SERVS Setup

Define How GPA and Class Rank Are Determined for the Student Academic Performance (APR) File

To create the Student Academic Performance (APR) file, it is first necessary to define how GPA and class rank are determined. Navigate to Reports and select the State tab. Under the heading of Minnesota SERVS, select the Student Academic Progress - Edit Preferences link. Here it is possible to define the GPA calculation methods for normal GPA calculations as well as weighted GPA and class rank. It is also necessary to enter the scale for each GPA. For example, a number of schools use a 4 point scale. Lastly, similar to setup required for MARSS reporting, enter a date range used to identify the school year.

The Student Academic Progress - Listing page helps identify, based on the preferences set above, the records that will be selected for the export process. This report will help verify that the data is accurate. An additional field of data that is required is the graduation date of each student included in the list. It is likely that most students will have the same graduation date. In this case the field can be set by using the Student Field Value group function. To do this, simply click on the "Make This The Current Selection" link at the bottom of the listing. Use the Student Field Value group function to set the value of the graduation date field (MN_SAP_GRD_DT). For students that have a unique graduation date, it is possible to select them and navigate to the State/Province-MN page; click on the SERVS Student Academic Performance Information link to manually set the graduation date.

1. Create a new GPA Calculation Method (In District mode, under District/GPA Calculations/Calculation Methods). To preserve Class Rank records, it is necessary to name the method uniquely - for example, to save class rank records for students graduating in the spring of 2009, name the calculation method "ClassOf2009". It is likely that this GPA calculation method is just a recreation of an existing method (i.e. Weighted), if so, be sure it is identical (other than the name) to the existing method.
2. From the Graduated Students school, create a new Class Rank Method (School/Class Rank/Class Rank Method). Use name of the GPA Calculation Method as the Description (i.e. ClassOf2009) and select the newly created GPA Calculation Method from the dropdown list. Set the rest of the fields to be similar to the normal class rank calculation method. This new method will more than likely be a copy of an existing class rank method; the only difference will be the description and the GPA calculation method.
3. Verify that the frequency for class rank calculations in the Graduate Students school is set to Manual (School/Class Rank/Recalculation Frequency).
4. From the Graduated Students school, make the current selection last year's graduates. For example, search by entrydate like this: /entrydate=7/1/2009 or something similar. It may be necessary to locate one student and examine the entrydate by looking at the last MARSS enrollment record.
5. Verify that the selection is in fact the collection of students that graduate last year.
6. Using the Group Function, Student Field Value, set the Enroll_Status field to the value of 0. The selection of students should currently be set to the value of 3 (Graduated) and it is necessary to set their Enroll_Status to 0 (Currently Enrolled). The Class Rank calculation works only on currently enrolled students.
7. After temporarily making the students enrolled, navigate to School/Class Rank/Recalculation Frequency. Choose the link to Recalculate Now. This should build records for the collection of graduated students.
8. From the PowerSchool Start page, reselect the graduated students from last year by repeating the query used in step one. This should be the same selection that was just had Class Rank records processed.
9. Using the Group Function, Student Field Value, set the Enroll_Status field back to the value of 3.
10. Navigate back to school that is processing the Student Academic Progress report and re-run the Student Academic Progress - Listing. Rank and GPA values should now appear. If they do not, verify that the GPA Method used in the setup of the Student Academic Progress report is also a method for the Class Rank function. It may be necessary to repeat these steps if that is the case.