PowerSchool Tips and Tricks

Presenters:Diane Parsons and Gwen Bissette

• The Personalize Page• PowerSchool Search Tips• View Field List-View Function List-[?]• Advanced Search• Compound Searches and Search Prefixes• Search Codes• Enroll Status• PowerSchool Tricks• Multiple Browsers• And More!!

Tips and Tricks

Tip – The Personalize Page

• On the Start Page in PowerSchool click Personalize to do the following:

Tip – Increase or Decrease Browser Font Size

• Change your Zoom level to be higher than 100% by clicking CTRL+ (plus sign)

• To decrease your Zoom level click CTRL-(minus sign)

Menu can be minimized in student screens

Click on the Title to minimize and maximize student menu

Tip – Changing Your Password

• Use the Personalize page to change your password• Password requirements are setup by the District and

appear on the Change Password page• If your LEAhas enabled LDAP in PowerSchool, password updates

are generally handled when you log into the network and not inPowerSchool

Tip – Setting the Default Sign in Page• You can set the default page that you log into when

you launch PowerSchool• You can choose from the list of pages below or enter

a valid PowerSchool page in the box provided

Tip - Setting the Initial Student Screen• Users can change the default student page they

go to initially when selecting a student• Go to the Start Page > Personalize > Initial

Student Screen to select a page from the listbelow

Tip - Enabling Smart Search

• The District Office must enable this featureon the District Setup > Miscellaneous page

• Users can enable Smart Search by going toStart Page > Personalize > Interface

• Check the boxes below and Save

Smart Search

Smart Search enables you to get search results faster when searching forStudents or Staff on the Start Page

Smart Search• When enabled, PowerSchool provides a

drop- down list of suggestions as you typethe letters of your search. Suggestions canpertain to Students, Staff, Stored Searches,Fields, and PowerSchool Page Names.

Smart Search Example

• As a user enters st in the Search Students box, Smart Search willshow suggestions for students, stored searches, and studentfields that begin with the letters “st”

Inactive student in gray

Active student in color

Stored search

Student field

PowerSchool Search Tips

• A search command line is broken into three parts:a field name, a comparator, and a search argument

PowerSchool Search Tips• For search details and examples click “?”

on the Start Page

View Field List• When performing a search for Students or Staff you may not remember the

field name• To see the list of searchable fields click “View Field List” as shown

below

Filtering the View Field List• If you were searching for a phone number you could type

the word Phone on the filter line to narrow the list of fields. Fields containing the word phone are highlighted in blue

Popular Search Codes/View Functions List• There are several search codes that begin with an asterisk *• They are special types of commands that search by completing a calculation• Click View Functions List to see a list of search codes

Search Codes

Search Tip - The “in”Comparator

• in – checks to see if the specified field matches anything in the search argument. Multiple searcharguments are separated by a comma (,)Last_name in jones,smith – searches for studentswhose last name is jones or smithGrade_level in 11,12 – searches for students in grade 11 or 12EntryCode in E1,E2 – searches for students with anE1 or E2 entry code in the current term

• To include inactive students precede the command with a forward slash /

Search Tip - The “contains” Comparator• contains – searches for matches where the search argument

is anywhere in the field

Street contains maple ave searches for students whose street name contains the word “maple ave”Last_Name contains smith- searches for students whoselast name contains smith followed by a hyphenS_NC_STUDENTINFO.VEHICLE_LICENSE_NUMBER contains PMG searches for students with a license plate number containing PMG

• To include inactive students in the search remember to precede the searches command with a forward slash /

Search Tip - The “@” Comparator• The wildcard "@" provides additional search

flexibility. It replaces unknown information in thesearch argument.

• You may want to find students whose zip codebegins with 2760. Enter the following:

• You could search for students with a last name ofCruz preceded by a hyphen

Search Tip - Compound Searches• Multiple search commands at the same time• Commands separated with semi-colons (;)• A semi-colon between commands means and• To find all 9th grade students whose admission

status code is VST1 enterS_NC_STUDENTINFO.ADMISSION_STATUS_CODE contains 4;grade_level=9

• You can use up to 37 semi-colons

Search Prefixes

• There are three search prefixes• They are / & +• A search prefix adjusts how the search is

carried out• Always follow a prefix by a search term• A prefix is never valid by itself on the

search line

Using the Forward Slash Prefix /• Will include inactive students in the search• Use this prefix to search across ALL students

(active and inactive).• Note that this must be placed AFTER (not

before) a "+" or "&" prefix.• The search below includes inactive students

that have an exit code of W1 or W2

Using “&” to Search Within Results• After running a search you may want to search the results

further. In the example below there are 541 matches for students with a last name of Manning or Wilson.

• You can then use the & symbol to search further within the results. The second search below searches the results of the search above for students in grade 9 or 10

Note: Note the “&” must come before the “/” prefix when including inactive records

Using the Plus Sign Prefix +• Use the plus prefix to add the results of a new search• The “+” prefix must be inserted before the “/” prefix when

including inactive records• To search for students who play soccer or football enter the

following in the Search Students box

• Then in Student Selections box clear the entry and enter

Searching Enroll_Status• The Enroll_Status field for students contains the

student’s status (Active, Inactive, Transferred Out,Graduated, Pre-registered)

• The status of a student is stored as a positive ornegative number. Examples of Enroll_Status values:-1 The student is pre-registered0 The student is active2 The student has been transferred out3 The student has a “graduated” status4 The student was imported as historical (inactive)

Searches Using Enroll_Status• If searching for students that are inactive remember to

include the forward slash /

• Seniors obtain an enroll_status of 3 during the End of Yearprocess and are moved to the Graduated Students school.Keep this in mind when searching for graduates.

• Students will have a status of pre-registered if their entry date is a future date. Their status will change to active automatically at 12 AM on the date of their entry date.

Advanced Advanced Button permits searches and to perform several  functions to create our current student selections

If you do not see Student Number, DOB and Grade Level you can add them at SetUp>System>System Settings>Select Student Options

Student Options

The options can be selected fromthe dropdown and you can switch the order.

• Select a group of students• List Students• You can add fields to print as long as you use the HTML to break or insert. BE sure to 

leave a space where you would want a space e.g. First_name) ^( has a space before the insert character.

• Use the following example to set up fields.First_Name)  ^(Last_Name)<br>^(Street)<br>^(City), ^(Zip)<br>^(home_phone

TIP:  Need more than 10 fields on a Student List?????

Embedding a Google Calendar in PowerTeacher

1.  Go to Google.com and add a Google calendar

2.  Choose the calendar you are going to share and click share this calendar 

3. Copy the code in the box to later    paste into PowerTeacher or wait    until Step 7.

4.Click on the Customize line to       proceed to next page.

5.  Click on Calendar Details

6. Check to make this calendar public

7.  Make adjustments as needed.

8.  Copy and paste the HTML

9.  Paste the HTML statement into the Class Content of the Teacher’s Class

10.  Go to a student’s quick lookup screen and the calendar is shared.

Various Search Commands• To see multiple examples of search

commands and search codes go to:https://powersource.pearsonschoolsystems.com/article/7671

PowerSchool Glossary• Contains definitions & descriptions of commonly

used PowerSchool terms & related technical terms.https://powersource.pearsonschoolsystems.com/d/powerschool_glossary

PowerSchool Tip• Use two different browsers to login into two

different portals at the same time• You can be logged into PowerSchool

/admin on Firefox and PowerTeacher/teachers on Internet Explorer

PowerSchool Tip• Open PowerSchool in another tab or window… right-

mouse click on the PowerSchool logo and select “Open link in new tab (or new window)”.

• This will give you a new PowerSchool window/tab that allows you to easily switch back and forth. This is helpful when you want to copy/paste data, or if you are working on multiple page changes.

Tip – Download the PowerSchool Data Dictionary from PowerSource• The PowerSchool Data Dictionary is a useful

and necessary tool in collecting and reporting PowerSchool data. It includes the names anddescriptions of the various tables in thePowerSchool database.

• https://powersource.pearsonschoolsystems.com/article/63456

PowerSchool Tips and Tricks

Questions!