How do I export GPA from PowerSchool for a specific term? – Knowledge For Schools (2024)

To extract a list of student GPA’s into a tab delimited text file, we will follow a simple two step process:

1. Select the students that you wish to export
2. Use the Quick Export Function with your custom GPA DAT code

You can make a selection of students from the Start Page using queries or click on the groups that you wish to isolate. Once you have the students selected, you will be able to see a pulldown menu at the bottom right corner of the student list. In this menu, under theExport submenu, select “Quick Student Export”.

GPA DAT

(Source: Data Access Tags Supplement, Published by Pearson on 01/24/2013)
The GPA DAT (Data Access Tag) and corresponding syntax will determine the GPA calculation extracted from PowerSchool:

^(*gpa method="value" type="value" term="value" year="value" grade="value" credittype="value" scale="value")

The following parameters of a GPA Calculation Method can be specified in the DAT:

• method
  • Determines which GPA Calculation Method will be used. The GPA Calculation Methods are setup in the District’s PowerSchool site. If GPA Calculation Method is not specified, PowerSchool uses the Weighted GPA Calculation Method.
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted")
• type
  • Overrides which type of grades are included in the GPA Calculation Method: cumulative (Historical Grades), current (Gradebook grades) or projected (combination of Historical and Gradebook grades). If type is not specified, PowerSchool uses cumulative.
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted" type="cumulative")
• term
  • Overrides which terms are included in the GPA Calculation Method: use the Reporting Term(s) that you wish to include. The Reporting Terms are setup at the School’s PowerSchool site. If term is not specified, PowerSchool includes all grade records from all courses that are not Excluded from GPA. Multiple terms must be separated by a comma (i.e. “S1,S2”).
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted" type="cumulative" term="S1,S2")
• grade
  • Overrides which Grade Levels are included in the GPA Calculation Method. Multiple Grade Levels must be separated by a comma (i.e. “9, 10, 11”).
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted" type="cumulative" term="S1,S2" grade="9,10,11,12")
• year
  • Overrides which years are included in the GPA Calculation Method. Multiple years must be separated by a comma (i.e. “2016,2017,2018”).
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted" type="cumulative" term="S1,S2" grade="9,10,11,12" year="2006")
• credit type
  • Overrides which Credit Types are included in the GPA Calculation Method. Credit Types are specified in the Course setup. If no Credit Type is specified for this parameter, and no Credit Types are specified in the GPA Calculation Method, all Credit Types are included.
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted" type="cumulative" term="S1,S2" grade="9,10,11,12" year="2006" credittype="MAT,ENG")
• scale
  • Overrides which Grade Scale is used to determine Grade Points associated to each Letter Grade for the GPA Calculation Method. If no Grade Scale is specified, and no Grade Scale is specified in the GPA Calculation Method, the Grade Scale specified in each of the student’s Grade records will be used
  • Example:^(*gpa method="weighted" type="cumulative" term="S1,S2" grade="9,10,11,12" year="2006" credittype="MAT,ENG" scale="HighSchool")

Built-In GPA Calculation Methods

If you do not have any custom GPA Calculation Methods setup in your District PowerSchool site, PowerSchool provides a few built-in GPA Calculation Methods:

• Simple
  • This method is the arithmetic mean of Grade Points for all grade records included in the GPA calculation. The Simple GPA is the quotient of the sum of Grade Points and count of Grade Points.
• Weighted
  • This method is a weighted average of the Grade Points for all Courses included in the GPA calculation. The Weighted GPA is the quotient of:
    • The sum of the products of each Grade Point and associated Potential Credits
    • The count of Grade Points
• Simple Percent
  • This method is the arithmetic mean of the Percent values for all grade records included in the GPA calculation. The Simple Percent is the quotient of the sum of Percent value and the count of Percent values.
• Weighted Percent
  • This method is a weighted average of the Percent values for all grade records included in the GPA calculation. The Weighted Percent GPA is the quotient of:
    • The sum of the products of each Percent value and associated Potential Credits
    • The count of Percent values

Custom GPA Calculation Methods

You can setup your own GPA Calculation Methods in the District PowerSchool site.Please contact us if you need assistance to do so.

On the Quick Export page, you will be provided with a text input box where you can specify different fields that will output as the columns of your the export file. Some common student fields (from the Students (1) table) that you may want to include in your export file are:

• Student_Number
  • This is the alphanumeric identifier associated with each student in your PowerSchool site
• LastFirst
  • This is the Last Name, First Name Middle Name of the student
• Grade_Level
  • This is the numeric Grade Level of the student

Example Quick Export Setup

The following graphic shows an example where you would exportStudent_Number,LastFirst,Grade_Level, and the Simple GPA Calculation method using all credit types and grade scales for grade records where thetermis Q1 or Q2 in the 2017year.

The different columns in the export file will be separated with the Tab character, and each of the rows will be separated with a CR (Carriage Return). The first row of the export file will include the field names specified in the text box. When you click on Submit, a .txt. file will be downloaded which you can open in a text editor or spreadsheet program.

If you have any questions on the process outlined above, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Potentially Related Articles