Technology Resource Guide

The digital application use and purchasing process has been redefined to meet PPS' long-term goals for digital application use. Previously vetted apps may need to be resubmitted. 

New digital application requests take at least two weeks or more to complete as we are at the will of the vendor's responsiveness. Digital applications are reviewed for student data privacy, alignment with our curriculum, compatibility with PPS devices, and network security. 

A review of a digital application is required before the application is used or purchased for the classroom, school, or office. If the app needs to be rostered, it must roster with ClassLink. Contact the Learning Technologies team with any questions at support@pps.net. 

Canvas is available to students in grades 3-12 and all teachers and staff. It is the classroom platform for grades 6-12 and can be optionally used in grades 3-5 and by PPS staff/teachers for professional learning.

Find support resources for desktop computers, projectors, document cameras, printing and more.

The PPS IT Department and Library Services have collaborated to recommend curriculum for teaching digital citizenship concepts. This instruction is aligned with the Oregon Library Standards, Common Core Standards, and ISTE Student Standards. Recommended digital citizenship lessons for each grade level are outlined on the resource page.

The PPS Digital Toolkit is a collection of applications available to PPS students, teachers, and staff. These digital resources are foundational for in-person technology-enhanced instruction. The Digital Toolkit does not include limited licensed applications purchased by individual classrooms or schools.

Most tools can be accessed via the my.pps.net portal. You can find support pages for digital toolkit resources here.

The district's email communication and collaboration solution is provided by Google Workplace for Education. Gmail and Google Calendar currently serve as the District email, calendaring, and contact management platform.

Go to gmail.com to log in with your @pps.net email account.

All PPS staff and students have Google Workplace for Education accounts. This is a suite of collaboration tools, including Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Sites, and more. Google Workspace Apps gives everyone the ability to quickly, and easily, collaborate, create and share documents on any computer or mobile device.

Google for Education: Teacher Center

Google Workspace Learning Center

The IRC is a central resource for the currently adopted curriculum and other instructional materials, including:

• Textbooks
• K-8 Science Kits
• Novel Sets
• DVDs
• Digital Streaming Media

The Service Desk is comprised of a central Call Center located at the PEC and field representatives located at each comprehensive high school who provide on-site support for the high school and the schools in the surrounding geographical area. Support requests for all PPS staff are handled remotely if possible, and referred to the field representative or specialized service team if the Call Center cannot resolve. The Service Desk representatives are responsible for reactive troubleshooting as well as proactive work.

The Service Desk is available Monday through Friday from 7am to 5pm (walk-in hours are 8am to 4pm) to support PPS staff, who can request assistance in one of three ways. Please include as much relevant and specific information as possible so the technician can help more efficiently.

• Submit a request and/or learn more about the PPS Support Portal by visiting the PPS Support Portal.
• Email PPS Support at support@pps.net.
• For high urgency issues, call 503-916-3375.

Employee Self-Service (ESS) is where employees can enter and log leave accruals, timesheets, update contact information, view pay stubs and W2s, and more.

PepperPD is used to track online training and in-person professional development events for PPS staff and contractors.

Securly Classroom is a classroom device management tool that allows teachers to share their screens, view open tabs on student devices, block URLs, or focus student browsing.

Securly Classroom Resource Support Page

Synergy is the Student Information System (SIS) used by secretaries, administrators, and counselors to enroll students, manage discipline, track attendance, produce transcripts, build schedules, and do state reporting.

Synergy resources and support are provided through the PPS Support Portal:

• Search Solution Articles for a wide range of documentation
• Submit support requests
• Track status of previous support requests

The Teacher Dashboard includes teacher-based data and student profiles for General and Special Education Teachers.

The role of the Data Management team includes monitoring the transformation of data from the district’s Student Information System, Human Resources System, and Assessment Vendors into the Data Warehouse. The Data Warehouse data is used as the base for many of the reports and analytics that are produced by the Systems Planning and Performance department as well as the district’s Dashboards which are used by school staff and central administration. Quality information is a prerequisite for sound data-based decisions. The Data Management team also creates and publishes all of the reports and metrics that are available on the district’s Dashboards.

Google Meet is the district standard video conferencing application available to all staff. It allows you to easily create or join face-to-face web conferences with up to 1000 participants. It loads inside your web browser and requires no additional software.

Additional Google Meet Support Documentation

Portland Public Schools uses a Cisco VoIP telephone system for its internal voice communications and integrated with it is an Informacast broadcast system, used for voice broadcast messaging. The phone system uses 5 digits for extension numbers. All extensions begin with a 6, 7 or 8.

PPS staff that have an extension assigned to them will also have a voicemail account. For information about setting up and using your district voicemail account, follow the Voicemail link.

You have several district options for publishing webpages. Teachers may use either PPS Web/Blackboard or Google Sites to create a webpage. Classroom webpages should be linked from the school website.

If you are a PPS Employee and would like to be able to edit your school website, teacher page, or department site please email support@pps.net. Please indicate what site or page you would like editing access to. You will receive an email with next steps.

Google Sites Training & Help

PPS has made the move to a new, more secure wireless network. All PPS-owned devices will have secure permissions to access this network. Personal devices (mobile phones, personal laptops/iPads etc.) should continue to use the default PPS-Wifi-Guest wireless network.