PSSP Training Materials

My Home Page Overview/About Home Page Panels

The top of the My Home page displays the following items:  

• PowerSchool Special Programs logo. Click the logo to navigate to My Home Page from anywhere in the system.  
• Menu of PowerSchool Special Programs options. You may see menus labeled Search, Curriculum, Communication, and Reporting. The exact menus you see depend on your roles and security privileges.  
• Help. Click the question mark to see what's new in the system, view online help, or enter a support request.  
• Current user initials. Move the mouse pointer over the initials to see a menu of user-related options. From this menu, you can log out, set user options, or change your password.  
• Your Current Location fields. If you have access to multiple individual locations, you can select the location to access in this field.  

The remaining sections of the My Home Page are divided into various panels such as Quick Access, Unread Messages, and Reports. The exact panels you see depend on your security privileges.  

About Home Page Panels  

You can rearrange the panels on your home page to your preference by holding the mouse/pointer down on the title of a panel, dragging it to a new position, and then releasing the mouse/pointer.  

You can collapse and expand home page panels by clicking the icon in the upper right corner of each panel. Expanding or collapsing is temporary by default. If you wish to preserve the expanded or collapsed state of the panels, set up the home page the way you like it, and then click the Save Home Page Configuration link  

PowerSchool Home Page Tutorial

Messages and Announcements

Learn how to send other users messages within the system. 

PowerSchool Messages Tutorial

Adding Students to Your Caseload

• Click the Edit link in the My Students panel on your home page.  
• On the My Student Caseload page, click Add Students to ..., then select Standard Caseload. If this option is not available, you do not have access to add students to your caseload.   
• Search for your students.  
• On the Results page, select the students you want to add.   
• Click either Add Students Marked Below to Standard Caseload or Add Students Marked Above to Standard Caseload.  

Removing Students From Your Caseload  

• Click the Edit link in the My Students panel on your home page.  
• On the My Student Caseload page, click Remove Students From..., then select Standard Caseload/Case Manager Caseload. If this option is not available, you do not have access to add students to your caseload.   
• Search for your students.  
• On the Results page, select the students you want to add.   
• Click either Remove Students Marked Below to Standard Caseload or Remove Students Marked Above to Standard Caseload.  

Organizing Your Caseload into Caseload Groups  

If you have a significant number of students on your caseload or if you provide services to groups of students, you can organize your caseload into groups of students, referred to as caseload groups. A student on your caseload can be in more than one caseload group.   

After you define caseload groups, use the Select Group field in the My Students panel of your home page to either show your entire caseload or only students in a specific caseload group.  

• Click the Edit link in the My Students panel on your home page.  
• On the My Student Caseload page, click New Caseload Group.  
• On the New Caseload Group page, enter a unique name in the Group Name field.  
• Select the students you want to include in the group.  
• Click Accept.   

Adding to your Caseload

Searching for Students Using Quick Search

• Select Search > Students.  
• On the Quick Search page, enter your search information.   
  • The easiest search is to enter the first few characters of the student's last name or first name into the corresponding name field.  
  • If you enter a student ID search, you must enter the exact ID.  
  • You can search by other fields as well, making selections from the corresponding drop-down menus, entering dates, and looking up staff. If you enter multiple fields, that will narrow the search results.  
• Press Enter or click Search at the bottom of the form.  
• On the Search Results page, look for the student in the search results, and click the appropriate icon to display the student's profile or documents.  
  • If many profiles meet the specified search criteria, page through the results using the page navigation buttons.  
  • Alternatively, click Quick Search in the navigation trail, and enter additional search criteria to narrow the results.  

PSSP MSDS Export 

1. Log into PSSP, go to the Snapshot 
2. Select Reporting>Standard Reports from the menu 
3. Run the CEPI>[WISD] CEPI report, entering your district code in the district field (either manually or via the Lookup link).  This will take a minute or two if you have a lot of students.  You may alternatively use the [WISD] CEPI By Location report to pull the data for just one school. 
4. Select Download>More Options>Report Data (CEPI) to generate an MSDS file. 

Merge Data in Macomb MSDS Software 

1. Open the Macomb software and either open your district (if it doesn’t open by default) or select New to create it. 
2.  Select File>Remove All Data if any exists in your district file already. 
3. Select File>Import MSDS XML Files>Import – MSDS General Collection and import your PS file. 
4. Select File>Mass Change Utilities>Mass Change A Selected Field and in the dialog box select Primary Disability in the “Field to change:” dropdown.  Leave “Change to:” blank (This will ensure that any record marked as Special Ed in PS will throw an error if the corresponding PSSP record is missing after the next steps). 
5. Select File>Import MSDS XML Files>Import – Selected Components of the General Collection and select your PSSP file 
6. In the Import Selected Components dialog box, select “Do not import the record” if a match is not found, click on the General Ed FTE, Initial IEP, and Special Education checkboxes, and click OK.  
   1. Any students in your PSSP file who are not in your PS file will generate errors at this point; record the error messages so you can review the student records in PS and PSSP
7. Run the Data Validation report and save it as a Text file.  If it is too extensive to use comfortably save it as .txt file, and then open it in Excel. 
   1. Focus on errors relating to students who are missing their Primary Disability; these will be students who were listed as Special Ed in PS but are not in your PSSP export. 

PSSP Five Profile Types