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| Scheduling > Common scheduling tasks > Ensure that the school course catalog is ready
Ensure that the school course catalog is ready
[Applies to elementary [>>] and secondary [>>] school scheduling.]
The district course catalog defines the courses available for scheduling in schools.
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In the Planning Calendar, In the Admin menu, click District Setup. The District Setup page appears. |
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Click Course Catalog. The Course Catalog Home page appears. |
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Use the following links to adjust course setup lists for both the active and Planning Calendars: |
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PowerSchool SMS Subject Area
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PowerSchool SMS Course Type
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PowerSchool SMS Department
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PowerSchool SMS Room Type
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Use the following links to adjust the catalog for the next year: |
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Constraints (Elementary)
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Constraints (Secondary) |
Setting course properties
The District Administrator sets the properties of each course, such as its name, applicable grade levels, course load value, and the maximum number of students allowed per class. A School Administrator can adjust some of these properties for a course available to his school.
To adjust a course's properties:
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In the Admin menu, click District Setup. The District Setup page appears. |
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Click Courses. The Course List page appears displaying a list of the courses available to schools in the district. |
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To include inactive courses in the list, in the Edit menu, select Show Inactive Courses. |
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Alternatively, in the Course Search section, you can use a Basic or Detail search to generate a relevant list of courses from the district's course catalog. PowerSchool SMS runs the search and displays matching courses (if any) under Search Results. |
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Perform the search using the same methods as a Basic [>>] or Detail [>>] search for students. You can save the results of a search, or save the search criteria for re-use as a favorite search. |
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Course name is case insensitive (that is, entering english for the course name will produce courses named English and english). |
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In the Search Results section, under Number, click a course's number to view its properties. The Course Detail page appears. |
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In the control bar, click the course property you want to view or work with: |
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On each page, click Save. |
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Click Reset to restore the properties to the district's values. |
Course detail information includes:
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Course number: The course number must be unique in the district. The course number can contain alphabetic characters, for example, "101A". Caution: Once assigned and saved, the District Administrator cannot change this number. |
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Course state number: A state-assigned number, if required. |
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Course name: A descriptive name for the course. |
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Course short name: An abbreviated name, up to 10 characters long, for the course. |
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Course alternate name: An optional alternate to the course name. |
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Course description: A short description of course. |
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Course subject area: The applicable subject area, as selected from those set up for the district. |
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Course type: The applicable type of course as selected from those set up for the district. |
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Recommended grade levels: The grade levels appropriate for this course. |
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Course Is: Indicates that the course is one of the following: Required, Elective, or Study hall. A course designated "Study hall" cannot have grades collected for it. |
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Collect Attendance: Indicates that attendance is taken for the course. |
Course scheduling information includes:
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Scheduling load: The value used to determine whether the student has a full course load for the year. This value is also used to determine a teacher's scheduling load. The total scheduling load for a student or teacher cannot exceed 99.99. |
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Maximum students / Minimum students / Optimal students: The maximum, minimum, and optimal number of students that a class for this course should have. The District Administrator sets these values. A School Administrator can change these values for the purposes of his school's Planning Calendar. |
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Prerequisites: Prerequisite courses as set for the district. |
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Corequisites: Corequisite courses as set for the district. |
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Room required: Select to indicate the Preferred room type(s) or Preferred room. When the Master Schedule Builder creates classes for this course, it assigns those classes to rooms according to these preferences. Note: The School Administrator makes this selection for her school. |
The vertical order of the rooms in the Selected list determines the priority, where the top room has the highest.
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Request Tally. The Course Request Tally page appears. |
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In the Course Search section, click Display All Records. |
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Or, use a Basic [>>] or Detail [>>] search to generate a relevant list of courses from the district's course catalog. PowerSchool SMS runs the search and displays matching courses (if any) under Search Results. |
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In the Opt Size column, enter a new value. |
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To view the Min Size and Max Size columns and change those values, in the Edit menu select Choose Columns... and move these columns to the Selected Columns lists. |
Assign subjects and courses to schools
In the Planning Calendar [>>], the District Administrator can adjust the assignment of specific subjects to each elementary school and the assignment of courses to each secondary school, before making the district course catalog available to schools.
Make the district course catalog available to schools
When the District Administrator has fully prepared the Planning Calendar [>>], he or she publishes the course list for use by secondary schools and the subject framework for use by elementary schools. Publishing these items makes the course catalog available to School Administrators. The availability of this information enables the School Administrator to schedule classes for the district's courses.
Caution: After the District Administrator publishes the course catalog, changes to that catalog are limited to the following:
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Add a new course or subject: The course is available to a school as soon as it is assigned to it — the District Administrator does not need to publish the course list again. |
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Copy information between course levels. |
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Unassign a course or generic subject at a school: Only if the course is not scheduled. |
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Change a course's prerequisite or corequisite: The change affects only course requests and schedules made after the change, not course requests and schedules made before the change. |
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Change a course: The District Administrator can change a course if the change is logical and would not damage existing use of the course. For example, you cannot stop collecting grades for a course if it is being used in a GPA definition. |
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Change a grade level assigned to a generic subject: Only if that course is unassigned from all schools. |
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In the Planning Calendar, In the Admin menu, click District Setup. The District Setup page appears. |
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Click Next Year Preparation. The Next Year Preparation page appears. |
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Under Step 3, click Publish Calendar Items. The Publish Calendar Items page appears. |
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The Date Published column indicates if any items have been published. |
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Under District Calendar Item, select the items to publish, which include: |
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Note: PowerSchool SMS can take several hours, even overnight, to publish the selected items to all schools. The time required varies according to the number of courses, subjects, and schools. |
Reserving periods for students, teachers, or rooms
A School Administrator can reserve specific periods in the schedule for a students, teachers, or rooms using a reservation label. A reservation label works like a course in the scheduling structure. PowerSchool SMS prints reservation labels on schedules.
The School Administrator can assign a reservation label, or she can let the Master Schedule Builder or Student Loader assign the label automatically based on teacher preferences and student course requests. A reservation label does not have a course number and grades and attendance are not collected for it.
PowerSchool SMS provides three types of reservation labels:
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Teacher: Reserves a period in a teacher's schedule for an activity such as a preparation period or lunch monitoring session. A teacher reservation label is not available to students to request and the administrator cannot assign one to a student. A Teacher reservation label differs from a teacher time restriction [xref] in that the latter indicates when a part-time teacher is available and PowerSchool SMS does not print a restriction on a schedule. |
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Student: Reserves a period in a student's or teacher's schedule for an activity such as an early starting time for a school that employs extended days, an extracurricular activity, or a tutoring session. |
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Room: Reserves a room for a period without assigning teachers or students to that room; for example, to set aside a room for an outside group. |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Setup. The Course List page appears. |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Reservation Label. The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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Set options, which include: |
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Name: A descriptive name of up to 99 characters. |
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Short Name: An abbreviated name of up to 11 characters. PowerSchool SMS displays this short name on the screen and in reports. PowerSchool SMS also uses this name as the course number. |
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Teacher: Indicates that this label can be assigned to a teacher. |
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Student: Indicates that this label can be assigned to a student, teacher, or room. For this type, the administrator can also specify Maximum students / Minimum students / Optimal students, that is, the maximum, minimum, and optimal number of students that a class for this course should have. |
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Room: the reservation label can be assigned to rooms only. Once the reservation label type is set, it cannot be changed. |
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Scheduling load: The value used to determine whether the student has a full course load for the year. This value is also used to determine a teacher's scheduling load. This value can be left at its default: 0. |
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Print on Reports: Specifies that this reservation label be included in printed reports, such as a teacher or student schedule. The report must be designed to accommodate this information. |
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Click Save. The Course List page appears. The new reservation label is listed under the category "Reservation Labels". |
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In the Number Column, click the name of the reservation label. The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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In the control bar, click Reservation Offerings. The Course Offerings page appears. |
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Locate the Scheduling Group to apply to this reservation label and select it in the Default Offering column. |
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(Optional) Select Allowed Offerings to enable users to schedule classes manually in different term sets. |
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Under Meeting Patterns, specify the meeting patterns available to this label by moving them to the Selected Patterns list. |
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For a reservation label for a preparation period, consider assigning all the meeting patterns available. This facilitates the automatic assignment of preparation periods. |
Example: Assigning a reservation label for a preparation period
A typical reservation label assigned by a School Administrator is one for a preparation period. The administrator can assign a preparation period to one teacher at a time or have the Master Scheduler automatically assign preparation periods to teachers based on teacher preferences.
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Under By Course, under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Course Search Results. |
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Under Course Search Results, for the desired reservation label, click Add Class. |
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Select the class to which to assign the reservation label. |
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Under Class Schedule (which appears when the class is selected), select the following: |
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For each teacher, assign a preference for a preparation period: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Use Staff Search to find the teachers to whom you want to assign a preparation period. |
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Under Search Results, under Name, click the teacher. The Staff Scheduling Properties page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Search Results. |
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Under Search Results, select the preparation period and click Add. |
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Under Preferred Courses, select the preparation period and set its Preference to "1". |
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Create a preparation period class for each teacher who has this reservation label as a preference: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Request Tally. The Course Request Tally page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Search Results. |
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For each reservation label, the number under Prim Reqs indicates the number of teachers who have the reservation label as a preference. |
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Select the preparation period reservation label. |
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In the Actions menu, select Calculate Classes Needed. The scheduler creates one reservation label class for each teacher who has the reservation label as a preference. |
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In the Actions menu, click Create Classes. |
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Allocate preparation period classes to teachers |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Teacher Allocations. The Teacher Allocations page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels and the teachers to whom they are assigned appears under Search Results. |
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Select one or more teachers. |
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In the Actions menu, click Allocate Teachers. |
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PowerSchool SMS allocates classes proportionately according to each teacher's course preference settings. |
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PowerSchool SMS replaces any existing allocations, except those that are locked. |
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PowerSchool SMS does not automatically allocate a class to a teacher with a preference of 9. 9 is a special setting for the purpose of holding a teacher as a spare. |
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Schedule a preparation period class: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels and the classes to which they apply appears under Search Results. |
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Select the class(es) you want to schedule. |
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In the Actions menu, click Schedule Classes.... |
Example: Using reservation labels to assign a student to an early or late starting time
A School Administrator can use reservation labels to reserve the early or late periods for schools that use extended day patterns. In this example, the administrator assigns to one or more students either an early start or a late start. This involves setting up a meeting pattern to reserve the first three periods of each day and another meeting pattern to reserve the last three periods of each day. This setup enables the student loader to automatically assign either an early start or a late start to the selected students and prevents the Master Scheduler from scheduling classes during the reserved times.
For this example, assume that the school has an eight-period bell schedule and students are required to attend five periods. The school has approximately 1000 students.
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Create early start and late start meeting patterns: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Meeting Patterns. The Meeting Patterns page appears. |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Meeting Pattern. The Add Meeting Pattern page appears. |
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Create two meeting patterns using the following settings: |
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Meeting pattern name = "Reserve - am", Short name = "RAM", periods 1, 2, and 3 for each day in the day pattern |
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"Reserved - pm", "RPM", periods 6, 7, and 8 for each day in the day pattern. |
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Create two reservation labels: one for the early start and one for the late: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Setup. The Course List page appears. |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Reservation Label. The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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Set options, which include: |
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Print on Reports: Not selected |
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Click Save. The Course List page appears. The new reservation label is listed under the category "Reservation Labels". |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Reservation Label. The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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Set options, which include: |
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Print on Reports: Not selected |
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Click Save. The Course List page appears. The new reservation label is listed under the category "Reservation Labels". |
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In the Number Column, click the reservation label "ES". The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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In the control bar, click Reservation Offerings. The Course Offerings page appears. |
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Locate the Scheduling Group to apply to this reservation label and select it in the Default Offering column. |
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Under Meeting Patterns, make the "Reserve - pm" meeting pattern available to this label by moving it to the Selected Patterns list. |
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In the Number Column, click the reservation label "LS". The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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In the control bar, click Reservation Offerings. The Course Offerings page appears. |
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Locate the Scheduling Group to apply to this reservation label and select it in the Default Offering column. |
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Under Meeting Patterns, make the "Reserve - am" meeting pattern available to this label by moving it to the Selected Patterns list. |
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Assign the Early Start reservation label to a student: |
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View a list of all students [>>]. |
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On the Student Search page, under Student Search Results, select the student(s). |
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In the Actions menu, select Assign > Course Requests. The Assign Requests page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Course Search Results. |
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Select the reservation label "Early Start" and click Add Request. |
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Assign meeting patterns: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Request Tally. The Course Request Tally page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Search Results. |
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For each reservation label, the number under Prim Reqs indicates the number of teachers who have the reservation label as a preference. |
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Select the reservation labels "Early Start" and "Late Start". |
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In the Actions menu, select Calculate Classes Needed. |
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In the Actions menu, click Create Classes. |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Master Schedule. The Master Schedule page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Search Results. |
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Select the class "Early Start-1". |
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Under Class Schedule (which appears when the class is selected), for Meeting pattern, select "RAM". |
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Select the class "Late Start-1". |
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Under Class Schedule (which appears when the class is selected), for Meeting pattern, select "RPM". |
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Load student schedules [>>]. |
Example: Using reservation labels to have students automatically assigned to early or late starting times
A School Administrator can use reservation labels to reserve the early or late periods for schools that use extended day patterns. In this example, the administrator sets up PowerSchool SMS to have the student loader to automatically assign either an early start or a late start to the selected students and prevent the Master Scheduler from scheduling classes during the reserved times. This involves setting up a meeting pattern to reserve the first three periods of each day and another meeting pattern to reserve the last three periods of each day.
For this example, assume that the school has an eight-period bell schedule and students are required to attend five periods. The school has approximately 1000 students and wants half scheduled for early classes and half scheduled for late classes.
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Create early start and late start meeting patterns: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Meeting Patterns. The Meeting Patterns page appears. |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Meeting Pattern. The Add Meeting Pattern page appears. |
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Create two meeting patterns using the following settings: |
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Meeting pattern name = "Reserve - am", Short name = "RAM", periods 1, 2, and 3 for each day in the day pattern. |
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"Reserved - pm", "RPM", periods 6, 7, and 8 for each day in the day pattern. |
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Create a reservation label to be used to reserve either the first three or last three periods of the day for each student: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Setup. The Course List page appears. |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Reservation Label. The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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Set options, which include: |
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Print on Reports: Selected |
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Click Save. The Course List page appears. The new reservation label is listed under the category "Reservation Labels". |
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In the Number Column, click the reservation label "DNS". The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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In the control bar, click Reservation Offerings. The Course Offerings page appears. |
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Locate the Scheduling Group to apply to this reservation label and select it in the Default Offering column. |
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Under Meeting Patterns, make the "Reserve - am" and "Reserve - pm" meeting patterns available to this label by moving them to the Selected Patterns list. |
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Assign the reservation label to students: |
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View a list of all students [>>]. |
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On the Student Search page, under Student Search Results, select the student(s). |
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In the Actions menu, select Assign > Course Requests. The Assign Requests page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Course Search Results. |
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Select the reservation label "Do Not Schedule" and click Add Request. |
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Create reservation label classes: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Request Tally. The Course Request Tally page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Search Results. |
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Select the reservation label "Do Not Schedule". |
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For this label, under Classes Needed, enter 2. |
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In the Actions menu, click Create Classes. |
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Assign meeting patterns: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Master Schedule. The Master Schedule page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Search Results. |
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Select the class "Do Not Schedule-1". |
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Under Class Schedule (which appears when the class is selected), for Meeting pattern, select "RAM". |
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Select the class "Do Not Schedule-2". |
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Under Class Schedule (which appears when the class is selected), for Meeting pattern, select "RPM". |
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Load student schedules [>>]. |
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PowerSchool SMS distributes the selected students equally into the two "Do Not Schedule" classes and does not schedule other classes during the reserved periods. |
Example: Setting up a reservation label for a student-teacher meeting
A School Administrator can use a reservation label to reserve time for student-teacher meetings, such as tutoring or special assistance, for which attendance and grades are not recorded.
In this example, the administrator creates a Math Assistance session in which a teacher provides additional math instruction to a small group of students. The Math Assistance session employs a meeting pattern created for other courses. The administrator assigns the reservation label directly to both a teacher's and student's schedules.
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Create a reservation label to be used for the tutoring session: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Click Course Setup. The Course List page appears. |
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In the Actions menu, select Add Reservation Label. The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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Set options, which include: |
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Print on Reports: Selected |
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Click Save. The Course List page appears. The new reservation label is listed under the category "Reservation Labels". |
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In the Number Column, click the reservation label "Math Asst.". The Add/Edit Reservation Label page appears. |
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In the control bar, click Reservation Offerings. The Course Offerings page appears. |
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Locate the Scheduling Group to apply to this reservation label and select it in the Default Offering column. |
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Under Meeting Patterns, make one or more meeting patterns available to this label by moving them to the Selected Patterns list. |
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Assign the Math Assistance reservation label to a teacher and room: |
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In the Admin menu, click Scheduling. The Scheduling page appears. |
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Under By Course, under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Course Search Results. |
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Under Course Search Results, for the reservation label "Math Assistance", click Add Class. |
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Select the class to which to assign the reservation label. |
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Under Class Schedule (which appears when the class is selected), select the following: |
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Assign the Math Asst. reservation label to a student: |
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View a list of all students [>>]. |
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On the Student Search page, under Student Search Results, select the student(s). |
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In the Actions menu, select Assign > Course Requests. The Assign Requests page appears. |
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Under Course Search, under Basic, set up a search for "Course Subject Area equals Reservation Labels". Click Search. A list of reservation labels appears under Course Search Results. |
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Select the reservation label "Math Assistance" and click Add Request. |
Pearson
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www.pearsonschoolsystems.com
Tel: 866-434-6276
Email: psstechsupp@pearson.com