1. School Activity Report (SAR)
Sandra Johnson
NC DPI School Business Services
School Financial Reporting

2. What is reported from the SAR data collection
What teachers are teaching to
How many student at what academic level
At what school location
For what time of the school year
With what assistance from other staff members (i.e.. Teacher assistance, or other resource staff)
The School Activity Report (SAR) is a collection of data from the public schools of North Carolina to address policy 115C-47 (10) which in part states that at the end of the second month of each school year, the local board of education, shall file a report with the State Board of Education, describing the organization of each school, the duties of each teacher, the size of each class, and the teaching load of each teacher.
The data collection as it stands to date, shows the who, what, when and where of the schools’ activities associated with staff and the students.
The data shows what subjects the teachers of North Carolina are teaching, at what academic levels, to what groups of students and the population of those students in the class.
The population of the class will include information on the student such as number of students in the class, ethnic categories, gender and what exceptionalities may be represented in the class.
The SAR does not have individual student names, only the count of how many students. The SAR will have individual names of personnel attached to students and school activities.

3. What is the SAR data used for
Statistical Profile
North Carolina State Report Card
Class Size Reports
Highly Qualified Teachers
General Media Data Requests
General Assembly Requests
No Child Left Behind (ESEA Compliance)
The SAR data is used for many data request both from customers within the DPI agency and outside of the agency. The list on the screen is a good example of what your data is used for.
If data is missing from the Statistical Profile on course data, it mostly is due to not being reported on the SAR or incorrect information was reported, like using an incorrect subject code for scheduling classes.
Highly Qualified analysis is done using the SAR data. When the SAR data is available to DPI, it must have the classes scheduled correctly with the correct teaching staff assigned. If the HQ data is shows incorrect or questionable data, it is due to how the school scheduled the classes. BUT keep in mind when it come to HQ, the SAR data is only reporting scheduled data and there may be outstanding licensure paperwork that must be done that is outside of the SAR reporting area.

4. What data is required for the SAR
All students must have classes scheduled with the correct:
Teacher
Amount of time the class meets
Course code that reflects accurate subject area
Grade level of the subject
Academic level of the course
Any teacher assistant, etc. assigned to the class
Subject code – if the course cannot be found in the state define course list when scheduling the students (the course must be active for the current school year) put in a request to the DPI Service Center for the course code so the students can be schedules correctly. To find the course list, go to the Home Base site at
A courses must represent the correct subject area, academic level and grade level of the subject.
The course attributes in PowerSchool are also used to identify details of the course like if it is taught on-line or in-seat. The course attributes would also identify if the course is a VPS course, taught by a community college, university or on-line vendor other than VPS.

5. To find the list of state define courses (active for the current school year), go to the Home Base site at

6. Teacher of record for the class being reported
Name MUST be the teacher’s name as recorded in Licensure (or the payroll file)
SSN Must be the SAME as the Staff Member’s SSN Card
NCVPS – VPS staff will populate teacher staff in their instance of PowerSchool
Information on how the SSN for vendors, college and VIF staff are under consideration at this time due to PowerSchool needs. We will communicate more details as soon as they are known.
Teacher of record indicated for the class must be the teacher teaching the class. In PowerSchool this is the indicator of Lead Teacher.
If a team of teachers, all teachers in the team are indicated as a lead teacher.
All other staff working with the class (such as a teacher assistant) are recorded as a different role when attached to the class in PowerSchool.
If the teacher has divorced or married and not changed their name on their teaching certificate, use the name on payroll in the teacher first name, middle name and last name on the staff setup screen in PowerSchool.
There are discussions going on about entering the SSN for staff. At this time, we can only say to enter the SSN if you have it for students and staff. The UID for staff and students are very important now in the PowerSchool system so make every effort to make sure you are following the UID instructions for getting a UID.
If you have a non-payroll staff member, you are to follow the instructions for “Acquiring Staff IDs for Non-Payroll Staff” that the DPI Service Center sent out recently. If you did not get that , contact the Service Center at or you can find the document on the Home Base website (this website can also be accessed when using .con or .org)

7. What is considered a class to be scheduled
4 Digit State Subject Code
15 Minutes every 10 school days
Definable Class Roster
If you are unsure if a class is to be scheduled, go by this rule. If the class meets 15 minutes ever 10 school days, has an identifiable subject code and is a defined class (same students each time), then it is to be scheduled.
There has been a lot of discussion on scheduling pull out classes in PowerSchool. DPI is working on a solution to how to schedule these sessions and will soon have documented procedures to follow. Keep in mind while you wait for this information that if students are pulled out randomly (not on a regular schedule and not a defined group each time), those student would not be scheduled pull out classes. Only student pulled out on a regular basis with a subject content and a define group will be scheduled.

8. Where do you get details of reporting the SAR
Search for SAR
The 2011/12 guide is posted at this time and can be used to a point though it does reference NC WISE and may get a little confusing with the way PowerSchool data has to be populated.
The 2013/14 guide will be posted as soon as we gather all the PowerSchool details that are needed to update the guide. We will also wait to make sure we have all the policy updates that may come from this recent General Assembly session.
There will be webinar session for helping you with the SAR data collection as we move forward with PowerSchool and we will also sent updates to assist you. If you have not signed up to receive s from the DPI Service Center, please do that so you will not miss out on important PowerSchool updated and data issues that may be address. You can request to get the s by putting in a Remedy ticket to the Service Center. or (919)

9. Who do you contact for SAR questions
Remedy ticket to:
DPI Service Center - (919)
Sandra Johnson:
When there are questions on how to populate data in PowerSchool, please open a Remedy ticket so the Service Center can assist you.
You can also open a Remedy ticket to ask policy questions or directly contact Sandra Johnson.