Alerts
Q: How can I tell if a student is on Academic Probation?
A: The Student Demographics and Student Search pages title bars have been updated to display the ACADEMIC! Alert.
Q: What is the criteria in detemining when an ACADEMIC! Alert is displayed?
A: Student ACADEMIC Alerts are displayed when:
- Student Term GPA is less than 2.0
- Course grade is = D
- Course grade is = F
Attendance
Q: I submitted my attendance, but I need to make a change and SMS will not allow me to edit the attendance.
A: Once attendance is submitted, a teacher may not make changes. This means that if a teacher marks a student as absent then submits, and the student comes in later, the teacher will not be able to go in and change the student to tardy. They would need to contact the Attendance clerk to update the record.
Alternatively, once the teacher has taken attendance at the start of class, they can click on the actions menu and save the attendance, but not submit it. At the end of the class they can log back in to SMS and go back to the attendance for that class and submit after making any changes, if needed.
Note: Teachers should check with their schools policy in regards to submission deadlines for attendance. Some schools require that the teacher submit their attendance within the first 10 to 20 minutes of class.
Q: How do I remove a withdrawn student who is diplayed on my class roster?
A: From the Actions menu, select “Hide” withdrawn student.
Contacts
- Emergency Medical Contact
Q: How can I tell by looking at my contact which one is the emergency medical contact?
A: The emergency indicator will be programmatically added to all contacts in position 5 & 6. The Online Contact Editing indicator will be used to designate parental authority, this indicator will be progammatically added to all contacts in position 1 & 2.
- Communication Method Type – Email (Primary)
Q: Can more than 1 email address be entered for a contact?
A: Yes, the upgrade allows for more than 1 communication method type called “Email” to be entered. The significance of “Email (Primary)” is to designate the primary email address. Each contact should have only one “Email (Primary).” If there is a need to collect additional email addresses those should be designated as “Email.”
Enrollment
- Homeschool
Q: How do I change the home school for a student?
A: Contact the home school Registrar/School Admin for the school listed to change the student status to NA, then the current school Registrar/School Admin can change the home school to the current school.
- Continuous Enrollment (Date Ranges) – New status codes
- Withdrawal Dates
Q: Why is the withdraw date displayed as 1 day prior to the actual student withdrawal?
A: SMS defines the withdraw date as the first day a student is no longer active in the school.
Q: What is the difference betwen the Withdraw Date and End Date?
A: The Withdraw Date is the date the student is withdrawn from school. The End Date (leave date) is the last day the student is actively enrolled.
Q: How can I tell if I am in the Active calendar year or Planning calendar year?
A: The home page tabs will be displayed wit blue tabs for Active calendar year and green tabs for the Planning calendar year.
Grading
Q: What is the process to post grades to KSConnect?
A: Teachers will enter their grades into Easy Grade Pro (EGP) and then export a Basmati file to KSConnect. Teachers will need to enter grades in SMS for grading.
For teachers that do not use EGP, they will enter grades directly into SMS. SMS will upload the grades to KSConnect.
Q: How come I cannot see all the grading columns when entering grades?
A: The system by default is setup to display a certain number of columns. To see additional columns, change the “No. of grades columns” to display all the columns.
Q: Why do I have to re-enter grades when the system logs me out, due to a system timeout?
A: When you are logged off due to a system timeout, any information entered since you last saved is lost. Only information saved to the database will be kept.
Q: Is mass grading available?
A: Yes, the SMS Powerschool system allows for Mass Grading.
Q: When I choose to Mass Grade a class can the Standard Comments be included?
A: No, Standard Comments are not available for Mass Grading.
Q: After a grade has been entered, can it be edited at a later time?
A: Yes, as long as the grading window is open.
Q: Can I enter grades from off-site?
A: Yes, as long as VPN access has been setup.
Navigation
Q: Are there other options available for navigating to the homepage?
A: Yes, by clicking on the SMS Powerschool logo located in the upper left side of the screen
Q: It appears that Actions and Edit menu are no longer in the same location, have they moved?
A: Yes, the Actions and Edit menu is now located under the Active and Planning year tabs.
Printing PDF Documents
Q: What is the correct setting for my printer when printing reports and printing mailing labels?
A: Instructions for printing PDF documents in SMS.
Probation
- Conduct Probation
Q: How do I search for Conduct Probation?
A: SMS Conduct Probation Guide
Reports
Q: When running reports in Firefox, how do I know if PDF documents will open correctly and display the expected results?
A: Users should set their *.PDF documents to open using Adobe Acrobat. (PowerSchool SMS PDF Reports)
Note: If you do not want to wait for your report, hold down the ctrl key, you can also retrieve your report from the home screen. Simply follow these steps:
- Click on a report to bring up the report popup window
- Set your report parameters
- Click on Run report
- Once you get the message that your report has been queued, close the report window
- Go back to your Home page (click on the Home button in the upper right hand corner)
- Under the section listed Scheduled Events click on the Reports link
- You may have to refresh the page until you see the status as Complete
- Once complete you can click on the report name to access your report
Q: When running reports in Firefox, how do I know if an XLS documents will open correctly and display the expected results?
A: A first time user will need to select the application (Microsoft Excel) from the Helper Application pop-up window. Select “Open with” > Browse > Program Files > Microsoft Office > Excel and select “Open”.
Q: How do I save a report in SMS?
A: Double click on a report in the Report Management window will bring up the Opening <report name> pop-up window. Select “save file” and “ok” to save a copy of the report in the location specified. The default location is “Downloads”. To access the saved report, select Downloads arrow icon on the top right side of menu bar.
Q: When I print a report card from the reports menu, the format is not the standard KS report card format.
A: KS uses a custom report to generate report cards. Reports that are run from the Reports menu use the default SMS templates. Contact the office to request an official report card to be printed.
Searching
Q: How can I quickly find a student?
A: Use the Quick Search located in the upper right hand corner to quickly find a student from any page.
Supported Browsers
Q: What browsers are supported by PowerSchool SMS?
A: The following browsers are supported by PowerSchool SMS.
- Safari for Mac users (MacIntosh : Safari 5)
- Firefox for PC users (Windows-based : Firefox v17 and above)
Q: How do I know if I’m not using Firefox v17 or above and need to upgrade?
A: When you launch the SMS application, your browser is checked to verify if you are using Firefox v17 or above.
Q: How do I allow pop-ups in Firefox?
A: You may need to allow pop-ups in order to select your role and access the application if you have multiple roles in SMS. You will need to Enable pop-ups in Tools > Options > Content.
System settings
Q: Is there a timeout limit for PowerSchool SMS?
A: Yes. After 25 minutes of inactivity, a 5 minute session timeout warning dialog window appears and begins the session (logout) countdown.
Q: What are the PowerSchool SMS password requirements?
A: PowerSchool SMS password requirements are:
- A minmum of 8 characters
- Must contain at least one capital letter
- Must contain 2 special characters (for example : !@##$%)
- Characters cannot be repeat more than 3 times
System settings
Q: Is there a timeout limit for PowerSchool SMS?
A: Yes. After 25 minutes of inactivity, a 5 minute session timeout warning dialog window appears and begins the session (logout) countdown.
Training Materials
Q: Are there any training materials available for SMS?
A: Yes. From the Home page, click on the link “Training Tutorials”, locate the topic and select link.
User Roles
Q: Where do I go to submit a request for SMS access?
A: You will need to go the ITD Service Catalog, select SMS and complete the form.
ITD Service Catalog Link
Q: Where do i look to see what role I am logged in as?
A: From the Home page, click on the link “Role” to switch role. If the user has access to multiple roles then this will show you which role is currently “active.”
Q: How do I change my user role?
A: Click on the role link to change to another role, if available.
Q: Maui or Hawaii campus counselor is unable to see course requests on a student’s schedule
A: The Counselor role for KSM and KSH is not set to allow counselors to change a student’s schedule.
Glossary
- SMS – Student Management System
- NYP – Next Year Preparation
- YEP – Year End Processing
- HAS – Hawaiian Ancestry System