1. 6 th Annual Focus Users’ Conference 6 th Annual Focus Users’ Conference Scheduling Overview Presented by: Sara Sayasane Presented by: Sara Sayasane

2. Agenda What we are covering in this session Subject, Courses and Sections Setup Rolling, Tweaking and Running the Scheduler 2

3. Subject Setup 3

4. Scheduling Creating Subject Areas Secondary To begin, Select the Scheduling Menu go the Setup section for Courses & Sections 4

5. Scheduling Creating Subject Areas Secondary Courses & Sections - Organizational Tool Folder that contains courses Add subjects by clicking on the + at the bottom of the column Math – folder that contains all the math courses taught English – All English courses Science – All Science courses Create courses within each subject folder by clicking the + at the bottom of the Courses column. 5

6. Scheduling Creating Subject Areas Elementary Courses & Sections- Organizational Tool Subject Folder that contains courses o 1 st grade – All courses associated with 1 st grade, etc. o Homeroom 6

7. Course Setup 7

8. Scheduling Creating Courses Secondary Course Catalog is enabled in System Preferences When used it assures that the course number follows the course code directory It only allows for courses that are in the DOE directory or added by the district Graduation subjects are pulled from the course catalog Core for Class size as well as other fields pulled from course catalog 8

9. Scheduling Creating Courses Course & Sections from the Scheduling Menu Add Courses + To add a course located at the bottom of courses column. Start typing Course Number suggestions appear Matches on number of digits defined in catalog – additional digits allowed Course Title Course Catalog  Generates the correct DOE/PEIMS course number 9

10. Scheduling Creating Courses Secondary Graduation Requirement Subjects need to be set up. This can be set up in the “Course Catalog” or on the “Courses & Sections” for each individual course setup. If set in course catalog it cannot be changed at the course level 10

11. Scheduling Create Courses Secondary Credits – when it goes to course history Schedule Course first – this will override what is setup in graduation subjects Subject folder – where it is organized; not the graduation or AAR subject 11

12. Scheduling Create Courses Secondary Grade level – restricts the grade level that can request the course Prerequisites – must contain course numbers only, caution when using it – use AND OR as needed 12

13. Building and Copy Sections 13

14. Scheduling Building Sections All courses need sections created for students to be scheduled. Fill in the following information for each section: o Teacher o Room – For FL Rooms need to exist in the Resource Scheduler. Associate state school inventory ID with a room. o Period – Set up with Beginning and ending, extended periods – ending period is a system preference Bell Schedule – A/B days, 1/2 days, A/B/C – set up in system preferences 14

15. Scheduling Building Sections Meeting Days – MTWRF – MWF-TR Marking Periods – Quarter/Semester/Full Year – length of the course Seats Short Name – Unique identifier for that section. o When setting up sections the short name will automatically populate to the next largest numeric number. o You can change the section number short name to your local naming structure. Course History Term – when student posted grades should be sent to course history 15

16. Scheduling Building Sections Attendance, Grades, Affects GPA – check boxes Gender restrictions Grading Scale – used when calculating GPA – done in school set-up Standards Grading Scale – Elementary schools that use Standard Base report cards Grade Posting Scheme – default/EOC Calendar – associates the section with attendance Parent Section – linking sections together 16

17. Scheduling Building Sections Co-teacher – allows teachers to share grade book sections History – If change a teacher during the school year Florida/TX/NJ Fields – DOE required Data Caution on Exclude from FTE/FASTER – can be confusing – x red = included, green check = excluded. 17

18. Scheduling Copy Sections FOCUS also allows the option to copy an existing section. All the fields will be copied and one needs to modify or change only the necessary fields – remember to change the short name for the section 18

19. Rollover 19

20. Rolling, Tweaking and Running the Scheduler First Step: Rollover your setup, courses, and sections Even if you’re using the builder, it’s easier to build your master schedule if you rollover your entire master schedule - this should be done BEFORE working on any sections 20

21. Scheduling Check your setup in the 2015- 2016 year It’s important to set the dates properly for your marking periods. Otherwise, the builder won’t let you schedule into those marking period. Also, check the calendar. It’s not important that it’s perfect. But, you should at least set the first day of school. 21

22. Scheduling Check your courses In Scheduling -> Courses, add new courses before you put in requests. If your courses aren’t categorized by department, do this now. You categorize courses via “Subjects.” 22

23. Tweaking 23

24. Scheduling 2 ways to build 1) Tweak the rolled over master 2) Use the builder Tweaking the master can oftentimes be the easiest way. But, it’s a matter of preference. If you’ve used a builder in the past, you might be more comfortable in Focus’ builder. 24

25. Scheduling Tweaking Start with the Builder Reports If you use the builder, these reports are still useful. 25

26. Scheduling Tweaking There are 2 reports that point out obvious problems: Courses with too many and Courses with too few Requests You can eliminate some sections in “Courses with too few.” Then, take those teachers and add some sections to “Courses with too many.” 26

27. Scheduling Builder Reports Use the Builder Reports to determine changes that will need to be made based on student requests. The two most commonly used reports from the Builder Reports are Courses with Too Many Requests and Courses with too few Requests. Refer to the Builder Reports in the next section of this training guide for details of the reports. You can click on the course name to be taken to the courses and sections setup. This will allow you to add, copy or delete sections of this selected course. 27

28. Scheduling Builder Reports are particularly valuable because they cover all aspects of scheduling – not just the courses and periods your school has set up but also issues that arise after an administrator has run the Scheduler. These reports are particularly valuable in assessing the match between demand for particular courses and sections against actual availability. The Master Schedule Builder uses the logic of these reports to determine the best period for each created section. 28

29. Scheduling Courses with too many Requests The demand for seats exceeds the number of seats available. If possible, increase the number of seats within the sections or add new sections. You can adjust and add sections by clicking the Course Title from the list. If the Available Seats column is blank then no seats were assigned to the course sections. Courses with too few Requests Courses with too few requests are courses with less than 80% of seats filled. Extra sections can be deleted from the course. If you are deleting all sections for a course, please delete the student requests for that course first. You can adjust and add sections by clicking the Course Title from the list. 29

30. Scheduling Overlapping Requests Overlapping requests occur when a course conflicts with another course scheduled at that time based on requests. If possible, move sections to different periods to make available to students. Overlapping Singletons Overlapping Singletons are courses that only have one single section and meet the same period as other singleton sections. If a student requests both sections, they will only be scheduled into one of them. If possible, either add another section or change the period the section is scheduled. 30

31. Scheduling Sections with Zero Seats These sections do not have any available seats. Students will not be scheduled into them. If possible, increase the seat size or create another section. If the Available Seats column is blank then no seats were assigned to the course sections. Period Counts This report lists the number of seats, courses, and sections in each period. These numbers should be fairly balanced among the periods. If you need to add sections, it is recommended to add the sections to periods with fewer sections. 31

32. Scheduling Tweaking via the Teacher Schedule Report The Teacher Schedules Report displays a list of scheduled teachers and their scheduled sections. This report can be used to make changes to a teacher’s schedule by literally moving (dragging and dropping) sections around, much like a “whiteboard schedule.” The information can be filtered to display and choose additional fields such as, Room Numbers, Course/Section Numbers, Terms, and Totals. The report also identifies possible section conflicts by displaying those sections in red. It indicates more than one section has been scheduled into a single period. To access this report, click the Scheduling Menu and select Teacher Schedules Report. 32

33. Scheduling This will display the Teacher Schedules Report. To move a section, click and hold the blue plus sign (+), located to the right of the section title, and drag the section to the new location (period and teacher). In the example below, Mia Cantrell’s Period 2 Math Grade Two class will be moved to her Period 3, which is currently open. Note: sections should be moved PRIOR to building packages and scheduling students. If a section is moved to a different period or teacher after you have run the scheduler, re-running the scheduler will need to be done in order to re-distribute the students. 33

34. Scheduling To access a section’s information, simply click the underlined class section title. A new browser popup will show the Courses & Sections screen for the selected class. From here, Tweaking the Section information can be performed, as well as setting up Co- Teacher options, and completing state reporting fields. 34

35. Scheduling Tweaking via the Master Schedule Report This report serves as an overview of Subjects, Courses, and Sections. The report also includes the Teacher, Room, Period, Meeting Days, Total Seats, Available Seats, Marking Period, Grading Scale, Bell Schedule, Rotation Days (if applicable), whether the class Takes Attendance, is Graded, and all state required fields. Adjustments can be made directly from within the Master Schedule Report—this is known as “Tweaking”. Tweaking the Master Schedule is a great alternative to setting up all new courses and sections. Especially when fewer changes to courses and sections from the previous year are needed, Tweaking is likely an easier approach. When courses and sections Rollover from year to year, only a few may need to be tweaked. To access the report, click the Scheduling Menu and select Master Schedule Report. 35

36. Scheduling The Master Schedule Report will be displayed. To include Florida Fields in this report, click the Show Florida Fields button in the upper right corner of the report screen. Note: to make changes, click the underlined entries to display edit options— this is exemplified on the second line, HEALTH - GRADE 4. You can use the Master Schedule Report to make changes to any scheduling parameters, including the number of seats, teacher, room number. Click on any dotted underlines to make changes right on the report. Or click on the blue arrow by the Period and Teacher columns to go into the Courses screen to return to full setup edit ability. If the courses, periods, rooms, or number of seats have any issues, you’ll see these conflicts flagged in red whenever you access the Master Schedule Report. You can make changes to resolve these conflicts directly from the Master Schedule Report by clicking on the red underline or by using the blue arrow next to the red underline and following the process described above. 36

37. Scheduling You can filter the report by Subject from selecting the pull down option in the top left hand corner which will show only the sections associated with that subject i.e. Math, English, Electives and etc. You can Customize the report to show only the columns you select by selecting Customize Columns. 37

38. Scheduling The Mass Update feature can be used to update any one of the fields and all the courses and sections will have the updated information. When accessing the Master Schedule Report it will open to page one. When updating information in order to update All courses and sections, select the Show All or only the page that you are on will be updated. The Filter feature allows the user to view a subset of the master schedule. 38

39. Run Scheduler 39

40. Run Scheduler Once you are satisfied with the sections created and assigned to the teaching staff and all requests are entered you are now ready to Run the Scheduler. Run Scheduler uses the master schedule you have created and combined it with the student requests to generate the highest percentage of filled requests resulting in complete schedules. 40 Scheduling

41. Run Scheduler Once you are satisfied with the sections created and assigned to the teaching staff and all requests are entered you are now ready to Run the Scheduler. Run Scheduler uses the master schedule you have created and combined it with the student requests to generate the highest percentage of filled requests resulting in complete schedules. Select the Run Scheduler from the Scheduling Menu. A box will appear with multiple options to choose from. Only select the options that apply to your school scheduling needs. Scheduling Request and Request Reports 41

42. Delete Current Schedules This option will override existing student schedules and will allow you to utilize the scheduling reports to view your results. Override Period Links between Semesters This option will allow students to be scheduled in different periods but still have the same teacher from semester one to semester two. Override Period and Teacher Links Between Semesters This option will allow students to be scheduled into different periods and teachers from semester one to semester two. Override Team If the school uses teaming for scheduling, this option will override, allowing students to be scheduled into courses outside the team. Only Schedule students not completely scheduled This option allows you to run the scheduler for only students who were not completely scheduled. Gradelevel This option allows you to select a particular grade level to run the scheduler for. 42 Scheduling

43. Schedule into sections… This option will allow you to schedule only a single semester or an entire school year in one run. Each time you use the Run Scheduler, you’ll see a progress bar, percentage of total requests filled, percentage of students completely scheduled, and elapsed time for the run. A list of courses with unfilled requests will also be displayed. The scheduler uses the master schedule you have created and combined it with the student requests to generate the highest percentage of filled requests resulting in complete schedules. 43

44. Loading Reports 44

45. Loading Reports The Focus Loading Reports provide the scheduling team with reports to evaluate the student requests compared to student schedules. These reports are used during the building process to adjust the location of sections to accommodate unfilled requests and then used during the clean up process to ensure all students are completely scheduled without conflict. Courses with Unfilled Requests Displays a list of courses, number of unfilled requests, number of sections, available seats, and requested seats. This report helps to determine the number of sections needed based on requests. To adjust the number of sections, click on the course from the list. To view a list of students who have unfilled request in a certain course, click on the underlined number in the Number of Unfilled Requests column. 45

46. Scheduling Overfilled Sections Displays a list of sections, course information, the number of filled seats, the number of available seats, and the number of overfilled seats. This report helps determined if more sections are needed or seat counts need to be adjusted within sections. To adjust the section seat count, click on the Section title from the list. To view other sections offered in the same course, click on the course title form the list. Underfilled Sections Displays sections that have fewer than 50% of available seats filled. This report helps determine if the section may need to be moved to a different period in the day or combined with another section in the same course. For example, if Team Sports is offered twice in the day, but has less than 50% filled, an option may be to combine the sections to one period. To adjust the section, click on the Section title from the list. 46

47. Scheduling Unfilled Requests Displays a list of students with requests that have not been filled. The report includes the Request, available seats in the course, number of sections, elective priority, and if any restrictions have been set. You can choose the students to display by searching a specific group from the Search screen. You can also exclude the Elective Alternative Requests from the list. To adjust a student’s request, click on the student’s name from the list. To adjust the course availability, click on the course title from the Request column in the list. Percentage of Students Scheduled Displays the percentage of students scheduled in core classes and in the number of courses. You can set the number of scheduled courses to be considered. This report helps determine how close a school is to 100% scheduled students. 47

48. Scheduling Students with Incomplete Schedules Displays students who have one or more periods in which no courses are scheduled. You can choose the students to display by searching a specific group from the Search screen. You can also modify the report by selecting an Effective Date and the appropriate periods to display. To make changes to a student’s schedule, click on the student’s name from the list. Students with Conflicting Schedules Displays students who have more than one course scheduled into a single period during any period of the day. You can choose the students to display by searching a specific group from the Search screen. You can also modify the report by selecting an Effective Date and the appropriate periods to display. To make adjustments to a student’s schedule, click on the student’s name from the list. 48

49. Creative Scheduling 49

50. Creative Scheduling Types of schedules we’re going to look at: Blocks Blocks and Skinnies Rotations Scheduling Inclusions and Pullouts Team Scheduling 50

51. Scheduling A/B Block Students go to 4 classes every day. They have a total of 8 classes in their schedule. Schools do this so that teachers have 90 minutes with students for each course instead of 45 or 50. Teachers may have planning every other day This may require more teachers, since planning periods are also 90 minutes. 51

52. Scheduling Setup for A/B Block – System Preferences Set Advanced Rotation: 2-day Rotation. Whether you use Letters or Numbers is up to you, but most schools choose “Letters” 52

53. Setup for A/B Block – Periods Create 4 periods – enter time & length in minutes for A & B days 53

54. Setup for A/B Block – Calendar In School Setup -> Calendars, you can choose the rotation day for each calendar day. But, you don’t have to set each day by hand. Use Populate this Calendar to fill in the blocks for the entire year. 54

55. Scheduling Setup for A/B Block – Sections Check either A or B for Rotation Days – depending on which day it will meet. It’s not necessary, but many schools also end the section number with A or B to easily identify which rotation day it meets on. 55

56. Scheduling 4x4 In this option of Creative Scheduling, classes are scheduled into four periods that meet every day for a semester. At the end of the semester the student will receive a new set of four courses. To set up your periods, go to School Set Up and select Periods. Period set up should contain 4 periods, the minutes for each period, and Used for Attendance checked. In addition, only the Default Bell Schedule is required. 56

57. Scheduling Mixed A/B Block/Skinny Students go to 4 classes every day. Like normal A/B block, they have a different set of classes on the 2 days. But, some students have at least 1 class (possibly a reading class, etc) that meets both days for 45 minutes instead of 90 minutes like the other sections. 57

58. Scheduling Setup for Block/Skinny – System Preferences Set Advanced Rotation: 2-day Rotation. Whether you use Letters or Numbers is up to you, but most schools choose “Letters” Also, enable ending period. 58

59. Setup for Block/Skinny – Periods Create 8 periods – enter time & length in minutes for A & B days. Most sections will span 2 periods. So, the length of each period should be the length of a “skinny” class. 59

60. Setup for Block/Skinny – Calendar In School Setup -> Calendars, you can choose the rotation day for each calendar day. But, you don’t have to set each day by hand. Use Populate this Calendar to fill in the blocks for the entire year. 60

61. Setup for Block/Skinny – Sections Check either A or B for Rotation Days – depending on which day it will meet. If it’s a block class, make it span 2 periods. Example: Beg: 01, End: 02 When using rotation days, check the M-F days that you want reported to DOE. M-F isn’t used by Focus 61

62. Scheduling Setup for Block/Skinny – Sections For “skinny” classes, Beg & End will be the same, and both days of the rotation will be checked 62

63. Scheduling Setup for Block/Skinny – Sections Another option for Block/Skinny scheduling is for the schedule to have M/W and T/TH as blocked schedules of 4 classes each and then Friday all classes meet for an abbreviated length of time. In this case there would be an ABC rotation set up o M/W A day o T/TH B day o F C day 63

64. Scheduling 5 day (weekday) rotation Students go to 7 or so classes every day. But, unlike a traditional schedule, the meeting times of each section are different based on the day of the week. It’s also possible that some periods don’t meet on certain days. For example, a school might want only periods 1-4 to meet on Thursday and only periods 5-8 to meet on Friday. 64

65. Weekday Rotation – System Preferences Set Advanced Rotation: Weekday Rotation. 65

66. Setup for Weekday Rotation– Periods Create 8 periods – enter time & length in minutes for M-F days. In this example, periods 1-4 don’t meet on Friday. Minutes and start/end time are blank for periods 1-4 on Friday. 66

67. Scheduling 5 day (weekday) rotation At the elementary school level if there are only 5 specials blocks then the rotation can be setup as a weekday rotation. Rotation days do not need to be setup in system preferences or on the calendar or sections. The day of the week is selected instead at the section level 67

68. Scheduling Setup for Weekday Rotation – Calendar None! Based on day of the week. This means that if Monday is a holiday, that day will be skipped. If you don’t want that to happen, use a 5-day rotation instead. 68

69. Scheduling Inclusion and Pullout Sections: In addition to self-contained classes, Focus can also be configured to take into account inclusion periods and pullouts for students that receive individual or small group instruction. In order to designate a section during the school day as an Inclusion Section, navigate to Courses and Sections and bring up section level detail for that class: 69

70. Scheduling Inside of the Florida Fields for that section, the first step to flagging it as an inclusion section is to specify the Scheduling Method on the section as an I - In Class One-on-One: 70

71. The second step would be to select the appropriate Team Teacher Training option for both the Inclusion Section and the Self-Contained section for this period. The Inclusion section should be set to take attendance, assign grades and count towards GPA. An additional option for an Inclusion section would be to designate a Co-teacher for the section and assign that teacher’s section to the ESE student’s schedule. This would be reported to the state as a co-teach model and not inclusion. Be sure to hit after making any changes. 71

72. Scheduling Sections can also be created as Pullout Sections, in which the student will be leaving the traditional class to receive extra instruction. In order to denote that a section is a Pullout Section, the Scheduling Method should be set to G - Individual or Small Group Instruction: Note: A scheduling method of G all by itself does not indicate an exclusion from Class Size. If the Pullout section is going to be excluded from class size, then within the Florida Fields, the Pullout box should be checked. In this instance, when Focus pulls the State Reporting extracts, it will add a period 88 to the extracts as the ending period for the section in order to denote the Pullout: 72

73. Scheduling Teams To begin, users want to establish team names and configure them in Focus. To set-up the team names, navigate to Scheduling menu and select Teams from the pull-down menu Enter the team names under the Title column, and fill in the short name and sort order, if desired. Once the team information is entered, select the Save button. To assign the sections, navigate to: 73

74. Scheduling Scheduling menu and select Courses & Sections. Once in the Courses and Sections Menu, drill down to the section level in order to add a specific Team to a section by selecting a Subject, then selecting a Course, and finally selecting a Section. On the Sections screen, there is a pull-down menu called Team. The items in this pull-down come from the Team Set-Up. Select the desired team to place this section under, and click the Save button. Assign all sections to the correct teams. Students can be individually assigned to teams, mass group assigned to teams, or there is an option to randomly assign students to teams. 74

75. Scheduling Individually Assign Students to a Team In some instances, a specific student should be moved to a new team, either for academic reasons or due to an issue on the previous team. To assign an individual student to a team, navigate to the Students menu, and select Student Information: Select a student. Navigate to that student’s Grey Enrollment sub-menu: At the bottom of the Enrollment screen, select the Team drop-down and add the appropriate Team. The items in this pull-down come from the Team Set-Up. Be sure to click after assigning an individual student to a team. 75

76. Scheduling Mass Assign Students to a Team Under the Students menu, Mass Assign Student Info can be used to assign teams for a whole school or student group. This would be used when changes have been made to the team format, or if assigning all incoming students to teams based upon demographic detail. 76

77. Scheduling Randomly Assign Students to Teams The Randomly Assign Students to Teams option allows the user to mass assign groups of students to various teams at random. This process can be used to create a mix of demographic and intellectual abilities on the same teams, or can be used to assign students to teams at random after those that need to be on particular teams are assigned. Navigate to the Scheduling menu and select Teams. Once a list of teams to be used is identified, click the Randomly Assign Teams link at the top of the screen. 77

78. Scheduling Click the Grade level to assign and the applicable teams for that grade level. If some students have already been assigned teams, be sure the box Only Assign Teams for students without a team already assigned is checked. If desired the box can be unchecked. This will result in previously assigned teams to be overwritten with the randomly assigned team. 78

79. 6 th Annual Focus Users’ Conference 6 th Annual Focus Users’ Conference 79 Any Questions Contact Information Sara Sayasane Project Coordinator 727-388-1599 saras@focusschoolsoftware.com

80. Thank You Please be sure to complete the comment card for this session and enjoy the rest of the Users’ Conference! 80