ALE Application: Setting up a New School Year

In early spring, many programs begin thinking ahead to the new school year and are ready to start preparing for the upcoming school year.  Here are a few things to consider.

1. Setting Up Your School Year Dates:
   You can set up your school year beginning/ending dates, class terms, class term dates, and excluded dates in Data Admin. The ALE Application: Data Admin Date Settings help doc will walk you through setting these up for the upcoming school year.
   
   
2. Changing Your SLP Default Values:
   You can change your default Method of Weekly Contact statement, Supplemental Certificated Teachers, and Estimated Enrollment Hours via Data Admin>>Configuration>>SLP Default Values. ***Any changes made here will take effect immediately and apply to any newly initiated SLP.***
   
3. Initiating WSLPs for the Upcoming School Year:
   You are able to set up WSLPs for the upcoming school year at any time.  Some things to consider when you click “Initiate Student Learning Plan”. 
   
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   • School Year and Start/End Dates Default
     By default, your school year, plus the start/end dates are set to the current year.
     You can change your default school year for initiating SLPs via Program Manager>>Settings>>click on Row Action Gear for Initiate SLP Default School Year>>click Select for Initiate SLP Default School Year>>select a school year>>click Update.

      

     

     If you have not set your School Year dates in Data Admin, you will receive an error when initiating SLPs for the new school year. Regardless of the defaults, you are able to manually select the school year and dates for the student learning plans you are initiating.  

   • Creating Plans for Students Who are not Yet Enrolled in the Student Information System
     When initiating a plan, you are going to have a list of currently enrolled students available to select from.  For Kindergarten students not entering until the fall, or students who have applied and been accepted to your program, but haven’t yet been entered into your Student Information System, you can use the “Create Student for ALE” function available on the Secretary, Registrar or Certificated Teacher role.  

     All you need to create a record is a first and last name, but if you also have the SSID or Other ID available, enter it now.  

     
     
     This will ensure that the created record will automatically match up with the student record from the SIS as soon as it is included in one of the overnight migrations.  

     If you don’t have access to any of the identification numbers for the student, you can come back at a later time and manually link the records, using the “Link ALE Student to SIS” interface by inputting the student’s SSID, Other ID or Searching to link them by name.

     
4. Viewing Student Learning Plans for Next School Year:
   Once created, you can view future year SLPs in the following locations: 
   
   
   • Registrar/Teacher Role>>All ALE Students - columns are included here to view prior year, current year, and next year WSLPs for each student.  By default, the list is filtered to include only active students, so don’t forget to remove that filter if you’re looking for a student who is not currently enrolled. 
     
      
   • Registrar/Teacher/Program Manager Roles>>Student Learning Plans>>All Student Learning Plans and Teacher>>Student Learning Plans>>My Student Learning Plans pages: These have a ‘Data Settings: Students from’ filter just under the page title. Click on Data Settings: Student from (school year) to switch from the current school year to a future school year.
     
     
     
5. Updating FTE estimated enrollment percentages for new plans:
   As soon as new plans are created, they are available to Secretaries on the “Manage Enrollment Percentages” screen for editing.  This view has a default filter that is set to the current school year, but by selecting the “School Year” column, users can select plans created for the upcoming year as well. 
   
6. Approving Plans:
   It is recommended that you wait to “approve” plans until August, when Certificated Teachers are reviewing and finalizing plans just before the start of school.
   
   
7. Scheduling Classes for the Upcoming School Year:
   You can begin scheduling classes for the upcoming school year at any time.  
   
   
   • School Year and Start/End Dates Default
     By default, your school year is set to the current year. You can change your default school year for creating classes via Program Manager>>Settings>>click on Row Action Gear for Create ALE Class Default School year>>click Create ALE Class Default School year>>select a school year>>click Update.
     
     
   • Copying Class Schedules from One Term to Another or One School Year to Another
     A separate document titled “ALE Application Copying Classes from One Class Term or Year to Another” walks through this process and can be found in our Help Center here.
     
     
   • Copying ‘In Progress’ Courses from one School Year to the Next
     A separate document titled “Copying in Progress Courses from one School Year to the Next’ walks through this process and can be found in our Help Center here.