for AAPS families

If you are a student and have lost your password, please contact your class secretary for a password reminder. If you are a parent and do not have your access ID for each of your students, please contact each school or class office. If you are having trouble subscribing to calendars or progress reports, please email psparent(at)aaps.k12.mi.us.

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. Effective February 15, 2013, each parent/guardian will be able to create a single sign-on allowing them to access all their students with just one login and password.

NOTE!: To protect your student’s information, no usernames or passwords are given over the phone or through email. Students and parents may contact the class, SLC or building secretary to receive a reminder of username and password via mail. After February15 2013, parents will be able to reset their own passwords via their single sign-on account.

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://pschool.aaps.k12.mi.us

The blue 'Having trouble signing in?' link on the login page will bring you to this FAQ.

Starting on February 15, 2013, there will be an additional option to 'Create an Account' which will allow parents to make an account that allows them to access any and all their children under one account. Details here.

Once you are logged in. You will see:

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.

Please email psparent(at)aaps.k12.mi.us if you are unable to subscribe.

PowerSchool Mobile Apps

Pearson recently released PowerSchool apps for students, parents and teachers which are compatible with the iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch®. Use of the mobile apps requires that SSO be in use. SSO will be enabled on February 15, 2013. Users with non-Apple devices, such as Android phones and tablets, should note that PowerSchool will continue to work on your existing mobile browser and will continue to automatically show the mobile version of the portal which is optimized for small screens.