School Setup
On this page:
Introduction
The following data elements are required for school setup. The first two pages of navigation are removed for brevity:
Start Page > School Setup.
- On the Start Page, click the School link. The school list appears.
- Choose a school from the pop-up menu. The school start page appears.
- Click School. The School Setup page appears.
Attendance Overview
In PowerSchool, Daily (Time-to-Day) attendance must be enabled to calculate average daily attendance for Missouri. Daily attendance allows administrators to take attendance for the day. Meeting attendance may also be set up for the school, which allows teachers to take attendance by meeting/class. Daily (Time-to-Day), attendance is based on the number of minutes per day the student is present at the school. It is not required to set up separate periods in the schedule for lunch, but if used, they must be excluded from Attendance on the Course or Section.
Daily attendance requires that one period in the bell schedule is set up as the attendance “bridge” period. The bridge period translates meeting attendance taken by teachers to daily attendance. If two-way attendance is enabled, when the teacher updates attendance for the bridge period, the daily attendance record is also updated. Similarly, if the administrator updates attendance, the teacher’s attendance record for the bridge period is updated. If one-way attendance is enabled, then teacher attendance is translated to daily attendance, but daily attendance does not over-write the teacher’s attendance record.
If a student is present for the attendance “bridge” period, then they are awarded all attendance minutes for the day. If they are absent for the attendance period, then they are awarded zero attendance minutes for the day.
Late Arrivals or Early Departures
Administrative staff must enter attendance for students who arrive at school after the attendance “bridge” period, leave school early, or leave school for an appointment and return later during the same school day.
If the student arrives at school after the attendance “bridge” period, although a teacher marks the student as present or tardy for another period (if meeting attendance method is enabled), the student’s attendance minutes are not calculated. Only attendance taken by the teacher during the attendance “bridge” calculates ADA minutes, thus the attendance administrator must enter the student’s adjusted attendance via the New Daily Attendance page.
Note: Attendance calculated by PowerSchool global/system reports will not match attendance calculated by Missouri state reports due to the differences in attendance requirements.
Standard Attendance Setup
Most attendance setup can be completed at the school level (courses can also be set up at the district level and FTEs must be assigned at the student level). Use the list below to complete attendance setup for each school. The order of the setup elements is suggested; however, terms must be set up first. See the School Setup table below for details about each item.
- Years & Terms – Set up the scheduling terms for the school year, as well as the number of periods per day and the number of cycle days in the schedule.
- Attendance Preferences – Set up the school to record daily and meeting attendance based on present (not absent) minutes and to deduct passing time.
- Full-Time Equivalencies (FTE) – Set up FTEs to assign Daily Time-to-Day attendance to students as their default attendance calculation. Review additional information about assigning FTEs to students.
- Attendance Conversions – Set up a time conversion to convert present attendance to the correct number of minutes.
- Bell Schedules – Set up periods in the bell schedule with the appropriate number of minutes. Identify one of the periods as your attendance “bridge” period, which is used to assign daily attendance. Also, exclude periods used for lunch or other non-attendance minutes from attendance calculations.
- Attendance Code Categories – Create categories to group attendance codes (not required).
- Attendance Codes – Create present and absent attendance codes in order to assign attendance status to students.
- Courses & Sections – If you set up a lunch course and section, exclude them both from attendance calculations.
Review guidance for troubleshooting attendance.
Note: The Store Historic Attendance Information for A+ process must be run prior to using the Student A+ page. All prior year attendance information is displayed based on prior year attendance calculated and stored during the process. The process can only be run at the District Office.
Data Element | Additional Information | [Table]FieldName | Length | Used in these Reports | |
Entering Attendance CodesAttendance Codes | |||||
Code | Enter the attendance code abbreviation, such as A for Absent. Leave the code for Present blank. | [Attendance_Code]Att_Code | N/A | Required Setup | |
Description | Enter the attendance code description. | [Attendance_Code]Description | N/A | Required Setup | |
Presence Status | Select Present or Absent as the presence status. This option determines whether attendance minutes are awarded to the student. | [Attendance_Code]Presence_Status_CD | N/A | Required Setup | |
Code Categories | Select the checkboxes for the appropriate attendance code categories. | N/A | N/A | Required Setup | |
Points | Enter the number of points associated with the attendance code – can be used to withhold credit when awarding grades. | [Attendance_Code]Course_Credit_Points | N/A | Not Required | |
Teacher can assign | Choose Yes or No from the pop-up menu to determine whether the teacher can assign the attendance code. | [Attendance_Code]Assignment_Filter_YN | N/A | Required Setup | |
Earns ADA credit | Select whether the attendance code affects attendance calculation. This option is usually selected. | [Attendance_Code]Calculate_ADA_YN | N/A | Required Setup | |
Counts toward membership | Select whether the attendance code affects membership calculation. This option is usually selected. | [Attendance_Code]Calculate_ADM_YN | N/A | Required Setup | |
Defining Attendance Code CategoriesAttendance Code Categories Note: Three attendance code categories are set up by default. It is not necessary to change the default attendance code categories. Also, attendance code categories are associated with a specific school, but not a specific school year; i.e. they are copied from year to year. | |||||
Code | Enter the attendance code category abbreviation. | [Code_Entity]CE_Code | N/A | Required Setup | |
Name | Enter the name of the attendance code category. | [Code_Entity]External_Name | N/A | Required Setup | |
Description | Enter a description for the attendance code category. | [Code_Entity]Description | N/A | Required Setup | |
Sort Order | Choose the sort order from the pop-up menu to determine where the attendance code category displays on the page. | [Code_Entity]SortOrder | N/A | Required Setup | |
Configuring Attendance Conversion Settings | |||||
Defining Attendance ConversionsAttendance Conversions > [New/Edit]> Attendance Conversion | |||||
Name | Enter a name for each attendance conversion, such as Full-Time or Part-Time. When you click Submit, the FTEs for the school will automatically be listed under the attendance conversion. To set up a Time-to-Day conversion, see below. Note: Review additional information about Attendance Conversions. | [Attendance_Conversion]Name | N/A | Required Setup | |
Defining Time ConversionsAttendance Conversions > [None/Defined]> Time Note: Attendance conversions have no effect on Missouri State Attendance Reporting but must be created and assigned for general application purposes. Attendance conversions for each minute of each day length are NOT required for MO State Reporting purposes. | |||||
Minutes Present | The first entry defaults to 0. In the second entry, enter the number of minutes required to be present for a full day. This value is determined by the school or district, not by the state. | [Attendance_Conversion_Items]Conversion_Mode_Code=timeday [Attendance_Conversion_Items]Input_Value | N/A | RequiredSetup | |
Day Attendance Value | Enter 0 for the first entry (zero minutes present equates to zero attendance). Enter 1 in the second entry (full minutes present equals one full day of attendance). | [Attendance_Conversion_Items]Conversion_Mode_Code=timeday [Attendance_Conversion_Items]Attendance_Value | N/A | Required Setup | |
Adding Full-Time EquivalenciesFull-Time Equivalencies (FTE) FTEs are used to assign a default attendance calculation to students. The next step is to create an attendance conversion for the FTE. Review additional information about FTEs and additional information about assigning FTEs to students. Note: FTEs have no effect on Missouri State Attendance Reporting but must be created and assigned for general application purposes. | |||||
Name | Enter the FTE name, such as Full Time or Part-Time. | [FTE]Name | N/A | Required Setup | |
Default Attendance Mode | Choose Daily from the pop-up menu. | [FTE]Dflt_Att_Mode_Code | N/A | Required Setup | |
Default Attendance Conversion | Choose Time to Day from the pop-up menu. | [FTE]Dflt_Conversion_Mode_Code | N/A | Required Setup | |
Setting Attendance PreferencesAttendance Preferences | |||||
Attendance Recording Methods | Select the Daily checkbox to enable daily attendance (required). Daily attendance can be recorded by a PowerSchool Administrator. Select the Meeting checkbox to enable meeting attendance. Meeting attendance can be recorded by teachers. Recording Daily attendance is required for MO state reporting purposes. Meeting attendance can also be selected to allow teachers to take attendance by meeting/class. | [Prefs]Value [Prefs]Name=ATT_RecordModeDaily [Prefs]Name=ATT_RecordModeMeeting | N/A | Required Setup | |
Default attendance page | Choose the default attendance page to display when viewing student attendance. | [Prefs]Value [Prefs]Name=att_recordmodedefault | N/A | Required Setup | |
Meeting and daily attendance bridge | Choose one of the following:
| [Prefs]Value [Prefs]Name=att_recordsectiondailysynchmode | N/A | Required Setup | |
Calculation Accuracy | Enter 4 (MO requires precision up to 4 decimal places) | [Prefs]Name=att_calcaccuracydecimalplaces | N/A | Student Enrollment and Attendance | |
Round or Truncate | Choose Round from the pop-up menu. | [Prefs]Name=att_calcaccuracyroundtruncate | N/A | Student Enrollment and Attendance | |
Enable ADA Periods and Passing Time Deductions | Select the checkbox to enable Daily Time Exclusion (DTE), the process of deducting passing time between classes from the total minutes for the day. | [Prefs]Value [Prefs]Name=ATT_DailyEnableADAAndPassTimeDeducts | N/A | Required Setup | |
Deduct Passing Time | Select Yes – All Passing Time. | [Prefs]Value [Prefs]Name=ATT_DailyDeductPassintTime = Yes_AllPassingTime | N/A | Required Setup | |
Creating/Editing Course SectionsSections Sections > [select course] > [select section] > Edit Section | |||||
Teacher – Section Lead | Choose the teacher for the section from the pop-up menu. | [Sections]Teacher | N/A | Required Setup | |
Teachers/Staff – Additional | Choose the teacher from the pop-up menu. Note: Co-Teaching Roles must be set up in District Setup>Roles Administration>Co-Teaching for Position Code. | ||||
Defining State Section InformationMissouri State Section Information ^State Information entered at the Section level will over-ride information at the course level. | |||||
CTE Program Type ^ | Select Program Type from the pop-up menu. Note: This value overrides the value set at the course level. | [S_MO_SEC_X]ProgType | 4 | Course Assign Course Completion | |
Course Grade Level^ | [S_MO_SEC_X]CourseGrade | 2 | Course Assign | ||
Semester^ | Choose the portion of the year during which the section is taken from the pop-up menu. Note: This value overrides the value set at the course level. Valid values:
| [S_MO_SEC_X]Semester | N/A | Required Setup | |
Delivery System^ | Choose the course delivery system from the pop-up menu.
| [S_MO_SEC_X]DeliverySystem | 2 | Course Assign | |
| Virtual Provider | Choose the applicable code to identify the entity responsible for the development of the virtual course content. This field is required if the course is reported as virtual in the October Course Assignment file. | [S_MO_CRS_X]VirtualProvider [S_MO_SEC_X]VirtualProvider | 2 | June Course Completion | |
| Other Virtual Provider | Choose the applicable code to provide more details about the virtual provider. This field is required if 15-Other is selected for the Virtual Provider field. | [S_MO_CRS_X]OtherVirtualProvider [S_MO_SEC_X]OtherVirtualProvider | 60 | June Course Completion | |
| Virtual Instruction | If the Delivery System field is V- Virtual Class, then choose the applicable Virtual Instruction code:
| [S_MO_CRS_X]VirtualInstruction [S_MO_SEC_X]VirtualInstruction | 6 | Course Assignment | |
Combined Class^ | Enter 00-99 to designate that the course is a combined class. All courses taught during the same time period must have the same Combined Class number. Combined classes are situations where students of two or more different subjects or course sequence levels (or grade levels for self-contained elementary classes) are taught during the same time period by the same teacher. | [S_MO_SEC_X]CombinedClass | 2 | Course Assign | |
Course Program Code^ | Choose the course program code from the pop-up menu. Notes:
Note: For code sets go to MO Core/Data/MOSIS | [S_MO_SEC_X]ProgramCode | 2 | Course Assign | |
Section Meeting Minutes per Week^ | Enter the number of minutes per week for each assignment/class. Note: This value overrides the value set at the course level. | [S_MO_SEC_X]MinperWeek | 4 | Course Assign | |
Course Total Hours^ (Summer School Only) | The total number of hours the class meets during the full duration of the summer school program, normally 60-120 hours. Note: This element is reported for the June reporting cycle only. | [S_MO_SEC_X]CourseTotalHours | 6 | June Course Assign | |
Caseload | Enter the number of students served in the assignment/class, if this is not a regularly scheduled class. For Delivery System Co-Teaching, the case load will go to the additional teacher and the additional teacher will have no records in the Student Assignment report. | [S_MO_SEC_X]Caseload | 4 | Course Assign | |
Course Assignment Comment^ | Free-form notes used to indicate (1) job titles for Course 887900, (2) course titles for "Other" (xxxx99) courses, (3) supplemental assignment for Course 880000, (4) teachers assisted by an aide, (5) aides assisting a teacher or (6) other nonstandard info | [S_MO_SEC_X]Assn_Comment | 70 | Course Assign | |
Course Completion Comment^ | Enter general comments used to indicate job titles, course titles, supplemental assignments, teachers assigned by an aide, aides assisting a teacher or other non-standard information. Note: This value overrides the value set at the course level. | [S_MO_SEC_X]CrsCompComment | 70 | Course Completion | |
Online Class | Not used for MO state reporting | [S_MO_SEC_X]State_OnlineCourse | NA | Not Used for MO State Reporting | |
Entering Student Assignment InformationStudent Assignment Information | |||||
Dual Credit Site | Choose the site at which instruction of college credit (dual credit) courses is provided from the pop-up menu, if applicable. | [S_MO_SEC_X]DualCreditSite | 4 | Student Assign Course Completion | |
Receiving Coll/Dist Code | Enter the 6-digit code for the site at which instruction of college credit (dual credit) courses is provided. Note: For code sets go to MO Core/Data/MOSIS | [S_MO_SEC_X]DualCreditCode | 6 | Student Assign Course Completion | |
Exclude from Student Assignment and Course Assignment Report | Select the checkbox to exclude the section from being included in the reports listed to the right. | [S_MO_SEC_X]State_ExcludeFromReporting | 1 | Student Assign Course Assignment | |
Tracking Virtual Course AttendanceVirtual Course Attendance Tracking Note: Detailed instructions for Virtual Course Attendance Tracking can be found in the Virtual Attendance Setup section below. | |||||
Virtual Attendance Award^ (47% of the hours for a regular class. | Enter the number of hours to be awarded to students in virtual courses. The award is calculated by multiplying the total number of hours for a regular education class by .47. Example: A regular ed class meets for a total of 100 hours. The Virtual Attendance Award entered would be 47. Note: Data may be entered to the fourth decimal place. | [S_MO_SEC_X]VirtualHours | 10 | Student Enrollment and Attendance | |
Reporting School^ | Enter the school number to be used if the virtual course is not held in the same school where the teacher is assigned. The course will be reported from the school number in this field. | [S_MO_SEC_X]ReportingSchool | 6 | Course Assignment Student Assignment Student Enrollment and Attendance | |
Section Midpoint | Enter the date that falls in the middle of the term. This date will be used to mark the point in the term where a student is considered to have completed half of the course. | [S_MO_SEC_X]SectionMidpoint | 10 | Student Enrollment and Attendance | |
Defining Assessment Pre-Code Section InformationAssessment Pre-Code Section Information | |||||
Assessment Type^ | Choose the assessment the students enrolled in this section plan to complete from the pop-up menu. Note: This value overrides the value set at the course level. Valid values:
| [S_MO_SEC_X]AssessmentType | 6 | Assessment Pre-Code | |
Examiner Email Override^ | Enter the email address of the staff member who will receive a username and password for EOC assessment administration. If this field is blank, the teacher assigned to the section will be listed on the EOC report. | [S_MO_SEC_X]ExamEmailOverride | 60 | Assessment Pre-Code | |
Testing Method^ | Choose the testing method to be used for EOC assessments in this section. Note: This value overrides the value set at the course level. | [S_MO_SEC_X]TestMethod | 6 | Assessment Pre-Code | |
Exclude from Assessment Pre-Code | Select the checkbox to exclude the section from being included in the Assessment Pre-Code | [S_MO_SEC_X]ExcludeFromASM | 1 | Assessment Pre-Code | |
Virtual Attendance Setup
Virtual Course Attendance Calculation (DESE documentation)
A school district that offers a virtual course as described in Section 162.1250 RSMo. shall calculate and record attendance for such courses in the following manner:
- Determine the hours of attendance possible for the course or courses offered in a non-virtual program at the school district.
- Multiple this number by 47% for a course that was only half completed and 94% for a course that was fully completed.
- Keep a record of all calculations for audit purposes. Add the hours of attendance for the student to their record in the June Student Enrollment and Attendance file.
Using PowerSchool to Record and Calculate Attendance for Virtual Classes
Because virtual attendance isn’t awarded until after the student completes at least half of the course, all sections designated with the Delivery System ‘V – Virtual Class’ or ‘VH – Before/After School Virtual Classes” must be excluded from attendance. Until the virtual attendance is awarded, a student scheduled into a virtual class will normally have fewer hours of total membership than students who are not taking a virtual class.
The Student Enrollment and Attendance Report (SEA), along with the Attendance Hours Audit and Attendance Hours by School and Grade Level Reports, are capable of calculating virtual attendance. The reports have an option to run with or without the virtual attendance calculation. When the option selected is ‘No’, the report will use the standard attendance calculations without virtual attendance. When the option selected is ‘Yes’, the reports calculate a student’s regular attendance and then, in a separate calculation, add the virtual attendance award to the student’s Hours Attended. The two audit reports contain separate columns to show the contribution of virtual attendance for toward the final Total Hours calculation.
When the Virtual Attendance option is selected at report runtime, virtual attendance is calculated using the following rules for students enrolled in virtual classes:
- If the student was enrolled on the Mid-point date as defined in the section, the student will receive the 47% Virtual Award as defined in the section.
- If the student was enrolled on the last day of the term as defined in Years & Terms for the school where the section is created, the student will receive the 47% Virtual Award as defined in the section.
- If the student was enrolled on both the Mid-point AND the last day of the term, the student will receive both awards, totaling 94% for the class. (47% + 47% = 94%)
Note: The student will receive the virtual attendance award at the school where the student is enrolled, not the school where the virtual class is created. Therefore, it’s possible that a student, who transfers within the district while enrolled in a virtual class, could earn virtual attendance at both schools.
- Student virtual attendance hours are added to the student’s RegHrsAttended (Attendance Hours).
- In keeping with state requirements, absence hours are not reduced by the award of virtual attendance.
- The school attendance cap is enforced to prevent students from exceeding the allowable maximum for the school. The attendance cap is based on the and is sourced from [S_MO_SCH_X]CalendarHours
- If a student’s additional virtual attendance does not cause the student’s Total Hours to exceed the school’s cap, capping is not applied. The student’s RegHrsAttended as reported on the SEA includes the full value of the virtual attendance earned by the student.
- If the additional virtual attendance causes the student’s Total Hours to exceed the school’s cap, capping is enforced. When this occurs, the overage is deducted from the RegHrsAttended so that the resulting value for Total Hours does not exceed the cap. Refer to the Attendance Cap section that follows for additional details.
Attendance Cap
When the Virtual Attendance report runtime option is set to ‘Yes’, the Student Enrollment and Attendance Report (SEA), along with the Attendance Hours Audit and Attendance Hours by School and Grade Level Reports , will calculate the sum of the Regular Hours Attended and Regular Hours absent and compare it to the total hours of attendance entered on the School Setup page (Field: Actual Attendance Hours (from DESE Screen 10)). The Total Hours of Attendance should match the number of hours as entered on DESE Screen 10.
When the Virtual Attendance option is selected, the report will cap the student’s attendance for the year equal to the maximum Total Hours of Attendance possible for the school. If applicable, hours are deducted from the student’s Hours Attended, and are never deducted from the Absence Hours per state requirements.
This capping applies only to students with virtual attendance classes. Attendance is never capped for students who do not participate in a virtual attendance class. If a non-virtual attendance student’s Total Hours exceed the maximum possible for the school, this is an indication of potential issues with the student’s schedule, attendance or other root cause, which the district should address.
Data Element | Additional Information | [Table]FieldName | Length | Used in these Reports | ||
Editing School InformationDistrict > Schools/School Info > Edit School | ||||||
Actual Attendance Hours (from DESE Screen 10) | Enter the total hours of attendance possible for a full-time student as shown on DESE Screen 10. | [S_MO_SCH_X]CalendarHours | 10 | Student Enrollment and Attendance | ||
Creating/Editing Virtual CoursesCourses > [New/Edit]Courses | ||||||
Virtual Attendance Award* (47% of the hours for a regular class. | Enter the number of hours to be awarded to students in virtual courses. The award is calculated by multiplying the total number of hours for a regular education class by .47. Example: A regular ed class meets for a total of 100 hours. The Virtual Attendance Award entered would be 47 | [S_MO_CRS_X]VirtualHours | 10 | Student Enrollment and Attendance | ||
Reporting School | Enter the school number to be used if the virtual course is not held in the same school where the teacher is assigned. The course will be reported from the school number in this field. | [S_MO_CRS_X]ReportingSchool | 6 | Course Assignment Student Assignment Course Completion | ||
Creating/Editing Virtual SectionsSections > [New/Edit]Sections | ||||||
Virtual Attendance Award* (47% of the hours for a regular class. | Enter the number of hours to be awarded to students in virtual courses. The award is calculated by multiplying the total number of hours for a regular education class by .47. Example: A regular ed class meets for a total of 100 hours. The Virtual Attendance Award entered would be 47 | [S_MO_SEC_X]VirtualHours | 10 | Student Enrollment and Attendance | ||
Reporting School | Enter the school number to be used if the virtual course is not held in the same school where the teacher is assigned. The course will be reported from the school number in this field. | [S_MO_SEC_X]ReportingSchool | 6 | Course Assignment Student Assignment Course Completion | ||
Section Midpoint | Enter the date that falls in the middle of the term. This date will be used to mark the point in the term where a student is considered to have completed half of the course. | [S_MO_SEC_X]SectionMidpoint | 10 | Student Enrollment and Attendance | ||