Full Time Independent Study (IS)

Special Program

Create a special program for Independent Study.

Note: Create a separate IS special program for each school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > District Setup > Special Programs > New.

2. Enter Independent Study (IS) as the Program name.

3. Choose “IS – Full Time Independent Study” from the AEP Program pop-up menu.

4. Click Submit.

Note: Do not select the “Qualifies as a special education program” checkbox.

Attendance Code for IS

Define the attendance code used to record present attendance for IS.

1. Navigate to Start Page > District Setup > Schools/School Info.

2. Click the appropriate school name to access the Edit School page.

3. Choose the appropriate attendance code from the Attendance Code for Full Time Independent Study pop-up menu. Attendance codes are set up at the school level.

4. Click Submit.

Item

Description

Attendance Preferences

Set up daily attendance preferences for the school.

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Preferences.

2. Select the Daily checkbox.

3. 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 IS.

Courses

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

1. Navigate to Start Page > School Setup > Courses > select course.

2. If this course is only offered for IS students, then choose the school-specific Independent Study (IS) program from the Program for All Sections pop-up menu.

3.  If the course is offered for different student groups, then leave Program for All Sections 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 IS.

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. Choose the school-specific Independent Study (IS) program from the Program pop-up menu. If this course is only offered for IS students, then the program can be defined at the course level.

4. Click Submit.

Item

Description

Demographics

Define demographic items for each IS 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 IS student.

1. Navigate to Start Page > Student > Special Programs > New.

2. Choose the school-specific Independent Study (IS) program from the Program pop-up menu.

3. Populate the Entry Date and Exit Date for the program.

4. Enter the appropriate value for Full Time Independent Study Attendance Period Length.

5. Enter the appropriate value for Full Time Independent Study Attendance Start Date.

6. 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 a daily attendance record exists for each day that the student is present or absent for the IS program. Every day must have an attendance code recorded, either a P for Present or another present or absent attendance code.