The Elementary Scheduler screen is used create rosters for homeroom teachers and schedule students into their packages. Students can be manually rostered, or the Optimize option can be used to evenly distribute students based on gender, race, discipline referral history, assessment scores, ESE (special education) status, ELL status, 504 status, and Gifted status.
Before using the Elementary Scheduler, verify the following setup has been completed:
- Students must be rolled into the new school year where scheduling is taking place.
- Students must have an assigned grade level in the new school year.
- Teachers must be scheduled into sections.
- Teacher packages must be set up.
- Ensure the appropriate profiles have View and Edit permissions to the Elementary Scheduler in Users > Profiles.
- In order to determine the teachers that display for each grade level in the Elementary Scheduler, Focus looks for the parent section of each package. The course number of the parent section must be located in a subject folder in Courses & Sections where the short name (e.g. KG, 01, 02) of the subject matches the short name of a grade level in Setup > Grade Levels.
There are three system preferences that must be set in order to use the Elementary Scheduler. These preferences define the state math and ELA tests that are considered by the Elementary Scheduler, as well as the Achievement Level Type. Not setting these preferences will result in a pop-up warning when using the Elementary Scheduler.
Additionally, you may set the preferred term for Special Education in the system preference "Special Education Term for Elementary Scheduler." For Florida districts, ESE is used by default. For other states, SPED is used by default.
See System Preferences for more information on setting system preferences.
Ensure the new school year (the school year you are scheduling) is selected at the top-right of the screen.
1. In the Setup menu, click System Preferences.
2. In the School Preferences or Default School Preferences tab, click the General tab.
The "State Math Test," "State ELA Test," and "Achievement Level Type" system preferences can be set in Default School Preferences or School Preferences. The "Special Education Term for Elementary Scheduler" system preference can only be set in Default School Preferences.
3. Select the State Math Test and State ELA Test that will be considered in the Elementary Scheduler.
Multiple tests can be selected for the math and ELA tests. The system will look at the most recent test administration for the student across all of the selected math and ELA tests.
4. Click Save.
5. Select the Achievement Level Type.
The Achievement Level Type must be the same for all tests selected.
6. Select the Special Education Term for Elementary Scheduler (only located in Default School Preferences > General tab). For Florida districts, ESE is selected by default. For other states, SPED is selected by default.
7. Click Save.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Elementary Scheduler.
Each grade level is its own tab across the top of the screen, as each grade level is scheduled separately. If there are no students in a grade level in the new school year or no teachers assigned to sections within that grade level, the tab will not display. The tabs are labeled using the grade level/subject short names. The order in which the tabs display is based on the sort order for the grade levels in Setup > Grade Levels.
The Class column displays the teachers of the homeroom/parent sections.
The check boxes next to each teacher's name are used to include or exclude the teacher when using the Optimize feature. See Using the Optimize Button to Roster Students for more information.
The Students column displays a blue circle containing the number of students assigned to each class.
The pull-down beneath the grade level tabs allows you to select which factors to consider when distributing students, including Gender, Race, Behavior, ELA Scores (Level), Math Scores (Level), ESE, ELL, 504, and Gifted. Select the desired options. The selected options will display as columns.
The term used for Special Education (Special Education, SPED, ESE, Exceptionality, IDEA) is dependent upon the system preference "Special Education Term for Elementary Scheduler."
The Gender column displays the total number of girls assigned to the class (fuchsia) and the total number of boys assigned to the class (teal).
All grade levels will have the Gender column header selected by default. By default, the distribution at the KG grade level is by Gender only. There is no prior year data to use for discipline or test scores unless the override options are set on the individual student.
The Race column is based on the student's race.
- Green represents Native Hawaiin or Other Pacific Islander
- Yellow represents Asian
- Purple represents American Indian or Alaska Native
- Red represents White
- Blue represents Black or African American
The Behavior column is based on the total number of processed admin referrals plus minor infraction referrals district-wide of all the students assigned to the teacher.
- Green represents no referrals
- Yellow represents 1-2 referrals
- Red represents 3 or more referrals
Distribution of students in grades 1-3 is by Gender, Race, and Behavior only. There is no prior year FSA data to use for test scores unless the override options are set on the individual student.
The ELA Scores (Level) and Math Scores (Level) columns are based on the most recent ELA/MA achievement levels found in the students’ Test History and the test selected in System Preferences setup. This number represents all the students currently scheduled with the teacher. This is based on the previous school year from what is selected in the school year pull-down.
At the elementary school, you may use one test, such as the FSA, for grades 4-5 and another test, such as FLICKERS, for grades 1-3. A student in grade 4 will have both FLICKERS and FSA ELA in test history. When using the Elementary Scheduler, the system will use the most recent administration of any test that has an AL in any of the parts selected. The tests considered by the Elementary Scheduler are selected in System Preferences.
- Green represents level 4 or 5 on most recent ELA/MA test.
- Khaki represents level 3 on most recent ELA/MA test.
- Yellow represents level 2 on most recent ELA/MA test.
- Red represents level 1 on most recent ELA/MA test.
- Gray means there is no data in Focus.
Distribution of students in grades 4-5 will include Gender, Race, Behavior, ELA, and Math scores. Override options can be set on individual students.
The ESE, ELL, 504, and Gifted columns display students in fuchsia if their status is No and in teal when their status is Yes. The ESE status is based on the student field with the alias "primary_exceptionality" for Florida districts.
The term used for Special Education (Special Education, SPED, ESE, Exceptionality, IDEA) is dependent upon the system preference "Special Education Term for Elementary Scheduler."
Hover over a colored dot to view the color's meaning in a tool-tip.
2. Click a column header to view students based on this data element.
For example, when the Gender column header is clicked, all the student blocks at the bottom of the screen are colorized based on the student's gender.
All students are displayed in the Unassigned column until assigned to a teacher.
3. To view student alert icons next to student names, select Show Alert Icons beneath the grade level tabs at the top of the screen.
4. To print the Elementary Scheduler screen, click Print at the top-right of the screen and follow your printer's prompts.
Restrictions can be added to a student to place them in an ideal class to benefit their learning. These can be assigned before or during the scheduling process.
1. Click on a student to add restrictions.
2. In the pop-up window, click Open Student Schedule to open the Student Schedule screen for that student in a new tab.
3. In the Schedule with students pull-down, select one or multiple students this student should be scheduled with. The pull-down includes all other students in the grade level.
When student A is marked to be scheduled with student B, the Elementary Scheduler will automatically flag student B to be scheduled with student A accordingly. The students will have a link icon display next to their name. When hovering over the ion, the paired student(s) will display.
4. In the Schedule away from students pull-down, select one or multiple students the student should not be scheduled with. The pull-down includes all other students in the grade level.
When student A is marked to be scheduled away from student B, the Elementary Scheduler automatically flags student B with student A accordingly. The students will have a broken paper icon display next to their names. When hovering over the icon, the separated student(s) will display.
If you try to place student A with student B, an assignment error will display. This will also display if you try to place student B with student A.
If both students are already scheduled, and you try to set to set this restriction and click Save, an error message will display indicating "Student cannot be moved to a classroom due to separation restrictions. Please update restrictions on (student name) to continue."
5. In the Schedule with teacher pull-down, select the specific teacher to schedule this student with.
When this option is saved, the student is moved automatically to the teacher's list. A lock icon will display. When hovering over the icon, it will list the teacher paired with the student. The restriction will have to be removed to move the student to a different teacher.
6. In the Schedule with away from teacher pull-down, select the specific teacher to avoid scheduling this student with.
The student will have a broken paper icon display next to their name. When hovering over the icon, the message "This student is separated from: (teacher name)" will display.
If you try to place the student with the teacher, an assignment error will display.
If the student is already scheduled with the teacher, and you try to set to set this restriction and click Save, an error message will display indicating "Student cannot be moved to a classroom due to separation restrictions. Please update restrictions on (student name) to continue."
7. In the Override behavior pull-down, select the number of discipline referrals for the student if there is not any referral data for the student in Focus or the referral data needs to be overridden.
When the restriction is set and saved, the student block color will change according to the selection. See Understanding the Layout of the Elementary Scheduler for more information on the color meanings.
8. In the Override ELA Score pull-down, select the achievement level for the student. This might be used if the student has no current test scores in Focus.
When the restriction is set and saved, the student block color will change according to the selection. See Understanding the Layout of the Elementary Scheduler for more information on the color meanings.
9. In the Override Math Score pull-down, select the achievement level for the student. This might be used if the student has no current test scores in Focus.
When the restriction is set and saved, the student block color will change according to the selection. See Understanding the Layout of the Elementary Scheduler for more information on the color meanings.
10. Click Save to save any restrictions set.
While the pop-up window is open, click the left or right arrow to navigate to the previous or next student in the list.
Students can be assigned to teachers manually, or the Optimize option can be used. Manually rostering students allows you the freedom to move students where you want them assigned.
1. Click the appropriate grade level tab.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click the student in the Unassigned column and drag them to the appropriate teacher.
The student counts at the top of the screen are updated as you move students to teachers.
The Schedule Students button at the top of the screen turns red when a student is placed with a teacher. Until this button is clicked, the rosters are saved but the students are not yet scheduled.
3. To move a student to a different teacher, click and drag the student to the appropriate teacher.
4. To undo rostering the student, click and drag the student back to the Unassigned column.
5. Click Schedule Students to add the packages to the students' schedules.
If students are moved around to different teachers after Schedule Students is clicked, you must click Schedule Students again after moving the students in order to update their schedules. If the school year has not yet begun, the previous student schedule will be deleted and the new schedule added. If the school year has already begun, the previous schedule will be dropped and the new schedule added.
6. Repeat this process until all students are scheduled, and continue to other grade levels.
Instead of manually placing students with teachers, the Optimize button will evenly distribute the students to all teachers based on gender, race, behavior, and assessment scores. The ESE status, ELL status, 504 status, and Gifted status can also be considered. Restrictions set on students are considered. This process is done one grade level at a time. Any students who have been manually rostered with a teacher will remain with that teacher during the Optimize process unless manually moved back into the Unassigned column.
1. At the top of the screen, deselect any teachers that should not be included when optimizing student assignments. Students will be evenly distributed to the other selected teachers.
2. Click Optimize at the top of the screen.
The students are distributed to all the grade level teachers whose check boxes are selected.
The Optimize feature takes into account classroom total seats. Some students may be left in the Unassigned column if there are not enough seats available amongst all the teachers.
The Schedule Students button at the top of the screen turns red. Until this button is clicked, the rosters are saved but the students are not yet scheduled.
3. At the top of the screen, click the Gender, Race, Behavior, ELA Scores (Level), Math Scores (Level), ESE, ELL, 504, or Gifted columns to change the colors on the student blocks and view how students are distributed based on this data.
4. If needed, manually reassign students by clicking and dragging them to different teachers.
5. To undo Optimize and return all students back to the Unassigned column, click Undo Optimize.
Any students who were manually rostered before the Optimize process will remain displayed beneath the assigned teacher. You can drag and drop those students back into the Unassigned column, if needed.
Undoing Optimize does not unschedule students if Schedule Students was previously clicked. The most recent schedules will remain. You can manually re-arrange students or re-use the Optimize feature and then click Schedule Students again to update their schedules.
6. Click Schedule Students at the top of the screen to add the packages to the students' schedules.
