What is a Parent Portal account?

A PowerSchool Parent Portal account is an online platform that allows parents or guardians to access information about their child's academic progress and school activities. This may include grades, attendance records, homework assignments, and test scores, as well as information about upcoming events and school policies.


Some notes:

  • Parent Portal accounts are associated with Contacts
  • Each person should only have ONE Contact record and ONE Parent Portal account
  • As new students register (siblings, etc.), we give the Parent/Guardian access to that additional student from their existing Contact
  • There's no need to create new Contacts or Parent Portal accounts for each student


How to create a Parent Portal account:

  1. Search for a student and go to the Contacts page
  2. Click the name of the Contact you'd like to create an account for, you'll be taken to the Contact Details page
  3. First, we need to make sure this Contact has an email listed
    Go to the Email Addresses Section (towards the bottom) and click Add Email 
    1. Select the appropriate Type
    2. Enter the Email Address
    3. Select whether it's the primary email or not - if there's only one email then it's primary
    4. Click Submit
  4. Next, we need to create the Parent Portal account with that email
    If the Contact already has an account listed with a green check under Account Enabled, skip to Step 5
    Go to the Web Account AccessSection (towards the top).
    1. Click Add Account
    2. Check the box that says Account Enabled
    3. Enter a username, this should be the same as the email that the parent has given you to prevent conflicts
    4. Enter a Password in the New Password and Confirm Password fields.  The user will be required to change their password the first time they log in.
    5. Skip the field Identity Provider Global ID
    6. Next to Account Email, there's a dropdown to select an already existing email entered for this Contact.  Select the appropriate email.
    7. Skip the field State Guardian Number
  5. Once the account is created for that Contact, we now want to give them permission to access data about a particular student
    Look at the Students Section 
    1. Click edit (the little pencil on the right) on the row of the student you want to add a Parent Portal account to
    2. Click the Data Access tab
    3. Check the box for Can Access Student Data And Email
    4. Click Submit


Question:  I'm getting the error message "The account email address is already in use by another access account" or "Username not available":  


Problem: 

This means the account you're trying to use is already linked to an existing parent account, probably attached to a sibling.


Solution:

Attach the existing parent account to the new student. 

  • You'll delete the parent contact you’re currently working on, so there will be no duplicates 
  • Update the contact info on the existing parent account, so it's updated for all students attached to it
  • Add the new student to the originally created contact


Let's find the original contact and add the student:

  1. Go to Start Page

  2. Switch to Contacts and Email

  3. Enter the email you've been working with and click search. You will get a list of all contacts (and their associated students) that have that email listed.
  4. Click on the Contact Name 
  5. Under the Students section, click Add Students
  6. Enter the Student Number and click Search
  7. When you see the correct student, 
    1. Check the box on the left
    2. Select a Relationship
    3. Check the box on the right for Data Access

    4. Click Submit

  8. Fill out any other blank information for that contact, for example, phone number, address, etc

  9. Click Submit at the bottom of the page