Academic Years, Calendars, and Grading Periods at the District Level
6/17/24
Over time we’ve worked to improve district-level management of information. Last summer we released District Admin Permissions and Attendance and Discipline Codes. We release bigger changes in the summer because it reduces disruption to customers.
This summer we released a similar upgrade to Academic Years, Academic Calendars, and Grading Periods. Data for all schools is now visible at the district level (in addition to being available at the school level too). District-level Admins can manage all schools’ data in one place, without needing to “goto” each school.
The software benefits from our new framework. Columns can be sorted and filtered. Rows expand to show additional details. Adjacent pages (create, edit, etc.) slide out, instead of redirecting to a new page. This allows users to make modifications without losing their context.
We’ve also added management flexibility. Historically users selected “District Managed” or “School Managed” for each entity. If “District Managed,” school Admins couldn’t modify any rows, which promoted standardization. If “School Managed,” school-level admins could make changes, but data often became chaotic. We moved this setting down to individual rows by adding new “Level” and “Availability” columns. District Admins can create district-level rows, which can’t be modified by schools and standardizes data across the district. School-level rows can also be created, to give schools flexibility for their building-specific needs.
Academic Years
The first entity we modified is Academic Years. Users can see district- and school-level academic years all in one place. Admins can manage all the years together.
Notice that the district page shows which years exist at each building. Status can be set for buildings individually, adding flexibility not previously available. School Admins (with proper permissions) can change the status for their school, without impacting the rest of the district. This greatly reduces friction when scheduling or end of year closeouts don’t match across buildings.
District Admins have a district-wide view, and can manage schools individually, or mass configure. Having all the information in a single place removes the need to navigate to individual buildings or complete duplicative workflows.
Academic Calendars
Similarly Academic Calendars are now available at both the district- and school-level.
One point to highlight is that calendars are often organized by school type. All elementary schools will typically share a common calendar. Middle school(s) may share a different one. The high school likely has unique calendars as well.
The “Level” and “Availability” selections make this easy to manage. To serve elementary schools, users can create a district-level calendar, and make it available to all the elementary schools.
This can be done with “Set of Schools” or “School Type” selections.
Calendars have always supported individualized notes per school, which are communicated to parents through the portal. Each building can run their own events without coordinating across the district. This long standing feature continues to be supported after the upgrade.
Grading Periods
Similarly Grading Periods are now available at the district- and school-level.
Admin permissions give districts the flexibility to choose who can modify the active/closed states for grading periods. Districts can manage this centrally or distribute access to individual schools, whatever is preferred.
We’re excited to provide better district-level management and hope you like the new features. Later this summer we expect to release district-level versions of Lunch Meals/Food Items and Fees. Keep an eye on our news for updates.
The Common Goal Team
