ALE Application: Setting Up the Parent Class Interest Survey

In the ALE Application, parents can be given the opportunity to complete a survey indicating their interest in class offerings for the upcoming term or school year.  Programs can use these results to plan which classes to offer and, in larger programs, how many sections are needed.  

There are several steps involved in utilizing the survey tool:  

1. Choose which classes will be included in the survey for parents to “vote” for.
2. Assign parents how many “votes” per student they will receive. 
3. Make the survey available to the parents.
4. Download survey results. 
5. Purge results (if needed).

Choose Which Classes to Include 

Classes from the All Classes list in the system will be available for you to include on the survey.  The data points that will be made available to parents when taking the survey include:  

• Class Name 
• Certificated Teacher
• Support Staff
• Grade Levels 
• Subject Area 
• Description 

Classes not currently offered that you wish to include on the survey can be entered with only those data points above included.  You may consider adding a naming convention that would allow you to quickly filter to those classes created for this purpose for easy deletion if they are not utilized after the survey.   

This task is completed in the Data Admin Role. Navigate to the Administrative Tasks in the left navigation menu.  Scroll down to Available Classes for Enrollment Survey and click Add Record.   

Next, a form will open up where you will select the classes to include.  Click on Select to view the list of available classes.

Use the filters to sort and find all the classes you would like to include in the survey for parents.  Use the check marks to choose individual classes or the check mark at the top to choose all from your list.  You can view which you have chosen by clicking on View Selected in the bottom right corner, and a tally of how many classes you have chosen displays the count in the bottom left corner.  

Once you are done, click Add Classes in the top right.  You will see a list of all the classes you are about to add to the survey.

In this view, you can remove classes that need to be removed by clicking the “x” next to the class name.  You can also add additional classes by clicking the add button again, where your selections will be retained.  Once you are done, click Add at the top right. You will see a table displaying a list of all the classes you have selected to add. 

From this view, you can select one or more classes with the check marks at the left and click Select Row Actions to choose Remove Selected Classes from the list.  

Another option is to use the Row Action & Options gear and choose Remove.  

Assigning Votes to Parents

Next, you will need to determine how many “votes” parents will be allowed per student.  Each vote represents one class.  Currently, there is a utility where you can mass apply the same number of votes to all students.  Any individualization can then be done on a per-student basis if needed.  

This task is also completed in the Data Admin Role and by clicking Administrative Tasks in the left navigation menu.  Scroll down to Mass Apply Maximum Count of Parent Interested Classes to All SLPs.

Enter the number of “votes”  Max Count of Parent Interested Classes you would like to assign to every student and click Execute Mass Apply of Parent Interested Classes. 

On an individual SLP, you can see where this number has been captured by scrolling down to the bottom of the Details Tab to Max Count of Parent Interested Classes. If individual changes need to be made for some students, that can be done here and saved as needed.  

Making the Survey Available to Parents 

 Now that you have determined which classes are going to be included in the survey and assigned each student a number of “votes,” you need to activate the survey link for parents.  This task is completed in the Program Manager Role under Settings in the left navigation menu.  

Using the Row Action & Options gear for Show Parent Interest Survey, choose Edit and set it to true or false as needed.  

In the Enable Parent Interest Survey drop-down menu, click True and then Update. When True, the link for the ALE Class Survey will be visible in the left navigation for parents in your program.  When set to False, parents will not see the link. 

How Parents Complete the Survey

Once the link is activated, parents will see a table with one line for each one of their students in the program with an active SLP for the current or upcoming school year.  Using the Row Action & Options gear, they can choose Select Classes, which will open up a form selector.

They will click Select to see a list of classes available.  

In the resulting table, filters are available to allow parents to search by class name, teacher, support staff, grade level, and subject. Clicking the blue hyperlink in the Description column will open a pop-up window with the full description for the class.

Parents can select the classes they wish to “vote” for using the checkmarks then clicking Add Ale Classes at the top right. 

If they attempt to exceed the number of “votes” extended to them for this student, they will receive an error message reminding them of how many classes they may choose.  

Once chosen, the classes will be displayed in a list in the Ale Class Survey page table. 

Download Parent Interest Survey Results

Once parents complete the Parent Interest Survey, you can download the survey results into a spreadsheet. The download can be found via the Data Admin Role, under Summary, on the left navigation menu. Then, use the page action gear to find the report All ALE Parent Interest Survey Results.

This report will indicate which students were assigned votes who completed the survey and provide a summary of the total votes per class.

Purge Survey Choices and “Reset” Survey

Once parents complete the Parent Interest Survey, programs can purge or remove all of the survey results, clearing the tables so the survey can be utilized again.

Select Administrative Tasks from the left navigation menu on the Data Admin Role. Scroll to Mass Purge Parent Interest Results and click Remove all Current Parent Interest Survey Selections.

Clicking this button will display a warning reminding users that This process is irreversible and should only be completed once you have downloaded your survey results and verified their validity. Would you like to proceed? When you are ready to verify this action, click Yes, Continue.