| Scheduling

Scheduling

Scheduling involves specifying how courses or subjects are offered at a school [>>], defining scheduling elements [>>] and structure [>>], assigning teachers and rooms to courses or subjects, and creating student schedules [>>]. Students at a school may be able to make course requests [>>].

Scheduling at an elementary school [>>]differs significantly from a secondary school. Refer to the following topics:

= Scheduling an elementary school [>>]
= Scheduling a secondary school [>>]

These scheduling procedures have some tasks in common, including setting up a scheduling structure [>>].

Scheduling method

An administrator can set up a school to use one of two types of scheduling: elementary or secondary. For a description of the main differences between the two methods, refer to Table 55 [>>].

Table 55: Elementary versus secondary scheduling method

Elementary scheduling [>>]

Secondary scheduling [>>]

Structured around homerooms [>>].

= Every student is assigned to a homeroom.

= Based on his or her homeroom, PowerSchool SMS assigns a student to core set of classes.

= The students from a homeroom usually stay together for most of each day.

= The homeroom teacher teaches most of the subjects to the same group of students.

Scheduling:

= The administrator can adjust individual student schedules by transferring them to other classes [>>], as well as by using subject exceptions and resource assignments to support special cases.

= The administrator has the option of creating a schedule structure [>>] and assigning meeting patterns to classes.

Structured around classes.

= For each class, students usually go to a different room with different students.

= The homeroom, if used, is usually only for announcements.

Students in a grade level are usually assigned the same set of subjects, which they take for the whole school year.

Offers flexible terms that support any combination of semesters, quarters, or middle-school style class rotations.

= Requires complex meeting patterns.

= Requires different bell schedules, or different start and end dates, for each term to accommodate the needs of different groups of students.

= Teams or platoons of students are rotated through a series of exploratory classes (middle school).

Structured around subjects and a subject framework [>>]

= Subjects are offered as core or specialty.

Structured around courses and a course catalog or course list.

= Students request individual courses.

= Courses are offered as required or elective.

Simple grading structure

Complex grading structure

= A school that employs secondary scheduling must also employ secondary grading and secondary report cards.

Employs the elementary school style of report card.

= Includes grading table options.

Employs the secondary school style of report card.

= Includes grading table options.

Employs the once-daily or twice-daily attendance method [>>].

Employs the once-daily, twice-daily, or by-class attendance method [>>].
To set a scheduling method for a school: [SA]

Table 56: Permissions pertaining to setting a scheduling method

To

You need this permission

Set to

Details

Setting a scheduling method for a school

School Setup > Attendance General Settings

Yes

[>>]

Two classes treated as one

Where a school's attendance-taking method is By Class [>>], the administrator can specify the circumstances in which PowerSchool SMS should consider a pair of contiguous classes (that is, two classes scheduled into adjacent periods) to be the same class; for example, a chemistry lecture followed by a chemistry lab. This specification affects PowerSchool SMS's calculation of attendance [>>] and instructional minutes.

PowerSchool SMS considers two classes to be one where all of the following are true:

= The classes are scheduled for consecutive periods.
= Both classes have the same name. For example, PowerSchool SMS will consider the classes "Chemistry" and "Chemistry Lab" as separate and the classes named "Science" as potentially a single class.
= The number of passing period minutes between the two consecutive classes does not exceed the number specified by the administrator. For example, if the School Administrator sets the passing period minutes to 8 and the school allows 5 minutes between classes, then PowerSchool SMS will consider two consecutive classes of the same name as one (5 is less than 8); if the school's bell schedule specifies 10 minutes between classes, then PowerSchool SMS will consider the two classes as separate (10 is more than 8).
To specify the maximum number of passing period minutes between contiguous classes for those classes to be considered one class: [SA]

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Always Learning
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