As we pass the 4th of July holiday, back to school really begins to ramp up for many of us. We would like to share a couple of reminders with you to ensure that we have a smooth start to back to school.
Upload Early and Review
As soon as your data is ready, please upload your data and review the results to ensure all is as expected. During the summer, many changes can occur to networks, systems, etc. While the majority of these are completed and rolled out without any unforeseen side effects, verifying as early as practical that all is well is a best practice.
Review Your Automated Messages
Are your bus routes the same as last year? Have their times changed, or have routes been added or removed? Are your attendance needs the same as last year? Taking a moment to consider these thoughts will help ensure that all is ready to start the school year.
SIS Specific Information
Aeries
Aeries uses a different database for each academic year. If you have an automated integration with Aeries, the ODBC information needs to be updated to point to the new academic year’s database before that information is available. Some districts have reported that the server hosting the ODBC settings also required a restart before the new values were recognized.
Ascender (formerly TXEIS)
Whether using Ascender’s data exports, an ESC’s custom export tool, or DataLink, these systems are preset to transition to the next academic year on a particular date, usually the first of the month. If a student has not been “moved to grade reporting” for the previous year, then they will not be available in the upcoming year.
eSchoolData
eSchoolData uses a “bit flip” to determine whether office systems see the upcoming academic year or the previous academic year. Our eSchoolData API integration relies on this same “bit flip”. Your student rosters will reflect your previous years’ students, parents and staff until after this “bit flip” is completed.
Infinite Campus
We know that Infinite Campus has made some changes to the Data Extract Utility during the summer, and we are confident that all should work as expected with your uploads to us. However, as mentioned above, whenever these sorts of changes occur it is best to be extra cautious. If you deliver your files using the DEU, please ensure that your updates are appearing
PowerSchool
PowerSchool provides all Active student, parents, and staff contact information even outside the academic year, but class-related information (student schedules, courses, teachers assigned, etc.) is not available until after the first day of the new academic year, as defined in PowerSchool.