Course Setup and Requests
Secondary level schools typically use student Course Requests to drive the decision-making for building the Master Schedule. Focus allows for requests to be entered en masse through Automated Course Requests, individually, students can enter their own requests or teachers can enter student requests. Once requests have been entered, the built-in Requests reports can be viewed to verify and edit the requests before running the scheduler.
Prior to creating or editing Subjects, Courses, and Sections for scheduling purposes, ensure that the following parameters are accurate for the school, even though most are set by the district:
- The upcoming school year (not the current school year) is selected from the corresponding pull-down.
- The dates for the Attendance Calendar and Marking Periods reflect the next school year.
- The Periods and Rooms used for scheduling have been selected.
In addition to verifying the parameters outlined above, it is necessary to confirm that all courses being offered by the school have been set up and assigned to the appropriate subject. Subjects and Courses are housed under Courses & Sections in the Scheduling menu, and it may be helpful to think of this set up as a filing cabinet. Some districts have defined naming conventions for the Subject categories and may have completed this part of the setup for all schools.
The Subjects setup is the basis for building the sections offered for each course. It is simply a way to organize the courses for quick navigation when building student schedules. In the filing cabinet scenario, the Subjects would be the drawers within the Courses & Sections filing cabinet.
If the district has not pre-set the Subjects and Courses for the schools, all courses may be housed in a Subject labeled All Courses or Non Credit and will need to be moved. If this is the case, subjects will need to be added (if not currently in place) before the courses can be moved.
1. At the bottom of the Subjects list, click the + icon.
2. In the New Subject fields at the top of the screen, enter a Title for the subject.
3. Enter a Short Name for the subject.
The Vocational Program Number, Total Hours for Program, and Required Percentage of Hours Attended fields are not applicable, as they are used for post-secondary education.
4. Click Save.
The new subject is added to the Subjects list.
Subjects that are no longer being offered can be deleted as long as there are no courses in the Subject. If there are courses, move those (see next section) to another Subject or create one if necessary before deleting the old subject.
1. Click the subject in the Subjects list.
2. At the top of the screen, click Delete.
3. In the confirmation message, click Delete.
The subject is removed from the Subjects list. If there are courses and sections within the subject, a warning message will display indicating the courses and sections must be removed first before deleting the subject.
Each Course is adopted from the district Course Catalog. In the filing cabinet scenario, the Courses would be the folders within the Subject drawer in the Courses & Sections filing cabinet.
If the Course Catalog is being used, be sure that any new courses being offered have been added by the district. Course fields that the district sets at the Course Catalog level are typically locked for users at the Courses & Sections level.
1. Click the subject in the Subjects list that will house the new course.
2. At the bottom of the Courses list, click the + icon.
3. In the New Course fields at the top of the screen, select the course from the Search pull-down. To quickly locate a specific course in the list, enter the full or partial course name or number in the filter box at the top of the pull-down. The list of courses will filter. Select the desired course.
Alternatively, enter the Course Number. If the Course Catalog is enabled, the Course Number field will be red and will remain red until a valid course number is entered. Begin typing a course number to locate a specific course. As numbers are typed, a list of corresponding courses matching the numbers will display. Click the desired course or enter the full course number. The course number can contain up to 50 characters. If the "Max Course Num Length" system preference is set, then the Course Number field will only allow the number of characters set in the preference.
Once the Course Number is entered, the Title field will auto-populate based on the Course Title defined in the Course Catalog (if enabled). If an invalid number is entered, the Course Number field will remain red and you will not be able to add the course.
4. If applicable, fill out the rest of the course fields:
Any course fields defined in the Course Catalog will auto-populate and cannot be edited. If no value is set in the Course Catalog, the field will be editable.
Title: Enter the title of the course.
Prerequisites 1, Prerequisites 2, Prerequisites 3: If students must successfully complete other courses before enrolling in this course, select the prerequisites in the pull-downs. Selecting multiple courses in one pull-down represents an “OR” relationship. Selecting a course in each pull-down represents an “AND” relationship.
Graduation Requirements Subject, Graduation Requirements Subject 2, Graduation Requirements Subject 3: Select the graduation subject for the course. Graduation subjects are set up in Grades > Graduation Requirements > Graduation Subjects tab. Up to three graduation subject areas can be defined for a course. This is used by the Graduation Requirements Report to determine if a student has met the graduation requirements for his/her assigned graduation program. When a student successfully completes a course, the system will check the first Graduation Requirements Subject. If the student has already met the requirements for the first Graduation Requirements Subject, the system will check the Graduation Requirements Subject 2 field, and so on. If the student has met the graduation requirements for all the graduation subjects, the course will count as an elective.
Credits per Course History Term: Enter the number of credits students earn per course history term.
Allow Students to Request this Course: This option will display if the system preference “Allow students to enter course requests starting (date)” is enabled. Select this check box to allow students to enter a request for this course. If this check box is not selected, only administrators will be able to enter requests for this course.
Allow Teachers to Approve Requests: This option will display if the system preference “Teachers approve course requests” is enabled in Setup > System Preferences > Scheduling tab. Select this check box to allow the student’s current teacher in the subject area to approve course requests for the course for the next school year.
Allow Students to Enroll themselves in this Course: This option will display if the system preference “Allow students to enroll themselves in classes” is enabled in Setup > System Preferences > Scheduling tab. Select this check box to allow students to register for the course from the Student Portal. The Course Registration Begins and Course Registration Ends data must be set on the marking periods in Setup > Marking Periods.
Schedule this Course first: Select this check box if this course should be scheduled first before other courses when running the Scheduler for students who have a course request for this course.
WDIS OCP Hours: This field is for Post-Secondary education.
OCP: This field is for Post-Secondary education.
Course Sequence: This field is for Post-Secondary education.
CAPE: This field is for Post-Secondary education.
Subject: To change the subject a course is housed in, select a subject from the pull-down.
Grade Level(s): To limit this course request to certain grade levels at the school, select the check box for each applicable grade level. If grade levels are selected, then the course will not be available for selection for students not in those grade levels when adding course requests unless the “Courses For All Grade Levels” option in selected on the Student Requests screen. The course can also be added for the student on the Student Schedule screen.
Course Length: If the Course Length is not set in the Course Catalog, this field will default to Automatic. This field is important for Requests Reports. If no sections are built when requests are entered, courses with a Course Length of Automatic are considered as 1 unit when counting requests. If the course is a half unit, such as Economics, then change the Course Length to 0.50 - Semester.
Allow Teachers to Request This Course: Select the check box to allow teachers to request this course for students. Teachers are only allowed to request courses within their grad subject area, unless Requests Subjects are set on the course. See below.
Requests Subject: This allows teachers to request a course outside of their grad subject area. Select one or multiple grad subjects from the pull-down. Teachers of the selected grad subjects are allowed to request the course.
5. When finished, click Save.
The new course is added to the Courses list for the subject.
- Allow Students to Request this Course makes the course available for students to request if the district has enabled the System Preference > Scheduling > Students enter requests as of mm/dd/yyyy.
- Allow Students to Request this Course needs to be checked at the Course level or on the Master Schedule Report > Courses.
- Additionally, the profile permission to view Student Requests must also be enabled for students.
- Schedule this course first alerts the system to prioritize the Course for ALL students with a request for the course when the Scheduler is run.
If the district has filed all courses in a Subject labeled All Courses, or a course was placed into the wrong Subject, Courses should be moved to the appropriate Subject.
1. Click the subject in the Subjects list that currently houses the course. For example, some districts have all courses initially set up in within an All Courses subject.
2. Click the course in the Courses list.
3. Click the Subject pull-down and selected the appropriate subject in the pull-down.
4. Click Save.
The course is moved to the selected subject.
Courses may also be moved to a different Subject using the Master Schedule Report.
1. In the Scheduling menu, select the Master Schedule Report.
2. Click the Courses tab.
3. Use the Filters to locate the applicable subject.
4. Select the applicable Subject from the corresponding pull-down.
When changes are made to individual fields, changes save automatically.
Courses that are no longer being offered can be deleted as long as there are no sections in the Course.
1. In the Scheduling menu, select Courses & Sections.
2. Click the subject in the Subjects list, and then click the course in the Courses list.
3. At the top of the screen, click Delete.
A warning message will display instructing you to delete the sections first if there are sections set up within the course.
4. In the confirmation window, click Delete.
The course is removed from the Courses list.
Focus has several options for entering student course requests. Schedulers can enter course requests for students individually or by mass adding requests to groups of students. There is also an Automatic Course Requests feature that allows districts and/or individual schools to automatically push out requests to a specific subset of students. Additionally, there are system preferences and permissions that can be set to allow students to enter their own requests for courses and to allow teachers to enter requests or approve courses requested by their scheduled students.
Schedulers must make sure they are entering requests in the upcoming school year, not the current school year.
Schedulers should be familiar with the options and features on the Student Requests screen regardless of which method is used to populate the requests.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Student Requests.
2. In the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the student and click Search.
3. In the search results, click the student's name.
Requests displays the number of course requests entered that have no elective priority or have an elective priority of 1.
Alternates displays the number of course requests that have an elective priority of 2 or higher. These will only schedule when a course with priority of 1 cannot be scheduled.
Credits: Counts credit for courses that award high school credits as designated in the Course Catalog (FL, other states) or CO22 (TX); disregards alternates.
Units calculated based on the Course Length as set in the Course Catalog (if used). Should equal the number of requests needed for a full schedule based on the number of periods used for scheduling and whether the courses are full year/semester.
Auto--Schedule this Student is used to push the requests to the student’s schedule.
Include Inactive displays requests entered at a second school if the student is co-enrolled or if the requests were entered while the student was previously enrolled at another district school.
Courses for All Grade Levels: If courses restricted to specific grade levels need to be available for this student, select this check box to display all courses for selection.
Prior Primary School shows the Year, School, and Grade for the previous school year. Can be used to sort requests for middle schoolers entering high school or 5th graders entering middle school.
Approved by Counselor: Visual check for counselors that the student’s requests have been reviewed and approved.
Locked for Students: Only used when students are able to enter requests. Schedulers can lock the screen for students but still be able to add requests.
Delete icon is used to remove a single request.
Delete check box is used to remove multiple requests at once.
Course pull-down: Enter course title or number to locate courses to request.
Credits: This is a read-only field. The credits for the course will auto-populate after adding the request if defined in the Course Catalog.
Florida: If there is a value in the Total Credit column in the Course Catalog for that school year, that value will display. If there is no value in the Total Credit column, then the value in the Credits per Course column will display (which pulls from the Course Code Directory for that school year). If there is no value in either the Total Credit column or the Credits per Course column, and there are no records for that school year in the Course Code Directory, then it will look to the Course Code Directory of the previous school year for a value. If there is no value found anywhere listed, then the request will display as 0 credits.
Texas: If there is a value in the Total Credit column in the Course Catalog for that school year, that value will display. If there is no value in the Total Credit column, then the value in the C022 for that school year will display. If there is no value in either the Total Credit column or the C022 for that course, and there are no records in the C022 for that school year, then it will look to the C022 of the previous year for a value. If there are no values found anywhere listed above, then that request will display as 0 credits.
Other states: It will only refer to the column Total Credit in the Course Catalog. If there is a value for that course in that school year, it will display that value next to the student request record. If there is no value, then the request will display as 0 credits.
Course # displays automatically once a course has been selected from the pull-down.
Schedule First: Select the check box if the Scheduler should attempt to schedule this request first before all other requests not marked as “Schedule First."
Elective Priority: Enter the elective priority for the request for elective courses. Entering a 1 ensures the elective is scheduled at the same level as core courses. Electives with a 2 or higher will only be scheduled if the course with an elective priority of 1 is not scheduled. Leaving the elective priority blank indicates the course is a core course or an elective course where you do not want an alternative to be scheduled, but if this is left blank, then alternative requests will not be looked at.
Term: If a student will not be enrolled for the full length of the course, select the Term. For example, this may be used if the student only needs one semester of a full year course.
Inclusion: Select the Inclusion check box if the student needs to be scheduled into an inclusion section as well as the primary section. When the student is scheduled, the system will look for sections that were set up with an inclusion section in Courses & Sections, and will only schedule the student into the section with an inclusion section attached. If there are no inclusion sections attached to the primary section, the student will not be scheduled into the course.
With Teacher and/or Without Teacher: If the student should be scheduled with or without a certain teacher, make the appropriate selections. Selections can only be made if sections have been created.
With Period and/or Without Period: If the student prefers to take the course during or not during a specific period of the day, make the appropriate selections. Selections can only be made if sections have been created.
Note: Invalid period options will display with an asterisk. For example, if a request was entered for a student with Period 3 selected in the With Period column, and later on the period 3 section was moved to a different period making period 3 no longer a valid option, *Period 3 will display in the With Period column for that request.
Approved By Teacher: This is a read-only field. When using the Teachers approve course requests functionality, enabled by the system preference, this check box will be selected to indicate that the teacher approved the course request. If the Teachers approve course requests functionality is not enabled in System Preferences, this column will not display.
Last Modified: This is a read-only field that displays who last modified the course request, and the date and time.
ACR: This is a read-only field that indicates if the course request was added by the Automatic Course Requests function.
Quick List pull-downs are used to select course requests organized by Graduation Subject.
Save is used to save and display the Quick List selections to the requests table above.
Courses can be mass added to a specific group of students by the district or individual schools via the ACR feature. Automatic Course Requests can be rolled from one school year to the next for all schools or for individual schools.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Automatic Course Requests.
District users will see two options on the Automatic Course Requests screen for running ACRs on the District Requests tab:
- Run Course Requests for Current School
- Run Course Requests for All Schools
2. Click the applicable tab.
School-based users, dependent upon district preferences, may see Run Course Requests for both the District Requests tab and the School Requests tab.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Automatic Course Requests.
2. Click the District Requests or School Requests tab.
3. Enter a Title for the course request in the blank row.
4. Click the Search Terms field.
5. In the pop-up window, enter search criteria to locate the students who will be given this course request. For example, if students enrolled in English 1 Honors last year will be given a course request for English 2 Honors, click the Scheduling category and select English 1 Honors in the Scheduled into Course(s) Last Year field.
6. Once the search terms are entered, click Set Search Terms.
The search terms entered are displayed in the Search Terms field.
7. Select the Courses to request. One or multiple courses can be selected.
8. Enter a number for the Priority. When multiple course requests are run at the same time, the priority determines the order in which they are run. A request with a 1 will run before a request with a 2, and so on.
9. When finished entering the course request information, press Enter.
The course request is added to the table and is auto-saved. A new, blank row is displayed at the bottom of the table for adding additional course requests.
At a time determined by the district or school-based users, the requests can be manually pushed to the eligible students for the school showing in the school pull-down or for all schools if it is a district-created request and the user has profile permission to multiple schools.
With either district or school request options, schedulers can select the check box Only run for students without requests, which will only run for students that do NOT have requests, to prevent duplicating requests after an ACR has been run for the first time.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Automatic Course Requests.
2. Click the District Requests or School Requests tab.
3. Select the check box(es) for the ACRs.
4. To run course requests for the current school only, click Run Course Requests for Current School. To run course requests for all schools in the district, click Run Course Requests for All Schools.
A pop-up window is displayed indicating the number of students who had requests entered for each course and the list of students. It will also indicate if the course does not exist for a school. The pop-up may contain a pull-down to select the specific course request that will be added to students for each applicable school.
5. To delete the requests for students, select the check box next to each student, or select the check box in the column header to select all students in the list.
6. Click Delete Selected Requests.
Once the pop-up is closed, the only way to view the students that received the requests is on the Requests by Course Report, as shown in a section below.
If students need to be removed after this window is closed, the students will need to be dropped individually or en masse via Mass Requests.
7. To select the specific course request that will be added for students at certain schools, select the course in the pull-down beneath the school name and click Complete when finished.
The Mass Requests screen is used to mass add course requests to a group of students. You can search for students using a variety of criteria. For example, you can search for students who were scheduled into English 1 Honors last year and add a request for English 2 Honors.
Course requests can also be mass added to student using Automatic Course Requests.
Be sure the school year selected at the top-right corner of the screen is the year that you are scheduling requests, i.e. the next school year.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Mass Requests.
2. On the Search Screen, click More Search Options and enter the search criteria to locate the group of students. For example, if searching for the students who were scheduled into English 1 Honors last year, click the Scheduling category and select English 1 Honors in the Scheduled into Course(s) Last Year pull-down.
3. When finished entering the search criteria, click Search.
4. At the top of the screen, click the Choose Course link.
5. In the pop-up window, click the subject and course to request.
The selected course is displayed next to Request(s) to Add at the top of the screen.
6. Click the Choose more Courses link to add more course requests if needed.
For parent/child linked courses, only the parent course needs to be selected. Students will be scheduled into the parent and child sections once the Scheduler is run.
7. If the wrong course was selected, click the red X next to the course.
8. Select the Inclusion check box if all the students from the search criteria need to be scheduled into an inclusion section as well as the primary section of the course.
When the students are scheduled, the system will look for sections that were set up with an inclusion section in Courses & Sections, and will only schedule the students into the section that has an inclusion section attached. If there are no inclusion sections attached to primary sections, the students will not be scheduled into the course.
Be careful that you only select the students in the list that need both the inclusion section and the primary section of the course. You will need to do a separate search and mass request for students who do not need inclusion.
9. If applicable, enter the Elective Priority.
Entering a 1 ensures the elective is scheduled at the same level as core courses. Electives with a 2 or higher will only be scheduled if the course with an elective priority of 1 is not scheduled. Leaving the elective priority blank indicates the course is a core or non-elective course, but if this is left blank, then alternative requests will not be looked at.
10. If applicable, select teacher and period restrictions in the With and Without Teacher and Period pull-downs.
Restrictions can only be set if sections have already been created for the new school year.
11. Scroll down to the student list. Select the check box next to each student for which this request will be added. To select all students in the list, select the check box in the column header.
12. Click Add Request(s) to Selected Students at the top of the screen.
A green check mark and confirmation message is displayed, indicating the course request has been added to the selected students.
To drop a select group of students’ requests, follow the same directions provided for Mass Adding a request. If a new mass request is going to be added, add the new request before doing the mass drop.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Mass Requests.
2. On the Search Screen, click More Search Options and enter the search criteria to locate the group of students. For example, if you need to drop the course request for English 2 Honors for students who have this course request, click the Scheduling category, and select English 2 Honors in the Requested Course(s) pull-down.
3. When finished entering the search criteria, click Search.
4. At the top of the screen, click the Choose Course link.
5. In the pop-up window, click the subject and course to drop from the students' requests.
The selected course is displayed next to Request(s) to Add at the top of the screen.
6. Scroll down to the student list. Select the check box next to each student to drop this request. To select all students in the list, select the check box in the column header.
7. Click Drop Request(s) to Selected Students at the top of the screen.
A green check mark and confirmation message is displayed, indicating the course request has been dropped from the selected students.
Scheduling staff and/or administrators can enter individual student requests on the request screen. If moving from a legacy system to Focus, requests may be imported to this screen.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Student Requests.
2. In the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the student and click Search.
3. Click on the student’s name from the search results to open the individual Student Requests screen.
On the Student Requests screen, there are two options for entering the requests:
- From the Course field pull-downs at the top or
- From the Quick List below the requests table
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Student Requests.
2. In the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the student and click Search.
3. Click on the student’s name from the search results to open the individual Student Requests screen.
4. To add a request for a subject area, select the course from the pull-down. One or multiple courses can be selected.
5. Press the Enter or Return key to save the selection and create another set of course fields.
6. Once the course selections have been made, click Save.
1. In the Scheduling menu, select Student Requests.
2. In the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the student and click Search.
3. In the search results, click the student's name.
4. To add a request for a subject area, select the course from the pull-down. One or multiple courses can be selected.
5. For electives, enter the Elective Priority.
Entering a 1 ensure the elective is scheduled at the same level as core courses. Electives with a 2 or higher will only be scheduled if the course with an elective priority of 1 is not scheduled. Leaving the elective priority blank indicates the course is a core or non-elective course, but if this is left blank, then alternative requests will not be looked at.
6. To enter an additional elective course request beyond the spaces provided, click the green plus icon and enter the additional requests.
Some schools will have an Elective category with only one pull-down available, but multiple courses can be selected in the pull-down. Once the requests are saved, the elective priority can be added at the top of the screen.
7. Once the course selections have been made, click Save.
The course requests are added to the table at the top of the screen.
A barcode scanner can be used to add course requests. In the blank row at the top of the screen, click the Course pull-down and then scan each course number one by one. The row is automatically submitted and saved after scanning each course number.
1. On the Requests screen, click the Course pull-down.
2. Scan the barcodes for each applicable course. Entries will auto-save.
3. Make sure not to scan too quickly, and that the field is outlined in blue.
If a request has already been saved for a course, the student is currently scheduled into a course or the student has already earned credit, a warning message displays stating that there is a conflict.
- Click Cancel to return to the Requests screen.
- Click Continue for the request to be added if the student has to repeat the course or the student can take for multiple periods/credits, i.e. OJT or Study Hall.
Elective Priorities allow schedulers to add a numerical value to electives to indicate if and in which order an alternate elective should replace an elective that was unable to be scheduled. Elective Priorities should only be used:
- If the scheduler wants the system to look for and schedule an alternate for a selected elective course.
- If the scheduler just wants to indicate alternates but not have them to schedule.
Listing multiple elective alternates in excess of what is needed for the student to have a full schedule, without entering priorities, will inflate the demand for those courses. This will lead to inaccurate Builder Reports, which are used to determine the number of sections needed for a course.
Elective Priority is entered at the top of the student’s Requests screen.
Example: Student needs 2 electives to have a full schedule:
- Spanish should not be replaced by alternates, so there is no Elective Priority entered.
- 2-D Studio Arts 2 is needed but the 1 indicates it can be replaced by an alternate.
- Band 2 will be the first alternate considered to replace 2-D Studio Arts 2 if it can’t schedule.
- Chorus 1 would be the second alternate considered if Band 2 couldn’t schedule.
Please see the Elective Priority Addendum section for more details.
1. Click the red minus sign to the left of the request.
2. In the confirmation message, click OK.
If students are allowed to enter their own course requests, students will do so from the Class Requests screen in the Student Portal. This procedure documents the student point of view when entering course requests.
Focus will review a student's grade history and schedule to determine prerequisite requirements.
1. If a student is entering a course request for the next year and is currently scheduled into the prerequisite course this year, Focus will assume the student will pass the course and meet the requirement. The student will not need a grade history record present.
2. For a grade record to meet the prerequisite, the student must have earned credit (i.e., the Credits Earned field cannot be 0), and the grade record must be flagged for Course History.
If the district leverages extra characters on course numbers, the system will match the course numbers exactly. For example, if the prerequisite is entered with an 8-digit course number, Focus will match the full 8-digit course number when comparing schedule and grade records. However, if the district enters a prerequisite with a 7-digit course number, Focus will only match the first 7 digits.
1. As a system admin, in the Users menu, click Profiles.
2. Select Menu from the Permission Type pull-down, select Student from the Role pull-down, and select the applicable profile from the Profiles pull-down, such as Students.
3. Click the My Information tab, and select the Class Requests check box.
4. In the Setup menu, click System Preferences.
5. Click the School Preferences or Default School Preferences tab, then click the Scheduling tab.
6. Enter a date for the Allow students to enter course requests starting setting.
7. As the Admin and in the NEW school year, go to the Scheduling menu, and select the Master Schedule Report. Click the Courses tab.
8. Select the Allow Students to Request check box to allow students to request the course.
Any courses that the district allows students to request are entered on the student’s Class Requests screen. Student requests can be limited to electives.
1. In the Students menu, select Student Info.
2. Conduct a student search.
3. Click the Log in as icon to log into Focus as the selected student.
4. Click Class Requests.
Any requests already entered by administrative staff, teachers, or the student will be displayed in the table at the top of the screen. Requests entered by administrative staff or teachers will be locked from editing by the student.
Students can enter requests in the table at the top of the screen or by using the Quick List at the bottom of the screen. The Quick List is organized by graduation subject. If any requests have already been entered for a graduation subject, a green check mark will display next to the subject.
5. To enter requests using the Quick List, select a course from the pull-down next to the graduation requirement.
6. For electives, enter the Elective Priority in the field next to the course pull-down.
A priority of 1 ensures the elective is scheduled at the same level as courses without a number. A priority of 2 or higher will only be scheduled if a course with an elective priority of 1 could not be scheduled. Leaving the priority blank indicates that this is a core or non-elective course. If this is left blank, than alternative requests will not be looked at by the system.
7. If an additional elective needs to be requested beyond the three spaces provided, click the green plus icon.
8. Select the course from the pull-down and enter the Elective Priority.
9. After entering the requests in the Quick List, click Save.
If an error is encountered, such as the prerequisites for a requested course have not been taken, a pop-up window will display with the error.
10. Click Cancel to close the message, and then change the request that caused the error. Click Save.
Once there are no errors, the requests are added to the table at the top of the screen.
11. To add requests to the table at the top of the screen, select the Course to request in the blank row.
12. For electives, enter the Elective Priority.
13. Press Enter to add the request.
14. To modify a request entered by the student, select a different Course or change the Elective Priority. The rest of the fields cannot be edited by the student.
15. To delete a request entered by the student, click the red minus sign next to the course.
16. In the confirmation message, click OK.
17. To delete multiple requests, select the check box next to each request to delete.
18. Click Delete Selected Requests at the top-right corner of the screen.
19. In the confirmation message, click OK.
Students cannot modify or delete requests entered by administrative staff or teachers.
This preference allows teachers to view and approve the course requests for their currently scheduled students and requests in the teacher’s graduation subject area.
1. As a system admin, in the Users menu, click Profiles.
2. Select Menu from the Permission Type pull-down, select Teacher from the Role pull-down, and select the applicable profile from the Profiles pull-down, such as Teachers.
3. Click the Students tab, and select the Student Requests check box.
4. In the Setup menu, click System Preferences.
5. Click the School Preferences or Default School Preferences tab, then click the Scheduling tab.
6. Select the Teachers approve course requests check box.
7. As the Admin and in the NEW school year, go to the Scheduling menu, and select Courses & Sections. Select the Subject, then select the Course.
8. Select the Allow Teachers to Approve Requests check box to allow teachers to approve requests.
1. Search for the applicable teacher using the Select Student/Staff pull-down or Users > User Info.
2. Click the Log in as icon to log into Focus as the selected student.
3. To access the Student Requests screen, click the schedule requests Portal alert.
Alternatively, in the menu, click Students. Then click Requests.
The Student Requests screen displays any course requests that you have not yet reviewed. The student's name, student ID, and the current class they are scheduled in is displayed. The Course Name column displays the name of the course the student requested for the next school year.
4. To approve or not approve a course request for an individual student, select Approved or Not Approved in the Status column.
The selection is auto-saved.
5. To approve all course requests in the list, click Approve All Requests at the top of the screen.
The Status column updates to Approved for all course requests in the list. The selections are auto-saved.
To view the student's current grades in your class, click the i icon next to the student's name. A pop-up window will open with an overview of the student's Gradebook grades for your class.
6. Once you navigate away from the Student Requests screen, the reviewed course requests are hidden from the screen. To view previously reviewed course requests, click View Reviewed Requests.
The previously reviewed course requests are displayed, and can be modified if needed.
This option allows teachers to make requests for the student, and the district may also opt to allow teachers to make requests for courses outside the teacher’s graduation subject area. The permissions and graduation subjects must be selected in Courses and Sections as well as the Master Schedule Report in the NEW school year if not rolled from the previous school year.
System Preferences Setup in the Current Year
1. In the current school year, in the Setup menu, select System Preferences.
2. Select the Default School Preferences or the School Preferences tab, then select the Scheduling tab.
3. Enter a value of 2 or greater in the Maximum Number of Next-Year Teacher Schedule Requests text box.
4. Click Save.
Setup From Courses and Sections in the New Year
1. In the Scheduling menu, select Courses & Sections.
2. Select the Subject, then select the Course.
3. Select the Allow Teachers to Request This Course check box.
4. Select the applicable subject area(s) from the Request Subject pull-down to allow teachers with different graduation subject areas to request this course.
5. Click Save.
Setup from the Master Schedule Report in the New Year
1. In the Scheduling menu, select the Master Schedule Report.
2. Click the Courses tab.
3. Select the Allow Teachers to Request This Course check box.
4. Make the applicable selections from the Requests Subject pull-down.
5. Individual edits save automatically. If making changes en masse using Mass Update, click Save.
Teacher View in the Current Year
1. In the menu, click Students. Then click Next Year Schedule Requests.
The students for the section selected at the top-right of the screen are listed.
2. Next to each student in the list, select the Course to request for the student. You may only select from courses within the subject area that you teach.
Your school may limit the number of course requests you can enter for each student. An error message will display if you try to save and you have exceeded the number of requests you can make for a student.
If a course request has already been entered for the student in that subject area, the course request will already be selected in the pull-down.
3. When finished, click Save.
If your school allows teachers to enter course requests for their students for the subject area that they teach, the Teacher Next-Year Schedule Request Completion report is used to view the teachers who have not entered requests for their students for the next school year. You can enter course requests on the teacher's behalf.
1. In the Scheduling menu, select Teacher Next-Year Scheduled Request Completion.
The report lists teachers who have not entered requests. An X in a period column indicates the teacher did not enter requests for some or all of their students in that period.
2. Click an X to open the Next-Year Schedule Requests teacher program in a pop-up window, where you can enter requests on behalf of the teacher.
The section taught in the period that you clicked is automatically displayed. You can change the section at the top of the screen, if needed. If the teacher has entered some requests already, the course request will display next to the student.
3. Next to each student in the list, select the Course to request for the student.
4. When finished, click Save and close the pop-up window.
The Requests by Course report displays the number of requests for each course.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Requests Reports.
The Requests by Course tab is opened by default, listing the subject, course, course number, total seats, number of sections (total seats and number of sections are determined by the number of seats in sections from the previous year for the course), number of requests (current demand), number of alternate requests, number of inclusion requests, number of requests by grade level, additional filled seats, and extra seats. The additional filled seats indicates the number of students scheduled into the course without having a request for the course. Negative numbers in the Extra Seats column indicates there is not enough seats based on sections and seat numbers.
2. Click on an underlined number of requests to open a list of students with that request in a new tab.
3. Click a student's name in the new tab to view and edit the student's requests.
4. Close the tab when finished.
5. Click the course link to view the course information in the Courses & Sections screen, which will open in a new tab.
6. Close the tab when finished.
7. Click an Additional Filled Seats link to view the list of students who are scheduled into the course but did not have a request for the course in a new tab.
8. Click a student's name in the tab to view the student's schedule. Close the tab when finished.
The Duplicate Requests report lists students who have more than one request for the same course. If courses have the same course number but are housed in different subject folders, these will not display as duplicate requests. For Florida districts that add an extra digit to a course number, these will also not display as duplicate requests.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Requests Reports.
2. Click the Duplicate Requests tab.
The student, student ID, course name, course number, and number of requests for that course is listed.
3. To edit a student's requests, click the student's name.
The Student Requests screen is opened in a new tab. Make any edits as needed, and close the tab when finished.
4. To delete the duplicate requests for all students in the list, click Delete All the Duplicate Requests at the top-right corner of the screen.
The Students with too many Requests report displays students with more requests than allowed based on the number of semesters and periods scheduled in a school day (periods are selected at the top of the report). Requests with a priority of 2 or higher are not included in the totals since they are alternate requests.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Requests Reports.
2. Click the Student with too many Requests tab.
3. On the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the students you want to view and click Search. To view all students who have too many requests, click Search without entering any search criteria.
The Periods in the School Day at the top of the screen come from the periods set up in Setup > Periods. The periods that are marked as Required for Scheduling in the period setup will be automatically selected by default in Students with too many Requests. Deselect any periods not used for complete scheduling. The report displays the student name, student ID, grade level, number of requests, and number of credits. The system counts requests in the following manner:
- If sections are created for a course requested as full year, the system counts the request as 1
- If sections are created for a course requested as a semester, the system counts the request as 0.5
- If sections are created for a course requested as a quarter, the system counts the request as a 0.25
- If no sections are built for a course, the system looks at the Course Length field set on the course. If the Course Length is set to Automatic, the system will look to the "Default Course Length" system preference.
4. To edit a student's requests, click the student's name.
The Student Requests screen is opened in a new tab. Make any edits as needed, and close the tab when finished.
The Students with too few Requests report displays students with fewer requests than needed based on the number of semesters and periods scheduled in a school day (periods are selected at the top of the report). Requests with a priority of 2 or higher are not included in the totals since they are alternate requests.
Individual students can be hidden on the report. This may be useful if certain students (such as juniors and seniors) do not need to have requests for all periods. This is controlled by the permission “Allow User to Dismiss Students on Requests Reports” in Users > Profiles.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Requests Reports.
2. Click the Students with too few Requests tab.
3. On the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the students you want to view and click Search. To view all students who have too few requests, click Search without entering any search criteria.
The Periods in the School Day at the top of the screen come from the periods set up in Setup > Periods. The periods that are marked as Required for Scheduling in the period setup will be automatically selected by default in Students with too few Requests. Deselect any periods not used for complete scheduling. The report displays the student name, grade level, student ID, number of requests, and number of credits. The system counts requests in the following manner:
- If sections are created for a course requested as full year, the system counts the request as 1.
- If sections are created for a course requested as a semester, the system counts the request as 0.5.
- If sections are created for a course requested as a quarter, the system counts the request as a 0.25.
- If no sections are built for a course, the system looks at the Course Length field set on the course. If the Course Length is set to Automatic, the system will look to the "Default Course Length" system preference.
4. If you have the profile permission “Allow User to Dismiss Students on Requests Reports,” you can hide students on the report by selecting the Dismiss Student check box next to each applicable student and clicking Save Dismissed Students.
The selected students are hidden on the report. The total number of students with too few requests indicated above the report will not change since the students are not permanently removed from the report, just hidden.
5. To re-display the students that were hidden, click Show Dismissed Students.
The dismissed students are re-displayed on the report.
6. Click Hide Dismissed Students to hide the dismissed students again.
7. To edit a student's requests, click the student's name.
The Student Requests screen is opened in a new tab. Make any edits as needed, and close the tab when finished.
The Print Requests by Student tab is used to print student requests sheets for individual students or for a group of students.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Requests Reports.
2. Click the Print Requests by Student tab.
3. In the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the student or group of students and click Download Requests Sheets.
A PDF preview of the requests sheets is displayed, which can be saved to your computer or printed.
4. Click Return to Focus to go back to the Requests Reports screen.
The Print Requests by Course tab is used to print a list of students who have requested specific subjects or courses.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Requests Reports.
2. Click the Print Requests by Course tab.
3. To print a list of students who have requested certain subjects, select the Subjects.
4. To print a list of students who have requested certain courses, select the Courses.
5. Select the Format. Selecting PDF will generate a PDF that can be saved to your computer or printed. Selecting List will display a list of the students that can be exported.
6. To limit the results by team, select the Team.
7. Select a Letterhead Template, if one is set up for printing requests.
8. To limit the results to a specific student group, select the Student Group.
9. Select Include Inactive Students, if desired.
10. Click Download Class Lists.
The PDF or list is generated.
11. Click Return to Focus when finished.
Example PDF:
Example List:
Elective Priorities allow schedulers to add electives to course requests using a numerical value to indicate in which order the electives should be scheduled. Below are a few recommended and not recommended scenarios to help guide schedulers towards making the correct indication for their student’s Elective Priorities.
Scenario 1: Valid
The school has 7 periods in the school day. The student needs four core courses and therefore needs 3 electives to fill the schedule. The school allows the student to select 2 additional alternates. You can designate the three electives the student would like and then differentiate the two alternates.
Within the Student’s Requests screen, add four core courses and then five electives and use the Elective Priority column to indicate with the number 1 the 3 electives the student would like scheduled. Select the student’s first alternate choice with a number 2 and the student's second choice with a 3.
If an elective with Elective Priority of a 1 is unavailable/does not fit in the schedule, the elective with Elective Priority of 2 will be considered. If an elective with Elective Priority of a 2 is unavailable/does not fit in the schedule, the elective with Elective Priority of 3 will be considered. If nothing fits within the schedule, the student will have a missing period in the schedule.
Scenario 2: Valid
The school has 7 periods in the school day. The student needs four core courses and therefore needs 3 electives to fill the schedule. You want the Spanish 1 elective to be scheduled for all students with that request and not be filled with an alternate. The other two electives can be filled with alternates.
Within the Student’s Requests screen, add four cores and then five electives, one being Spanish 1. Leave the Elective Priority blank for Spanish 1. Use the Elective Priority column to indicate with the number 1 the 2 electives the student would also like scheduled. Select the student’s first alternate choice with a number 2 and the student's third choice with a 3.
Within the Student’s Requests screen, this scenario will force Spanish 1 to be scheduled as a core class. If Spanish cannot be scheduled, priorities 2 and 3 will NOT be considered. The number 1 electives will be scheduled after the core classes and may consider priorities 2 and 3 if priority 1 cannot be filled. If Spanish cannot be filled, the student will have a missing period in his schedule.
Scenario 3: Valid
My school has 7 periods in the school day. The student needs four core courses and therefore needs 3 electives to fill the schedule. I would like core and the non-alternate electives scheduled. If any of these seven cannot be scheduled, I do not want the alternates to be automatically scheduled when running the scheduler.
Within the Student’s Requests screen, add four cores and then five electives and leave the Elective Priority column blank for the 3 electives the student would like scheduled. Select the student’s first alternate choice with a number 2 and the student's second choice with a 3.
Since the three electives do not have number 1 in the elective priority, priorities 2 and 3 will remain visible on the student’s request but will never be considered in the scheduling by the Focus scheduler.
Scenario 4: Not Recommended
The school has 7 periods in the school day. The student needs four core courses and therefore needs 3 electives to fill the schedule. The school allows the student to select 2 additional alternates. I did not add any elective priorities.
Within the Student’s Requests screen, add four cores and then five electives; leave the Elective Priority column blank for all electives.
When Elective Priorities are left blank, Focus treats electives as core and will consider all five electives with the same priority and take the electives that are the best fit to fill the schedule. The priority for determining what order the requests will be filled is based on the order of the department codes. If there are conflicts with scheduling the core, the electives could be scheduled in place of the core since there is nothing to distinguish the core from the elective on the requests screen.
If Elective Priorities aren’t used, it will be difficult to determine unit allocations. Not using elective priorities can cause Course Request totals for electives to be skewed higher.
Scenario 5: Not Recommended
My school has 7 periods in the school day. The student needs four core courses and therefore needs 3 electives to fill the schedule. The school allows the student to select 2 additional alternates. I added elective priorities 1-5 to all five electives.
Within the Student’s Requests screen, the student has four cores and the five electives prioritized 1-5. The system will look at priority 1 only. If this gets scheduled, priorities 2-5 are never considered. Priorities will only be looked at one at a time if the prior one cannot be filled therefore this student will have a maximum of five classes scheduled and be short of a full schedule.
Use scenarios 1, 2, or 3 to help alleviate this issue.
Do not use semester courses as an alternate to a full year course.
When a full year elective with an Elective Priority of 1 does not get scheduled, the system looks for the next available number within Elective Priority. If a semester course is next with an Elective Priority of 2, Focus will not look for a partner course. Even if there is an additional semester Elective with the same Elective Priority, Focus will not know to add the second one, and the student will be short a semester course on their schedule.
If this happens, the scheduler will have to manually add a semester course to complete the student’s schedule. The report Students with Incomplete Schedules can be used to identify the students without a complete schedule for the upcoming year.