Adding Courses to the Academic Plan
Add-On Graduation Requirements
Overview
Navigate to Student Data > Scheduling > Academic Plan
The Academic Plan allows schools to map out a 4-year Academic Plan in High School or a 7-year Academic Plan starting with 6th grade. The purpose is to lay out a plan for each student to meet the Graduation Requirements and track their progress. The page provides a view of the plan that shows past, current and planned future courses, and keeps track of the credits needed to meet the Requirements. The Courses are color-coded based on Transcripts (HIS), Current Courses (SEC), Academic Plan (APL) and Courses submitted/deleted by Parents through the Portal. The Academic Plan courses can become Course Requests, by using the Import Course Requests from Academic Plan page.
Security Permissions ↑
Table | Permission | Description |
Office Staff | ||
Academic Plan (APC) | Read Update Insert Delete | View Academic Plan Lock and Unlock Courses Send Parent Approval Requests Add Courses, Sequences and Packets to the Academic Plan and Drag and Drop Drop Courses |
Academic Plan Course Sequences (CSQ) | Read Update Insert Delete | Add Courses Sequences Update Course Sequences Add Course Sequences and Courses Delete Course Sequences |
Classes (SEC) | Read | View Current Classes |
Transcript (HIS) | Read | View Past Classes |
Course Request Sheet Table (CRQ) | Read, Update | Select Courses on the Update Academic Plan Course Options page |
Data Alerts and Approvals (DAA) | Read, Insert Administer | Send Parent Approval Requests View the 'My Action Alerts' tab on Review Alerts page. View/Delete the 'All Action Alerts' tab on Review Alerts page for the ability to delete alerts for all users. |
Staff/Teachers | ||
High School Graduation (HSG) | Read | Utilize the Graduation/College Readiness Dashboard |
Academic Plan (APC) | Read | |
Parents/Students | ||
Academic Plan (APC) | Read Update Insert Delete | View Academic Plan Lock and Unlock Courses Approve Academic Plan Requests Add Courses, Sequences and Packets to the Academic Plan and Drag and Drop Drop Courses |
Classes (SEC) | Read | View Courses |
Data Alerts and Approvals (DAA) | Read, Insert | Approve Academic Plan Requests |
Counselors | ||
Academic Plan Log (APL) | Read, Mass Update | Open hyperlinks within the Academic Plan Status Summary widget and run the KEEP query limiting the view of students |
The Academic Plan page ↑
Counselors and Teachers can enter courses individually or multiple courses may be added at one time by utilizing Course Request Packets or Course Sequences. Students and Parents also have the ability to submit modifications to their Academic Plan when enabled in Portal Options. Changes submitted by Parents and Students require approval by the Counselor before being added to the plan.
Clicking on 'Show Legend' displays the color codes
The Show all grade levels checkbox shows/hides the next/previous grade levels.
The Show changes by Student/Parent checkbox show scourses the Parent has Added or Deleted from the Academic Plan that need approval by the Counselor.
When this option is checked, two additional color-coding keys appear to identify the changes
The Select All Changes checkbox is used by the Counselor to Select all Parent submitted changes for Approval or Rejection.
On the Academic Plan page, separate tabs display the High School Graduation, UC, CSU Requirement Views, and Add-On Graduation Status view in districts that have set it up. Clicking on each tab changes the view. A Credits Needed/Required column is also displayed. This displays credits that are still needed after accounting for credits from the student's currently scheduled classes, transcript, and from the academic plan.
Note: The Academic Plan looks at the Course (CRS) table to determine the credits for future classes and uses what is in Graduation Requirements (HSG) (or CER) for the past and current totals. Typically the credits in the CRS records are assumed to be Semester credits, so to determine the yearly credit they are multiplied by two. At a 4x4 school, the Course credits might be 10, rather than the usual 5, which would affect calculations.
The Term headings for each grade level are defined by the terms in School Info > School Options.
Note: The courses in green that represent HIS records normally display under the the Term in which they were taken if it is a Term in School Options and mapped in Transcript Definitions. For HIS records with Terms that are not offered at the School such as Hexamesters, Mid-quarters, Trimesters, or Non-traditional Terms such as Supplemental Sessions, these are displayed on a separate row in the Subject Area with the Term name.
Academic Plan Courses are applied to the Plan based on the Terms defined in the Course.
Note: Before beginning to use Academic Plan, please verify that terms are set up properly on the Transcript Definitions page Terms tab. In a K-12 District, the Terms and Transcript Terms should be similar between Middle and High Schools. If a Middle School uses Quarters, for example, and in the Transcript Definition they use Terms 1-4, the High School needs to have Terms 1-4 mapped. The same is true for schools in a High School District. All the terms used at different schools must be mapped at each school for the Academic Plan to show properly as Students move between schools. It is important that Semester Headings and State Term Codes be mapped accurately. Additionally, Courses need to have the correct Subject, Department, Credits and Term, and Sections need to have the correct Term. For Middles Schools using the Academic Plan, courses are normally tagged only by Department rather than Subject, unless the course counts toward Graduation Requirements.
Graduation Requirements ↑
The Credits Needed in the Academic Plan pull from the Graduation Requirements page. Each school can set up their own 9-12 requirements or they can be configured at the District. If there are no Graduation Requirements set up at a school, the Academic Plan page pulls from the District (SC 0). For a 7-year Academic Plan, the Middle School would also have to set up the same Graduation Requirements or use District Requirements. This has the advantage of showing any courses taken in the 8th grade that count toward Graduation Requirements.
Setting up Course Sequences ↑
Navigate to Scheduling Process > Configurations > Academic Plan Course Sequences
Note: The following configuration and functionality information applies to both a 4-year Academic Plan and a 7-year plan. For a Middle School to use the Academic Plan feature, they would need to create their own Course Sequences and Course Request Packets appropriate to the 6-8th grades.
Course sequences can be set up for a series of courses for a subject a Student would typically take in their Middle and High School career. Up to 16 courses can be configured in each sequence. Each sequence is associated with a primary subject area, although the sequence may contain courses from any number of subject areas. A beginning grade level must also be assigned. Each school would set up their own Course Sequences for grades 6-8 and/or 9-12. A Default Term and Default Year can be assigned for the courses. The Default Term chosen must match the Term defined in CRS.TM for the Course (Fall, Spring, Year, Quarter, etc). Concurrent courses can be assigned such as two courses in the Fall and two in the Spring.
Default Year is the Year in the Sequence ie 1st Year, 2d Year, 3d Year
In districts with more than 1000 active courses, when selecting Courses for the Sequence none will be displayed in the dropdown list. Instead, Courses can be searched by Course Name and/or Service ID
For example, at a High School, an English 9-12 College Prep course sequence can be created containing four years of English and complimentary courses taken concurrently. In the example below, the Student takes a Year-long course and two Semester courses in the 1st Year of the Sequence.
Once the Sequence is created, these courses can be added to individual Student Academic Plans. An unlimited number of Course Sequences can be created. These same steps would be followed at a Middle School.
NOTE: Assigning a Default Year, 1-4, should be the starting point of the course sequence and not the grade level. E.g., a course sequence cannot start with Default Year 3 if it is a Grade 11 course sequence. The starting Default Year must be assigned with 1 because it is the first year of the course sequence.
Adding Courses to the Academic Plan ↑
There are three ways to add Courses to a Plan. Courses may be added Individually, by Multi-year (Course Sequences), or by Grade (Course Request Packets). The Academic Plan assumes students have current courses and only applies Courses, Sequences and Packets for the next Grade level. Depending on your Summer School setup, it is usually part of the current year so Courses cannot be added.
To add a single course to the academic plan, select the individual course from the Course drop-down, and click Add To Plan. In districts with more than 1000 active courses, users will be prompted to select a Subject Area and/or search for courses by Course ID, Title or State Code.
To add a Course Sequence to the Plan, click the Multi-Year button, then select a Course Sequence to add for each subject area displayed. Current Courses are displayed according to the student's current class schedule. When the View only sequences containing current courses is checked, the Available Sequences dropdown is limited to include only those Sequences that contain a matching current course. If there is no current course, any sequence from that subject area may be selected. After selecting the course sequences, click Apply the Selection to add the courses to the plan. Only future courses are applied, starting with the next grade level.
To add courses from Course Request Packets, click the Grade button. Select a Packet to add for each grade level, then click Apply the Selection to apply the courses to the plan. Multiple Packets can be chosen. Only packets applicable to the Student's next grade level are displayed.
For Middle Schools, Course Request Packets are shown from the school defined in Next School (STU.NS). For an 8th Grader in a K-12 District, the 9-12 Course Requests Packets from the High School defined in Next School are shown.
Courses may be deleted from the plan by hovering over the course in the grid and clicking the Trash Can icon.
Drag and Drop Courses ↑
Once courses are placed on the Academic Plan, they may be moved around and Courses and Subject Areas may be locked to prevent changes by unauthorized users. When hovering over a Course that can be moved, the pointer changes to a hand.
To move a Course, click and hold the tile and drag it up to the Grade Level heading that matches the Course term - Quarter, Semester or Year Long. All the available Term Headings darken when you start dragging the course. When the course is held over the desired Term heading, the Term highlights in blue and can be dropped on the column. The Course appears in the proper column aligned with the Subject Area. Courses need to be unlocked to be moved.
Moving a Year Long English Course from 11th Grade to 12th Grade:
When a course is moved, the existing APC record is deleted and a new record is created.
Any changes made to delete or add Courses are automatically logged to the Academic Plan Log (APL) table for reference. This table can be queried to view this information.
Clicking on the Lock/Unlock icon prevents a Course from being moved by unauthorized users.
Clicking on the Lock/Unlock icon for the Subject Area locks all Courses currently in the Subject Area. However, new courses can be added to that Subject Area by users with the appropriate permissions.
When Parents and Students log in to the Portal, they can see which courses have been locked and are not able to change them.
Parent/Student Access ↑
Parents and students may add Courses to the academic plan via the Academic Plan Entry page in the Parent/Student portal. They are limited to adding only individual courses which are specified on the Update Academic Plan Course Options page. For each course, check the box to Allow this course to be selected. This options page also allows specifying a preferred term for non-yearlong classes. For example, Marching Band might be first semester, but Concert Band might be second semester. Preferred term is not required.
In addition to specifying which courses are available to Students, date ranges must be specified in Portal Options on the scheduling tab. A separate date range for each grade is available. If the current date is outside of this window, the Academic Plan Entry page for Parents/Students becomes read-only, regardless of security permissions set. There is also a free text field available for Directions for Students and Parents. This displays as an information box instructing the Parent or Student what they should do.
In addition to the date ranges, two check boxes can be set to allow Parents and Students to add Multi-Year Course Sequences and Course Request Packets to their plan.
Once Security, Academic Plan options, and Portal Options have been set up correctly, Students and Parents may add and remove individual courses from their plan. However, any Courses/Subject areas that have been locked cannot be changed. After all courses have been added or removed by the Student or Parent as appropriate, they should click the Submit My Plan For Counselor Review button. This marks the plan as Pending Approval which the Counselor needs to approve later. If the Student forgets to click the button, it appears to the Counselor as Pending Submission. The submitted courses appear with the 'Added Item' color coding.
Academic Plan Approval ↑
Counselor Approval
Once the Parent or Student submits their plan, it is available for Counselor review. The Academic Plan Status Summary widget is available to Counselors on the Home page. This displays any pending or approved submissions which the Counselor should review.
NOTE: When a new Scheduling editing window is opened in Portal Options under Scheduling > Date Ranges for Allowing Stu/Parent Updates to Update Individualized Academic Plan, the 'Approved' plans move to 'No Action' for the new window, as each new editing window starts a new approval process.
The widget shows total count to the Counselor of the following:
- Approved - These plans have had changes made by the Parent or Student, and have been approved by the Counselor.
- Pending Submission - The Student or Parent has made some changes to the Academic Plan, however, they did not click the Submit to Counselor button
- Pending Approval - The Student or Parent has made some changes, and clicked the Submit to Counselor button.
- No Action - These plans do not require any action by the Counselor. They were most likely plans manually entered by the Counselor, or they are Students who do not have an academic plan.
Note: The Academic Plan Status Summary is linked to the Students' Counselor via the currently logged in user's Staff ID. If unexpected counts are displayed here, be sure the Staff ID is properly entered into Security Users (UGN), Staff (STF), and Teachers (TCH).
The Counselor can click on a number, and it runs a KEEP query to limit viewing to just those students and take the them to the Academic Plan page where the Counselor can approve each plan.
Check the Show Changes by Student/Parent checkbox to show the changes submitted by Parents or Students. Courses added are displayed in grey, and deleted courses are displayed in red. The Counselor has the opportunity to Reject any change or Accept all Changes. To reject a change, check the box next to the course to reject, and click Reject The Selected Changes. Once the plan is acceptable, click Accept all Changes to accept the plan.
Once the Counselor approves the Plan, the Plan status becomes "Approved" and the new courses change color to dark blue.
Parent Approval
Parent Approval of the Academic Plan can be requested by using the 'Send Request for Parent Approval' button on the Academic Plan page.
The Parents receive a notification in the Parent Portal that links to the Academic Plan page. They can review the Plan and respond to the Alert.
Clicking on the Alert takes the Parent to the Academic Plan page where they can approve or disapprove of the Plan. They may add any comments. If they Decline the Plan, they are required to give a reason.
After the Parent has responded, clicking on the Notification Bell shows the response and status.
The Parent's response can be viewed on the 'My Action Alerts' tab of the Review Alerts page in the Alert Hub.
The APC table ↑
Querying the TRS field can show if there are any Pending approvals. Also, the Counselor Dashboard shows the changes that have not yet been submitted by the Parent/Student, the changes submitted and the ones Approved.
The APL Table ↑
When a Parent/Student makes a change to their Plan through the Parent Portal, this is what happens behind the scenes.
The change is made but not yet submitted:
This appears as GR = 99 with no Inclusion Date (SD) and is Pending Approval in APC.TRS
When the change is submitted it is Pending Approval for the Portal:
And now there is an Inclusion Date and Time (SD, ST). APC.TRS is still P for Pending Approval
And the Counselor sees the submission:
When the Counselor approves the changes:
There is now a Drop Date and Time (ED,ET) for the Submission and APC.TRS is now A for Approved.
And User action information on the Submission:
Importing Course Requests ↑
Navigate to Scheduling Process > Functions > Import Course Requests from Academic Plan.
Course requests from the Individualized Academic Plan can be imported into the Course Requests (SSS) using the Import Course Requests from Academic Plan page.
Options for filtering the Students' Course Requests are available, including Term and Grade level, as well as including inactive students. Choose the Terms, Locations and Students to be imported. The Locations refers to schools other than the Home school where the student has chosen to take a course. If other schools are included, they are imported along with the Students' home school requests. If there are no course requests at other Locations, leave this blank.
Change Students in the Following Grades and Additional Options can be used to limit the Student requests imported.
Limit by Student Group with Query opens a Query window where a KEEP statement can be used.
Delete Existing Course Requests? allows the process to be run again with updated Requests without creating duplicates.
At the bottom of the page, the last time the Import process was run is shown.
Click on the Preview Only button. A message displays on the bottom left with the number of records that WOULD be updated and the Students display with the Course Requests to be Updated, giving the opportunity to review the data to be added before it is committed.
Once the list of student course requests looks correct, click Update SSS to create the Course Request records.
There is an 'Updating...' message while the process is running. When the process is completed the User receives an email notification indicating the number of records updated. It is not necessary to stay on this page while the process runs.
Add-On Graduation Requirements ↑
This feature provides a new method and system to define graduation requirements for students. These new requirements are designed to either be added on to the existing subject-area-based graduation requirements or replace them. The Academic Plan page displays a Add-On Graduation View tab that is used to track the student's progress. The use of this feature is a local decision and requires enabling a feature flag setting in order to setup and view.
Contact Aeries Support for instructions on how to enable this feature. For more information, see Add-on Graduation Requirements / Endorsements