Louisiana Start of Year Checklist

Introduction

Use the following checklist to track your progress through the Start of Year tasks for Louisiana State Reporting. Under each bullet, review the data in that area for any values that should be added or inactivated. Please see the PowerSchool Start of Year Guide for additional updates. 

District Setup

• Review entry, exit, and ethnicity codes

• Under Code Sets, review the LA-specific code sets:

  • Calendar Date Type

  • Calendar Term Type

  • Immersion Language 

  • Career Option Codes

  • IBC Codes

2022-2023 Change

Ensure new codes PDD, EDD, and FID have been added to the Calendar Date Type code set, and codes A01 through A05 have been end-dated.

• Stop all the scheduled EdLink reports and re-create the scheduled reports under the new school year

• Create a District calendar for the new school year under District/District Calendars

• Create a sponsor site calendar for the new school year with a blank site code, to be used as the District sponsor code.  Page located under District/District Info/Sponsor Site Calendar.

• Set up any special event days, populating the new calendar date type field for any Staff Days, Early Dismissals, Holidays, and Emergency days.

2022-2023 changes

Ensure the calendar day type field has been populated for all calendar events.  Do not create calendar events for any Testing window dates.

• Review Calendar Membership Type Codes

• Review Louisiana Discipline Codes and Subcodes Information, Load new codes if applicable 

• Review and update school information

• Review and update any Assessment Course Associations

• Update the default term level

• Update course information, including populating Work Based Learning Category, Work Based Learning Business Name, and Immersion Class Language for any appropriate course

• Review and update Grade Setup 

• To enable the automatic download of extracts to EdLink, set up SFTP connection to your district's assigned EdLink folder using PowerSchool's Remote Connection Management feature under System/ System Settings/ Plugin Management Configuration. See instructions under EdLink 360 Process/Checklist

School Setup

• Review Years & Terms

• Review and update Louisiana Information

• Marking Period Setup

• Assessment Administration Dates

• Review Periods and Cycle Days

• Review Sections

• Review and update Student/Teacher Weighting Records

• Review Bell Schedule

• Complete Calendar Setup

• Pre-Register Students

• Review Attendance Categories, ensuring the 6 mandatory categories have been defined.

• Review Attendance Codes, ensuring each Late or Absent type code is mapped to the appropriate Attendance Category.

• Review Attendance Conversions

• Review full-time equivalencies, ensuring each student has one specified.

• Create a sponsor site calendar for the new school year with a its site code.  Page located under District/District Info/Sponsor Site Calendar.

  • Set up any special event days, populating the new calendar date type field for any Holidays, Emergency days or Testing window.

Staff Setup

• For each teacher, review their Information page and ensure they have the following fields populated: StatePrid, Home School, SSN (if required), Classification Level, and Active checkbox.

• Ensure that the Classification Level  populated for all teachers that will be reported to EdLink:

  • The exception is for Vacant staff. They must have SSN beginning with 999 and NO Classification level entered

• Update Staff Assignment records. 

• Update Mentor Teacher Assignments

Student Setup

• Review student demographic information

• Review school enrollment

• Review and update information on the Louisiana State pages

• Ensure each student has a calendar code and Full Time Equivalency value entered