Automatic Address Validation setup options

With Automatic Address Validation [>>], you can choose from several options that control how validation works during the adding or editing of a student address [>>] and during student enrollment [>>]. These options are:

Users can either enter an address or must select from an address range

The advantage of requiring users to select an address from pre-defined address ranges [>>] is that they will receive fewer error messages about addresses that do not match the address format you have set up in PowerSchool SMS for the district.

The disadvantage is that you must set up address ranges for every address in your district, and update the address ranges when new streets are added in your area. Also, if district approval is required for out-of-zone enrollments (see below), users will be unable to enroll a student when the address is invalid.

Note: If you are using both Automatic Address Validation and Google Maps together and you decide that users must always select from pre-defined address ranges, do not set up Google Maps for boundary validation [>>]. You can, however, set up Google Maps for address validation [>>] so that users can confirm that an address exists, see About Google Maps Address Validation [>>].

Users can enroll students out-of-zone for their school or district approval is required

The advantage of requiring district approval is that it centralizes decision making about how to treat out-of-zone students [>>].

The disadvantage is that the district must approve all out-of-zone students before they can be enrolled. Schools can register the students, but cannot enroll them in out-of-zone schools until a pre-approved address exception has been entered for the enrollment.

If district approvals are required, you can also set up PowerSchool SMS to copy address exception approvals from the active calendar to the planning calendar for students returning to the same out-of-zone school see Set up address exception approvals for the planning calendar [>>]. If address exception approvals are not copied to the planning calendar, students returning to the same out-of-zone school in the upcoming year are enrolled in their zoned school until an approved address exception is entered in the planning calendar.

Schools can or cannot enroll students who are already enrolled in a different school

The advantage of allowing school users to enroll students who are already enrolled in another school is that it creates a more streamlined process when students are changing schools. The new school can enroll the student even if the old school has not yet processed a withdrawal. The disadvantage is that schools can "steal" students from other schools. Depending on the size and policies of your district, the process of requiring a student to be un-enrolled from their previous school before a new school can enroll them might be necessary to ensure that school funding rules are not violated. To prevent schools from "stealing" students, select the Control access to the "Enroll Student in a School link for school users option in the General... link selected from the District Setup>Preferences page. See Turn on Automatic Address Validation [>>].