Expansion FAQ
- Does my district have to use PowerSchool? Does every building in my district need to use PowerSchool?
- What are the costs to use PowerSchool?
- Are funds available to my school to cover the costs of PowerSchool?
- Why was PowerSchool selected as the statewide student information system?
- What are the benefits/needs of the statewide PowerSchool expansion?
- May non-public schools participate in this project?
- Why did the price for non-public school change?
- Why haven't all districts chosen to use PowerSchool already?
- What is the implementation schedule for PowerSchool?
- What is the length of the implementation process?
- Does the use of PowerSchool improve state reporting procedures?
Does my district have to use PowerSchool? Does every building in my district need to use PowerSchool?
Yes, House Bill 1400 states:
Notwithstanding any other technology requirements imposed by the superintendent of public instruction, the information technology department, or the North Dakota educational technology council, each school district shall acquire PowerSchool through the information technology department and use it as its principal student information system.
School districts may request an exception by contacting Lisa Feldner, ITD Chief Information Officer.
What are the costs to use PowerSchool?
Costs include:
- $12 per student per year for licensing, hosting, implementation and support services.
- $20 registration fee for each workshop.
- $90 per hour for customized services such as report card development.
Are funds available to my school to cover the costs of PowerSchool?
House Bill 1400 included .002 ADM to support technology which means $6.40 is available for the 2009–10 school year and $7.56 in the 2010–11 school year. The intention was that these funds could be used to offset the costs to use PowerSchool.
Why was PowerSchool selected as the statewide student information system?
In 2000 a number of North Dakota school districts were looking for a student information system that would provide the features they needed. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was developed and the resulting statewide licensing structure made it possible for schools that wanted to buy PowerSchool to do so at a competitive rate. As part of this agreement PowerSchool for North Dakota schools is hosted by the state Information Technology Department (ITD) on servers in Bismarck. EduTech provides implementation, helpdesk and training services for all North Dakota PowerSchool schools.
PowerSchool, a product of Pearson School Systems, is the leading student information system designed specifically for K-12 schools. It has several features including state reporting, scheduling, grade book, attendance, meal tracking, and parental access. Parents can access their child's grades and attendance, school announcements, assignments, schedules, class registration, and teacher comments. Teachers can use PowerSchool to take attendance, enter grades, post assignments, view assessment information, and communicate with parents and students. Administrators can use PowerSchool to generate reports including transcripts, discipline logs, class population, demographics, grade point averages, assessment reports, and required state and federal reports.
As of May 2009, 105 North Dakota school districts use PowerSchool as their student information system. These schools include 83% of the state's public K-12 students.
What are the benefits/needs of the statewide PowerSchool expansion?
Having a single student information system for all schools has several technical and organizational advantages as the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Career and Technical Education and other state agencies move toward a more robust system of data collection, reporting and analysis. The EduTech staff that works with schools on PowerSchool implementation, training and support will be critical in collecting, preparing and loading school-based data into the planned DPI and statewide data warehouses. To accomplish this goal PowerSchool licensing, hosting, implementation, training and helpdesk support for all public schools would be funded by the state general fund beginning in July 2009.
The school districts currently using PowerSchool recognize several advantages by sharing a common administrative system. Their licensing costs are lower because statewide buying power was leveraged to negotiate the software contract. In addition, EduTech can provide support services for multiple districts and can supplement the support provided by district staff. Lessons learned can be shared across district boundaries. Many small districts are not able to support a robust student information system on their own so administrators, students, parents and teachers do not have the benefit of online services or electronic data for analysis. By funding the deployment of a common system statewide, all districts will be able to take advantage of these benefits. In addition, DPI is working with PowerSchool districts to automate the state reporting process. With all districts on the same software, this automated interface can be built once and used by all of them.
May non-public schools participate in this project?
Yes, state law allows private schools to use state provided services if the private school pays the costs of their participation.
Beginning July 1, 2009, non-public schools will be assessed support costs as well as the licensing/hosting costs they are currently charged, for a total of $20 per student per year. Support costs include training, online resources and helpdesk services from EduTech.
Training session fees will be reduced to a registration/materials fee of $20 per participant per session. This results in significant savings for schools who attend end of year and scheduling workshops.
Customized services such as report cards will be assessed an additional fee if $90/hour. One time implementation costs for new non-public schools is $2675.
Why did the price for non-public school change?
This change is occurring as non-public have not been charged full participation fees, only licensing, hosting and one-time implementation fees. To date the rate has been $10.00 per student, per year for the above services. Private schools will have training and other support costs added to their rate beginning July 1, 2009. The per pupil, per year rate for private schools will then be $20.00.
Why haven't all districts chosen to use PowerSchool already?
Districts that have upgraded their systems or purchased initial systems have chosen PowerSchool. Some districts have been happy with their current system and are reluctant to change because of financial reasons or because of the need to retrain staff, however many lack the online services available to students, teachers and parents in PowerSchool. Other, mostly smaller, districts have never had an automated system.
What is the implementation schedule for PowerSchool?
Schools will be implemented in phases depending on their interest and need. A schedule will be posted after every school has indicated their preference. Non-public schools who wish to use PowerSchool will be scheduled based on time available.
What is the length of the implementation process?
Each school varies but a school can go live as quickly as one month and no longer than four months. During the implementation process the district and school parameters are set up, data is converted and training for staff is provided.
Does the use of PowerSchool improve state reporting procedures?
Pearson is currently working on four high priority state reports including Fall and Spring Membership reports, the MIS03 report and the LEP report. Reports are scheduled to be ready for use in the Fall of 2009. These reports will significantly reduce the effort to complete the state reports listed above.
Last updated on May 15, 2009