Summary of changes after the conversion to PR

When you convert your database to use the Permanent Record feature, numerous changes occur in PowerSchool SMS. Following is a summary of the changes, with cross-references to the sections in this guide that provide detailed information about how to work with the new links and pages.

Updated and new links on the District Setup page

The Schools link is renamed District Schools, to differentiate between in-district and out-of-district schools, and takes you to the School Info page.

The Permanent Record preferences link takes you to the new Permanent Record Setup page. See Updated and new District-level pages [>>].

The following new links are available:

Cumulative GPA Setup - This link takes you to a page where you can create cumulative GPA definitions. See Updated secondary School-level pages [>>].

Permanent Record Calculation Time Restrictions - This link takes you to a page where you can set time restrictions for running cumulative GPA calculations.See Updated and new District-level pages [>>].

Schedule Permanent Record Calculations - This link takes you to a page where you can schedule cumulative GPA calculations immediately or for a specified time. See Updated and new District-level pages [>>].

Out of District Schools - This link takes you to a page where you can add and manage historical out-of-district schools. See Updated and new District-level pages [>>].

Figure 236: District setup changes

Updated and new links on the student demographics page control bar

The Historical link is updated to Historical Info - This link takes you to historical pages, some of which have been redesigned.

The following new links are available:

Permanent Record - This link takes you to the new PR pages for secondary students. See Updated and new secondary student pages [>>]. The following links are displayed in the control bar of the Permanent Record feature:

Summary Data - This link takes you to the new PR Summary Data page where you can view the secondary student's current year class rank, and calculated GPAs and credits.

Year Data - This link takes you to the new PR By Year page, where you can view historical GPA, credits, class ranks, and attendance information for the secondary student by year, as well as enter historical class ranks.

Year & Term Data - If GPA/Class Rank Reporting Terms have been set up for your district, this link takes you to a page where you can view historical GPA information by term, and view and enter historical class ranks. From this page you can also view historical credits and edit attendance information by term for each year and school.

Figure 237: Student demographics

Updated and new District-level pages

Course Grading - Partial Credits checkbox is removed because it is no longer needed.

District Preferences - The Attendance panel and fields on this page are moved to the Elementary tab on the new Permanent Record preferences page.

Transcript Columns - This page is updated so that, in addition to specifying the column headings for the grade items that will be stored in student's permanent records and shown on their transcripts, you can define whether a grade item is awarded credit and/or used in a cumulative GPA calculation. See Name the transcript columns [>>].

The following new pages are available:

Permanent Record Setup - This new page displays two tabs: Secondary and Elementary.

The Secondary tab enables you to specify how items such as cumulative GPA, attendance, and credits will be calculated and how they will appear in each secondary student's permanent record.

The Elementary tab replaces the Elementary Permanent RecordSetup page and allows you to select the elementary school data you want to keep after Year-End Processing. See Performing permanent record school setup [>>].Note: Although elementary student PR data is not currently viewable in the PowerSchool SMS interface, it is recommended that you select permanent record options for elementary student data so that the structure is set up when the elementary permanent record information is visible in a future version of PowerSchool SMS.

Cumulative GPA - This new page enables you to create Cumulative GPA definitions for the district. See Working with cumulative GPAs [>>].

Select Courses - This new page allows you to specify whether to include or exclude courses, active or historical, in cumulative GPA definitions. This page replaces the Select Courses page that was at the secondary school level. See Working with cumulative GPAs [>>].

Calculate GPAs and Credits (dialog) - This dialog appears if you select multiple secondary students and then select Calculate Cumulative GPAs and Credits from an Actions menu on a new PR page. Use this dialog to specify whether you want to calculate GPAs for only the student displayed on the screen or for all selected students. See Running Permanent Record calculations [>>].

Permanent Record Calculation Time Restrictions - Use this new page to define time restrictions for cumulative GPA and credit calculations that are scheduled at the district and at secondary schools. See Setting up calculation time restrictions for Permanent Record [>>].

Schedule Permanent Record Calculations - This new page enables you to view existing scheduled cumulative GPA and credit calculations and navigate to the Define Schedule page where you can define new calculation schedules. See Scheduling GPA and credit calculations [>>].

Define Schedule - Use this new page to schedule one-time or recurring cumulative GPA and credit calculations for all secondary students in the district. This page displays defined calculation time restrictions. See Scheduling GPA and credit calculations [>>].

Out of District Schools - Use this new page to create a catalog of reusable, out-of-district school records. See Managing out-of-district schools [>>].

Updated secondary School-level pages

Calculate Class Ranks - The criteria that determines which students are included in class rank calculations has changed. For the year-to-date class rank calculation, the students included are those who are in the grade level and are enrolled for at least one scheduled day in the active calendar. For the term class rank calculation, the students included are those in the grade level who are enrolled in the term for at least one scheduled day.

Calculate Grades, Credits, & GPAs - The Credits panel has been removed, as it is no longer possible to calculate credits separately from cumulative GPAs. The GPAs panel has been replaced with two new panels: Current Year GPAs, which displays only current‑year GPA formulas and descriptions; and Cumulative GPAs & Credits, which displays cumulative GPA formulas and descriptions, along with a checkbox for running calculations. When cumulative GPA definitions exist, users with appropriate permissions will see a link to the cumulative GPA definition in the GPA Name column. The user will be able to use this link to access the cumulative GPA definition for viewing (or, with appropriate permissions, editing).

In the Students panel on this page, when you select All students in the school, only students who were enrolled for at least one scheduled day during the active calendar year are included in the calculation.
Note: Students who are enrolled only in the planning calendar are not included, nor are historical students.

When Run Calculations is selected from the Actions menu on this page, a dialog appears with the option to run the calculation now or at a later time. If the option to run calculations for all students is selected, this dialog also displays calculation time restrictions defined by the district.

Class Ranks - The GPA Used columnon this page now displays a district cumulative GPA.

Class Rank (formerly Add/Edit Class Rank) - In the Global Criteria panel, the Cumulative GPA dropdown contains district-defined cumulative GPAs. The Grade Level Specific Criteria panel now displays the grade levels used at the school (from the Grade Levels Setup List on the School Setup page).

Course Grading - The Allow Partial Credits checkbox is removed. The History column now displays the district-defined transcript columns. The Award Credit and Use in Cum GPA columns are read-only for schools; the values in these two columns are defined on the district's Transcript Columns page.

Current Year GPA - The Historical Pages panel and its contents are removed because current year GPAs are no longer rolled over into the PR pages during year end processing.

Grade Point Averages - The ability to create cumulative GPA definitions is removed from this page. Schools can create current-year GPA definitions only. The district creates cumulative GPA definitions.

School Setup - The Transcript Grade Item link and pages are removed. Transcript grade items are now set up at the district.

Select Courses - For cumulative GPA, this page is moved to district-level and includes both current and historical courses. For current-year GPAs, it remains at the school level.

There is a new Define Schedule dialog, available from the Calculate Grades, Credits & GPAs page, that is used to schedule grades, credits and current-year GPA calculations at the school level.

On the Student Search Results page for secondary schools, new Historical Info and Permanent Record menu options are available from Student Demographics page.

Figure 238: Student Demographics

Updated and new secondary student pages

Historical - This page is renamed Historical Info and is updated to reflect the addition of the PR pages. See Secondary student historical information [>>].

Historical Year - This page is redesigned. See Entering historical year records [>>].

Historical Course - This page is redesigned. See Entering student historical course details [>>].

Course (historical) - This page is redesigned. See Working with cumulative GPAs [>>].

Course List - This page is updated to reflect changes to the historical Course page. See Working with cumulative GPAs [>>].

PR Summary Data - This new page enables you to view the student's current year class rank, credits summary information, and cumulative GPAs on this page. See Viewing secondary student permanent record summary data [>>].

Year Data - This new page enables you to view the student's historical GPA, view credits and edit attendance information for the student by year, and enter historical class ranks on this page. See Working with secondary student permanent record data by year [>>].

Year & Term Data - If GPA/Class Rank Terms exist, this new page enables you to view historical GPA information by term, and view and enter historical class ranks, as well as historical credits and attendance information by term. See Working with secondary student permanent record data by term [>>].

Changes to Permissions

The following changes are made to permissions.

Under the category Transcript/Permanent Record the following permissions are added, updated, or deleted:

Four new permissions are added: Cumulative GPA Setup, Permanent Record Calculation Time Restrictions, Schedule Permanent Record Calculations, Manage Out Of District Schools. For information about how to use these permissions, see Permissions pertaining to permanent record [>>].

Permanent Record Setup - This permission is renamed and was formerly named Elementary Permanent Record Setup.

Import Historical Info - This permission is renamed and was formerly named Import Historical.

Student Historical Info Data - This permission is renamed and was formerly named Student Historical Data.

Transcript Grade Item - This permission is deleted.

Under the category School Setup, the permission GPA Definitions now applies only to current-year GPA definitions, rather than to both cumulative and current year.

A new permission category, User Settings, exists with one permission, Global Grid Views.