TRANSITION AND PREPARATION FOR 2017-2018 SCHOOL YEAR

The information below will help you prepare your school for the upcoming 2017-2018
school year. All tasks must be completed prior to the start of the first testing window on
Monday, August 21.

If you need any help or support, please feel free to reach out to SchoolSpeak
(support@schoolspeak.com) and John Reyes (jreyes@la-archdiocese.org).

Promotion and Transfer to New School Year

SchoolSpeak Lite Schools (school not using SchoolSpeak as SIS):

SchoolSpeak Support will automatically handle promotion and transition of students to

the new school year – there is nothing you need to do here! This process will occur from
June 26 – June 30; there may be intermittent service unavailability for schools trying to
access the STAR End of Year Cumulative Report in SchoolSpeak.

Starting July 5, SchoolSpeak access should return to normal to allow you to complete
preparation tasks for the upcoming school year. Please wait until July 5 to delete,
transfer, add, and/or update students for the new school year.

SchoolSpeak Schools: If you are a full SchoolSpeak customer (e.g. using the SIS,
gradebook, and communication features), SchoolSpeak recommends that you
complete the archiving process for the 2016-2017 school year after July 1 using ‘Prepare
for new school year’ admin tool. If you would like to archive before July 1, please note
that RDI will be turned off for your school until July 1 to avoid potential synchronization
issues with your school’s data.

Preparation for the New School Year (COMPLETE THESE TASKS AFTER JULY 5)

1. Delete non-returning students.

SchoolSpeak Lite Schools: Log into SchoolSpeak by going to
http://adla.schoolspeak.com, and then click on Renaissance Learning. From there,
click on “View, edit, & upload staff and students” and scroll down to Students. Place a
checkmark next to any non-returning students, then click on Delete Selected Members.
SchoolSpeak schools: Follow directions in ‘Prepare for new school year’ admin tool

2. Add or transfer students that are new to your school.

SchoolSpeak Lite Schools: In the Students section, click on Add Student.

If the student is transferring from another Archdiocese of Los Angeles school,

click on “Transfer Student from existing school?” Search for the student by
selecting the school name under “Select Community” and entering the student’s
 first name, last name, and date of birth. A list of matching students will show up
under the Search Results; click on the circle button to the left of the matching
student’s name, then click Select. Enter the student’s homeroom for 2017-2018,
then click Save.

If the student is new to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (e.g. Kindergarten or TK

students, transfers from public or charter schools), enter the necessary student
information, then click on Save.

SchoolSpeak schools: Follow directions in ‘Add Family’ admin tool.

3. Update student characteristics. An error message will display in SchoolSpeak if

characteristic information is missing for students (e.g. “63 member records have
empty/invalid values.”). There are two ways to update student characteristic
information:

Edit only individual students with missing characteristic information. In the

Renaissance Learning section of SchoolSpeak, you may see an error message
that says “xx number of records have empty/invalid values.” – click on Click here
to show error details. A list of students will appear; click on a student’s name to
edit the student’s characteristic information, make the necessary changes, then
click Save. Repeat this process for each student.

Edit all students’ characteristic information.

SchoolSpeak Lite Schools:
Go to “View, edit & upload staff and students” section of SchoolSpeak, then
scroll down to Students. Click on Download Student CSV, and edit the
spreadsheet as needed to ensure there is no missing information for students.
Once completed, upload your newly edited spreadsheet by clicking on Upload
Student File. Click on Choose File and select the spreadsheet you’ve edited.
Click on the Upload button, then follow the prompts to complete the update.

SchoolSpeak Schools: Use ‘Download Member List’ admin tool to download CSV
of student fields, edit the spreadsheet and upload using Batch Member Update
admin tool.

4. Modify teachers and homerooms as needed. Teachers can be

added/modified/deleted in the Staff section, and homeroom assignments can be
modified using the Edit Homerooms page.

SchoolSpeak schools: Add/modify/delete teachers and their permissions. Use

‘Configure Homerooms’ admin tool to make homeroom changes.
5. Re-assign products to courses and classes, and set up custom courses and classes (if
desired). In Renaissance Place, make sure to add products using the Courses and
Classes page. TK, K, and 1st grade classes should be assigned STAR Early Literacy; 2 nd
and 3rd grade classes should be assigned STAR Reading, STAR Math and STAR Early
Literacy; and 4th through 8th grade classes should be assigned STAR Reading and STAR
Math.

If you’d like to use custom courses and classes, make sure to manually add those
in Renaissance Place. Please note that you will also need to manually add
students to those classes throughout the year if you add/modify/delete student
users.