Click each link below for help in using the Infinite Campus Parent Portal:

• FAQ's - General Use and Procedures   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ'S - Family Information Screen   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ's - Student Calendar   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ's - Schedule Screen   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ's Grades Screen(s)   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ's - Attendance Screen   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ's - Fees/Fines Screen   [view the Help Sheet]

• FAQ's - Printable Reports Screen  [view the Help Sheet]

• Health Screen   [view the Help Sheet]

• Browser Settings

FAQ'S: General Use and Procedures

1. View the Portal User Guide.

2. How do I sign up for a Parent Portal account? (revised 2/26/08)

3. When is the Portal opened/closed? (revised 9/10/08)

4. How do I use the Portal screens? I'm not sure what to click. (revised 3/7/08)

5. I don't see all of my children listed on the Portal and/or I see the wrong children listed. What should I do? (revised 2/24/08)

6. I don't see my spouse listed on the Portal. Why not? (revised 2/24/08)

7. Are all Mukwonago School District teachers expected to use Infinite Campus? (revised 5/21/09)

8. Will all of my child's daily homework grades be available for all classes? (revised 2/24/08)

9. How often can I expect information to be updated on Infinite Campus? (revised 5/21/09)

10. Will I still receive official printed report cards each term after the Portal is opened? (revised 2/24/08)

11. Will I still receive official printed mid-term progress reports after the Portal is opened? (revised 5/21/09)

12. What information can I expect to see on the Portal? (revised 2/24/08)

13. How will I learn when the Parent Portal meetings are so I can get my online account? (revised 9/10/08)

14. How was Infinite Campus chosen for this district? (revised 2/24/08)

15. What if I don't have a connection to the Internet? (revised 5/21/09)

16. In the Portal, if I click a web link in the left Index column, am I leaving the Infinite Campus Portal? (revised 3/3/08)

17. Will the students ever receive their own Portal accounts?   (revised 9/10/08)

18. What is the "To-Do List" listed under my child's name? (revised 5/23/08)

FAQ'S: Family Information/Calendar Screen

19. My children are listed incorrectly as a mother or father under the Relationship column! (revised 3/3/08)

FAQ'S: Schedule Screen  (back to top)

20. Where are my child's grades displayed? (revised 3/3/08)

21. Can I see a quick summary of my child's current grades for each class instead of clicking each class individually?  (revised 2/24/08)

22. How do I email my child's teacher from this screen? (revised 2/24/08)

23. Can I email all of my child's teachers at once from this screen?  (revised 2/24/08)

24. At what times do classes start/end at each school?  (revised 2/24/08)

25. What is the timeline of the high school's scheduling process? (PowerPoint show)  (revised 10/08/08)

FAQ'S: Grades Screen(s)  (back to top)

26. Where are my child's grades displayed? (revised 3/3/08)

27. What does a blank cell for any assignment mean? Is it a zero? Is it a missing assignment?  (revised 3/3/08)

28. Can the Portal list the current grades at the top of the page instead of making users scroll through all the grading terms to find current scores?  (revised 3/3/08)

29. Does an assignment with a red "Missing" tag or red "Cheated" tag calculate as a zero?  (revised 3/3/08)

30. I don't always understand the assignment titles. Why don't all teachers use assignment descriptions?  (revised 3/3/08)

31. Why do some teachers use assigned dates AND due dates while others only use due dates?  (revised 3/3/08)

32. Why can't I see percentages and letter grades displayed for every bit of assignment info on the Portal?  (revised 3/3/08)

33. (MHS only) Why aren't semester grades automatically calculated once exam grades are entered? (revised 3/3/08)

34. My child has an elective class in the 2nd/3rd trimester (PVMS) or the second semester (MHS), but the due dates of the assignments are all from the first grading period! What happened? (revised 3/3/08)

FAQ's: Attendance Screen  (back to top)

35. Does the attendance screen accurately display my child's OFFICIAL attendance? (revised 2/24/08)

36. Can you help me understand the color-coding and abbreviations on the attendance screen?  (revised 2/24/08)

37. My son/daughter seems to have an attendance error. What should I do? (revised 2/24/08)

FAQ's: Fees/Fines Screen  (back to top)

38. Why don't I see all of my child's fees and/or fines? What about library fees, sports fees, etc.? (revised 3/3/08)

FAQ's: Printable Reports Screen  (back to top)

39. On what dates do classes/terms start and end at each school?  (revised 3/4/08)

All Frequently Asked Questions
with Answers Included

FAQ'S: General Use and Procedures   (back to top)

How do I sign up for a Parent Portal account?
A: Please click the "Sign Up for a Portal Account" button in the upper right corner of this website (or click the text link at the bottom of the website) and follow all instructions provided. Please note that instructions are also provided at that link for parents/guardians who live out-of-town. p

When is the Portal open/closed?
A: The Portal is open during the school year to all registered users. It will close on June 27, 2008 for the summer and re-open TENTATIVELY on September 22, 2008 after the office has rolled over all records and finalized student info at the beginning of the year. p

How do I use the Portal screens? I'm not sure what to click.
A: Please see our Portal User Guide which explains how each screen should be used.  p

I don't see all of my children listed on the Portal and/or I see the wrong children listed. What should I do?
A: Please contact the district as soon as possible by calling (262) 363-6300 and ask for one of the secretaries in charge of entering Campus Census data. The district creates "households" for the Portal based on the information the family provided on the Data Verification form. While every effort is made to keep all information updated and accurate, the numerous changes in household relationships which occur within a school year can sometimes cause an incorrect relationship to display from time to time.  p

I don't see my spouse listed on the Portal. Why not?
A: This is a canned part of the program that Mukwonago cannot alter. Infinite Campus understands that household relationships can change at any time due to a variety of personal and legal reasons. By requesting that each parent/guardian activate his/her own account, a change in guardianship status for one parent/guardian will not cause any interruption to the Portal account for other parent/guardian. p

Are all MASD teachers expected to use Infinite Campus?
A: Most MASD employees will be on Infinite Campus in some fashion, depending on their job duties. All middle and high school teachers will be taking attendance and reporting homework grades online per Grading Policy JB.  p

Will all of my child's daily homework grades be available for all classes?
A: Primarily, yes.  Exceptions will exist for some classes where the reporting of daily grades is of such a unique nature that it needs to be delivered in a summary fashion online versus a detailed fashion.  In these instances, such as in special ed or co-op type classes, parents are encouraged to communicate with staff via more traditional methods. p

How often can I expect information to be updated on Infinite Campus?
A: Please click Grading Policy JB for details. p

Will I still receive official printed report cards each term after the Portal is opened?
A: Yes  p

Will I still receive official printed mid-term progress reports after the Portal is opened?
A: Once you have applied for an online Portal account, you are encouraged to view term progress via the World Wide Web since the info is available all day, every day.Portal users who still desire printouts of mid-term progress must request so in writing to the principal. Bear in mind that viewing progress online will always be more current than receiving a paper copy since teachers often add new scores to the Portal after printouts are sent home.  If the district has not opened the Portal by the time the first progress report period has arrived, the school will mail home progress reports to all students receiving D's and F's.  Please click on this school board Grading Policy JB for details. p

What information can I expect to see on the Portal?
A: In phases, families should see household demographics, grading info, basic fees/fines, and attendance. p

How will I learn when the Parent Portal meetings are so I can get my online account?
A: Portal Meetings are being phased out because students/parents will likely register for an account during registration.  If a school DOES hold a Portal meeting from time to time, those dates would be advertised on the school's website or on this webpage. Regardless of whether you can attend a meeting, you can still obtain an account without attending a meeting (see question 2 above). p

How was Infinite Campus chosen for this district?
A:  The MASD hung onto an older AS400 system as long as it could, continuing to use it well after most other school districts had moved to systems like SASI XP, PowerSchool, and Chancery.  On February 28, 2007, the old AS400 system ceased, with little warning, to be supported by the contractor. The MASD brought in four of the most prominent companies in student managements systems today. Infinite Campus was chosen by a team of approximately twenty district staff members (representing a cross-section of office staff, teachers, tech staff, and administration) as the best system to address our needs.  p

What if I don't have a connection to the Internet? 
A: Families without Internet access will be provided with hard copies of report card/progress report info on traditional mid-term dates. The district will be gathering info about family Internet accessibility over the next six months. Please see Grading Policy JB for details about receiving printed reports.  p
 

I have difficulty attending a Portal meeting but would like access to my child's grades. What should I do?
A: Parents/Guardians having difficulty attending a Portal meeting can still arrange to obtain a Portal account. You may obtain a Portal account by stopping in to the main office at MHS or PVMS during regular school hours OR by clicking the "Sign Up for a Portal Account" button located at the top of this page and going through a five-step process: (1) Please complete ALL steps specified on the website (includes downloading and printing some forms). (2) After reading the necessary district Portal Policies and Grading Policy, download and print only the Portal Agreement Form. (3) Sign this form in front of a notary public who should sign and seal the form also. (4) Make sure your email is clearly printed on the form and mail it to the following address:

FAQ'S: Schedule Screen

Where are my child's grades displayed?
A: Under your child's name is the SCHEDULE module. Click SCHEDULE and click on the title of the class to view grades for that class.  p

Can I see a quick summary of my child's current grades for each class instead of clicking each class individually?
A: Not at this time. The Infinite Campus structure is one which encourages parents/guardians to more closely study the specific assignment details that comprise their child's course grade. This is done not only in the spirit of helping parents learn more about classroom activities but also to prevent an incorrect or hasty worry about a child's performance due to lack of information. Our district can request that Infinite Campus add a "quick summary" screen, but until the company actively chooses to incorporate such a feature, you will need to click on each class to view your child's progress in that class.  p

How do I email my child's teacher from this screen?

A: Click on the teacher's name which will activate your email program and automatically provide you with the correct email address for the teacher. p

Can I email all of my child's teachers at once from this screen?
A: Unfortunately, Infinite Campus has not built in a mass email feature. The district recommends you copy down the email addresses of your child(ren)'s teachers and use your own computer's email address book to create an "email group."  p

At what times do classes start/end at each school?

A: Class times are listed on each child's Attendance screen underneath each his/her attendance records. p

FAQ'S: Grades Screen(s)

What does a blank cell for any assignment mean? Is it a zero? Is it a missing assignment? 
A: A blank cell is NOT a zero nor does it harm a student's average. Teachers use blank cells differently depending on the scenario (student was absent, student still revising work, student turned in work OK but paper is not yet graded, etc.), so it pays to ask your child's instructors how/when they use the blank cell. Most teachers will put a zero or a "Missing" tag in the cell if the work has a negative mark to it, but again, check with your child's instructors.  p

Can the Portal list the current term grades at the top of the page instead of making users scroll through all the grading terms to find current scores? 

A: Oh, how we wish! This is a "canned feature" beyond our control. Hopefully, Campus will take our suggestion and implement an inverted grades view in the future so users don't have to scroll so much. We've submitted the idea as a feature enhancement. p

Does an assignment with a red "Missing" tag or a red "Cheated" flag calculate as a zero?  
A: Yes! If a teacher has applied the official "Missing" flag or "Cheated" flag (denoted in red on the Portal screen) for an assignment, that assignment is credited with a zero. Missing work also gets listed in the "Missing Assignments" report under the child's 'Reports' module on the Portal. It's important to note that some teachers use the Missing flag even when a student was legitimately absent only because they want the student to understand how his/her grade will be affected if the assignment is not made up. p

I don't always understand the assignment titles, and why are there only a few teachers who use assignment descriptions? 
Please remember that teachers are entering gradebook data amidst a full day of other teaching and coaching/advisorship duties. In spite of their best efforts, they still often run short of the extra time it takes to insert additional assignment detail beyond the title. The Campus "description" tool is an optional field for staff to use, and sadly, entering detailed descriptions often has to give way to the more immediate, instructional needs of the students. Please do not view the lack of a description as laziness or carelessness on the part of the instructors; they are working very hard to accomplish all of the duties their day requires. If you are in need of a specific assignment description and one is not provided, consider emailing the instructor. p

Please explain the varied use of the assigned date AND due date fields among teachers.

A: The gradebook program screen shows "due date" as a mandatory field and "assigned date" as an optional field. Campus is (much to parents' chagrin nationwide) first and foremost an archive of student scores as opposed to a forecast, and many instructors, in spite of their best planning, find their lesson plans are spontaneously altered on a weekly basis for an infinite number of reasons. So, even if a teacher enters an assigned date weeks ahead of time, that date stands a good chance of changing depending on how well the class grasps a concept, the interruption of fire drills, P.A. announcements, teacher illness, field trips, and so on. Thus, it can become difficult to forecast assigned dates to a degree that a parent could comfortably rely on the dates listed. The district will continue to encourage staff to use the assigned date field as often as possible and to double-check the accuracy of the due date field.  In time, as staff become more comfortable with the program, this habit should increase. p

Why can't I see percentages and letter grades for every bit of assignment info displayed on the Portal? 

A: This question is currently under review.  Report cards and progress reports have traditionally never shown percents, and many school districts have found regrettably high levels of problems resulting from showing the percent on the Portal.  Namely: (1) some parents focus exclusively on the percentage of assignments instead of focusing on the POINT VALUE of the assignment. The school gets placed in a defensive position having to explain to an angry parent that three 100% scores on small 10-point assignments alongside a 70% score on a 100-point test still mathematically constitutes a D grade overall. (2) Some parents and/or students angrily demand the student "deserves a rounding up to the next highest percentage" without investigating reasons why the teacher did not choose to round. The school again gets left in a defensive position, having to explain to a parent/student that the student was already given extra credit and an opportunity to earn maximum points but didn't.  By focusing on the point values and letter grades of student work instead of percentages, all Portal users must look more closely at the reason behind a student's overall grade being high or low.  Yet, on the flip side of the coin, the district understands that parents/students are highly interested in knowing just where along a grade range a student sits. This can often motivate students to break that next plateau, etc. and is worth considering.  Please refer back to this FAQ in the months ahead to monitor the discussion.  When the display of the percent becomes unacceptably counterproductive due to widespread hasty conclusions, as as happened in other districts, the tool unfortunately becomes more of a hindrance to users than a help. p

(MHS only) Why aren't semester grades automatically calculated once exam grades are entered?

A: Calculating the final semester grade is a separate programming routine that runs outside of the Portal. You can, however, have your child calculate his/her semester grade using the following formula: (Qtr 1 avg)(.40) + (Qtr 2 avg)(.40) + (Exam avg)(.20). A grading scale is listed on the Portal.  p

My child has an elective class in the 2nd/3rd trimester (PVMS) or the second semester (MHS), but the due dates of the assignments are all from the first grading period! What happened?

A: Instructors who teach elective courses multiple times within a year often copy over the same assignment information from their early grading term gradebooks into their later term gradebooks to wisely save time with data entry. In the copying process, the titles and due dates are automatically carried over. If you see older dates, the instructor probably hasn't adjusted the dates after the copy process finished. If this happens, email the teacher as he/she might not be aware of the date mishap.  p

FAQ'S: Attendance Screen

Does the attendance screen accurately display my child's OFFICIAL attendance?

A: The Portal attendance is always being updated and offers information about a student's whereabouts for a variety of scenarios. Therefore, an "absence" (denoted by an "A") on the Portal might or might not be a part of the student's official record depending on whether the student was absent from class due to a field trip, doctor's excuse, etc. Please consider Portal attendance as more of a reflection of whether your child was actually in his/her CLASSROOM that day. Portal attendance is therefore not considered the student's official record but rather a foundation for investigating a student's whereabouts via discussion, phone calls, etc. p

Can you help me understand the color-coding and abbreviations on the attendance screen?

A: Definitions of the various colors and codes are found on the Portal by scrolling down to the area of the attendance screen underneath each student's attendance record. p

My son/daughter seems to have an attendance error. What should I do?

A: Please wait 3-5 days before taking action. Each school's attendance office deals with hundreds of attendance issues each week, and the staff needs time to (a) verify all absent students' whereabouts, (b) confirm permission from staff/parents/guardians for student to be gone from class, and (c) enter the final resolution into Infinite Campus. In some instances where a student is absent without permission, the process from discovery to resolution in the associate principal's office can take several days to complete. In other situations, an "absence" is simply a case of a student arriving late to class with an approved hall pass from another teacher, but the teacher hasn't yet updated the record because he/she is teaching class.  If the issue is not resolved within 3-5 days, please telephone your school's attendance office. p

FAQ'S: Fees/Fines Screen

Why don't I see all of my child's fees and/or fines? What about library fees, sports fees, etc.?
A: Please note that only common fees can be displayed on the Portal at this time.  Additional fees related to specific classes, library, athletics, etc. are still being handled via those individuals or departments and might not be listed on the Portal. The school district understands parents' desire to have the Portal show all fees, but manpower issues coupled with the diversity in fee schedules/types among various buildings and departments does not make this possible at this time. Please contact your school if you have questions. p

FAQ'S: Reports Screen

On what dates do classes/terms start and end at each school?
A: Please view the district calendar here by clicking http://www.mukwonago.k12.wi.us/district/calendar.htm  p