Direct Pay grades for Minnesota MCCC reporting

Purpose

This article explains how to set up and publish Direct Pay grades for Minnesota MCCC reporting in PowerSchool, including required configuration, publishing order, and troubleshooting. It consolidates guidance from PowerSchool’s Minnesota State Reporting documentation and internal implementation notes.

Key Concepts

·         Direct Pay courses are usually taken outside the district; the district records credit/grades for MCCC. In PowerSchool, a Direct Pay record can be tied to a Course, Section, or Historical (Stored) Grade.

·         When a Direct Pay record exists, PowerSchool must publish the dependent resources in this order so the grade can publish:
Course → Course Offering → Section → Student Section Association → Grade.

·         For Direct Pay that originates only as a Historical/Stored Grade (no classroom enrollment), PowerSchool manufactures a placeholder Section and Student Section Association so grade publishing can succeed (defaults commonly include Section Number 1 and Course Number placeholder 85‑DP001).

Prerequisites

·         Course exists in the catalog (even for outside coursework), so the Direct Pay record can refer to a valid course.

·         Direct Pay Course mapping is configured at: System Reports > State > Setup > MCCC – Minnesota Direct Pay Student Record Courses. (Must be associated with a Historical Grade, Section, or Course.)

·         MCCC Grade Mapping is set so the final grade’s store code is recognized by the MCCC Student logic: System Reports > State > Setup > MCCC Grade Mapping.

·         Ensure the course and (if used) section are not marked Exclude from MCCC.

·         Staff understand MCCC data collection context and timelines (MDE).

Roles & Permissions

Users need access to System Reports > State > Setup and Ed‑Fi/Publishing areas to configure mappings and initiate publishing. Follow district role-based access controls.

Procedure

A. Configure Direct Pay and Grade Mapping

1. Verify the Course exists (Start Page > School > Courses). If the Direct Pay credit references a course not in your catalog, add it first.

2. Enter Direct Pay Course information at: System Reports > State > Setup > MCCC – Minnesota Direct Pay Student Record Courses.

3. Map Store Codes at: System Reports > State > Setup > MCCC Grade Mapping, ensuring the student’s final grade store code is mapped.

B. Create the Grade Record (as applicable)

·         Historical/Stored Grade scenario (no section link): Enter the historical grade with the appropriate Course Number, Term/Year, and mapped Store Code. PowerSchool will create placeholder publishing records during Section/SSA publishing.

·         Course/Section scenario: If Direct Pay is marked at the Course or Section level, enter/process final grades as usual and ensure the Direct Pay classification is set at the correct level.

C. Publish in the Correct Order

4. Publish Courses – ensures the referenced course exists in the ODS.

5. Publish Course Offerings – ties the course to the term/school context.

6. Publish Sections – for Historical/Stored Grade Direct Pay, PowerSchool manufactures a Direct Pay section (e.g., Section Number 1, Course Number 85‑DP001) when no section exists.

7. Publish Student Section Associations (SSA) – the system also manufactures the SSA to link the student to the Direct Pay section when no enrollment exists.

8. Publish Grades – publish last; otherwise, grades will enter dependency due to missing upstream resources.

Scenario Guidance

·         Direct Pay at Course Level

Mark the course as Direct Pay; publish Course → Course Offering → Section → SSA → Grades.

·         Direct Pay at Section Level

A regular course can have a Direct Pay section override; publish in the same order as above.

·         Direct Pay from Historical/Stored Grade (no actual section)

Enter the Stored Grade and required mappings; publish in order. PowerSchool will create a placeholder Section and SSA so the grade can publish successfully.

Multiple Students (Same Direct Pay Course)

PowerSchool does not duplicate the manufactured section for each student. One placeholder Section is reused; each student’s Grade publishes as a separate record linked via Student Section Association (SSA) to that same section.

Troubleshooting