# PowerSchool handoff — standards and teacher comments

Your confirmed setup is outcome/standards grades with teacher-written comments. Keep Netlify as the evidence and review dashboard; PowerTeacher Pro remains the official reporting record.

This incorporates the supplied **PowerTeacher_Pro_CSV_Workflow (1).docx**, checked against PowerSchool's public documentation on September 23, 2026, and continues the earlier `Conversation_Assessment/docs/powerschool-obl-gradebook.md` direction. The attachment is a workflow reference; the teacher's confirmed standards-and-comments setup remains the requirement.

## What the new document establishes

The documented CSV route is **create or duplicate an assignment → export its Score Template → prepare a working copy → import scores into that same assignment**. It does not create a semester of assignments from a CSV. PowerSchool documents one target assignment per import, even if the file contains several score columns. [Official score import/export documentation](https://ps.powerschool-docs.com/powerteacher-pro/latest/importing-and-exporting-scores).

The document recommends Percent or Points for its general example. That recommendation does not change your standards-based setup. PowerTeacher Pro also supports Grade Scale and Collected Only. Collected Only has no assignment score value and cannot automatically calculate standards scores. [Official assignment and score-type documentation](https://ps.powerschool-docs.com/powerteacher-pro/latest/create-an-assignment).

An assignment score, an assignment's individual standards scores, and the teacher's current outcome judgment across a body of evidence are different records. The Evidence Map currently exports the last of these. Do not paste a course-level outcome judgment into an assignment score column without a deliberate teacher decision about that assessment.

The score-import documentation describes keeping or recalculating existing standards scores; it does not establish direct CSV import of independent per-outcome judgments or teacher comments. Keep standards decisions and comments in their appropriate teacher-entry workflow until a supported local route is demonstrated. [Standards Grades](https://ps.powerschool-docs.com/powerteacher-pro/latest/standards-grades) · [Score Inspector and comments](https://ps.powerschool-docs.com/powerteacher-pro/latest/enter-scores-and-comments).

## What is ready

The Connected Classroom dashboard exports a **standards review CSV**: course, stable learner ID, optional PowerSchool student ID, outcome reference, teacher-confirmed achievement, teacher-written comment and review date. Conflicted judgments are withheld. Support context is not a grade-export column. This file is for review and manual handoff; it is not a certified PowerSchool import.

The Google roster can include an optional `powerschool_id` column. Preserve the existing `learner_id` when adding it. School-specific standard IDs and import columns still need to be matched to the actual PowerSchool setup.

## One coherent assessment, several sources of evidence

Group related observations, conversations and products into a meaningful assessment. A short conversation does not need a separate gradebook column. O/C/P describes the evidence source; it does not create three weighted grade categories.

The new document proposes this naming convention for new assignments:

`M## | PRIMARY_OUTCOME | Obs/Con/Pro | Form/Sub | Short Title`

For example, using the connected catalogue's reference code:

- `M01 | MM12-1.1 | Con | Form | Truck Ad mask repair`
- `M01 | MM12-1.1 | Pro | Sub | Truck Ad campaign`

Here M01 is the curriculum module, not an automatically substituted sprint number. Form and Sub retain the meanings in your document. The earlier handoff proposed `F/S-O/C/P-OUTCOME | Title`; neither format is an established HRCE-wide requirement. Preserve names on existing assignments and use the exact exported name when round-tripping a template. Do not rename existing gradebook columns automatically.

Attach every outcome actually assessed, even when the short title names only the primary one. Record combined O/C/P sources in the description as appropriate. Use the approved curriculum module/unit as the category. The document's example DS1.1-style codes are not verified IB-issued outcomes; use the approved local mapping.

## Teacher entry in PowerTeacher Pro

1. Create or select the coherent assessment and attach the correct local outcomes.
2. Review the evidence, criterion descriptors and the proposed outcome judgment together.
3. Enter the achievement level accepted by your school's setup.
4. Write or edit the individual comment; confirm the final-grade and publishing settings.
5. Record the PowerSchool assignment reference and transfer date in your reporting record. Automatic transfer tracking is not implemented in this release.

Nova Scotia's outcome-scoring guide lists **1, 1+, 2, 2+, 3, 3+, 4**. The dashboard's Beginning / Developing / Secure / Extending labels therefore must not be converted automatically into PowerSchool values. Preserve IE as an evidence gap until the local reporting treatment is confirmed. [Nova Scotia achievement-level guide](https://www.ednet.ns.ca/inschool/files_inschool/scoring_assessments_using_achievement_levels.pdf).

The provincial setup guide identifies **Collected Only** as an option when attached outcomes receive achievement levels. It also allows formative work to be excluded from the final-grade calculation. Check the actual course settings; a title beginning with F or S does not change those settings. [Creating assessments in PowerTeacher Pro](https://www.ednet.ns.ca/inschool/files_inschool/creating_and_duplicating_assessments_in_pt_pro.pdf).

## Assignment description template

```text
Purpose: [formative practice / summative-evaluative evidence]
Learning target: [observable learning, in student language]
Outcome(s): [verified local code(s) and concise wording]
Evidence: [observation / conversation / product, as actually collected]
Success criteria: [two to four observable criteria from the approved rubric]
Use: [feedback / eligible for evaluation after teacher review]
```

## Teacher-written comment structure

**Evidence → Interpretation → Next step.**

Fictional Truck Ad example:

> Uses an editable mask to refine the truck edge and explains how contrast directs attention to the offer. The design decisions meet the selected criteria. Next, test the same hierarchy in a smaller format and justify the adjustment.

Use specific work, criterion-linked reasoning and one achievable next step. Keep support records separate from achievement. A report-card comment is a separate synthesis across the body of evidence; do not automatically reuse one observation as the report-card conclusion. No current comment-length limit is assumed here.

## AI assistance boundary

AI may suggest concise wording from teacher-selected evidence. The teacher decides the achievement, edits the comment and approves its use. No model key, AI grading endpoint or automatic PowerSchool posting is part of this release. The iPad prompt retains those boundaries.

## The next concrete CSV step

Provide one **Export Score Template** from an existing assignment, including any preamble/metadata rows. An anonymized copy can establish the format; retain identifier formatting and replace names/numbers consistently. No matching exported score template was found in the checked Downloads filenames. The attached Word guide explains the process but does not contain that template.

The adapter must preserve its student identifiers as text, target assignment identity, row structure and untouched cells. It must preview matched, missing and duplicate IDs, score types, blank values and any intentional overwrites. Names can validate an ID match; they must not create one. Comments stay in a separate teacher review output unless the actual local import explicitly supports them.

For a supported assignment-score transfer, retain the untouched export, work on a copy, select the correct score column, validate names and inspect the import preview before committing. When a header is present, do not treat it as a data row. Preserve existing standards scores unless a deliberate, verified recalculation is intended. Verify learner/score alignment and blanks afterward. These are teacher steps; this release does not operate the PowerSchool import screen.

## Still needed for a validated local import

The actual template and assignment score configuration, local outcome identifiers, accepted achievement values and stable student-number mapping. A template can establish the assignment-score route; it does not by itself establish standards/comment import. Manual teacher entry from the review CSV remains available. Do not apply the grades 7–8 mathematics “most recent three” configuration to these courses without course-specific direction; the [HRCE scoresheet document](https://sis.hrce.ca/Guides/outcomes_scoresheet_report.pdf) describes that particular setup.