Home Access Center has officially reached the end of its time at Springfield and has been replaced by a new system: PowerSchool. Luckily, PowerSchool is very similar to HAC; students can still check their grades and other information or demographics.
In addition to PowerSchool, Schoology, a PowerSchool company, has become a way for teachers to distribute assignments and report grades. Schoology is similar to the well-known Google Classroom that students have used in the past for submitting assignments, homework, and checking announcements. Teachers have chosen between Schoology and Google Classroom as their main platforms for this school year. Different teachers and classes may require students to use either of these platforms.
Transitioning to a New System
Students may remember that they could not access their grades through PowerSchool in September. Although the parent portal was working, the difficulty syncing grades and other information from Schoology to PowerSchool was the only reason for the hold-up.
According to Mr. Lutz, our district’s director of technology, “When you move to a new system, there’s always going to be kinks.”
Mr. Lutz explained that students must understand the difference between the two systems. Schoology should be used for daily activities, calendars, course information, and teacher contact information; it syncs with PowerSchool, the portal for teachers to upload grades that parents and students can check.
As for changes students may need to get used to, Mr. Lutz explained that teachers may not immediately sync grades from Schoology to PowerSchool, which can cause brief inconsistencies between the two. Students should look at their overall grades in the course on the student PowerSchool portal, while Schoology populates everyday grades as teachers release them.
As a final reminder, Mr. Lutz wants students to know that “[the technology] department is here not just to support teachers and parents, but also the students… If you ever see any issues or anything, please communicate with [Mr. Lutz] so [they] can fix it.”
