Setting Up a new Semester
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      Setting up for Semester 2 in Accelerus Full

      Please read before you start ...

      • These notes summarise the steps a school can take to set up Accelerus at their school in semester 2 of each year, when:
      • The school has been using Accelerus for at least one full academic cycle, e.g. a year or a semester.
      • The person setting up Accelerus has attended Accelerus training, as these notes do not provide step-by-step instructions, but guidelines, based on the information provided in training.
      • Your requirements for the next academic cycle are similar to, or can be based upon, previous cycles, e.g. S1 of this year or S2 of last year, if your Accelerus database includes this data, and no fundamental errors were made in the setup of the previous cycles.
      • You are retaining the same academic cycle structure this semester as used in Accelerus in the last semester.
      • Most of the steps herein use the Management menu of Accelerus.
      • Not all steps here apply to all schools, and you should skip those that are not relevant. However, you should follow the sequence outlined unless the notes specify otherwise.

      Pre-requisites

      Export Victorian Curriculum scores

      Schools that have used Quick Setup to record Victorian Curriculum scores should export the semester 1 scores if they have not already done so:

      1. Go to the Management page in Accelerus.
      2. Click the Import and Export Data tile.
      3. From the Export option in the left panel, click Student XML.
      4. Click Next.
      5. Check any messages found, e.g. students with missing results or registration numbers. It may be that you need to reimport a Student XML file from semester 1 if you manually added students during semester 1, in order that their CASES21 registration and campus details are included in Accelerus, as these are required by CASES21 when importing data back into CASES21.
      6. Click the Download button.
      7. The file that is produced by this process should be given to your school’s administration database manager to import into CASES21.

      Sync to Xuno

      If applicable, sync your Xuno data to Accelerus to update the database. Advice on that process can be found here. 

      Non-Xuno schools

      If your school does not use Xuno, advise on the process of adding students can be found here.

      Add students to other cohorts, e.g. Subschool

      This is only necessary if you have cohort types in addition to year level and home group, and these cohorts are not annual, and your csv file did not contain these.

      • Import these additional cohort memberships via a student csv file, with a column heading for the code or name of the additional cohort, e.g. SS or Subschool.

      OR

      • Manually add students to these groups:
      • Go to Management > Manage Data > [Name of cohort, e.g. Subschool].
      • Click the first group.
      • Click the Memberships icon.
      • Click the Add students icon and a table will display all current students.
      • Sort the table of students appropriately, e.g. by Year Level or Home Group, in order to make selection easier.
      • Highlight all the students required and then click Add Students.
      • Repeat the above for the next cohort group.

      Update student photos

      If student photos have been taken since the import or rollover of photos in semester 1, you can import these via Management > Import and Export Data > Photo Import > Students.

      Where students have moved home groups and you have annual subjects

      Usually, in primary and special schools, students undertake their subjects in their home groups. Therefore, if a student’s home group has changed since semester one, this will be reflected in the import of the student XML or CSV file. However, these import processes do not automatically move the student from their old classes to their new classes. Step 9.1 details the process you should follow when you have annual subjects/classes and the student has moved home group during the year.

      DO NOT delete the previous enrolments of the student, in their old home group classes, as you will lose all data of the student associated with the old classes.

      DO NOT withdraw students from their old subjects and add them to their new subjects as their results, goals, journals, etc, will remain under the old subjects and the new teacher will have to begin from scratch.

      Protect your last cycle’s data

      The next step in the setup process, is to protect your last semester's data. Advise on these steps can be found here.

      Creating Subjects, Classes and Enrolments

      Advise on steps to complete this part of the setup can be found in this article.

      Update teacher records and access

      Update roles

      In Management > School Settings and Tools, if required:

      • Assign any new teachers to School roles, e.g. Administrator, Result Viewer, All Teachers, etc.
      • Remove any teachers from School roles where they have left or no longer hold the role.

      Teacher movements and updates

      • Add an end date to the records of teachers who have left, either manually via Management > Manage Data > Teachers, or as part of the csv import process, as covered in a step above, or as part of the Xuno sync.
      • From Management > Manage Data, check the Subject, Class and different types of cohort records to make sure that any teachers who have left no longer have roles in these records, removing them from these roles if they do.

      NB   Make sure you go into the appropriate subjects, classes and cohort records and assign the new teacher, where necessary.

      • If required, update any teacher records, e.g. changed names, etc.
      • Send an invitation to new teachers via Management > Manage Data > Teachers.

      Setting up assessment items - Non-Quick Setup items

      Look at the following guide for assistance with this step.

      Prepare Reports

      Look at the Producing Reports section of the Help Articles, where you can find multiple guides that will helps with all aspects of reporting, from producing reports to creating templates.

      Setup Quick Setup parameters and Reports

      This guide is only referring to Victorian schools.

      Teachers complete reports

      In Accelerus:

      • Teachers enter results and comments for their students on a class basis, via the Assess Classes card and/or
      • Work on goals and, when the report run is current, write report journals for the goals.

      Report Preparation and Printing

      Prerequisite steps

      • In the case of schools in the Victorian Government sector, obtain an XML file of student absences from CASES21 and import this into Accelerus web via Import and Export Data > XML/CASES21 Import > Student Absences.
      • If necessary, import any result data required, e.g. absences and days late via a CSV file (Import and Export Data > CSV Import > Results).
      • Change any results via Assess Classes or Assess Subjects, if required.
      • If preparing to print Victorian Curriculum reports, do a final Build in the Quick Setup window.
      • If using calculations or graphic functions in your assessment items and reports, run a calculation process for the currently selected cycles in Accelerus (School Settings and Tools > System > Calculate All) to ensure all calculations are totally up to date.

      Print Reports

      1. In Accelerus, go to Management and select the Process Reports tile for the report run.
      2. Select the appropriate report run
      3. Click ‘Structure’ in the toolbar if you want to change the order of potions or slots in the report run.
      4. Make sure the latest copies of all templates and template parts have been uploaded to the cloud, via the Templates and Template Parts options in the toolbar.
      5. When ready to print the student reports, click Report Run in the left panel and go through the steps to print the reports, making the required selections of students, content and output options.

      If you require further explanation regarding this step, look at the following guide.

      Export Victorian Curriculum scores for CASES21

      Schools that have used Quick Setup to record Victorian Curriculum scores must export the semester 2 scores out of Accelerus:
      1. Click Management in Accelerus
      2. Click the Import and Export Data tile.
      3. From the Export option in the left panel, click Student XML.
      4. Click Next.
      5. Check any messages found, e.g. students with missing results or registration numbers. It may be that you need to reimport a Student XML file if you manually added students during semester 2, in order that their CASES21 registration and campus details are included in Accelerus, as these are required by CASES21 when importing data back into CASES21.
      6. Click the Download button.
      7. The file that is produced by this process should be given to your school’s administration database manager to import into CASES21.