Counselor
Focus has several features designed to assist with tracking and monitoring the academic progress and graduation readiness of students. The Graduation Requirements Report is the most widely used and can be used to track an individual or group of students. Student grades, attendance, and referrals can all be monitored by counselors through various reports.
The Grad tab is associated with the Graduation Requirements Report. In order for this report to display, the Graduation Requirement Program field must be specified on the Enrollment tab (not to be confused with the state reportable Graduation Plan field on the Graduation category).
1. Click the Students menu, and select Student Info.
2. Conduct a student search, and select the applicable student.
3. Click the Grad tab at the top of the screen.
4. Select the appropriate Marking Period, which defaults to Course History.
5. Select the Effective Date, which defaults to the current date.
6. Click Evaluate other programs to see if the student would benefit from a different program.
The screen displays the GPA, Class Rank, Cohort information, and information about whether the student has met assessment and community designations.
The Grad tab displays which Graduation Subjects the student has completed, is in the process of completing, or has yet to attempt.
The last sections display the student’s eligibility for Merit, Scholar, and Biliteracy Seal.
Counselors can track any contact with students via these logging fields as well as upload student-specific files to the student’s record. These are viewable by administrators and counselors only.
1. Click the Students menu, and select Student Info.
2. Conduct a student search, and select the applicable student.
3. Click the Counselor Notes category.
4. Enter data in the top row to submit new information.
5. Press the Enter/Return key and/or Save.
Community Service Hours
This allows for student community service hours to be recorded within Focus.
1. Enter/Select the Community Service School, Community Service Date, Community Service Hours, and Community Service Activity that the student has accumulated.
There is a process to calculate the Number of Community Service Hours based on the Community Service Hours column in the logging field.
2. Press the Enter/Return key and/or Save.
Other Graduation Options
Verify the Year Entered Ninth Grade as the cohort year of the student. This field may auto-populate based on the student’s enrollment record.
Verify the Graduation Plan, which is the state reportable field that designates the diploma the student will receive. This is a local field and is not associated with the Graduation Requirement Program field on the Enrollment record.
Most of these fields are view-only and will populate as other data on the student’s record is entered or updated via any processes that run in the background.
- Record a student meeting in the Counselor Notes.
- Fill in community service hours for a student.
These reports help to analyze grades.
The Honor Roll Report displays the students who have earned placement on the Honor Roll, based upon their grading period grades and according to the Honor Roll criteria. The honor roll types entered in the Honor Roll Setup will populate in the Honor Roll report under the Grades menu.
1. Go to the Grades menu and select the Honor Roll report.
2. Use the Marking Period pull-down to select the semester, quarter, or full year honor roll report.
3. To include additional student fields in the report, select the desired field(s) from the Additional Fields pull-down. The fields available in the pull-down are determined by your profile permissions.
4. The Active Students Only check box is selected by default. When selected, only students active as of the end date of the selected marking period are included on the report. Deselect the check box to include all students.
5. Click Run Report.
Turn on the Filter to find a specific student, grade, or honor roll type.
Sort the columns by clicking on the column headers.
The Excel icon can be used to download the report to an Excel spreadsheet.
Click the Printer icon to print or save a pdf of the report.
Use the Page Size to adjust the number of records that display per page.
There are several options for viewing this report. When viewed for multiple students, the report will display columns with the weighted and unweighted GPAs and class ranks of each student in the report. When viewed for an individual student, the report displays the student’s academic (course) history of grades and earned credits in addition to GPA, class rank and assessment status for State Assessments/Progress Monitoring, EOCs and online course requirements.
1. Go to the Grades menu, and select Final Grades, GPA, & Class Rank.
2. Conduct a student search.
The screen defaults to the Course History marking period tab. Counselors can select to view the report by the current marking period, semester or full year.
3. Click on any student's name to view the individual student’s Course History.
The report will default to the Grade Summary which shows any posted or current gradebook grades or the Detailed Report, whichever was the last screen most recently viewed.
The Grades Summary displays GPA stats, Class Rank, Total Credits Earned/Attempted, and Cohort Year.
The Grades Summary displays dates for EOC and FSA assessments if passed and whether the Online Course requirement has been met along with any other custom district information.
4. Click View Detailed Report view the student’s actual Course History record.
The Detailed Report displays the following information:
- Marking Period tabs allow for viewing posted grade history by the selected tab, such as Course History, Semester 1, Full Year, etc.
- As of date is the last date the grades record was updated.
- Total number of grades in the report displays below the GPA information box.
- View Grades Summary link returns to the class schedule view with posted and/or current gradebook grades.
- Transcript pull-down allows for printing an unofficial transcript using district letterhead for the student whose record is open. Official transcripts are submitted via FASTER.
- Show [State] Fields displays additional state fields applicable to the district.
Sometimes it is necessary to download or print transcripts for a group of students. The transcript can be printed from Course History or there is a default one-page transcript that can be created. Transcripts can include Test History and/or the Graduation Requirements Report.
1. Go to the Grades menu and select Transcripts.
2. Use More Search Options to select the group or paste student IDs from an excel spreadsheet into the search bar.
3. Users with edit permission may have the ability to select from multiple lists of printing options from the right side of the screen. Most users will only see a limited number of options to Include on the Transcript that affect appearance.
4. Select a Letterhead Template from the pull-down.
5. Click Continue.
6. On the search results screen, check the box in the header to select all students or check relevant students individually.
7. Click Generate Transcripts.
8. Click the download arrow to save the group of transcripts to a file.
The Graduation Requirements Report provides an overview of student progress towards satisfying graduation requirements based upon their cohort year and/or assigned graduation requirement program. The report can be viewed for multiple students at one time or for an individual student.
1. Go to the Grades menu and select Graduation Requirements Report.
2. Click More Search Options to select a grade level or other criteria to identify a group of students, paste a list of student IDs from an excel spreadsheet in the Search bar or use the Student Groups pull-down if groups are in use.
3. Click Search after selecting criteria.
4. Click Search Screen to return to enter new search criteria.
5. Select the desired Marking Period, such as Full-year Grades, Semester Grades, etc. The default marking period is the Course History tab.
6. Change the Effective date, if applicable.
7. Select a different Graduation Program to see the students’ progress towards a different program.
8. Required subjects and the number of credits display as column headers. Math, Reading, and EOC Assessment Status shows the dates the requirement was met.
9. Green check marks, hourglass, and numbers all represent the student’s progress within the Graduation Subject in the column header.
An integer indicates the number of required credits remaining to earn. Hover over the integer to see if the student is currently enrolled in an applicable course.
A green check means the student has met the credit requirement for that subject. Hover over a green check to see the course(s), grade(s), term and credit(s) earned in the subject.
A green check with an hourglass indicates the student is currently enrolled in a course that, if passed, will fulfill the credit requirements for that subject. Hover over the cell with the hourglass to view the course in progress as well as the completed courses.
Alert icons will appear beside student names while in the list view.
10. Check the relevant students and select Print at the bottom of the screen to print this report for the selected students.
The Promotion Requirements Report provides an overview of middle school student progress towards satisfying promotion requirements based upon their middle school class credits. The report can be viewed for multiple students at one time or for an individual student.
1. Go to the Grades menu and select Promotion Requirements Report.
2. Click on More Search Options to select a grade level or other criteria to identify a group of students, paste a list of student IDs from an excel spreadsheet in the Search bar or use the Student Groups pull-down if groups are in use.
3. Click Search after selecting criteria.
4. Click Search Screen to return to enter new search criteria.
5. Select the desired Marking Period, such as Full-year Grades, Semester Grades, etc. The default marking period is the Course History tab.
6. Change the Effective date, if applicable.
7. Check the relevant students and select Print at the bottom of the screen to print this report for the selected students.
Alert icons will appear beside student names while in the list view.
The numbers displayed represent the number of courses/subjects required for Middle School Promotion.
If students took High School credit courses and the applicable EOC exams, the assessment pass date will populate in addition to a total number of credits.
This report tracks the name, date of administration, school year, grade level and scores earned on every test logged in Focus. The Test History Report allows counselors to compare groups of students based on a single test’s performance data.
1. Go to Assessments menu and select Test History Report.
2. On the Test History Report search screen, select a specific assessment.
3. Use More Search Options, enter a list of student IDs or select from the Student Groups (if enabled) pull-down to locate the group of students then click Search.
4. On the resultant screen, select Show Most Recent Administrations to reduce the number of records returned per student.
5. Select Test Not Taken to find all the students that have yet to take the selected test.
6. Use the Options pull-down to display results by Show all Administrations, Show Most Recent Administrations, or one of the highest scale scores.
7. Select the applicable Display Score Types check boxes to determine the scores displayed.
The report automatically refreshes after a box is deselected. Deselect one box at a time.
8. Click on the student name to view individual Test History records.
9. Click Create Report to save the selected settings and results as an Advanced Report.
- Select a test from the Test History Report.
- Use More Search Options to set criteria to find a specific group of students to pull into the report results.
- Select the Most Recent Administration of the assessment.
- Choose the score types to display in the report
- Filter the report on one of the column headers.
Attendance letters are generated at the school level. The following triggers have been put into place to generate letters: 10 Days Excused and 5 Days Unexcused in a 30-day rolling calendar.
1. Go to the Students menu and select Letter Queue.
2. Modify the Report Timeframe as applicable.
3. Select the applicable student(s) and one of the following options:
a. Click Delete to remove the letter.
b. Click Preview to view the letter in a new window.
c. Click Print Without Adding Log Entries to generate a PDF to print or save.
d. Click Print Letters & Add Log Entries to generate a PDF to print or save and add a record of the sent letter to the Letter Logging category in Student Info (Recommended).
Perfect Attendance
The Perfect Attendance report generates a list of students who have perfect attendance within a selected Threshold (number of absences) and Timeframe.
1. Go to the Attendance menu and click on Perfect/Excessive Attendance.
The report defaults to the Perfect Attendance tab.
2. Select a Threshold from the provided pull-down. To display students that have 0 daily absences, leave the defaulted selection. To change the data and display students that have a different number of daily absences, select the corresponding number of absences.
3. The Perfect Attendance report includes a Timeframe pull-down at the top of the report. Only Attendance data within this Timeframe will populate the report. You can select the entire School Year, the 2nd 9 Weeks, Month to date, Last 30-90 days, or create a Custom Timeframe.
4. To display a teacher for a specific period on the report, select the appropriate period from the Show Teacher pull-down.
5. You also have the option to Ignore Excused Absences by selecting the corresponding check box.
6. Click Go to generate the report.
Excessive Attendance
The Excessive Attendance report generates a list of students who have excessive attendance within a selected Threshold (number of absences) and Timeframe.
1. Click the Excessive Absences tab and use the pull-downs to set criteria.
2. Click Go.
This report identifies students by the number of referrals they have accrued. The School Counselor can select a timeframe over which to view the data as well as the minimum number of referrals. In addition, More Search Options can be used to view data for a specific group of students.
1. Go to the Discipline menu and select Students with Referrals.
2. On the search screen, enter a student name or ID, click More Search Options to select criteria for a group of students or select a Student Group if enabled.
3. Click Search.
4. Use the Display Students with at least pull-down to change the number of referrals.
The page automatically updates to display the changes.
5. Use the Report Timeframe calendar fields to adjust the date range viewed.
6. Click Go to update the page.
7. Click on a student name to view that student’s discipline history.
This report displays graphical representations of discipline data based on the fields on the referral form. The report can be viewed as a Column (bar graph), Pie Chart or List. The report allows for cross-referencing the discipline data against student demographics such as gender, ethnicity and even program participation.
1. Go to the Discipline menu and select Category Breakdown.
2. Click on the pull-down to select the category of data to view (referral form field).
3. Clicking Advanced displays a pop-up with the Focus student search screen to enter criteria for a specific subgroup of students.
4. Use the calendar fields to select a Report Timeframe. The report defaults to show the first day of school to the current date. Click the Go button if changing dates.
5. Use the Breakdown Further? pull-down to select any student field in Focus.
6. Click Download to save/print the report as a PDF document (Column and Pie Chart view) or as an Excel spreadsheet (List view only).
Advanced Reports are typically created with a specific subgroup of students in mind who meet a specific set of criteria. The user selects specific fields of data that may change over time to include as columns in the report. The report updates with the most current data if there were changes since the last time it was run. Advanced Reports roll from school year to school year until the user deletes them.
1. Go to the Students menu and select Advanced Reports.
2. Define the subgroup of students by clicking More Search Options and making selections.
3. Define the data that will populate the columns in the report from Available Fields.
4. Click General to expand the tab to select demographic fields such as student name, ID, grade level, etc.
Continue to click on the tab names to find and select the data fields that are to be included in the report. Optionally, use the Filter box to enter text for quick searching.
5. Select the Fields to Include in Report to display the order of the columns in the report.
6. Rearrange the fields to include in the report by clicking and dragging the blue field boxes in the order the columns should appear in the report.
7. The field boxes can be deleted by clicking the red X or by dragging them back to the left.
8. Click the Run Report button. Like other reports in Focus, the heading in each column can be clicked to re-sort the data.
9. To save the report, click Create Report at the bottom of the screen next to Print.
10. Once the report has been run, click Modify Report at the top left of the screen to return to the previous screen and modify the parameters of the Advanced Report.
When modifying the report, all criteria set through the More Search Options feature will need to be reentered/reselected.
The results of an Advanced Report can also be downloaded and saved as a static report prior to clicking “Create Report.” To download, simply click on the Excel icon that displays in the header next to the total number of students.