Documentation for Teachers

Groups

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The Groups screen allows teachers to create student groups, which can be used for searching and viewing student records. Student groups can be created based on customized student searches or dynamic saved searches. While teachers have the ability to create their own groups, this screen was designed so teachers can view groups assigned to them, which includes a built in student report.

Creating Dynamic Student Groups

Dynamic groups can be created using grade levels, using alpha by last name, or using saved student searches.

Student groups can be created using students in your assigned classes only.

1. In the menu, click Groups.

Portal

2. Select either the My Groups tab or the All Groups tab. The My Groups tab displays groups that you created. The All Groups tab displays all groups assigned to you.

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Both tabs will display to you if you have profile permissions to Student Groups and have had student groups assigned to you.

The All Groups tab also includes a Created By column, which displays the name of the user who created the student group.

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3. You can create a new group on either the My Groups or All Groups tab. Begin creating a group by entering a Title in the provided text box.

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4. Select the appropriate Schools from the pull-down, if you have access to more than one school.

  • If the Schools pull-down is left null upon creating a student group, the group will be available for the assigned users or profiles regardless of the school selected from the School pull-down located in the header (top right of the screen).
  • If one or more schools is selected from the Schools pull-down, the group will only be available for the assigned users/profiles when they are logged into one of the selected schools via the School pull-down located in the header (top right of the screen).
  • If you have View and Edit access to Student Groups, you will be able to select the schools to which you would like to assign the group.
  • If you have View only access to Student Groups, you will see the Schools column but will not be able to edit the Schools pull-down(s). You will also only see the Student Groups that are linked to the selected School via the pull-down located in the header (top right of the screen).
  • If you have access to multiple schools, but not all schools, you will only see those schools available in the Schools pull-down.
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5. Select Dynamic from the Assignment Type pull-down to create a student group that generates based on selected grade levels, last names, and saved student searches.

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6. Select the Assigned Grade Levels from the pull-down, if you want to generate the student group based on specified group levels. In this example, a student group is being created for Focus Sands School Juniors, so grade 11 is selected.

7. Select the Assigned Last Names from the pull-down, if you want to generate the student group based on specified last names. Select the specific letters or leave All selected to pull all last names.

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8. If you have saved student searches upon conducting student searches, you can apply them to student groups. Select the applicable Assigned Saved Search from the corresponding pull-down. In the example displayed, Excused Daily Attendance has been selected; therefore, the search parameters saved to that search will be applied to the student group.

Student Groups

Student Searches must be conducted and saved from a different screen, such as Student Info, in order to apply them to student groups here.

See Searching for Students for more information about how to conduct student searches and how to save searches.

9. Enter a Start Date and End Date in the provided text boxes to determine when the student group is active and available for use.

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10. Click Save to save the student group.

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11. Click View/Add to view the students in the student group.

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The student group report displays the following data: Student ID, Student Name, Gradelevel, # Absences [Marking Period], # Unexcused Absences [Marking Period], # Failing Courses [Marking Period], # Processed Referrals, Course History GPA, and Honor Roll.

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Creating Custom Student Groups

Student groups can be created based on customized student searches. Note: Custom student groups are not dynamic.

Student groups can be created using students in your assigned classes only.

1. In the menu, click Groups.

Portal

2. Select either the My Groups tab or the All Groups tab. The My Groups tab displays groups that you created. The All Groups tab displays all groups assigned to you.

Groups

Both tabs will display to you if you have profile permissions to Student Groups and have had student groups assigned to you.

The All Groups tab also includes a Created By column, which displays the name of the user who created the student group.

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3. You can create a new group on either the My Groups or All Groups tab. Begin creating a group by entering a Title in the provided text box.

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4. Select Custom from the Assignment Type pull-down to conduct a student search in order to select the applicable students. If Custom is selected, the Student Group will need to be defined based on a Student Search.

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5. Enter a Start Date and End Date in the provided text boxes to determine when the student group is active and available for use.

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6. Click Save to save the student group.

7. Click View/Add to view the students in the student group.

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8. Click Add Students To Group to conduct a search.

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9. Conduct a student search in order to add specific students to your custom Student Group. For information on conducting a student search, see Searching for Students.

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Shown below is an example of a student search where all juniors need to be pulled into the Student Group.

a. To pull all students, select the Search All Schools check box.

b. Click More Search Options, select Gradelevel.

c. From the Grade Level pull-down, select 11.

d. Click Search.

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10. From the list of students, select the check boxes next to each student to add them to the Student Group. To select all students, select the check box in the header.

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11. Click Add Students To Group.

The students selected as per your student search display in the Student Group.

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12. Click Add Students To Group to add additional students to the student group.

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13. Click the delete button (red minus sign) to remove students from the student group.

a. In the confirmation pop-up window, click OK.

sandbox.focusschoolsoftware.com says

b. Click Save to remove the student from the group.

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14. Click the Student Name to open Student Info.

Editing Student Groups

1. In the menu, click Groups.

Portal

2. Select either the My Groups tab or the All Groups tab. The My Groups tab displays groups that you created. The All Groups tab displays all groups assigned to you.

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Both tabs will display to you if you have profile permissions to Student Groups and have had student groups assigned to you.

3. To edit the text fields, such as End Date, click in the text box and make changes. Click the pull-downs to change selections.

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4. After changes are made, edited fields display in yellow; to apply changes, click Save.

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If the Assignment Type is changed from Custom to Dynamic, the students tied to the group will be lost. Therefore, it is recommended to create a new group instead of editing the group or deleting the group.

5. To delete a Student Group, click the delete button (red minus sign) in the first column.

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a. In the confirmation pop-up window, click OK.

sandbox.focusschoolsoftware.com says

b. The deleted student group displays in gray. Click Save to complete the deletion.

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Your Assigned Student Groups

You may have access to students not scheduled into your classes (without an administrative profile) based on the group assigned to you.

The system ensures that you can only see information of students who are scheduled in your sections when viewing a group you created yourself. If a group has been assigned to you, you can view student information regardless of who is scheduled into your sections.

If other users have assigned student groups to you without the permission to edit the group, you can view them on the All Groups tab, as shown below.

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Click View to View Students in the student group, which includes the Student ID, Student Name, Gradelevel, # Absences [Marking Period], # Unexcused Absences [Marking Period], # Failing Courses [Marking Period], # Processed Referrals, Course History GPA, and Honor Roll.

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Click the Student Name to open the student's record in Student Info.

Additional Features

If Student Groups screen contains several pages of information, click Prev and Next to sift through pages of groups. Click the Page text box to enter a page number. Press Enter to jump to that page.

To export the data to an Excel spreadsheet, click on the Excel icon in the Export section.

To print data, click on the Printer icon in the Export section.

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Click Filters to further breakdown data.

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a. To add more than one filter to a column, click on the green plus sign.

b. To delete an added filter, click on the red minus sign.

c. Click the gray arrow for more filtering options.

For more information see Filters.

You can also sort data by clicking on any of the headers. Click once for ascending results; click twice for descending results.

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Use the Filter text box located at the top of each pull-down for a quick search. Begin typing the name or number of the desired field.

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a. Click the Exact check box to filter data to match exactly what you typed into the Filter text box.

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Click Check all to quickly select all displayed options. Click Clear to clear all selections made.

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Click Message to message the students in the student group via Communication.

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The Page Size defaults to 20 records. Click and edit the Page Size to change the number of records displayed per page. The number of records displayed determines the number of pages displayed.

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