1. Security in PowerSchool:
Page Permissions and Group Securities
Evelyn Bragg
Director of Administrative Technology
Meriwether County Schools
Modified by Jesse Peavy
Director of Technology
Bleckley County Schools

2. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
What is FERPA?
How does FERPA apply to me?
Information may not be protected under FERPA,
What is FERPA? is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records
How does FERPA apply to me? Two types of records: Educational Records & Non-Educational
Two types of Educational Records: Directory & Non- Directory Information
Directory
*Name;
*Address;
*Phone number and address;
*Dates of attendance;
*Degree(s) awarded;
*Enrollment status;
*Major field of study.
directory information can be disclosed without consent; however err on the side of caution as a student has the right to restrict the release of information
Transcripts- should NEVER be faxed… cannot guarantee delivery to specified person.
Non-Directory Information
*Social security numbers;
*Student identification number;
*Race, ethnicity, and/or nationality;
*Gender
*Transcripts; grade reports
faculty and staff can access non-directory information only if they have a legitimate academic need to do so

3. Security Groups Determine group level security
Who, What, When, Where & How
Who needs access?
What information is required?
When will information be accessed? Everyday or Occasional
Where will information be accessed? District or School
How many groups?

4. Create Security Groups
Determine group level security
How many groups are optimal?
What about special education teachers?
Verify that a Security Group is assigned to User
1. Select Staff on the Start Page.
2. Select a user.
3. Select the Security Settings staff page.
4. Scroll down Group, and choose a security group.
5. Submit the page.

5. Access to Page Permissions
Navigate to System > Security > Access to Page Permissions.
On the Access to Page Permissions screen, select Turn modify permissions on from the pull-down list.
Click Submit.

6. Securing the DDA screen
Navigate to the Direct Database Access.
Click the Modify access privileges for this page link at the bottom of the page.
Set the access level to None for any group that should not be allowed to access the DDA page.
Click Submit.

7. Page Security: Critical Pages
admin/security (main security page)
admin/importexport/quickimport/quickimport1.html (Quick Import)
admin/tech (general System Admin)
admin/faculty/home.html (staff security page)

8. Pitfalls Too many groups Groups not well defined Too few groups
Staff included in wrong group
Too many users with the ability to change user security settings

9. Common Complaints Submit button is missing
"Insufficient access privileges"
Special Education and Advisors
“I need to modify…”
“I cannot do my job…”

10. Customized Reports http://www.powerdatasolutions.org/
PowerSchool User Groups (National/States)

11. Be Careful with Your Little Fingers
Taken from PowerSource
“Whilst I was trying to figure out security and rights to different pages, I disabled my access to our Powerschool student "start page".  Not only that, I included everyone else in my group (Admin).  Does anyone know how to go around this and allow me to restore access to this page for all of us?  At the moment, we cannot search for students, enroll etc.”