PowerSchool Introduction

Welcome to the PowerSchool help guide for students and parents/guardians.

PowerSchool is an easy to use, web-based student information system. It is intended to provide students, parents/guardians and teachers with a tool to communicate student performance. PowerSchool may be accessed from any place with Internet access. The application uses a secure link that encrypts the data to and from the end user and is very secure.

In addition, each student and parent/guardian is provided with a separate username and password that allows access to only the appropriate student records.

This web site is designed to guide Ann Arbor students and parents/guardians through accessing information available within PowerSchool.

Getting Started

The Login page allows authorized users to access the web pages containing their student's information. The username and password must be entered exactly as provided to you. Each username and password is unique to each student.

Login:
Students and parents/guardians may access the system by going to: https://ps01.bergen.org/public

The red 'Click here for updates' link on the login page will bring you to this FAQ.

To protect your student’s information, no usernames or passwords are given over the phone or through email. Students and parents may contact the building secretary to receive a reminder of username and password via mail.

Once you are logged in. You will see:

Grades and Attendance

This is the default page that you see upon entering your username and password. To return to this page from any other menu selection, click on the green PowerSchool logo or the Grades and Attendance icon at the top left of your screen.

This page displays an overview of the student's attendance information from the current and previous weeks and grade information.  There is a legend at the bottom of the screen to explain the meaning of all of the attendance markings. The course names, teachers’ names, term grades and recorded attendance are also displayed on this screen.  All text items that are blue are links to additional information or email links to teachers.

Grades History

This page provides histrical grades from previous quarters.

Attendance History

Clicking on numbers within the Absences column will link you to a detailed list of absences for a particular course.

Email Notification

This button does not show up when using the student login. Parent logins offer the option of having updates emailed when assignments are posted, school bulletins are updated, etc.

Update Contacts

This button does not show up when using the student login. This is a custom screen that AAPS has added to allow parents to notify the schools that they have a new/different address, phone number or email address. Parents may also use this page to select the number to which they would like SchoolMessenger calls directed. SchoolMessenger is the district's phone and email messaging system. Parent contact information is uploaded from PowerSchool to SchoolMessenger frequently. More information on updating contact information is available below.

Teacher Comments

One of three places teachers can leave comments about students. Comments are also available under assignments and posted with final grades.

School Bulletin

A space for school announcements and updates from the buildings. Note that not all buildings are utilizing this feature this year.

Class Registration

Only available during registration times.

My Calendars

Click to subscribe to specific homework and event calendars.

Updating Your Contact Information

AAPS recently implemented a new phone and email system called SchoolMessenger. To make sure that parents/guardians had a way to check their current contact information as well as indicate changes and preferences in what numbers were used, AAPS added the 'Update Contacts' page to the Parent Portal. On this page, parents may request a change to street addresses or phone or email addresses. Building staff regularly look for these requests and, once any questions are resolved, submit the changes. Parent contact information is refreshed daily in SchoolMessenger.

Address changes are indicated at the top of the page. Note that schools will require the parent provide proof of address information as for a new enrollment. In the center section of the page are columns showing the current phone and email addresses for the parents/guardians associated with that student. Each parent/guardian can record a home, work and/or cell phone plus an email address. To the right, they may indicate the phone number on which SchoolMessenger general announcements and attendance updates should be directed.

Corresponding With Teachers

When a concern arises about attendance or a grade that appears in PowerSchool we ask that you follow these steps:

1. Talk with your child first. Ask them about their grade(s) or attendance before contacting the school.
2.  Review the course grading philosophy/system of the teacher. This may answer the question of why the student has received the grade or explain how the assignments add up to the current average.
3. Check to see if there is an assignment description. In the Class Score Detail page if the assignment is listed in blue, you can click on the link for more detailed information. This may help to clarify what was involved or expected for a particular assignment.
4. Check the date of the assignment. An assignment handed in late may receive deductions from its score.
5. Realizing that no system is perfect, if a discrepancy is found please send one email to the attention of the teacher. We are all working together to achieve the highest level of consistency and accuracy possible. Please be patient as we continue with developing this program to be the best it can be.

If you are using an email client application (i.e. Outlook, Entourage, etc) clicking on one of the teacher names under the Course title will allow you to send an email directly to the teacher.  Please do not modify the subject line that is automatically entered onto the mail message. The subject line will help ensure that the message is identified as a parent contact to our staff within our email system.

If you are using a web-based email such as Yahoo or Hotmail, note the email address when you move your mouse over the name and send email through your web email.  Depending on which web browser you are using it may appear in the lower left corner of the window when you hover your mouse over the teacher's name.

Working With Calendars

PowerSchool uses the 'ics' calendar format which will connect readily with Apple's iCal and is compatible with Google's gCalendar app. Windows users can use gCal or may need to download a third-party app such as the free Sunbird calendar.

If you are a Mac user are receiving an error when attempting to subscribe, please read the following. Most of the Mac questions we get are from folks who do not usually use Safari as their browser. You may need to make a temporary exception to set up PowerSchool calendars in iCal. The issue is related to the SSL certificates on the PowerSchool servers. iCal doesn't seem to have its own certificate authorization process but it does check the OSX system keychain. The quirk is that the only way to get the certificate approved in the keychain is to use Safari and not Firefox, Camaro, Opera or other non-Apple products.

Usually, when you visit the PowerSchool site with Safari you will be about the certificate and have the opportunity to go through anyway. You want to go one step further and opt to 'Always Trust' the SSL certificate. This causes it to be updated in your system keychain. You should restart iCal if it is running when you make that change.

Login and subscribe to the Homework calendar—should now work. Note: There are two assignment related calendars--one with just the homework bits and a second with the homework plus the grade. The latter one with grades will work only with iCal.