Focus will report each student receiving instruction/service during that reporting period plus any student with a Discipline or Fed State record. Focus will send Homeschool students if they are concurrently enrolled at a district school receiving instruction.
Full time virtual school students must be enrolled and be scheduled in the Florida/districts virtual schools set up in Focus.
Focus will report a separate record for each course for which the student in grades PK-12 is in membership, whether the student is FTE eligible or not.
FTE calculations depend on the type of summer program. If the student is attending a DJJ program or is in a funded ESY program, the FTE is based on the following formula:
(Weekly minutes / days meeting in the week) * days in session / (900 * 60).
900 is used for upper grade levels. Primary grade levels will use 720.
FTE for virtual school instruction is based on the grade level:
KG-5: up to 1 FTE is awarded for each student successfully being promoted to the next grade level.
6-8: up to 1 FTE is awarded to each student who successfully completes assigned classes (1/12 FTE per semester successfully completed)
9-12: up to 1 FTE is awarded to each student who earns credit in course work (1/12 FTE per .5 credits earned)
Focus will report a separate record for each combination of Course Number, Section Number, Period Number, Term, and Social Security Number.
Focus will not report sections containing no (0) students.
Focus will report any PK-12 student who has an Exceptionality, and/or a Primary code other than Z, who also maintains a placement status of P or T.
Focus will report any PK-12 student in membership during survey week who is assigned to a school bus, passenger car, or other vehicle.
In addition, Focus will report a Student Transportation format: students only transported to another district to receive instruction.
Focus Process
1. Transportation only students are enrolled in their own school. This is set up via the School pull-down on the student's Enrollment record. There is a special school (TRAN) that is set up to enroll students who are only being transported to another district and not actually taking any courses within the current district.
2. Focus will extract the hosting/transporting district number for the element District Number, Current Instruction/Service, and the number of the district supplying the instruction in District Number, Current Enrollment. (Students > Student Info > Demographic > Transportation tab > Transportation Only Student, District of Instruction field).
3. If a student was not transported during the FTE window transportation, information does not have to be removed. You can select the check box to exclude them from the transportation extract via the Transportation tab (Students > Student Info > Demographic tab > Transportation tab > Student was not Transported During FTE Window field).
If the checkbox is selected, the student will not be pulled into the Survey; however, if it is left cleared, the student will be pulled into the Survey.
The Virtual K-8 FTE Calculation Method (Survey 4) district option allows a given district to specify how they would like their FTE to be calculated for their K-8 virtual students during survey 4. Through district and internal discussion, Focus has created this district option based on interpretations of the FTE General Instructions Manual.
Please see the explanation of each option below and be sure to discuss this as a district to determine which option works best for your district.
When a district option is set and saved via Florida Reports > Florida Reports Setup > District Options, this sets all of the district options again. It is important that each district goes in and sets the option that they believe fits them best to avoid unwanted option settings for this district option.
1/6 FTE
When this option is selected, the student’s schedule record will be awarded ⅙ FTE. This FTE is awarded per credit. For a full year (FY) course, the given record would be awarded ⅙ FTE (0.1667), and for a semester (S1/S2) course, the given record would be awarded 1/12 FTE (0.0834). This pertains to passing grades that are entered for a given student.
FTE General Instructions Manual: “The amount of FTE reported for the successful virtual course completion should be reflective of the student’s schedule. Report full-year virtual courses with 1/6 FTE (0.1667) and semester virtual courses with 1/12 FTE (0.0834).”
Minutes
If this option is selected, the student’s schedule record will be awarded FTE based solely on minutes. This will be comparable to the calculations as seen in the FTE General Instructions Manual, for the applicable grade of the student being considered. This pertains to passing grades found in course history for a given student, where Focus will look at the ‘Class Minutes Weekly’ schedule field that is linked back to the grade.
FTE General Instructions Manual: “The amount of FTE reported for the successful virtual course completion should be reflective of the student’s schedule. Report full-year virtual courses with 1/6 FTE (0.1667) and semester virtual courses with 1/12 FTE (0.0834). However, grades K-8 may report minutes and FTE that would be comparable in the brick and mortar course.”
This is the option that Focus will utilize by default if nothing is set for the district option; however, the district should be selecting and saving their desired option.
Minutes or ⅙ FTE (Whichever Highest)
When this option is selected, Focus will evaluate both of the above options and utilize whichever option outputs the highest FTE earnings.