A section is a unique occurrence of a course — what students and teachers typically refer to as a “class.” Each course can have multiple sections, held at different times, with different teachers or rooms.
Key Notes:
Each section is assigned a unique section number per course, per school year.
Section numbers are critical for scheduling and reporting accuracy.
Elementary Example:
If a school has a Math course but too many students for one class, it can create two sections:
Math Section 1 with Teacher A
Math Section 2 with Teacher B
High School Example:
A high school Art 3 course might have four sections taught by one teacher across four periods.
Sections can impact reporting in PowerSchool for:
Attendance, Chronic Absenteeism, and Truancy
Honor Roll, GPA, and Class Rank
Grade Scales and Stored Grades
Maximum Class Enrollments
Validations
Make sure these elements are set up in PowerSchool:
✔️ Students
✔️ Teachers
✔️ Periods
✔️ Cycle Days
✔️ Calendar
✔️ Years and Terms
🔔 Reminder: Finalize your Master Schedule before creating sections!
Section Term Lengths have specific start and end dates. These dates are based on Years and Terms. Students cannot have overlapping section enrollments.
Avoid overlapping schedules!
For example:
✅ OK: P1(A) PE, P2(A) Art, P3(A) Music
❌ Not OK: P1(A) PE, P1(A) Art, P1(A) Music
Go to School Management > Courses and Programs > Courses
Look under both the Active and Unavailable tabs
Checking the Available Course List:
From the screenshot below, select "Manage Courses for this school."
If a course code is unavailable and you're interested in using the course, please email the Charter Institute PowerSchool Team.
Verify that your course code you're using is in SCDE Satchel before submitting a request
Navigate to School Management > Courses and Programs > Sections
Courses from the Available tab will appear
Click the desired course to begin section creation
Click the New button in the top right
Do NOT change the Course Number Field
You can not change the Course Name or the Course Number.
Select:
Expression (cycle days + period)
Term
Lead Teacher (must be marked as “Teacher” in staff setup)
Gradebook Type: PowerTeacher Pro
Room (optional)
Section Number* Mandatory (1–3 characters, no symbols)
Grade Level
Current Enrollment- field is read-only and displays the number of students currently enrolled in the course section.
Maximum Enrollment- number for the section. Students cannot be scheduled in a section when the maximum enrollment number is reached
NOTE: Multiple cycle days and multiple periods can be checked if needed; however, attendance codes can replicate when more than one period is selected in an expression.
From the Staff dropdown, select the Lead Teacher of record for the class/section.
NOTE: To appear in the Lead Teacher Staff dropdown, the status of "Teacher" must be selected on the staff’s Information page.
The Teachers/Staff – Additional fields are optional (this option is best used for assistant, or co-teachers), and only appear when the blue "Add" button is clicked. Select Additional Staff from the dropdown.
Note: If you need to update a teacher, co-teacher, or assistant teacher, please make sure to print all of the students grades and attendance, before changing the teacher assignment in a course section.
Example:
Mr. Darcy left the school before the end of the year. Ms. Thomas will be replacing him as the lead teacher for the remainder of the year.
For Mr. Darcy, I would update:
the %allocation to 0%.
I would update the end date to the day after Mr. Darcy's last day (Ex: If Mr. Darcy's last day was a Friday, you would select Saturday as his End Date)
Submit
For Ms. Thomas, I would update:
The staff dropdown to select "Ms. Thomas."
Update the Role as "Lead Teacher"
Update the %allocation to 100%.
Update Start Date as Mr. Darcy's End Date.
Update End Date as the last day of school.
These are optional, but powerful:
Dependent Sections: Automatically enroll students in related classes (e.g., Homeroom auto-enrolls into ELA, Math, etc.)
Attendance Settings:
The default and only value for Record Attendance Using Attendance Mode is Meeting.
For Record Attendance (only applicable if Record Attendance Using Attendance Mode includes Meeting), the recommend selection is Once for All Meetings.
Exclude From Attendance / Storing Grades ONLY check the checkbox to exclude the section from counting towards ADM/ADA for students, or for non-academic sections (e.g., Lunch, Homeroom)
You may adjust from course-level defaults:
Grade Scale- is different from the Same As Course Value, from the dropdown, select the correct Grade Scale for the course section. It is the responsibility of the school to be knowledgeable about grade scales.
Exclude from GPA- is different from the Same as Course Value, select the radio box option to either Include or Exclude the grade from the GPA calculation. It is the responsibility of the school to be knowledgeable about when and when to not include/exclude from GPA.
Exclude from Class Rank- is different from the Same as Course Value, select the option to either include or exclude the grade from the class rank calculation. It is the responsibility of the school to be knowledgeable about when to exclude from Class Rank.
Exclude from Honor Roll- is different from the Same as Course Value, select the option to either include or exclude the grade from the honor roll calculation. It is the responsibility of the school to be knowledgeable about when to exclude from Honor Roll.
Optional PowerScheduler values:
Section Type
House/Team
Maximum Load
Status
Instructional Notes:
Select the Instruction Type (cannot be blank!)
For homerooms, select “Yes”
Check Single Gender only if applicable
Sections taught through VirtualSC must have the below fields populated – this includes sections for initial credit, second credit attempts, and Credit Recovery. Work with the School Counselor or other appropriate school personnel to obtain this information.
For VirtualSC classes:
Enter VSP Teacher Name
Enter VSP Certification Number
🛑 STOP & REVIEW before clicking Submit — sections cannot be deleted once created!
🔐 Delete Section is password-protected and inaccessible to schools.
After submission:
Minor edits can be made only before student enrollment
Only staff changes can be made once students are enrolled
Always double-check term dates and avoid overlapping sections
Label your sections clearly for easy identification
Communicate with scheduling staff before finalizing