| Scheduling > Common scheduling tasks > Configure student loading rules

Configure student loading rules

[Applies to secondary [>>] school scheduling.]

Student loading rules enable the administrator to control how PowerSchool SMS's automatic scheduler schedules specific courses. For example, the administrator may want to ensure that elective courses are not all scheduled in the same term, or to ensure that two courses are scheduled in sequence.

PowerSchool SMS employs three types of student loading rules:

= Constraints [>>]: Control the distribution of students in classes.
= Class Loading Rules [>>]: Control the sequence of classes on a student's schedule, match the attributes of selected classes for a student, and balance the class load between terms on a student's schedule.
= Team Loading Rules [>>]: Enables the scheduling of a team of teachers.

Caution: We recommend that the administrator limit student loading rules to only those that are necessary because the more rules there are, the harder and longer PowerSchool SMS's Student Loader and Walk-in Scheduler has to work to create the student schedule; indeed if there are too many restrictive rules, PowerSchool SMS might not be able to find a suitable schedule. Also, the administrator might inadvertently create conflicting loading rules.

Note: The administrator can set the Student Loader to disregard alternate course requests [>>].

Setting up class loading rules

Class loading rules enable the administrator to control how the PowerSchool SMS Student Loader and Walk-in Scheduler load a student's schedule. Specifically, the rules influence the sequence of classes on a student's schedule, match the attributes of selected classes for a student, and balance the class load between terms on a student's schedule.

When loading a student's schedule, the Student Loader uses all class loading rules. For example, to ensure that a student's Chemistry Lab immediately follows Chemistry, the administrator sets up a course sequencing rule to "always schedule Chemistry 11 to end in a period immediately before Chemistry Lab 11 begins". An identical rule is to "always schedule Chemistry Lab 11 to begin in a period immediately after Chemistry 11 ends".

The administrator can also set up course balancing rules so that a student's academic courses are not all scheduled in one semester while all that student's electives are scheduled in another. By default, based on semester (not full year) courses, the Student Loader and Walk-in Scheduler tries to schedule an equal number of courses in each semester. This schedule is based on all course requests and not within each course.

The administrator can set up "hard rules" and "soft rules". The Student Loader follows hard rules and attempts to comply with soft rules. Examples of hard rule parameters include: "Always Schedule" and "Never Schedule"; examples of soft rule parameters include: "Try to Schedule" and "Try Not to Schedule".

To set up a class loading rule: [SA]

Setting up team loading rules

Team loading rules enable the administrator to have the PowerSchool SMS Student Loader and Walk-in Scheduler use a team of teachers to ensure that a group of students take the same classes with the same teachers.

Setting up a team involves naming it and identifying which staff members are on the team, and then assigning the team to one or more classes. Once the adnistrator has created two or more teams, she can specify which teams can or cannot overlap with which other teams.

With teams in place, the PowerSchool SMS Student Loader and Walk-in Scheduler can automatically allocate students to teams. The administrator can ensure that a student is assigned to a particular team, by assigning the student to a class [xref] for that team and locking the student in that class [xref]. Then, the PowerSchool SMS Student Loader will only assign the student to classes assigned to that team. Note: The administrator can assign a student to any class, even if that class has a team assigned to it.

To set up a team loading rule: [SA]
To assign a team to a class: [SA]

Example of a schedule using overlapping teaching teams

This example illustrates how an administrator could set up team teaching [Table 60] to control how students are scheduled into classes.

Table 60: Team setup

Team name

Do not allow overlap with teams

Comment

Cougars

Lions, Tigers, Panthers

The four basic teams, which do not overlap with each other

Lions

Cougars, Tigers, Panthers

Tigers

Cougars, Lions, Panthers

Panthers

Cougars, Lions, Tigers

Yellow Cats

Tigers, Panthers

Combined teams

Jungle Cats

Cougars, Lions

 

Table 61: Core and elective classes, each belonging to a team

Class (Team)

Class (Team)

English 9-1 (Cougars)

Math 9-1 (Cougars)

English 9-2 (Lions)

Math 9-2 (Lions)

English 9-3 (Tigers)

Math 9-3 (Tigers)

English 9-4 (Panthers)

Math 9-4 (Panthers)

Photography 9-1 (Yellow Cats, which can only overlap with Cougars and Lions)

Band 9-1 (Yellow Cats, which can only overlap with Cougars and Lions)

Photography 9-2 (Jungle Cats, which can only overlap with Tigers and Panthers)

Band 9-2 (Jungle Cats, which can only overlap with Tigers and Panthers)

When Bill and Sue walk into school with their course requests for the above courses [Table 61], the administrator can manually schedule Bill into a class in the Cougars team (such as English 9-1) and Sue into a class in the Lions team (such as English 9-2.) The Student Loader follows the above rules and creates the schedules for Bill and Sue [Table 62].

 

Table 62: Sample schedules

Bill in Cougars team

Sue in Lions team

English 9-1 (Cougars)

English 9-2 (Lions)

Math 9-1 (Cougars)

Math 9-2 (Lions)

Photography 9-1 (Yellow Cats)

Photography 9-1 (Yellow Cats)

Band 9-1 (Yellow Cats)

Band 9-1 (Yellow Cats)

As a result, Bill and Sue take separate classes for English and Math because the Cougars team and the Lions team cannot overlap. They would take the same Photography 9-1 and Band 9-1 class because these classes can overlap with both the Cougars team and the Lions team.

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Always Learning
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