viewing of information related to the function Edit: Allows modification of information related to the function Create: Allows creation of information related to the function Delete: Allows removal of information related to the function Note: The Administrator Login preference allows read-only access to the gradebook, no matter which checkbox is selected. 7. Click Update. The Manage Security Group page appears. Set Up Administrator Login Set up an administrator login to allow specific users to log in to a teacher's gradebook in read-only mode. This allows for troubleshooting of a teacher's gradebook, and for visual review of current grades. How to Set Up an Administrator Login 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Account Settings. The Account Settings page appears. 2. Select the Activate checkbox in the Administrator Login section. This option is only visible if you have adequate security permissions assigned. 3. Click Update. 4. To assign administrator login privileges to a security group: Under Security Groups, select a security group. The Manage Security Group page appears. Note: Administrator login privileges cannot be assigned to the Default SIS User security group. Select the Enable and Read checkboxes on the Administrator Login line. Click Update. 5. To assign administrator login privileges to an individual user: Under Manage Accounts, select the applicable user name. The Account Details page appears. Security 15
In the Account Permissions section, select the Enable and Read checkboxes on the Administrator Login line. Click Update. 6. The security group or individual user can now launch a teacher's gradebook in read-only mode. Manage Administrator Account Settings For all PowerTeacher Administrator user accounts, set global PowerTeacher Administrator account attributes such as whether users' sessions time out after a designated period of inactivity or their accounts are locked after a certain number of failed login attempts. How to Manage Account Settings 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Account Settings. The Account Settings page appears. 2. Enter the required information. 3. Click Update. The Account Settings page appears. Manage Account Settings For all PowerTeacher Administrator user accounts, set global PowerTeacher Administrator account attributes such as whether users' sessions time out after a designated period of inactivity or their accounts are locked after a certain number of failed login attempts. How to Manage Account Settings 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Account Settings. The Account Settings page appears. 2. Enter the required information. 3. Click Update. The Account Settings page appears. Change Your Password After successfully logging in to PowerTeacher Administrator, you can change your password if either its security has been compromised or you prefer a different password. If you cannot log in to PowerTeacher Administrator because you do not know or remember your password, you must reset your password. For more information, see Reset Your Password. How to Change Your Password 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click My Account. The My Account Security page appears. 2. Click Change Password. The Change Your Password page appears. Security 16
3. Reenter your new password in the Confirm Password field. 4. Click Submit. The PowerTeacher Administrator start page appears. Notes: If your PowerSchool administrator has issued you a temporary password, you may be asked to reset your password upon first logging in. For more information, see How to Reset Your Password. If your password has expired, you may be asked to reset your password. For more information, see How to Reset Your Password. If you have exceeded the number of login attempts allowed, you may become locked out of PowerTeacher Administrator. If so, contact your school. Security 17
Gradebook About Gradebook Several functions related to PowerTeacher gradebook are available in PowerTeacher Administrator, including setting preferences for all PowerTeacher gradebook users, viewing grade scales available in each teacher's gradebook, and distributing class content to teachers' gradebooks. Set Gradebook Preferences For all PowerTeacher gradebook user accounts, identify how long users can be idle in PowerTeacher gradebook before they are logged out. For information on the Class Content function, see About Class Content. Note: If you identify a system-wide time out setting in your SIS, the time out setting in PowerTeacher Administrator is overwritten. Reset your PowerTeacher Administrator time out preference if you want it to differ from the SIS. How to Set Gradebook Preferences 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Preferences. The Manage Preferences page appears. 2. Enter the number of minutes PowerTeacher gradebook users can be inactive before their sessions time out. 3. Click Update. The Manage Preferences page appears. Set Up Email Use the Email Setup page to set up the email settings that allow teacher to send emails from PowerTeacher gradebook. Note: Depending on your SIS, this page may not appear. How to Set Up Email 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Email Setup. The Email Setup page appears. 2. Enter the information on the Email Setup page as needed. 3. Click Update. The information you entered appears on the Email Setup page. Gradebook 18
Launch Gradebook with Administrator Login If Administrator Login privileges are enabled, you can launch a teacher's gradebook from PowerTeacher Administrator. You can launch the gradebook of a teacher who is currently working in their gradebook without affecting their work. How to Launch Gradebook with Administrator Login 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Administrator Login. The Administrator Login page appears. Note: The schools that display are based on the user account and security permissions set on the Account Settings page.. 2. Select the teacher name from the Teachers list. 3. Click Launch Gradebook. The PowerTeacher gradebook application launches in read-only mode. Note: You can change scores, attributes, or values in the gradebook in order view differences or troubleshoot an issue, but you cannot save these changes. Click Cancel to close the dialog and view any changes on the gradebook. These changes cannot be saved. 4. When you are finished viewing the gradebook, on the menu bar select PowerTeacher Gradebook > Quit Gradebook. View Grade Scales View the grade scales available to all teachers using PowerTeacher gradebook. Note: In PowerTeacher gradebook, teachers cannot modify grade scales used for additional final grade functions related to reporting terms. How to View Grade Scales 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Grade Scales. The Grade Scales page appears. 2. Click the name or description of the grade scale you want to view. The Grade Scales page displays the details of the grade scale. Manage Standards and Measures Settings Manage settings for displaying citizenship, standards, and assignments with standards in PowerTeacher gradebook. You can manage these settings by the individual school or by all schools. Note: You must have access to the school for which you want to enable these settings. For more information, see Manage Administrator Account Settings. Gradebook 19
How to Manage Standards and Citizenship Settings 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > School Usage. The School Usage page appears. 2. Select the applicable checkboxes for each school. 3. Click Save. The settings are saved. Set Standards Final Grade Calculation For each school, identify the default standards final grade calculation, and determine if teachers can modify the setting in the gradebook. When you allow teachers to modify the default settings and the most recent calculation, their settings override any settings you input on this page. For more information on each calculation type, see the Calculation Method s in the PowerTeacher Gradebook User Guide. How to Set Standards Final Grade Calculation 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Calculation. The Calculation page appears. 2. For each school listed, select the applicable default calculation mode from the Default Standards Final Grade pop-up menu. 3. Select the Teacher Modify Default checkbox to allow teachers to change the calculation mode in the gradebook. To disable this feature, leave the checkbox deselected. 4. Click on the Most Recent Calculation link to change the most recent score calculation. For more information, see Edit Most Recent Score Calculation. Note: The recency calculation is only used with the Most Recent X calculation mode. 5. Select the Teacher Modify Most Recent checkbox to allow teachers to change the default most recent score calculation in the gradebook. To disable this feature, leave the checkbox deselected. 6. Click Copy First School to copy the setup for the first row to the rest of the rows on the page. Otherwise, edit each row to apply specific calculations to each school. Note: Use the navigation links on the bottom of the page to scroll through the list of schools. 7. Click Save. Edit Most Recent Scores Calculation The most recent score calculation allows you to modify the number of recent assignments to be assessed and the weighting for each assignment. Gradebook 20
How to Edit the Most Recent Scores Calculation 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Calculation. The Calculation page appears. 2. For each school, click the Most Recent Calculation value. The Most Recent Number of Scores dialog displays. 3. Select the number of previous assignment scores to use in the calculation from the Number of Scores pop-up menu. 4. Click on a value in the Weight column and enter the weight of that assignment in the calculation. Click OK to enter the value in the field. The Percent automatically updates based on the number you enter. Note: The field allows two decimal places to be entered. 5. Click OK to close the dialog. Note: If the Teacher Modify Most Recent checkbox is selected, the teacher can change the most recent score calculation in the gradebook. For more information, see Set Standards Final Grade Calculation. Gradebook 21
Class Content About Class Content Class Content includes links to information that are packaged and delivered to teachers using PowerTeacher gradebook. Create links to classroom content to ensure that teachers have access to the same class materials across the entire district and to encourage teachers to reference these tools and information for their classes. In PowerTeacher Administrator, create links to Web sites, other applications, and content documents, such as PDF files and Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. The documents can be either stored on a file server at the district level or, for those documents stored external to the district, accessed via links to specific Web addresses. Organize the links into link groups that can be posted to teachers' gradebooks. My First Content Group The first time you access the Manage Class Content page, a default link group appears called My First Content Group. You can use this group as a template for creating new links and link groups. For more information, see Create Links and Create Link Groups. Create Link Groups Create a link group to which you can add links. For more information about links, see Create Links. Link groups are sorted alphabetically. Though any new groups appear at the bottom of the page as you add them, the list re-sorts alphabetically the next time you log in. Therefore, it is ideal to name the link groups accordingly so that the most frequently-used groups appear at the top of the list. How to Create a Link Group 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click Add Link Group. The Link Group Details page appears. 3. Enter the required information. 4. Click Update Link Group. The new link group appears as a bar across the Manage Class Content page. Sort Link Groups Drag and drop link groups to organize them into a preferred sort order. Class Content 22
How to Sort Link Groups 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. With the mouse button, select the link group bar you want to move. 3. With the mouse button pressed down, move selected link group bar to its new location on the Manage Class Content page. Edit Link Groups Edit link group names and descriptions when necessary. How to Edit a Link Group 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click the name of the link group you want to edit. The Link Group Details page appears for the selected link group. 3. Edit the information as needed. 4. Click Update Link Group. The Manage Class Content page appears. Create Links Create links to distribute to selected groups, such as all history teachers at a particular high school or all PowerTeacher Administrator users. Teachers can integrate these links with their assignments, comments, and class descriptions in PowerTeacher gradebook. Those receiving posted links cannot edit the links; however, pushed links can be copied and modified within the user's own link groups. How to Create a Link 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click Add Link in the group link bar in which you want to add a new link. The Link Details page appears. 3. Enter the required information. 4. Click Update Link. The new link appears within the selected group bar. Sort Links Sort links within a link group. Use the drag-and-drop operation to move links into the preferred sort order. Note: Posted links cannot be sorted by the recipient. Define the sort order before posting links. For more information, see Push Links. Class Content 23
How to Sort Links 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Select the link you want to move. 3. Drag the selected link to its new location on the Manage Class Content page. 4. Release the mouse button. Edit Links Edit the name, description, and other defining information about a link. How to Edit a Link 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click the name of the link you want to edit. The Link Details page appears. 3. Edit the information as needed. 4. Click Update Link. The Manage Class Content page appears. Delete Links Delete a link when it is no longer used for class content. Note: Deleting a link in PowerTeacher Administrator does not remove the information from teachers' gradebooks if the information has already been posted to PowerTeacher gradebook. How to Delete a Link 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click Select next to the links you want to delete. 3. Click Delete. The Manage Class Content page appears without the deleted links. Push Links To distribute class content to teachers, post one or more links to a specific search group. Before performing this procedure, either create a search group or a temporary selection. When posting a link to a group, any additions to the group, such as recently-hired teachers, receive the posted content automatically as long as the group is not a hand-picked list. For more information, see About Groups. Class Content 24
How to Push Links 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click Select next to the links you want to post. 3. Click Push. The Push Selected Links dialog appears. 4. Select the group to which you want to post the links. 5. Click Push Links. The Manage Class Content page displays the posted links. Remove Pushed Links Remove class content links that have been pushed to a specific School, Course, or Teacher search group. How to Remove Pushed Links 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Gradebook > Class Content. The Manage Class Content page appears. 2. Click the Name of the link you want to remove. The Link Details dialog appears. 3. Click the arrow next to Push Report to view a list of all pushed links. 4. Click the checkbox next to the link you want to remove. 5. Click Remove Selected Associations. The link is removed from the Push Report listing and the associated gradebook. Class Content 25
Data Exchange About Data Exchange The data exchange process allows the importing and exporting, or synchronization, of data from PowerTeacher gradebook into the student information system (SIS). While PowerTeacher Administrator users can manually import and export data, the data exchange process can also be automatically scheduled and individually managed in PowerTeacher Administrator. Note: For the PowerSchool SIS, data exchange is performed in the SIS and is not available in PowerTeacher Administrator. View the SIS Configuration Page PowerTeacher Administrator can be configured to use with one of several Student Information Systems (SIS). View which SIS your PowerTeacher Administrator program is configured for. How to View the SIS Configuration Page On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > SIS Configuration. The SIS Configuration page displays the name of the SIS for which your PowerTeacher Administrator program has been configured. Schedule Imports Set preferences for how and when data synchronization will occur. Indicate whether the synchronization process can be started or aborted manually, and set the range of time in which the synchronization will take place. How to Schedule Imports 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Import Schedule. The Automated Import Schedule page appears. 2. Click Edit Schedule. The Edit Import Schedule page appears. 3. Enter the required information. 4. Click Update. The Automated Import Schedule page appears. View Exchanged Data Imports and exports are performed in batches that are often scheduled to be processed automatically at specific times. View information about these batches, such as how long it took for an import to complete. During the batch process, the page automatically updates the Status and Pct Complete columns to display the latest information. Data Exchange 26
How to View Exchanged Data 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Manage Data. The Manage Data page appears. 2. View the information in the Data Ready For Import section. 3. View the information in the Data Ready For Export section. Import Data Import information from the SIS to PowerTeacher gradebooks. Information provided includes schedule and class data, such as updates to the roster when students add or drop the class. How to Import Data 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Manual Import. The Import Data Manually page appears. 2. Enter the required information. Export Data Export final grades from PowerTeacher gradebooks to the SIS. The exported data is staged in the database for the SIS to retrieve and store. This process normally runs during a nightly automated batch process. How to Export Data 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Administration > Manual Export. The Manual Data Export Settings page appears. 2. Enter the required information. 3. Click Export. The Import Schedule page appears. Data Exchange 27
Search About Searching Particularly for large schools or districts, searching for information related to schools, courses, and teachers is essential for efficiency within PowerTeacher Administrator. Save searches as groups to quickly retrieve frequently referenced information. Perform Searches Search for school, course, section, teacher, or term information and either save the results of the search as a group or save the criteria for the search as a query. Start a search by clicking the Groups tab and clicking the group heading that pertains to the type of information you are searching for. Depending on your selection, the appropriate searchable fields appear. Enter search criteria and click add to to add the results to the result set. For example, on a school search, enter b in the School Name field and click add to to display all schools that start with the letter r;b. You can also remove and filter results by criteria you enter in fields. As more searches are performed, the current result area can get larger and smaller as items are added, removed, or used as filters. As items are added to the results area, the search summary area updates. This summary area shows a summary of the criteria used to add, filter, and removed items from the search selection. After creating your search results, you can opt to save it as a group. For more information, see About Groups. How to Perform a Search 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click the plus sign next to the type of information you want to search in the Groups Sidebar: School Groups Course Groups Section Groups Teacher Groups Term Groups Account Groups The search dialog appears. 2. Enter search criteria on the School Search page, the Course Search page, the Section Search page, the Teacher Search page, the Term Search page, or the Account Search page. The dialog that appears depends on the type of search you selected. Note: For more search results, enter partial names or numbers in the search criteria fields. Search 28
3. To use a search operator, click the Operators tab and select one of the following operators: = : Equal to the search criteria like : Similar to the search criteria (default operator unless another operator is used) < : Less than the search criteria > : Greater than the search criteria : Less than or equal to the search criteria : Greater than or equal to the search criteria <> : Less than or greater than the search criteria 4. Select one of the following functions: add to: Adds the search criteria to the current results. This function is similar to an "OR" statement, where the results of the search meet any search criteria entered. For example, if high schools numbered 1 and 2 are selected and you search for and add High School 3 to the results, the results area displays all three high schools (1, 2, and 3). remove from: Removes the search criteria from the current results. This function is similar to a "NOT" statement, or removing an item from an "IN" statement. For example, if high schools numbered 1-5 are selected and you search for and remove High School 4 from the results, the results area displays high schools 1, 2, 3, and 5. If previous search criteria have not been defined, this option functions the same as the Add To function. filter by: Applies the search criteria as a filter to the current results, similar to an "AND" statement. For example, if all schools starting with "A" are selected and you search for and filter by high schools numbered 1-5, the results area displays any schools numbered 1-5 that begin with "A," such as High School 2 (Apple Grove High School) and High School 4 (Adams High School). If previous search criteria have not been defined, this option functions the same as the Add To function. Note: Entering more than one search input value before selecting one of these options searches all the values for the selected function. For example, to search for multiple values in fewer steps, enter School Name and School Abbreviation values, and then click add to. The results of the search that meet both criteria will be added to the search results. Note: If you click the wrong button or function by mistake, click Undo. The result of the search appears. If many results appear, use the quick navigation links such as << first and next > to navigate between the different pages of results. 5. To add to the search results, repeat steps 2 through 4. 6. To further refine the search, select items on any page in the search result area and select one of the following: Remove selected: This removes the selected items from the search results. The button is only active if some of the items are selected. Keep Selected: This keeps the selected items and removes the rest from the search results. The button is only active if some of the items are selected. Search 29
Select All: This selects all of the items in the search results. From there, you can select Remove selected if you are trying to clear the search results. Note: Using the Remove Selected and Keep Selected functions changes your results into a hand-picked list. Hand-picked lists are good for very specific searches but will not allow searches to change with additions to the database. For example, if a new math section is added, a hand-picked list will not reflect this addition. However, a search of math sections that was not hand-picked will query the database for all math sections and the new section will appear in the search results. Since handpicking a list is intended to be a final step while searching, the search value fields and the Add To, Filter By, and Remove From functions cannot be used for this particular search after creating a hand-picked list. 7. To save the search criteria, create a group. For more information, see About Groups. Search 30
Groups About Groups After performing a search, you can choose to save the search criteria as a group. For more information on searching, see About Searching. You can either create a new group or update an existing group with the current search. In either case, the saved group is a saved query, not a saved set of results. For example, if the saved group includes teachers at Apple Grove High School, the group will always include the teachers currently at Apple Grove High School, regardless of which teachers come and go throughout the year. If you search for specific records (such as a list of course ID numbers), the same records appear in the group until it is edited. For example, you can create groups of schools (numbered 1-600): Group A - Elementary Schools (Schools 1-300) Group B - Middle Schools (Schools 301-450) Group C - High Schools (Schools 451-600) Group D - Schools with gifted programs (Schools 2, 5, 8, 34, 45, 78,103,165, 248, 305, 402, 405, 408, 448, 501, 512, 599). Group E - Schools with special education programs (all schools except 202, 342, 507, 576) You can also use groups as filters for other groups. Using the example above, you can search for high schools with Work Study programs by starting with Group C (all High Schools) and including only those with Work Study programs, such as "Group F - Schools with Work Study Programs (Group C except for Schools 492 and 525)." Groups can be used throughout PowerTeacher Administrator by using links to the saved queries. For example, to distribute class content to all high schools, create new links, select Group C in the example above and post the links. For more information, see About Class Content. For more information on creating groups, see Create Groups. Instead of saving a search as a group, you can create a temporary selection. For more information, see Create Temporary Selections. Create Groups Save search criteria by creating a group. How to Create a Group 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window in the Groups area, perform a search. For more information, see About Searching. 2. On the Group Info tab, enter a name for this group. Use a maximum of 75 characters. Do not use spaces. Groups 31
Note: Group names must be unique within each type of search. For example, you can save only one Course group named Math. To save another math-related Course group, choose a different name, such as Math1, Algebra, or Remedial Math. 3. Enter a for this group. Use a maximum of 500 characters. 4. Click Save. The Search Saved message appears in the search dialog. 5. Close the search dialog. The group appears under the appropriate information type, such as School Groups. Edit Groups Add or remove records in a saved group by editing the group. How to Edit a Group 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window in the Groups area, click the arrow next to the type of information that includes the group, such as School Groups. Any groups saved for that information type appear. 2. Click the name of the group. The search dialog appears. 3. Perform a search to modify the group. For more information, see About Searching. 4. On the Group Info tab, enter a name for this group. Use a maximum of 75 characters. Do not use spaces. 5. Enter a for this group. Use a maximum of 500 characters. Note: To overwrite the existing group, leave the name of the existing group in the Name field. To create a new group, enter a unique name in the Name field. 6. Click Save. The Search Saved message appears in the search dialog. 7. Close the search dialog. The group appears under the appropriate information type, such as School Groups. Create Temporary Selections If you do not save your search as a group, you can use the results of the search for functions you perform infrequently by creating a temporary selection. For example, if you want to distribute information to three new teachers, perform a search for the three teachers, place them in a temporary selection, and then post the information to these three teachers' gradebook. You can then work with the temporary selection the same as a group or save the temporary selection as a group. Note: The temporary selection clears when you log out of PowerTeacher Administrator. To save the selection, see About Groups. How to Create a Temporary Selection 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window in the Groups area, perform a search. For more information, see About Searching. 2. Click Update Temporary. The Temporary Search Updated message appears. Groups 32
3. Click OK. The search dialog appears. 4. Close the search dialog. The temporary selection appears under the Groups heading in the Groups area. Note: To update a temporary selection, either click the temporary selection in the Groups area and click Update Temporary, or click Update Temporary after performing a search. Groups 33
Reports About Reports PowerTeacher Administrator includes a report to determine if teachers are ready to submit their final grades. Run the Section Readiness Report Run the Section Readiness Report to verify that you are ready to send information to the SIS. The report identifies which teachers have indicated that their sections are complete or incomplete. How to Run the Section Readiness Report 1. On the PowerTeacher Administrator main window, click Reports > Section Readiness Report. The Section Readiness Report page appears. 2. Enter the required information. 3. Click Run Report. The report results appear. Note: The report results are sorted by teacher name, by course, and then by term. The term column appears only if more than one term is selected. If more than one school is selected, the results are separated per school. 4. Perform any of the following functions: To re-sort the columns, click the column headings. To email teachers that appear on the report, click Email. The associated teachers' email addresses automatically appear on the Send Email dialog. You can edit the list, using commas to separate each email address. Click Send Email to send the report to the email addresses listed. Reports 34