Sync Grade Categories with PowerSchool

[sfrey1]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea will be open for vote Wed. October 7, 2015 - Wed. January 6, 2016  Learn more about voting...

Assignments sent to Powerschool should populate directly into the correctly identified categories, not simply into "Assignments" and "Quizzes." Teachers take the steps of setting up categories in Canvas to match those in Powerschool, but if the assignments aren't filtering into the categories, why bother?

  Comments from Instructure

January 2016 update from Linda Feng

Hi everyone - this feature has been implemented for Powerschool Grade Pass Back is now available in Production Canvas.

Some notes on this feature:

1. Because it makes use of a new api feature from Powerschool, it requires Powerschool 9.1.1.
2. Teachers should create Canvas Assignment Groups in their courses to match the names of the Powerschool assignment categories (the name, including case and spacing) must match EXACTLY.
3. Powerschool assignment category still need to be created and maintained separately in PowerTeacher
4. If it does not find an exact match, it will default to the following:
   • "HOMEWORK" for Canvas Assignments and Graded Discussions
   • "QUIZ" for Canvas Quizzes

[chaneym]

This is absolutely crucial for all K-12 institutions using (by force or choice) Powerschool as their SIS. The integration is simply not useable in it's current form, and should not be advertised as a working integration. Regardless of how many votes this topic gets, it must be looked at by Instructure.

[dwoodard]

I agree! I had one of my Canvas Teacher leaders really questions his Canvas use because of the time that it takes to get his grades to match his PowerSchool grades. This would be a wonderful addition!

[BradMoser]

I have voted up this feature even though we currently don't use PowerSchool. We currently have Tyler SIS K12. I would love grade integration. And I hope we can someday have grade integration with Canvas too. I know if we can get the grades working correctly with Powerschool that it will one day work better for our other SIS. Thanks for considering.

[tim_leister]

Our district has rolled out the Canvas gradebook sync with PowerSchool and our teachers would find the category integration to be extremely valuable.

[burkel1]

This one feature would push many more of our teachers to use Canvas to do their grading.  Super important to us!!

[hwatson]

SO IMPORTANT!  We spend hours troubleshooting problems between Canvas and Powerschool at the end of the quarter.  In addition to categories, if only a few students are assigned an assignment, it will not show up in Powerschool.  Terribly frustrating!

[lfeng]

hi everyone - this feature has been implemented for Powerschool Grade Pass Back is now available in Production Canvas. 

Some notes on this feature:

1. Because it makes use of a new api feature from Powerschool, it requires Powerschool 9.1.1. 
2. Teachers should create Canvas Assignment Groups in their courses to match the names of the Powerschool assignment categories (the name, including case and spacing) must match EXACTLY.
3. Powerschool assignment category still need to be created and maintained separately in PowerTeacher
4. If it does not find an exact match, it will default to the following:
   • "HOMEWORK" for Canvas Assignments and Graded Discussions
   • "QUIZ" for Canvas Quizzes

Hope this helps!  Linda

[lfeng]

thanks so much for chiming in - we have started discussions to help TylerSIS implement grade pass back integration with Canvas.  Stay tuned for more - thanks, Linda

[lfeng]

Hi there - we are aware of the issue which you are experiencing and I wanted to give you more detail -

As you know, currently teachers have the ability to assign Canvas Assignments to individuals, sections or to everyone.

The following scenarios WILL allow posting of grades from Canvas to PowerTeacher:

• Assignments assigned to everyone and with the same due date for everyone
• Assignments assigned to a specific section
• Assignments with section specific due dates
• Assignments assigned to everyone but with extended due dates for some students

The following scenario is the only one that will NOT post grades:

• A separate assignment that is only assigned to specific individuals

The reason we have this issue is that when Canvas posts grades for an assignment, we first need to create the corresponding assignment in Powerschool.  In the Powerschool SIS, assignments are created for a section or course, but it is not possible to create an assignment just for a specific student. 

We may be able to implement a temporary fix that will address this by creating assignments in Powerschool with all other students marked as "exempt".  Long term, Powerschool is working on next generation Gradebook which we are told will allow assignments to be created and tracked for a specific student.  

[jordan]

For all those who want to stay up to date with the latest updates to our Grade Pass Back tool, please join the group!

Here's four reasons you want to be a part of this group:

1. It's your one stop shop for all things Grade Pass Back!
2. The discussion boards will help you find answers, and connect with other admins!
3. We will post weekly release notes and GPB updates!
4. There will be monthly promotions for free SWAG! - Yes you read that right 😉
   1. Swag will only be given to people using the GPB tool in Canvas.

Join here: gpb.canvaslms.com

Happy February!