Continuation Education (CE)

Special Program

Create a special program for Continuation Education.

Note: Separate CE special programs should be created for each school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > District Setup > Special Programs > New.
2. Enter Continuation Education (CE) as the start of the Program name.
3. Click Submit.

Note: Do not choose an AEP Program from the pop-up menu. Do not select the “Qualifies as a special education program” checkbox.

New School

Create a new school for each campus running a Continuation Education program.

1. Navigate to Start Page > District Setup > Schools/School Info.
2. Click New. A new school must be set up within PowerSchool for each campus running a Continuation Education program.
3. Populate the appropriate fields for the new school, including School Name, School Abbreviation, and School Number.
4. Enter the School County Name.
5. Choose the school-specific Continuing Education program from the Special Program Link pop-up menu to enroll all students in the CE school in the program.
6. Click Submit.

Attendance Preferences

Set up interval attendance preferences for the school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > [Attendance] Preferences.
2. Select the Time and Interval checkboxes.
3. Enter 60 for Interval Duration (in Minutes).
4. Click Submit.

Attendance Code

Set up attendance codes for the school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Attendance Codes > New.
2. Enter an attendance code, such as P, for the Code.
3. Enter a description, such as Present, for the Description.
4. Choose Present as the Presence Status.
5. Select the checkbox “This attendance code is considered in ADA calculations”.
6. Select the checkbox “This attendance code counts towards membership.”
7. Click Submit.
8. Repeat these steps to create any additional present or absent attendance codes.

Note: The regular attendance code used in PowerSchool, which has a blank or null attendance code value, cannot be used for CE.

Attendance Code Categories

Define Excused, Unexcused, and Suspended attendance code categories for the school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Attendance Code Categories.
2. Verify that the following attendance code categories exist: Excused, Unexcused, and Suspended. These items are used in the CE Hourly Attendance report.
3. If one of the categories is missing, click New and then populate the Code and Name fields.
4. Click Submit.

Backfill Preferences

Define backfill preferences for each CE school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Backfill Preferences.
2. Select the “CA Continuation School Backfill Enabled” checkbox. Backfill is the distribution of attendance hours for continuation education students. The purpose is to claim the maximum number of attendance hours per student per week. If a student attends fewer than the maximum hours in Week 1 and more than the maximum hours in Week 2, the excess hours will be apportioned, or distributed, from Week 2 to Week 1.
3. Select the “Realtime Backfill Enabled” checkbox. When Realtime Backfill is enabled, PowerSchool evaluates the backfill for a student each time attendance is recorded. PowerSchool will determine if there are excess attendance hours to be applied to prior weeks. If real-time backfill is not enabled, backfill must be manually processed using the Backfill Management function.
4. Choose the Continuation Education (CE) program from the Program to Backfill pop-up menu. CE reports use this field to identify which special program is used to enroll students in CE. Only attendance hours for courses/sections assigned this special program count toward backfill.
5. Enter the number of hours in the day that the student can claim for attendance in the Target Hours per Day in Week field. The default is 3 as required by the California Department of Education (CDE). The maximum hours are equal to the number of hours per day multiplied by the number of in session days in the week. Weeks that fall short of the maximum hours or eligible to receive backfill.
6. Enter the maximum number of attendance hours per week per student that can be awarded from work experience in the Maximum Work Experience Hours per Day in Week field. The default is 2, as required by the CDE.
7. Enter the start date for the period to apply backfill in the Backfill Start Date field. Per CDE, there are no limitations regarding how far back in the school year backfill hours can be applied As such, this date is typically set to the first in-session day of the current school year.
8. Enter the end date for the period to apply the backfill in the Backfill End Date field. Per CDE, there are no limitations regarding how far back in the school year backfill hours can be applied. As such, this date can be left blank.

Courses

Assign the appropriate special program to each course used for CE.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Courses > select course.
2. If this course is only offered for CE students, then choose the school-specific Continuation Education (CE) from the Program for All Sections pop-up menu.
3. If the course is offered for different student groups, then leave the Program for All Sections field blank and populate the value at the section level.
4. Click Submit.

Sections

Assign interval attendance and the appropriate special program to each section used for CE.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Sections > select course > select section.
2. Verify that the section is assigned the correct term, schedule, and teacher.
3. Populate the Room field with the room number.
4. Verify that the Current Enrollment field displays at least 1 student enrolled in the section.
5. Choose ‘Interval’ from the Record Attendance Using Attendance Mode pop-up menu.
6. Choose the school-specific Continuation Education (CE) from the Program pop-up menu. If this course is only offered for CE students, then the program can be defined at the course level.
7. Click Submit.

Status

Define the status for each CE teacher.

1. Navigate to Start Page > Staff Member > Information.
2. Verify the teacher’s name.
3. Choose ‘Teacher’ from the Staff Status pop-up menu.
4. Choose ‘Current’ from the Status pop-up menu.
5. Click Submit.

Demographics

Define demographic items for each CE student.

1. Navigate to Start Page > Student > Demographics.
2. Populate the student’s Name, Date of Birth (DOB), Gender, and Student Number.
3. Click Submit.

Special Program

Create a special program enrollment for each CE student.

1. Navigate to Start Page > Student > Special Programs > New.
2. Choose the school-specific Continuation Education (CE) from the Program pop-up menu.
3. Populate the Grade Level, Entry Date and Exit Date for the program.
4. Click Submit.

Transfer Info

Verify student enrollment dates and grade level.

1. Navigate to Start Page > Student > Transfer Info > Edit Current Enrollment.
2. Verify the student’s school enrollment dates.
3. Choose the correct value from the Grade Level pop-up menu.
4. Click Submit.

Attendance

Navigate to Start Page > Student > Attendance. Verify that attendance is taken for each interval that the student is present or absent for the CE program. Every interval must have an attendance code recorded, either a P for Present or another present or absent attendance code.