The documents on this page are provided by the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) for use with the current Student Information System (SIS) PowerSchool.

Office of Research and Data Analysis

Student Information System (SIS) Data Entry Manual

• Student Information System Data Entry Manual - updated September 2025
  This manual is to provide guidance on PowerSchool data entry and processes in conjunction with other documents on this page. SCDE program office contacts are included in this document for support with data entry questions.

Read to Succeed

• Read to Succeed - 2025 Update
  • This document highlights new guidelines and considerations for entering data related to Summer Reading Camp.

PowerSchool Setup and Configuration

• SC School & Program Setup Guide for PowerSchool  
  • This guide is intended to be a setup manual for schools/districts needing to know South Carolina specifics for school/program setup when utilizing the SC-provided student information system. This guide provides instructions for schools/programs with traditional and modified schedules, as well as summer schools.

Funding Reports

• SIS Data Collection - Regulatory Authorizations
  • This workbook contains a list of the tables and fields used for Enrich queries as well as the offices that collect them and the collection purpose for each data element.

• PowerSchool Step by Step Guide for Running EFA & EIA Funding Reports-MAR2025 (PDF 879kb) – updated March 2025
  • This document provides step-by-step instructions for creating 45-day and 135-day funding reports for EFA (Membership & Attendance), EIA (Cumulative Class), and Add-on Weightings for the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) to use for providing state funding for your district.

Attendance

• SC Virtual Attendance Version 1.0 (PDF 349 KB) - updated prior to August 1, 2022
  • This document provides procedural guidance for coding virtual attendance in the Student Information System (SIS; e.g., PowerSchool) as outlined in the memo “Guidance for Confirming and Documenting Attendance,” and for using the virtual present code “SC-VTP” in PowerSchool when delivering instruction in a virtual environment or a hybrid model.

Credit Type

• Credit Type Update Student Information System PS (PDF 441 KB) – updated March 2025
  • Credit Types are codes with definitions that specify how courses are identified within subject areas, such as A - English, C – math, or E - science. This document details credit type changes beginning 2022-2023.

Assessment Rostering and Precode

• Assessment Rostering Guide Version 25.3 (PDF 1.78 MB) - updated July 22, 2025
  • Precode is assessment-related student information available for testing contractors to pre-populate online testing systems, pre-assign answer documents and test booklets, and generate scannable documents/labels. Schools participating in Precode are generally not required to manually code online sessions and paper documents for related assessments. This guide is a resource for school and district staff responsible for completing the Precode process and is intended to be used in conjunction with the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) Data Entry Manual.

Special Programs Data Entry

• CERDEP PowerSchool Process Change SY2022 (PDF 178 KB) – updated prior to August 1, 2022
  • Activity codes 17520000, 1751SS00, 1751ES00, 17530000, or 17540000 are no longer used to designate “extended” CERDEP services. Districts will use one of two PowerSchool Special Programs enrollments (Regular or Extended Day) to meet data reporting requirements for this purpose. This document outlines these codes.
     
• Coding Course Section Instructional Modality in PowerSchool (PDF 68.28 KB) – updated prior to August 1, 2022
  • This guidance is to assist districts with accurately reporting Instruction Type. All instructional course sections must have the “Instruction Type” field completed to identify On-Site/In-Person and Virtual instruction.
     
• Coding ESSER Special Programs Participation in PowerSchool (PDF 191KB) – updated prior to August 1, 2022
  • Each South Carolina student participating in a targeted intervention supported by ESSER funds must be identified in the PowerSchool Student Information System with the appropriate ESSER Special Programs code and effective dates for the intervention. This document details the steps for coding ESSER participation using Special Programs codes and links to a memo defining ESSER programs.
     
• Coding Student Virtual or Remote Learning Participation in PowerSchool (PDF 72.82 KB) - updated prior to August 1, 2022
  • This document provides instructions for coding student virtual or remote learning participation in PowerSchool using the SBAVRL code for full-time State Board approved virtual programs and the TMPVIR code for students participating in temporary and previously un-planned virtual learning for a designated period of time.

Student Contacts

• Documentation: Parent or Guardian Primary Contacts Ensuring that IsCustodial is Populated for a Contact for Each Student (updated February 2024)

Transcripts

• Updating Transcripts With Legal Name And Gender 2021-2022 (DOCX 1271 KB) – updated December 2021
  • This document details the steps for updating the “Work in Progress” (WIP) and “Final” (FINAL) versions of the State of South Carolina – Standard High School Transcript with legal name and gender.

End of Year

• End-of-Year Data Publishing Process
  • This document serves as a resource for planning your end-of-year processes related to SCDE data collection.

• PowerSchool End-of-Year Process Manual for SC Users Version 2.3 (PDF 406 KB) – updated June 2020
  • The intended audience for PowerSchool End-of-Year Processing (EOY) procedures includes district staff responsible for verifying, correcting, and assuring accuracy of PowerSchool (PS) field data. The PowerSchool End-of-Year Process detailed in this manual is used to close out the current school year and transfer all students to the grade level and school that each will attend during the upcoming school year.

Additional Cheat Sheets and References for PowerSchool Codes

• SC PowerSchool Language Values APR2022 (PDF 77 KB) – updated prior to August 1, 2022
  • The chart in this document is available to assist LEAs with accurately coding certain language fields in PowerSchool.
     
• Proficiency Codes for the Multilingual Learner Program (MLP) – updated 5.14.25
  • This chart provides South Carolina Title III proficiency codes for the Multilingual Learner Program (MLP) which includes Proficiency Level (PL) and related English Language Proficiency (ELP) Assessment Score Criteria, as well as Proficiency Coding and related Post-Reclassification Monitoring & Additional Coding. There is also information in this chart to indicate when ELP Annual Assessment is or is not required.

Office of Student Intervention Services

• School Counselor/Career Specialist Services (IGP Information)
• Incident Management
  • Incident Management Training 101 (2.22MB PPTX)
  • PowerSchool Incident Management Frequently Asked Questions
  • PowerSchool Incident Management-Discipline Incidents Step by Step Guide/Coding Behavior Incident Guide
  • PowerSchool Incident Management-Truancy Incident Step by Step Guide/Coding Truancy Incident Guide
  • PowerSchool Incident Management-User Training and Reference Guide (SEP 2021)

Office of Federal and State Accountability

• English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Guiding Principles

Office of Career and Technical Education

• CATE Data Collection and Reporting
• Diploma Information (Activity Coding Manual, Diploma Ordering, Dual Enrollment, Early Graduates, Transcript Information, Uniform Grading Policy)
• Work-Based Learning Documents

Office of Assessment and Standards

• South Carolina Seal of Biliteracy

Office of Finance

• Manuals, Handbooks and Guidelines (EFA, EIA, Accountability, Pupil Accounting, Funding)