The Genesis Parent Access module provides a means to give parents, students – and others, such as guidance counselors, principals and vice principal – the ability to view real-time student information from a "safe" and primarily read-only login.

This article describes the administration of that module, including – but not limited to – enabling it, configuring users, configuring what users can do and see, and whether or not they can enable notifications to advise of them of student events.

The Parent/Student web access screens are highly configurable. The remainder of this Introduction will take you on a tour through the many screens and described the configurable aspects of each.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Student Summary Screen Options
• Assessment Screen
• Athletics
• Attendance Screens
• Check In Screen
• Community Service
• Conduct Discipline Screen
• Conferences
• Contacts Screen
• Course Pages
• Documents Screen
• Fees and Fines
• Forms
• Gradebook Screen
• Grading Screens
• Letters
• Message Center
• Scheduling and Requests
• School Information
• Settings Screen
• Other

Student Summary Screen Options

Configurable items on this screen:

• The Student's Photo – Whether or not the photo appears is controlled by the "Hide Student Photos" parameter on the the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen. This is controlled for each user.
• The Time and Date information at the top of the screen - Controlled by the "Show today's date, time and school day on Home Screen" parameter on the the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen.
• Demographics panel: 
  • District setting of "Display Homeroom Number and Teacher on summary screen" found on Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen.
  • Whether or not the student's Homeroom is displayed is controlled by the "Show HR/Team" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling screen.
  • Whether or not the student's Homeroom Teacher's name is displayed is controlled by the "Show HR Teacher" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling screen.
• Schedule– This panel's appearance and functionality has multiple controls: 
  • The schedule is controlled by the "Show Schedule" Parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling/Next Year Scheduling.
  • Whether the schedule shows the student's courses for the entire year, or only those courses that are currently meeting is controlled by the "Only show courses that are currently meeting (Home & Gradebook)" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen.
  • Whether the Room and Teacher information is shown on the schedule is controlled by the "Show Room and Teacher" and "If Yes, Show prior to Start of School" parameters on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling* screen.
  • If the Schedule panel is displayed the "Print Schedule" icons are controlled by the "Print Format" settings on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling screen.
  • Locker information can be printed on the printed schedules. This is controlled by the "Show locker info on Print Out" parameters on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling screen.
• Attendance This Week– This is displayed if the Attendance screen is displayed.  
  • Assignments This Week – This is displayed if the Gradebook screen is displayed. 
  • Bus Routes – The presence of this panel is control by the "Display Bus Information on Home screen" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings* screen.
• User Texts and User Flags - You can display User Flags or User Texts by setting the "Visible in Parents Module" dropdown found on the Setup>Schools>Modify School>User Flags and/or User Texts tab, per school.
  
  
• Additional options found on Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings: 
  • Display Students' School Name on summary screen
  • Display Lunch Pin on summary screen
  • Display Lunch Balance on summary screen
  • Display Counselor's E-mail on summary screen
  • Show todays date, time and school day on summary Screen
  • Display Locker and Combination on summary screen
  • Display Parking lot and Parking space on summary screen
  • Hide students' date of birth on the summary screen.
  • Show students' Session on the summary screen.

The tabs available for each individual student are selectable in various ways. Many individual tabs are controlled by explicit permissions on the students linked to user logins, including: Summary, Assessments, Attendance, Class Attendance, Discipline, Documents, Payments, Gradebook, Grading, Scheduling.

Assessment Screen

Configurable items:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "Asmts" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• The top part of the screen shows the student's "Assessments Scores" in a simple list. These scores are controlled by the Assessments uploaded into the Assessments module.
• Below the "Assessments Scores" section of the screen Data Views optionally appear. The Data Views are controlled by the creation of data views via the Assessments>Data View screen. 
• The scores visible in each Data View are pulled from the various Assessments which have been uploaded. You can check off the score to be visible in the parent's module.

Athletics

We added a new Athletic Eligibility screen which shows parents the eligibility for a student.

The screen displays all criteria checked off for participation on the Athletics>Setup>Sports Participation Setup screen.

All seasons that a student has sport in will be shown along with their eligibility status.

Attendance Screens

Class Attendance tab is separately controlled by the Roles for the selected Student.

You can view roles via Parent Access>Setup>Roles.

• Daily:
  
• Class:
  
• Notify Attendance:
  

Configurable items:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "A" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• The unseen Class Attendance screen is controlled by the "CA" permission in students' Roles. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• Daily Pickup Release info is controlled by the "Release Requests" checkbox on the Role.

Check In Screen

You can view different student Check Ins:

To have this info display in the portal, you would check off "Check Ins" on the Role(s) via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.

Community Service

This tab is enabled by checking off "Community Service" on the parent role via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.

Conduct Discipline Screen

Configurable items:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "D" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• The Discipline Incidents can be individually displayed or hidden – On the Student Data>Modify Student>Conduct>List Incidents>Add Incident basic Incident information screen there is a "For Parents" option. 
• When that option is set to "Yes", the incident is visible on the Parents>Discipline screen:
  
• Other options can be set via Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Conduct.
  • Show Prev Years?
  • Show Descriptions
  • Description to Display
  • Show Points
  • Show Action Status
  • Show Merits/Demerits

Conferences

You can view and/or sign up for Conferences:

If you click on "Schedule Conference for Genesis Conferences" for example:

For Conference Setup info click here.

"Conferences" should be checked off on the Parent's role as well.

Contacts Screen

Configurable items on the Contract Management Screen:

• The screen itself is controlled by the parent module settings on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Contacts screen:
  
• The settable options include the following: 
  • Contact Settings –Master settings regarding the individual "Contacts" where a "Contact" is a person (e.g. Aunt Jane) or an organization (e.g. "Watching Pediatrics"). 
    • View– This is the master control which displays the screen or not. If it is unchecked, none of the other settings on this screen matter because the screen itself will not be displayed.
    • Add– Add a new Contact to the set of Contacts for the students in this school.
    • Change– Change demographic information for the Contact. This does NOT control either Email Addresses or Phone Number. Those are controlled explicitly by the permissions shown below.
    • Print– Display a PDF icon for each student allowing the Contact information to be printed.
    • Delete– Remove Contacts (i.e. people, organizations) from students in the associated school.
  • Phone Settings –These control the ability of the parent/student to add, change or remove phone numbers from a Contact, where, as before, a "Contact" is a person (e.g. Aunt Jane) or an organization (e.g. "Watching Pediatrics"). 
    • Add– Add new phone numbers to a Contact
    • Change– Change existing phone numbers
    • Delete– Remove phone numbers from a Contact
  • Email Settings- These control the ability of the parent/student to add, change or remove email addresses from a Contact: 
    • Add– Add new email addresses to a Contact
    • Change– Change existing email addresses
    • Delete– Remove email addresses from a Contact

Course Pages

This tab is enabled by checking off "course pages" on the parent access role via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.

For more info on course pages, click here.

Documents Screen

Configurable Items:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "Docs" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• Student Documents are listed on the Student Data>Modify Student>Documents screen. They are controlled by the Document Types defined on the Documents Management screens. 
• Each Document Type can be separately configured to be visible to Parent Access and separately to Student Access.
• Documents can be further configured to be signable by either parents/guardians or students. There are a set of flags on the Documents>Setup>Document Types>Modify Document Type screen which control the visibility and signability of documents in the Parent/Student Access modules:

Optionally, when a parent/guardian or student (or both) sign a document, a user flag can be displayed on the student's Student Information Bar:

Fees and Fines

On the Parent Role (which is modified via Parent Access>Setup>Roles) you can check off "Fees and Fines" to display fees and fines in the portal.

Forms

Configurable Items:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "Forms" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• Each form is created and published to students via the Parent Access>Forms screens.

Gradebook Screen

• Weekly Summary:
  
• List Assignments:
  
• Course Summary:
  

Configurable items on the Gradebook>Weekly Summary Screen:

• The screen itself and the List Assignments screen are controlled by the "GB" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• Whether listed courses include the student's courses for the entire year, or only those courses that are currently meeting is controlled by the "Only show courses that are currently meeting (Home & Gradebook)" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen.
• Whether or not teacher's email addresses are controlled by the "Show Teachers Email" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen.
• Teacher's email must be set up.
• The presence of the MP average column is controlled by the "Display Gradebook MP Average" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen.
• If the MP average column is displayed, the number of decimal places in each calculated average is controlled by the "Round GB Numeric Grade" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen.
• Whether or not an alpha grade (e.g. A, B…) is displayed in addition to the numeric Marking period average is controlled by the "Display Alpha Grade for GB Courses" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen.

Configurable items on the *Gradebook>List Assignments* Screen:

• The screen itself and its subscreen are controlled by the "G" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• Whether listed courses include the student's courses for the entire year, or only those courses that are currently meeting is controlled by the "Only show courses that are currently meeting (Home & Gradebook)" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen.
• Whether or not documents can be displayed is controlled by the "Show Docs" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen.
• Whether or not Teacher's comments (the pushpins) are displayed is controlled by the "Allow teachers to post comments to Parents Module" parameter on the Gradebook>School Setup>Maintenance screen.
• The presence of the "%" percentage column is controlled by the "Show Assignment %"parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen.
• Whether the Gradebook Assignment's Name or Description field is displayed in the "Assignment" column is controlled by the "Override Assignment Name With Description" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Gradebook screen. The actual Assignment Name and Description fields appear in the Gradebook's "Create/Modify Assignment" screens.

Grading Screens

• Current Grades:
  
• Grade History:
  
• Available Report Cards:
  

Configurable items:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "G" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.
• The set of grading columns (Marking Periods, Exams, Final Grade) is controlled by the "DC" checkboxes on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Grading screen. Each column represents one "Grade Collection". Grade Collections are defined on the Grading>Setup>Collections screen.
• The actual grades in the columns are controlled by the "DG" checkboxes on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Grading screen.
• The gold star for making the Honor Roll is controlled by the "HR" checkboxes on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Grading screen.
• The "Grade History" tab (shown below) appears when the "Show Grade History Tab" checkbox is checked for the school on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Grading screen.
   This is a summary of the students grade history displayed in a way that it cannot be turned into a transcript.
• The "Available Report Cards" tab appears when the "Show All Report Cards (Flagged for Parents)" checkbox is checked for the school on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Report Cards screen.
• Report Cards themselves appear on the Available Report Cards screen (if it is displayed) only when the "Available to Parents Module" parameter is set to Yes on their Grading>Report Cards>Report Cards>Modify screen. 
• Each report card must be separately flagged to be able to appear.
• To display a Transcript, check off the boxes per school via Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Grading in the "Display Settings Per School Area" in the "Show Transcript" column.

Letters

This Letters screen is not directly configurable. It is displayed when a letter exists in the system for a student linked to the corresponding Parent Access logon. A letter does not have to be displayed for the screen to exist.

• Each letter must be individually released by letter date for each specific student. This is controlled on the following screens: 
  • Attendance>Letters>Run letters>Print Letters
  • Conduct>Letters>Run letters>Print Letters
  • Student Data>Letters>Run letters>Print Letters
• Each type of letters than can be displayed (Attendance, Conduct, Student Data) are configured on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Letters screen.

Message Center

The Message Center is tied to the Generation of Notifications

Configurable items on the Contract Management Screen:

• The screen itself is controlled by the settings on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Alerts screen:
  
• The options on this screen detail what type of "alerts" or notifications are displayed on the Message Center screen and also sent to the parent as Text or Email Messages (or both).
• Notifications are themselves set up on the Setup>Districts>Master District Parameters>Notifications screen.
• Emails and Text Messages generated by Notifications are setup on the Parents>Setup>Email Template screen.

You can check off "Message Center Setup" on a parent role as well via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.     Parent Alerts will still go out even if users do not have this role.

Scheduling and Requests

The actual "Scheduling" tab is for NEXT YEAR SCHEDULING. The "Current Year Scheduling" info for students will display on the Student Summary screen.

Settings for displaying/not display Next Year Scheduling info can be found on Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling>Next Year.

For example, it could look like this for a student:

You can enable/disable parent requests (to allow parents to MAKE requests) via Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Next Year Requests:

Parents would then access this by clicking the "Requests" sub tab of the "Scheduling" tab.

If parents see a "Request a Course" button for a subject, they can then click that to get to the next screen, the "Course Catalog" screen, where they can actually make the request:

School Information

The "School Calendar" tab is enabled by checking off "School Calendar" on the parent role via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.

The "School Directory" tab is enabled by checking off "School Directory" on the parent role via Parent Access>Setup>Roles>Modify Role.

Settings Screen

The Settings button is found on every Parent module screen. You can change your password and change your Home Screen.

Configurable items on the Settings Screen:

• The screen itself is controlled by the "S" permission in the Student's Role. This is set on the Parent Access>Setup>Users>Modify User screen.

Other

 The "Forgot My Password" link is controlled by the "Display a 'Forgot Password' link on the Parents logon page" parameter on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>District Settings screen.

The administrator's email (not shown) is controlled by the "Parent Administrator Email Address" text field on the same screen

The other information is controlled by text appearing in the Help Desk Name, Phone Number, Email, Website URL, and Parent Logon Screen Message fields at the bottom of the Parents>Setup>Settings>Logon Screen screen.

Other Articles to Review:

Parent Portal Settings Overview 

Parent Portal Lunch Applications 

Parent Portal Forms Overview 

Getting Started with Emailing Through the Parent Portal