California Start of Year Checklist

Use the following checklist to track your progress through the Start of Year tasks for California State Reporting. Please see the PowerSchool Start of Year Guide for additional updates. 

District Administration

• Review and update California district information. 

• Review and update district of residence codes.

• Confirm that all exit codes are mapped to a CALPADS Exit Code.

• Review and update California state reporting school information.

• Update the Truancy Reporting Year to new school year on each school.

• Review and update California state reporting information on Courses. 

CTE Course Notes (New for 17-18): 

• • Set course content code to 154 only on courses that qualify for CTE. 


  • If some offerings of a course qualify as a high-quality CTE course taught by a CTE-credentialed teacher and some do not, multiple courses should be set up in PowerSchool. 


  • Each course should be given the appropriate state course code and CALPADS course values based on the course level and pathway. 

School Administration

• New for 17-18. Map a CALPADS Attendance Category Code to all absent and in-school suspension attendance codes (required each year for all schools). 

• Review and update all other attendance settings, paying special attention to Alternative Education Program setup.

• Review and update California state reporting information on course sections. 

Staff Setup

• Review and update staff member demographics.
  

• Increment the staff years of service fields for all active staff. Utilize the Increment Years of Service report, if desired.

• Review and update staff assignment records for all non-classified staff, paying special attention to the associated school, staff FTE, and classification/job codes.

• Update/review CBEDS-ORA information for classified staff. 

Student Setup

• Review and update California state reporting student demographics. 

• Review and update changed student English language information. 

• Review and update student CALPADS program information. 

  • If the student has changed schools, a new program is required. 

  • Lunch programs must be entered each year. 

  • Utilize the CALPADS Program Utility Report to help with program management, if desired.

• Create new student special program records for programs requiring attendance to be tracked against them. 
  

• Review and update student enrollment data.

  • Ensure student FTE is populated on the student enrollment and the school entry date is populated. 

  • Utilize the School Update Mobility Script to help populate the school entry date, as necessary.
    

  • New for 17-18. Populate the California School Entry Date for all students entering a California School for the first time.

  • New for 17-18. For no show students, enter the appropriate exit code on the no show record and it will be applied to the appropriate record when reported to CALPADS.

• Create a concurrent enrollment for students taking a class or dual-enrolled in another school. 

• Review and update student immunization and screening information. 

• Review and add student CTE pathway records for all CTE Concentrators.