Frequently Asked Questions - HorryCountySchools

Horry County Schools PowerSchool
Parent/Student Portal FAQ’s


What is PowerSchool?
PowerSchool is a student information system provided by the state and used by all schools in South Carolina. Powerschool is used for student demographic information, scheduling, attendance, storing grades, discipline and more.
What is PowerTeacher?
PowerTeacher is the feature of the PowerSchool student information system that allows teachers to manage student grades and attendance as well as communicate student performance to parents and students.
What is PowerSchool Parent/Student Portal?
The Parent/Student Portal is a feature of the PowerSchool student information system that provides students and parents/guardians real time access to grades, assignments and attendance records in an effort to facilitate and improve communication between home and school.
Is there a separate Student Portal?
No. Students access through the same Parent/Student portal as parents.
Who may access the PowerSchool Parent/Student Portal
All Horry County Schools students and their parents/guardians may access the PowerSchool Parent/Student Portal. Only one student parent/guardian username and password can be issued per student.
Will each parent have a separate username and password to the Parent/Student Portal?
No. The PowerSchool program allows only one parent account to be created per child. Therefore, parents/guardians must use the same username and password that was assigned by the district for a specific student.
Will I have a different logon for each of my children?
Yes. Each child’s account information is in a separate record so you will have a different parent login for each child.
How do I get a PowerSchool Parent or Student Portal username and password?
A parent/guardian will need to go to the school in person, request an account and present a form of Picture ID to the Data Quality Clerk. The Data Quality Clerk will then give the Parent/Guardian a username and password.
How do parents and students access the Parent/Student Portal?
Parents/guardians and students will access the Parent/Student Portal by opening a web browser and using the following web address: (https://myps.horrycountyschools.net/public) or by selecting the link on the left side of this page.
What do I do if I forget my PowerSchool password?
If you forget your password or username you will need to see the Data Quality Clerk at the school you or your child attends to retrieve it or have it reset.
May I change my PowerSchool password?
No, the system randomly generates the passwords and these are not user changeable. If your password becomes compromised you will need to see the Data Quality Clerk at the school you or your child attends to have it reset.
Can other people see my son’s/daughter’s grades?
As long as you protect your password, others will not be able to see your child’s information. Each child/parent is issued a unique identification log in and password.
What can I see on the PowerSchool site?
Grades for current classes, as well as the assignments that make up those grades Attendance for the past two weeks or for the whole quarter, including a legend of attendance codes used by the school Teacher comments Reports via Email, which allow parents to request daily, weekly, or monthly reports to be sent via email Historical grades
May I view my child's grades online at any time or is it limited to just certain times of day?
You may access PowerSchool at anytime, day or night from any computer that is connected to the Internet.
Are PowerSchool logins and passwords case sensitive?
No
May I view my child's grades online at any time or is it limited to just certain times of day?
You may access PowerSchool at anytime, day or night from any computer that is connected to the Internet.
I receive the "Login page expired (or cached) Please re-login" message. What do I do?
You may receive this error after your first attempt to log in. Click the refresh button in your browser and try again.
I'm having trouble logging on. Do you have some suggestions?
The most frequent problem parents have is the system not accepting the username/password combination. PowerSchool passwords are a combination of letters & numbers. Please enter your password exactly as provided. Sometimes a capital "I" looks like a one "1", a capital "B" looks like an eight "8", a capital "O" looks like a zero "0", etc. Compatible web browsers include: Internet Explorer 8, Firefox, Safari and Chrome Try logging on from another computer. Computer settings may be different from one computer to another
Do students and parents see the same screens/comments?
When students and parents access the PowerSchool server, they see the same information with one exception; parents have the ability to enter their email address and to request automatic progress reports via email.
May I request progress reports be emailed to me? If so, how?
The following reports may be requested by selecting the Email Notification Icon and making selections: ~ Summary of current grades and attendance ~ Detailed reports showing all assignment scores for each class ~ Detailed report of attendance
What is the proper procedure to follow if I have questions regarding my child's grades in a class?
It is best that you contact your child's teacher directly, either by email or telephone. This will result in the quickest resolution to your question.
What do the column headers Q1, E1 and S1 mean (or Q2, E2, S2)?
The letters represent the grade term such as “Q” means quarter grade, “S” means semester etc. The numbers represent which grade term such as “Q1” means quarter one grade. Depending on the length of class, the grade may be a final grade for the class. For example: if the class only lasts for one quarter, the grade in that quarter would be stored as a final grade and no other grades would be recorded. All grades are stored whether they are final grades or grades representing progress toward the final grade for the class. Here are our district grade setups: Q1 = Quarter 1 Q2 = Quarter 2 E1= First Semester Exam S1 = Semester 1 Q3 = Quarter 3 Q4 = Quarter 4 E2 = Second Semester Exam S2= Semester 2 E3 = Year Long Exam Y1 = Year Long Final
What does the term "Expression" represent in the gradebook?
The Expression (Exp): PowerSchool shows the schedule of a class with what they term the expression. It combines the period a class meets with the day of the schedule represented as a number in parentheses. The expression is sorted from the earliest period that class meets during the cycle to the latest that class meets.