Comments, Comments, Comments

Did you ever wonder where your comments go and where they can be seen by parents.  Hopefully this post will answer all of your questions.

As always, if you click on a screen image, it will be enlarged for you.  Click on the back arrow to return to normal viewing.

Let's start with the basics.  There are three places to insert comments in Powerschool. 

Teacher comments through Backpack.  From the Start Page after you log into Powerteacher, click on the backpack icon for the class you want.  Next, click on the student, and from the drop down box that appears, click on Teacher Comments.  Click on the word Edit and you will be taken to the Modify Comments page.  See Below. Here, you can enter comments, or select pre-written or canned comments.  Please note that these comments will NOT appear on progress reports or report cards.

Now, you're probably wondering where these will appear.  You can view them where you entered them.  Parents can see these comments when they click on the Teacher Comments button in their Powerschool portal.  See Below.

Teacher Assignment Comments Through Gradebook - Teacher comments can also be entered in Gradebook on either individual assignments or on Final Term Grades.  In both cases, you would right click on the grade, and click on Score Inspector.  First, we'll talk about comments on individual assignments.  See Below.

Notice that a little blue "C" appears next to the assignment grade.  You can view the comment by right clicking on the grade.  Again, please note that these comments will NOT appear on report cards or progress reports.  Parents will be able to view thes through their portal.  If a teacher has included a comment on an assignment, the assignment score will be colored blue, indicating that it can be clicked on.  See Below.

Final Term Grade Comments Through Gradebook - These are probably the most important comments you will create, since they will appear on the Progress Reports, Report Cards, and in the Teacher Comment section on the Parent portal.  To create these, right click on the final grade column for the student, and then click on the Score Inspector.  Comments can be typed in, or selectect from pre-written (canned) comments by clicking on the comments tab.

As I said earlier, these comments will appear in three places.  Progress Reports, Report Cards, and on the Parent screen.  Since they appear on both the Progress Report and Report Cards, if you enter comments for the Progress Report, you must modify or delete them before grades are permanently stored at the end of the quarter.  Failure to do so will will result in those same comments being printed on the Report Cards.  The picture below shows what the parents will see when they are in Powerschool.