Is this the same PowerSchool used for Human Resources applications?

No, it is not. NPS Human Resources uses a different PowerSchool product for hiring-related tracking. If you are having trouble with their system, please contact them directly: 757-628-3905 

PowerSchool-Analytics & Insights (formerly Unified Insights) is the product for data analysis and is maintained by ARA (Assessment, Research, and Accountability).

I have an idea for a visual that would help a lot of people. Can I share that with you?

Please do! We can't guarantee that we'll be able to make it happen, but we will do our best if it seems to be something that would help you and others out. You can share any ideas you have by sending an email to powerschoolhelpdesk@nps.k12.va.us. 

We are a very small team maintaining this platform at NPS but are looking for ways to help and improve.

Why does my Chronic Absenteeism rate differ from what appears in this other official report?

This specific difference is due to three factors:

1. PowerSchool organizes students by Serving school, not Responsible school, while official reports use Responsible school to project how the state would calculate the data. The benefit of organizing by Serving school is that you will have access to all the students enrolled in your school and can therefore make decisions based on those who you can actively help. The detriment is that some metrics will be off. 

2. In PowerSchool, when a student leaves, their data (including attendance data) goes with them. This is not the case with state attendance calculations which includes student attendance at your school, whether they're still enrolled or not.

3. VDOE makes an allowance to not include students who haven't been enrolled for at least 50% of the school year. The calculations in PowerSchool do not make this allowance. If a student is not included in the calculation, their data is not included in any of the related lists. We want those students to appear in those lists, because even if a student has only been enrolled for 45 days and been absent for 15 of them, we want to know that so we can address that student's attendance problem.

The platform is designed to inform day-to-day decision-making about those students who are currently in front of you. The Chronic Absence rate in PS is meant to be a point of reference for those active students, the only students whose attendance you can truly influence.

Why does [insert measure here] differ from what appears in this other official report?

This is due to at least two factors:

1. PowerSchool organizes students by Serving school, not Responsible school, while official reports often use Responsible school to project how the state would calculate the data. The benefit of organizing by Serving school is that you will have access to all the students enrolled in your school and can therefore make decisions based on those who you can actively help. The detriment is that some metrics will be off. 

2. In PowerSchool, we need to pretend that every student is carrying with them a backpack of all the data associated with them. When a student leaves, their data goes with them. They take with them historical data (except for certain assessments) and current data. When a new student enters a school, dashboards may incorporate the data from that student, even if they weren't there when the data was created.

The platform is designed to inform day-to-day decision-making about those students who are currently in front of you. The metrics/visualizations are meant to be representative of the student population who is in front of you and available for you to help. Think of these dashboards, not necessarily as the history of what's happened in your school, but rather the history of what's happened with the students who are in your school, a difference

Why isn't [...] assessment data available yet?

Loading assessment data is a different process than loading student information data from Synergy. It is a labor of love and unfortunately can take time. In most cases, we have to wait for large data files from the assessment vendor and then load them individually into PS. Year-by-year, assessment-by-assessment. We appreciate your patience as we try to make that process timely.

Fortunately, there are some assessments that load automatically. For example, STAR data is sent directly to PS, so you will see that data the following day. We are hoping to create more of these arrangements in the future.

Will Unit Tests be available in PowerSchool?

The plan is yes. We are currently working with PowerSchool to load Unit Test-related data from SchoolNet into PS. The intent is for this data is to be broken down by Student by Standard, so that each student's year-to-date proficiency in a given standard is available on their Student Profile and in aggregated charts for planning purposes. As mentioned, we are currently working on a system to load the data, then we will work to build the student-level visuals, and finally classroom-, school-, and division-wide graphics.

Will [...] from Synergy be available in PowerSchool?

We are continuously working to update the data available in PowerSchool and the visualizations tied to that data. We are happy to hear your suggestions for things that would make your job easier. However, please note that there is some data that is not housed in Synergy and would be impractical or even impossible to bring over. The platform is designed to take data and create visualizations to inform decisions, and unfortunately, if the data cannot be aggregated in that way, then there's not much we can do with it in PS.

[Currently, it does not appear that Student Contact Log info, Transportation info, nor Student IEPs/EL plans will be loaded in.]

What is the difference between Serving school and Responsible school?

The overly simplified version is this: the state makes a distinction between the school that a student is zoned to go to based on their address (Responsible school) and the school they actually attend (Serving school). Often times, these schools are the same (e.g. a student lives in the Norview area of the city, is zoned to go to Norview High, and does go to Norview High.) 

Sometimes though, the schools are different. For example, a student may be zoned for Norview High but is accepted into the IB program at Granby High and enrolls there. That student's responsible school (Norview HS) would be different from their serving school (Granby HS). Many of the state's official calculations will include that student as part of their responsible school.

For logistical and practical reasons, PowerSchool only pays attention to students' serving school. This can cause some differences in how figures are calculated in PS versus on official reports.