| Scheduling > Scheduling a secondary school

Scheduling a secondary school

You can assign a student to a homeroom in a secondary school. That student, however, would spend only a short period in his or her homeroom each day. For each class, a student goes to a different room with a different group of students for each course in his or her personal schedule.

For a student to have a personal schedule, the student requests courses from a list published by the school [>>] of required and elective course offerings (at a middle school, the school defines team loading rules for classes and teachers that keeps groups of students together for some or all courses). Based on student course requests, staffing, and facilities, you create a number of classes or sections for each course. This enables you to build a master schedule to schedule classes into terms, meeting patterns, rooms, and assign teachers [>>]. Finally, based on student course requests and teacher preferences, you have PowerSchool SMS generate teacher and student schedules, which can be printed and distributed to students and teachers.

Typically, you create a secondary school's initial schedule in the Planning Calendar [>>]. At year end [>>], the Planning Calendar becomes the Active Calendar [>>] and you continue to make adjustments to the school schedule throughout the school year [>>]. Once a school year is under way, it is possible for you to engage in some of these scheduling tasks in the Active Calendar. In the Active Calendar, you can perform the tasks as necessary — no particular order is required. In the Active Calendar, you can also define resource services [>>] and assign resource assignments [>>].

Based on student course requests, you determine how many classes of each course need to be offered in a given school year. You schedule these classes into terms with meeting patterns, teachers, and rooms. These elements constitute the school's master schedule.

The general scheduling procedure for a secondary school is as follows (in the Planning Calendar):

Ensure that rooms are ready [>>]

Ensure that the school course catalog is ready [>>]

Set up a planning schedule [>>]

Setting up a schedule structure [>>]

Set up multiple tracks [>>]

Configure schedule loading rules [>>]

Assign default terms and meeting patterns to classes [>>]

Build the school's master schedule [>>]

Record student course requests [>>]

Load student schedules [>>]

Select the planning schedule that will become active when YEP is run [>>]

For the purposes of secondary scheduling, the following terms are useful:

Homeroom: At a secondary school, you can assign each student to a homeroom. The student, however, may spend only a short period in his or her homeroom each day. For each class, a student goes to a different room with a different group of students for each course in his or her personal schedule. A homeroom is a type of scheduling group.

Class: A group of students who meet regularly to receive instruction from a specific teacher. For example, Band 10 meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 pm with Mr. Bell providing instruction for thirty Grade 10 students. A class is a type of scheduling group.

Course: A set of classes devoted to a particular area of study.

Period: A time slot on a particular day in which a class may be held.

Room: Specifies the location of classes not taught in the homeroom. Typically, in a secondary school, classes are taught in a room other than the homeroom.

Class schedule: The set of one or more terms, meeting patterns, teachers, and rooms in which a class is scheduled to meet.

Term set: One or more terms. A school year can consist of one or more terms. The administrator can define any number of term sets and name them as he sees fit.

Table 98: Permissions pertaining to secondary scheduling

To	You need this permission	Set to	Detail
Work in the Planning Calendar.	Admin > Access to Planning Calendar	Yes	[>>]
Assign classes to students, teachers and rooms	School Setup > Assign Classes	Yes	[>>]
Assign courses to students	School Setup > Assign Course Requests	Yes	[>>]
Create resource services	School Setup > Resource Services	Delete	[>>]
Assign resource services to students.	Students > Resource Assignments	Delete	[>>]
Set up or change the school schedule	School Setup > Secondary Scheduling Setup	Yes	[>>]
View your school schedule	School Setup > Subject Framework / Course Catalog	View or Edit	[>>]
View your school schedule	School Setup > Subject Scheduling	View or Edit	[>>]
Add, edit, and delete buildings	Facilities Management > Buildings	Delete	[>>]
Add, edit, and delete buildings	School Setup > Secondary Scheduling Setup	Yes	[>>]
Add, edit, and delete rooms	Facilities Management> Rooms	Delete	[>>]
Add, edit, and delete rooms	School Setup > Secondary Scheduling Setup	Yes	[>>]
Create and schedule reservation labels	School Setup > Secondary Scheduling Setup	Yes	[>>]
Create and edit meeting patterns	School Setup > Secondary Scheduling Structure Setup	Yes	[>>]
Define class constraints	School Setup > Define Constraints - School	Delete	[>>]
Add, delete, or switch planning schedules	School Setup > Change Planning Schedule	Yes	[>>]
Update scheduling statistics	School Setup > Change Planning Schedule	Yes	[>>]
Create student schedules, including adding and removing course requests	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Schedule walk-in students	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Assign default classes based on student homerooms	School Setup > Subject Scheduling	Edit, Delete, or None	[>>]
Assign default classes based on student homerooms	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Reassign default classes based on student homeroom	School Setup > Subject Scheduling	Edit, Delete, or None	[>>]
Reassign default classes based on student homeroom	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Assign students to classes when doing so results in the class size exceeding the specified capacity	School Setup > Classes	Yes	[>>]
Transfer grades from a dropped class to an added class	Grading > Transfer Grades and Attendance	Yes	[>>]
Transfer grades from a dropped class to an added class	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Delete grades entered for a dropped class	Grading > Transfer Grades and Attendance	Yes	[>>]
	Grading > Enter Grades for All Classes	Yes	[>>]
	Grading > Edit Grades from Other Teachers	Yes	[>>]
	Grading > Modify Grades for Completed Periods	Yes	[>>]
	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Reassign attendance for transferred classes	Grading > Transfer Grades and Attendance	Yes	[>>]
Reassign attendance for transferred classes	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
Delete attendance for dropped classes	Grading > Transfer Grades and Attendance	Yes	[>>]
	School Setup > Clear Attendance	Yes	[>>]
	Students > Edit Student Schedules	Yes	[>>]
View grade transfers and attendance reassignments in the Audit Log	School Setup > View Audit Log	Yes	[>>]

Typical scheduling timetable

When scheduling a school year, we recommend that you plan to complete the necessary tasks in the appropriate order and at the necessary times of the school year. Table 99 [>>] provides an example of a typical timetable for scheduling at a school where the school year runs from September to June.

Table 99: Scheduling timetable example

Time Period	District activity	School activity
January	Ensure that the district's course catalog is up to date and available to school [>>].	Publish the school course catalog [>>].
February to March		Enter student course requests [>>]. Distribute course request confirmations to students.
April		Build the master schedule [>>]. Load student schedules [>>].
May to June		Distribute student schedules to students.
May to August	Set the coming school year's start and end dates [>>]. Ensure that school boundaries [>>] and the Projected Schools Map is up to date [>>].	Manually adjust the master schedule in the Planning Calendar [>>]. Manually adjust student schedules in the Planning Calendar [>>].
July to August	Perform year-end tasks [>>].	Perform year-end tasks [>>].
August to the following June		Manually adjust student schedules in the Active Calendar [>>]. Manually adjust the master schedule in the Active Calendar [>>].

www.powerschool.com
Tel: 866-434-6276
Email: smssupport@powerschool.com