Setting up Semester 2 in Accelerus Light (South Australian schools)

This article outlines the steps a school can take to set up Accelerus at their school in semester 2 of each year.

Lock Semester 1 data

We recommend you lock down the previous semester so that the data and results are not accidentally altered. 

1. In the Management screen, click the School Settings and Tools tile
2. Click Cycles in the menu on the left-hand side
3. Select the required cycle and click Edit
4. Tick the 'Locked' check box and click Save and then Close

Teachers

Update teacher details

1. In the Management screen, click the Manage Data tile and select Teachers in the menu on the left-hand side
   1. For a new teacher: Click New > Enter the teacher details - a unique teacher code, email address and start date. Remember to send them an invitation from Accelerus
   2. To edit an existing teacher: Select the teacher and click Edit > Make changes
   3. To deactivate a teacher who has left: Select the teacher and click Edit > enter an end date. When you close the window, highlight the teacher and click the Deactivate icon, clicking OK when prompted
2. Click Save and then Close

Update teacher roles

1. In the Management screen, click the School Settings and Tools tile
2.  Select the role from the School Roles menu on the left-hand side
3. Highlight the teachers and use the < or > arrow to give or remove permissions

Import any new teacher signatures

1. In the Management screen, click the Import and Export Data tile
2. Select Teacher Signatures from the Photo Import menu on the left-hand side
3. In the File name pattern field, select the filename format. <Teacher code>.jpg appears by default but if your images are not named with the teacher code, use the Insert Fields dropdown to map the correct database fields to your photo filename format e.g. for Smith, John.jpg you would select <Family Name>, <Given Name>.jpg
4. Click Browse, navigate to the signatures storage folder and select the files to upload
5. Click OK. The files selected will appear in the Upload Teacher Signatures window
6. Click Next and check the messages
7. Click Next to upload the selected files and wait until all files are uploaded before leaving the window

Home Groups

Rollover home group details

1. In the Management screen, click the Rollover tile and ensure Home Groups is selected in the menu on the left
2. If home group teachers are similar to last semester, leave Include Home Group Teacher 1 and 2 ticked
3. Generally, it’s not necessary to tick Include Memberships as students will be added to their correct home group when you import students
4. Click Next, review the rollover messages, and click Next to proceed with the rollover
5. Adjust details as required through the Manage Data tile

Year Levels

Rollover year levels

1. In the Management screen, click the Rollover tile and ensure Year Levels is selected in the menu on the left
2. Leave Year Level coordinators 1 and 2 ticked
3. Do not tick memberships as the correct student year levels will be imported when you import students
4. Click Next, review the rollover messages, and click Next to proceed with the rollover
5. Adjust details as required through the Manage Data tile

Students

You must update students each semester, by importing a Student CSV file. This file can be exported from your school's administration system and must contain the following column headers, in any order:

Import the Student CSV file

1. In the Management screen, click the Import and Export Data tile
2. Under the CSV Import heading ensure Students is selected
3. Tick Set start date for new students and enter the first day of Semester 2
4. Tick Set end date for students not in CSV file and enter the last day of Semester 1
5. Click Browse and select the CSV to upload, once uploaded click Next
6. Check all the messages and take appropriate action, as per the table below:

Import or update student photos

Photos should be stored in single folder and have the same file type e.g. jpg. Photos should be named using the student code or a name that can be mapped to the Accelerus database e.g. SMI001.jpg or Smith, John.jpg

1. In the Management screen, click the Import and Export Data tile
2. Under the Photo Import section in the left panel, select Students
3. In the File name pattern field, select the filename format: <Student Code>.jpg appears by default but if your photos are not named with the student code, use the Insert Fields dropdown to map the correct Accelerus database fields to your photo filename format, e.g. for Smith, John.jpg you would select <Family Name>, <Given Name>.jpg
4. Click Browse, navigate photo storage folder and select the photos to upload
5. Click OK
6. Click Next and check the messages, noting which students are missing photos.
7. Click Next to upload the selected photos and wait until all photos are uploaded before leaving the window.

Subjects, Classes and Enrolments

 There are multiple ways to setup subjects, classes and enrolments in Accelerus Light:

• Create Enrolments - define which subjects will run for which year levels with which teachers and then the Create Enrolments process creates all the relevant subjects, classes and enrolments and assigns the correct teachers. More information on this process can be found here
• Rollover - Can use in addition to Create Enrolments, typically used to rollover subject descriptions from a previous semester. NOTE: If you have already used the Create Enrolments window to create subjects, classes and enrolments there will be a message for subjects that already exist. The action for these is Retain by default
• Manage Data - After using a bulk method, make manual adjustments e.g. change a teacher

Semester 2 Quick Setup (VIC and SA Govt. and Catholic Schools)

Rollover from a previous semester

The Quick Setup should be rolled over and adjusted, as required, each semester.

1. In the Management window, click the Rollover tile and ensure Quick Setup is selected in the left panel.
2. In the From field, select the semester and year of the data you want to rollover into the current semester. If you assess and report differently in each semester, rollover from the same semester of the previous year, otherwise rollover from semester 2 of the previous year. NOTE: if you assess and report differently in semester 1 and semester 2 and you included any new features in this year’s semester 1 Quick Setup, and wish to also use these in the semester 2 Quick Setup, ensure you manually add these after rolling over
3. In the To field, select the current semester
4. Click Next, check the messages displayed and take appropriate action from the dropdown selections:
   

   Message	Action
   Parameter values will be changed	This will update the Accelerus default parameters by rolling over your school’s specific parameters, i.e. comment lengths, work habits/skills, achievement and effort scale etc. The action to select is Change these parameters.
   Subject/s will be rolled over	This will rollover the subjects and their assessment and reporting selections from the selected from semester into the current semester. The action to select is Change these subjects.
   Subject/s will not be rolled over because they do not exist	The subject/s existed in the previous semester but not in this semester or the subject exists in this semester and cannot be rolled over because it did not exist in the previous semester. No action will be available. Note any new subjects for this semester will need to be setup manually in the Quick Setup.

5. Click Next and wait for the completion message to appear
6. Review the rolled over Quick Setup and make any necessary changes

Negotiated Education Plan (NEP)

You may add an NEP assessment item to any subject. This allows teachers to flag students who are being assessed at a year level other than their current year level in that subject. The NEP assessment item will appear for all students in the subject but the teacher will only enter a result for those who are on an NEP, specifying the year level standard against which the student has been assessed, choosing from the following dropdown options:

• assessed at Reception standard
• assessed at Year 1 standard
• assessed at Year 2 standard and so forth up to Year 6

The student report will show the subject as having been assessed at Year 3 standard for English in the subject heading.

1. In the Management window, select the Quick Setup tile
2. The Quick Setup is comprised of two windows, the Parameters window and the Features window. If you are not in the Features windows, click the Features icon
3. Repeat these steps for each subject that you wish to add the NEP flag:
   1. Filter the view by entering the subject name in the filter box in the top right of the window and hit enter.
   2. Scroll down the window until you locate the curriculum area for that subject in the left panel and locate the Negotiated Education Plan option for that curriculum area.
   3. Click in the intersecting cell for each year level that you would like to add the flag until +A +R appears.
   4. Once all required subjects have configured, click Save and then Close.

Build Quick Setup

Once all selections are made, you’re ready to build the assessment items and report templates. To do this, click the Build icon in the Quick Setup window. 

Customisations and preparing reports

If your school has had customisations made to your semester reports e.g. additional assessments, modified report pages etc. these need to be rolled over by Accelerus support staff. Please contact the Accelerus Support team once you have completed the Quick Setup.

Follow the instructions outlined here to prepare your Semester 2 reports.