Performance Matters: A Comprehensive Guide to the Student Portal

In today's educational landscape, data-driven insights are crucial for improving student outcomes. Performance Matters by PowerSchool is a leading K-12 assessment and analytics platform designed to help teachers and administrators track student performance, create standards-aligned assessments, and use AI-driven insights to improve learning outcomes. Performance Matters is a web-based assessment and analytics platform provided by PowerSchool. This guide provides a detailed overview of Performance Matters, focusing on its features, functionalities, and how to maximize its potential.

Introduction to Performance Matters

Performance Matters isn’t just a data collection tool - it also leverages artificial intelligence to turn student assessment data into actionable insights. The platform uses predictive analytics to identify learning gaps, recommends next steps for instruction, and even updates item difficulty scores based on student performance trends. Performance Matters works by connecting student assessment data directly to your school’s PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS). Teachers create assessments using built-in item banks or custom questions, and students complete the tests through the Performance Matters Student Portal.

Accessing Performance Matters

For Staff

If you have access to PowerSchool or PowerTeacher, you already have access to Performance Matters. Performance Matters is a Data reporting tool for your school and classroom, allowing you to quickly see academic and behavioral trends. To access Performance Matters, locate the square with a diagonal arrow pointing out. Click on it to open a menu from the right side, then click on the Performance Matters link. Once you are in Performance Matters, you will see a dashboard with the access that you are allowed (teachers see their classroom, Principals see their buildings, Administration can see the district).

Test History Portal (THP) for Families

The Performance Matters Test History Portal (THP) allows families to view their student’s ACPS and Virginia assessment history across current and prior school years. To log in:

Login to THP portal. You will see the Performance Matters title box.
Password: enter your password.
- Note: if you are logging in for the first time, you will need to select the “Need password?” option below the Login button.

After logging in, you will see the student information at the top. The first tab, “Student Detail,” displays the student’s schedule and attendance. The “State Results” tab displays state data as well as reporting categories, showing all historical state data available in the platform. In the “Additional Results” tab, you will find all other results for assessments given. You can also filter these out by the year, as well as the assessment.

Read also: Learn about CPPLP Certification

Key Features and Reports

Performance Matters offers a variety of reports and tools to analyze student data effectively.

Baseball Card Report

If you click on the "Reports" link in the upper left, you will have access to a few types of reports. The first one listed is the Baseball card report. Here you can select what data you would like to display for your students (note: Elementary Standards are under the "Generic" folder). You can select as many as metrics as you would like. You can adjust what scores you see by clicking on the color swatches in each of the columns to remove or add whichever score range you would like.

Scoreboard Report

The next report is the Scoreboard report. This gives you a building by building view with the ability to drill down into classrooms or even view individual students. Like the Baseball card report, you can add whichever metrics you would like to display and then alter the display by clicking on the color swatches in each column.

Student Detail Report

The third report is the Student Detail report. Here you can focus on information for each individual student and see what areas they are excelling at or what areas may need more support. You can also see what previous years' data shows for the student. By entering a student’s name and clicking the blue bar titled “Go to student detail”, you land on the Student Details page. On the left select the Resource folder to drill down to the data you want added to the report on the right. Check the boxes next to the data. If you want the report to display a select group of students, select Add Student Filter to narrow (Restrict) your selection. Click the “x” in the top right corner of any column header to delete the column of data.

Sharing and Downloading Reports

Once you have created a report in either the Baseball Card or Scoreboard view, you can save and share with others. You should have a download button on both that will save to excel a copy of what you have worked on. There is also a sharing button. This will only allow those that have access to see what you see. If you created a report and wanted to share it with other teachers, it would show the same report, but with that teachers students.

How Performance Matters Enhances Education

Actionable Insights

Comprehensive Data Analysis

Performance Matters allows users to guide instruction by using relevant data, and measure outcomes with data-driven insights that reflect the impact on student outcomes. Analytics brings assessment data together with other performance indicators such as attendance and discipline for a holistic view of each student. Analytics also contains early warning indicators that can alert staff to the need to intervene.

Assessment Management

Build and manage assessments for every need with pre-built, district and teacher created test items. With PowerBuddy for Assessment, you can easily generate assessment questions and write questions for any standard or subject. Make assessment easier and more actionable with Performance Matters. Easily administer both classroom level and common district assessments to identify instructional opportunities with sophisticated analyses of assessment results and whole-child student metrics.

Dynamic Data Boards

Through tools like the Baseball Card and Scoreboard, educational leaders are able to dynamically create digital data boards and share them with the knowledge that each person they share it with only sees the students they have permission to.

Troubleshooting

Login Issues

How do I login to Performance Matters? Students and teachers log in via their school district’s Performance Matters portal, usually using the same credentials they use for other PowerSchool systems. You can access the student portal by navigating to your district’s Performance Matters link and signing in with your district-provided username and password. Having trouble logging into the Test History Portal? Need details on an assessment? If you are logging in for the first time, you will need to select the “Need password?” option below the Login button.

Read also: Understanding the CPLP

Performance Issues

Why is Performance Matters not working or loading slowly? Common causes include outdated browser cache, unsupported browser versions, scheduled maintenance, or network connectivity issues.

Supported Browsers

What browsers are supported by Performance Matters? The platform works best on the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox.

Security Measures

Performance Matters is dedicated to protecting your students’ data with a comprehensive security program that starts with “secure by design” principles at the inception of our products and extends through third-party penetration testing, robust cloud security, and a fully staffed 24x7x365 Security Operations Center. Our products are independently validated by third-party auditors, ensuring your data is always protected with PowerSchool.

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