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Online course requests

Using Pearson's parent/student web site, ParentCONNECTxpTM, a student can request courses for the coming term [Figure 70]. (A school administrator or a school counselor can also make such requests on the student's behalf for the purposes of scheduling [>>].) The student can request only those courses offered at the student's projected school [>>] for the next year, which are the appropriate grade level, which are in the student's assigned academic plan [>>], and for which the student has met the prerequisites. The student can request a course as a required course, an elective, or as an alternate; for example, Algebra 12 might be offered as an alternate to Math 12. The student is able to submit course requests only if the total scheduling load represented by those requests is under the maximum allowable load and over the minimum.

Also in ParentCONNECTxp, the student's parent or guardian can review and approve the student's online course requests [>>], using her own ParentCONNECTxp account [Figure 71], if such approval is required by the PowerSchool SMS system.

Figure 70: ParentCONNECTxp student course requests

Figure 71: ParentCONNECTxp parental approval pending

When the student submits (or the parent approves) these requests, ParentCONNECTxp transfers them to the school's PowerSchool SMS system. On that system, a counselor can review a student's course requests and (on a system where approval is required) approve or reject each request [>>]. When this process is complete, PowerSchool SMS publishes the student's approved requests to his planning schedule [>>].

In preparation for online course requests, a student's teacher or counselor can recommend courses as required courses or electives [>>]. Any recommended required course is automatically included in a student's course requests, unless the administrator has given students the option to override such recommendations [>>].

Note: Online course requesting is an optional feature of a PowerSchool SMS system. For a system to employ it, an administrator must set it up for a school [>>].

Note: PowerSchool SMS logs all online course requests and course recommendations [>>].

Note: For detailed information on using ParentCONNECTxp to make online course requests, we recommend that parents and students refer to the ParentCONNECTxp 4.0 Course Request System Reference Manual (also in PDF).

Table 20: Permissions pertaining to online course requests

Approving course requests

On a system where approval of a course request is required [>>], a counselor (and possibly a student contact such as a parent or guardian [>>]) has to approve or reject a student's course requests before PowerSchool SMS will publish them to that student's planning schedule. On a system where approval is not required, a counselor can only view the requests after they have been published

To approve a student's course request(s):You can do this if your role is School Administrator or Counselor. [SA, C]

1

In the Active Calendar [>>], search for [>>] the student.

2

Click the student's name. The Student Demographics page appears.

3

In the control bar, click Academic Plan.

4

In the control bar, under Next Year, click Requests. The New Year Requests page appears.

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This page appears only if the school has created its Planning Calendar [>>].

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If a counselor's approval is pending, PowerSchool SMS displays a notification to that effect at the top of the page.

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You have the option of recommending additional courses [>>].

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You may have the option of deleting a course request.

5

[Optional] Reject a course request: click Email Parent/Student.This enables the counselor to offer an explanation or set up a meeting.

6

To approve all course requests, click Complete. PowerSchool SMS publishes the course requests to the student's planning schedule(s).

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PowerSchool SMS also clears any requests on that planning schedule.

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Once PowerSchool SMS publishes the course requests, it makes the Next Year Requests page read-only.

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If you have recommended additional courses, click Apply or OK before clicking Complete.

Recommending courses to students

A teacher or counselor can recommend one or more courses to one student at a time [>>] or many students at once, such as a teacher's entire class or a counselor's entire grade level [>>]. A course so recommended is automatically included in a student's course requests, unless the administrator has given students the option to override recommendations made by a counselor or a teacher [>>]. (Typically, the overriding of recommendations is not allowed in lower grade levels, such as 8 and 9, where program options tend to be fixed.)

When a recommendation is made to a student, PowerSchool SMS displays it in ParentCONNECTxp at the bottom of that student's priority list — the most recent recommendation receives the lowest priority [Figure 70].

If a teacher or counselor recommends a course to a student that has been previously recommended by another person, PowerSchool SMS displays a message to that effect. Alternate courses can be recommended by more than one person. A counselor or School Administrator can change recommendations. A teacher can only change one of his own recommendations.

Note: A teacher or counselor can recommend a course to a student up until 9 p.m. on the day before the first day of the submission window [>>].

Note: For a teacher or counselor to recommend a course to a student, the school must have created its Planning Calendar [>>] and the Availability date [>>] for at least one grade level must be later than PowerSchool SMS's system date.

To recommend a course to more than one student:You can do this if your role is School Administrator, Teacher, or Counselor. [SA, T, C]

1

In the Active Calendar [>>], in the control, click Recommendations.

2

Click 0 students selected.

3

Select students.

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A teacher can select students from one class or all his classes. For the latter, the teacher uses the All My Students filter option. When the students are selected, the link displays the number of students selected and the class from which they are drawn [].

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A counselor can select students from the general student population by searching for them [>>].

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A teacher or counselor can search for and select students who are projected to attend a school in the next year [>>], that is, not the counselor/teacher/Administrator's school by selecting Include students projected to a different school.

4

Click OK.

5

Under Course Search, find the course(s).

6

Recommend a course as required: Click and hold on the course and drag it to the grid's Course # column under Course Recommendations under Required.

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PowerSchool SMS inserts a new row to accommodate a new course that the teacher or counselor drags to the grid.

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PowerSchool SMS lists the course in order of priority from top to bottom. To change the priority of a course, drag it up or down the list.

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To remove a course, move the cursor over it and click the remove course icon.

7

[Optional] Recommend a course as an elective: click Elective and drag the course to that grid.

8

[Optional] Recommend a course as an alternate to a recommended course: Drag the course to the Alternate course # column.

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Columns for alternate courses appear in the grid only if the school's setup [>>] allows alternate courses [].

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To replace an alternate course, drag another course onto it.

9

Click Assign. A confirmation message appears.

10

Click OK.

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If the system cannot assign the recommendations for some reason (such as the course has been previously recommended to a student), PowerSchool SMS displays a message that explains which courses and students are affected.

Figure 72: Recommendations page

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B

Drag a course to the Course # column to recommend it.

C

Drag a course to the Alternate # column to suggest it as an alternate to a recommended course.

D

Remove course icon: Appears beside a course name when the user holds the cursor over that course. Click it to remove the course from the list.

To recommend a course to one student:You can do this if your role is School Administrator, Teacher, or Counselor. [SA, T, C]

1

In the Active Calendar [>>], search for [>>] the student.

2

Click the student's name. The Student Demographics page appears.

3

In the control bar, click Academic Plan.

4

In the control bar, under Next Year, click Recommendations. The Next Year Recommendations page appears [].

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This page appears only if the school has created its Planning Calendar [>>].

5

Under Course Search, find the course.

6

Recommend the course using the same procedure as that for recommending a course to more than one student [>>].

7

Click Apply or OK.

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