PowerSchool Directions
As a District 401 parent you will need an account to use PowerSchool. Your school administrators will provide you with instructions and access credentials for creating one.
When setting up an account, you may link as many of your children to your account as you would like, thus preventing the need to login separately to monitor each child’s progress.
Once your account is ready and you're new to PowerSchool, follow the steps listed below.
Step 1
Go to the PowerSchool login page.
Step 2
Enter your username and password, and then hit “Sign In”:
Step 3
Once you're inside your account, familiarize yourself with the Navigation menu (red arrow below).
You’ll find that PowerSchool is intuitively easy to use. Virtually all the items you need to keep yourself informed of your child's progress in school are listed under Navigation. The items are located vertically on the left-hand side of your screen. Simply click on the item you want to see.
In the example below (which uses a fictional student), the parent has selected “Grades and Attendance” (circled in red at top left). The screen that is partially shown here displays, among other things, the student’s courses and teachers, which are listed underneath the “Course” heading circled in red (at right):
Step 4
Once you've clicked an item in the Navigation menu, keep exploring — that's the best way to learn what PowerSchool has to offer.
For example, if you see a list of courses, click on any of the course names. This will take you to a summary of the course's requirements and a listing of each assignment with scores and grades.
In the example below (which uses a fictional student), the parent has clicked on the course “Sociology.” The screen that is partially shown here displays each assignment’s due date (under the red circle at left), title (under the top red circle at center) and score (under the red circle at right).
In addition, click on any assignment title (such as the title in the bottom red circle at center), and you'll be taken to a screen that shows a description of the assignment, the number of points the assignment is worth and the grade the student received. Click on a teacher’s name, and you'll be able to email the teacher.
Step 5
Customize your information flow.
For example, you may request email notifications of certain types of information, such as a summary of current grades and attendance or a detailed report showing assignment scores for each class. You may specify how often to receive the reports, including daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly.
In the example below (which uses a fictional student), the parent has selected three types of email notifications to receive on a weekly basis.
The screen that is partially shown here displays the “Email Notification” command (red arrow) and the selected notification options (red circle):
No Computer or Internet Access?
If you don't have computer or internet access at home, Elmwood Park Public Library provides access to both.
If you don’t have a home computer but you do have a smartphone, you can download and install the free PowerSchool Mobile App, which is available for iOS and Android devices.
You can find information about the mobile app here. Please note that a four-digit code supplied by the District is needed to use the app.