| Import Students |
|
Admins can import complete student data for the whole school or district. (For teachers to add multiple students to gradebooks, see Setup Students.)
This section describes the columns accepted to import student data. See Import Data for general data format requirements. Preferred Name — This is usually a nickname, like "Joey", to be used on informal reports. This may be in a separate column, or the same column as the first name in parentheses or quotes, like 'Joe (Joey)' or 'Joe "Joey"'. Student ID — This is the student ID number (which may include letters and punctuation, but not spaces). If no ID is imported, a default ID number will be generated. This is necessary to distinguish students who may have the same names. Alternate ID — This is a secondary ID number/code, usually used for the state ID. Grade Level — Grade level can be any format, like 5th, 5, K, Kindergarten, P, Pre-K, Freshman, Frosh, Junior, Sr, etc., or the year of high school graduation, like 2014. Gender — Gender should be M/F, male/female, B/G, or boy/girl. Birthdate — Most date formats are accepted for birthdate, including yyyy-mm-dd, dd-mm-yyyy, and mm/dd/yy. Ethnicity — Ethnicity must be spelled exactly the way you have it listed on the screen. If more than one ethnicity applies, they should be in the same column separated by a comma, e.g., "White,Hispanic". Custom — You can import custom columns like IEP, 504 Plan, GATE, etc., as you have defined on the screen. Blanks, N, No, F, False, and 0 mean no; anything else means yes. (Note: You must import all custom fields, otherwise the ones you omit will get erased.) Email — The email address of the student and each parent/contact. Any format is accepted. Each person may have multiple email addresses, either in the same or separate columns, but each person must have a separate column. Phone — The phone number of the student and each parent/contact. Any format is accepted. Each person may have multiple phone numbers, either in the same or separate columns, but each person must have a separate column. Address — The address of the student or each parent/contact. This is used to mail report cards and login instructions. If both parents are at the same address, only the first parent needs an address. Parents/Contacts — You can import up to 4 parents/contacts for each student (the program itself allows unlimited contacts, but the import is limited to 4). Name is the full name. Relation is like "Mother", "Father", "Mother & Stepfather", "Tutor", etc. There's a column for Occupation too. Do not use this for doctors; there's a separate field for that. Doctor & Medical — Doctor contact info is separate from the parents/contacts. If the doctor's name and phone are in different columns, import them both as "Doctor Info". You may also import insurance information and various medical records in any format. Residence & Transportation — You may import notes about the student's living situation in any format. The "Verified" field indicates if residence was verified or not (blanks, N, No, F, False, and 0 mean no; anything else means yes). You may also import Transportation notes in any format, like bus routes, parking permits, or who is allowed to pickup. Homeroom Teacher, Counselor, Asst. Principal — This can be the staff member's name, email address, or staff Code as defined on the screen. Names can be in any format, like "John Doe", "Doe John", "JDoe", "DoeJ", but it must match the name exactly; it does not understand that "Johnathan" is the same as "John", etc. It's less ambiguous to use email addresses or staff Codes if possible. If it cannot find a match, it leaves it blank. Special Needs — You may import notes about special accommodations required in any format. This information is shown to teachers. Staff Notes — This can be anything in any format. See Staff Notes School/Building Code — Specify which school each student is currently enrolled at. This code should match whatever you enter on the screen. If you haven't entered those codes yet, it will ask which code matches which school and save those codes during the import. You must have permission at each school. This column is optional; if omitted it assumes the school you currently have selected in the tab-bar.
Any other data columns are ignored. See Student Data Fields for more detail about the above. Here is a simplified example: ID LastName FirstName ... 9024 Doe John 9711 Austin Laura 9147 Laney Mary 9610 Farley Mike 9249 Grant Sherry 9122 Cho Shoyi ...To update only certain information, import only the columns you need, e.g.: ID Phone 9024 736-8129 9711 736-2108 9147 735-1404 9610 736-7792 9249 735-1969 9122 736-1194 ... When Done
Student data is imported into the database immediately. You do not need to wait or publish anything after importing, so all new contact information, etc. is available instantly. This differs from student schedules, which are not immediate — see Import Classes.
It is okay to re-import students who are already in the system. This does not create duplicate students, nor does it delete students. It looks at each student you import to see if they are already in the system, in which case it simply combines their data. In case there are discrepancies, it asks if it should replace or preserve the old information. (If email addresses are different, it keeps both of them. Staff Notes are appended together. Importing blank fields never erases anything, even if you select to overwrite data.) The example above shows how you can update certain information by re-importing it. If any student names are ambiguous, like if the ID matches a student but the name is significantly different, it will prompt you before proceeding. If you accidentally import bad student data, click the "Delete/Withdraw" button on the screen to Purge any new students who are not scheduled in any classes.
For training, it's recommended to import only small sets of data so you can easily undo mistakes, then add more students and more fields as you get more experienced. |
