The Progression Plan screen is used to set up progression plans for programs at specific schools, or to set up district-wide progression plans. Progression plans are often used for academies or magnet programs, or to track endorsements (Texas). Progression plans help track students' progress by grade level to ensure they have taken the required courses for graduation. Progression plans can be used to automate the course request process.
1. In the Grades menu, click Progression Plan under the Setup section.
Any existing progression plans are displayed as tabs across the screen.
2. To add a new progression plan, click the + tab.
3. In the blank row next to the plus sign, enter a Program Title.
4. Enter a Short Name for the plan.
The short name is used for data migration; otherwise it is optional.
5. Select Default to make this the default progression plan for newly enrolled students going forward.
Selecting Default on a progression plan does not affect existing students.
6. To create a district-wide progression plan, select District Wide.
District-wide plans are created by the district to apply to all schools. District-wide plans cannot be copied to school-based plans.
For districts that track endorsements (Texas), endorsements must be set up as district-wide plans. The short names for the endorsements must be set up as follows:
Business & Industry, Short Name = E:BI
Public Service, Short Name = E:PS
Middle School Plan, Short Name = MSPlan
In order to use the Middle School Plan, the School Level (schools.custom_100000004) must be set for all schools in Setup > School Information.
7. Click Save.
The progression plan is added as a tab on the screen.
1. Click the + tab.
2. Click the Program Title, Short Name, or Default fields and make the changes as needed.
You cannot edit the District Wide field for a progression plan.
3. Click Save.
1. Click the + tab.
2. Click the delete icon next to the program title.
3. In the confirmation message, click Delete.
Requirements can be added to a grade level in the progression plan using graduation subjects. For example, students in grade 9 must take 1 credit from the English Language Arts graduation subject.
1. Click the tab of the progression plan if not already opened.
2. Locate the grade level you want to add the requirement to.
3. In the blank row next to the plus sign, enter the Name of the requirement.
4. Enter the Number of Credits that is required.
If tracking the number of courses instead of the number of credits, enter the number of courses into this field. In the next step, you will then select the "Courses not credits" check box to designate that Focus should count the number of courses instead of the number of credits.
5. If tracking the number of courses instead of the number of credits, select the Courses not credits check box.
6. Select the Graduation Subject.
7. If desired, select the Default Courses.
When used in conjunction with the "Push Default Courses to Planned Requests" functionality, the default courses selected in this field will populate as planned requests on the student's progression plan for the students assigned to this progression plan who do not have any requests entered. The Default Courses field should only be used if all students assigned to the plan will take the selected course(s) to fulfill the requirement for this grade level.
8. Click Save.
Requirements can be added to a grade level in the progression plan using a custom subject list. This is used when a student can take a course from several different graduation subjects in order to fulfill the requirement. You can create a custom list of courses that will restrict what counselors can select as a course request for students, and what students can select as a course request for themselves.
1. Click the tab of the progression plan if not already opened.
2. Locate the grade level you want to add the requirement to.
3. In the blank row next to the plus sign, enter the Name of the requirement.
4. Enter the Number of Credits that is required.
If tracking the number of courses instead of the number of credits, enter the number of courses into this field. In the next step, you will then select the "Courses not credits" check box to designate that Focus should count the number of courses instead of the number of credits.
5. If tracking the number of courses instead of the number of credits, select the Courses not credits check box.
6. In the Graduation Subjects pull-down, select Custom List at the bottom of the list of options.
7. In the Custom Subject List pull-down, select the courses that fulfill this requirement.
Courses from different graduation subjects can be selected.
8. To limit the courses students can select when entering planned requests on their Progression Plan, select the courses in the Custom List for Students pull-down.
9. Click Save.
The Four Year Requirements section of the progression plan is used to designate the requirements students must complete that are not associated with a particular grade level. If courses must be taken in a specific order, a course sequence can be set on the requirement. A final course can also be designated if the course is mandatory to fulfill the requirement. Using sequences with four year requirements is optional.
1. Click the tab of the progression plan if not already opened.
2. In the Four Year Requirements section at the bottom of the screen, enter the Name for the requirement next to the plus sign.
3. Enter the Number of Credits that is required.
If tracking the number of courses instead of the number of credits, enter the number of courses into this field. In the next step, you will then select the "Courses not credits" check box to designate that Focus should count the number of courses instead of the number of credits.
4. If tracking the number of courses instead of the number of credits, select the Courses not credits check box.
5. Select the Graduation Subject.
6. If you selected Custom List in the Graduation Subject field, select the appropriate courses in the Custom Subject List and Custom List for Students.
7. Select the Sequence of Courses if the courses must be taken in a particular order.
One or multiple course sequences can be selected. For example, for a World Languages requirement, you might have a course sequence for Spanish and a course sequence for French.
8. Click Save to add the row.
9. If one of the courses in the sequence is the final course that must be taken in order to fulfill the requirement, select the Final Course in Sequence. One or multiple courses can be selected. If more than one is selected, the student only has to complete one of those courses.
For example, a progression plan may require students take 3 levels of Spanish. The course sequence dictates the order in which courses must be taken, such as Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3, etc. If Spanish 4 is designated as the Final Course in Sequence, students must complete Spanish 4 in order to fulfill the requirement.
10. Click Save.
Course sequences determine the order in which courses must be taken, such as Spanish 1 must be taken before Spanish 2. Course sequences are used when adding four year requirements.
1. At the top of the Progression Plan screen, click Setup Sequences.
A new tab or window is displayed where course sequences are set up.
2. In the blank row, enter a Title for the sequence.
3. In the Level 1 through Level 5 fields, select the appropriate courses.
A level 1 course must be taken before a level 2 course, a level 2 course must be taken before a level 3 course, etc. One or multiple courses can be selected per level. If more than 1 course is selected for a level, the student only needs to complete one of those courses.
4. Press Enter to add the sequence.
The sequence is auto-saved.
Multiple options can be set up for a progression plan with different grade level or four year requirements for completion. This is useful is there is more than one path that can be taken to complete the requirements for the progression plan. An option can be assigned to all schools or specific schools if the progression plan is district-wide. For example, a district might have a STEM progression plan, for which students might fulfill the Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math options. The Science option might only be available at some schools in the district, while the Math option might be available at different schools.
1. Click the tab of the progression plan if not already opened.
2. Click Add New Option.
The progression plan is divided into two tabs, one for each option. Any existing grade level and four year requirements set up for the plan will display in Option 1.
3. Enter a Title for Option 1.
4. For district-wide plans, select the Schools this option will be available to. Select All Schools or select one or multiple schools.
5. Click Save.
6. Add the grade level and four year requirements to the option as needed.
7. Repeat this process for the other options for the progression plan.
Instead of creating a progression plan from scratch, you can copy the requirements from an existing plan. This is useful if the new progression plan will have many of the same requirements as an existing plan. After copying from an existing plan, the new plan can be tweaked as needed by adding, editing, or deleting requirements.
2. At the top of the new progression plan tab, click the Copy From Another Plan pull-down and select the plan to copy from.
3. Click Save.
4. In the confirmation message at the top of the screen, click Copy.
The requirements from the selected progression plan are copied into the new progression plan as Option 2.
If Option 1 is not needed, click the Option 1 tab and click Delete Option.
5. Add, edit, or delete requirements as needed.
6. Click Save.
Default courses entered for a progression plan can be pushed to planned requests on each student's progression plan. This can be done for particular progression plans, schools, and grade levels.
1. At the top-right corner of the screen, click the Push pull-down and select Default Courses to Planned Requests.
In the For section, All Plans, All Schools, and All Grades are selected by default. Leave these options selected if you want to push default courses to planned requests for all plans, schools, and grade levels.
2. To push default courses to planned requests only for specific plans, click All Plans and select one or multiple plans in the pull-down.
3. To push default courses to planned requests only for specific schools, click All Schools and select one or multiple schools in the pull-down.
4. To push default courses to planned requests only for specific grade levels, click All Grades and select one or multiple grade levels in the pull-down.
5. Click Save.
6. In the confirmation message, click OK.
The default courses are pushed to the students' planned requests on their individual progression plans.
The planned requests entered on individual student progression plans can be pushed to each student's course requests for the next school year for the appropriate grade level.
1. At the top-right corner of the screen, click the Push pull-down and select Planned Requests to Schedule Requests.
In the For section, All Plans, All Schools, and All Grades are selected by default. Leave these options selected if you want to push planned requests to schedule requests for all plans, schools, and grade levels.
2. To push planned requests to schedule requests only for specific plans, click All Plans and select one or multiple plans in the pull-down.
3. To push planned requests to schedule requests only for specific schools, click All Schools and select one or multiple schools in the pull-down.
4. To push planned requests to schedule requests only for specific grade levels, click All Grades and select one or multiple grade levels in the pull-down.
5. Click Save.
6. In the confirmation message, click OK.
The grade level planned requests entered on individual student progression plans are pushed to course requests for the next school year for the appropriate grade level.
The schedule request settings are used to determine when students and counselors are able to edit planned requests on the student's progression plan. The Auto Copy Period can also be set, which determines when edits made by counselors and students to planned requests are automatically pushed to the student's course requests.
1. Click Edit Schedule Request Settings at the top-left of the screen.
2. Enter the Start Date and End Date for the Student Edit Period to determine when students are able to edit planned requests on the student's progression plan.
3. Enter the Start Date and End Date for the Counselor Edit Period to determine when counselors are able to edit planned requests on the student's progression plan.
4. Enter the Start Date and End Date for the Auto Copy Period to determine when edits made by students or counselors to planned requests on the student's progression plan are automatically pushed to the student's course requests.
5. Click Save.
