Overview

Each year you must complete some basic setup for your Adult General Education school. In most cases, you will rollover the shells of this setup from the prior year then just update what is new. For your master schedule, you may be able to even reuse the same sections if the same basic schedule will be reused. In this article we cover all the areas that need to be setup in order for scheduling to work for WDIS.

Marking Periods & Calendars

Typically at the beginning of each school year, your MIS staff will setup the marking periods and calendars; however, you may have to provide them with additional details for the setup.

Marking Periods

To setup marking periods go to Setup > Marking Periods. You should have a Full Year term setup, and below that a Semester 1, Semester 2, and Summer (if applicable). The only values that need to be entered for WDIS Adult Ed are Start Date and End Date. The Full Year should encompass all three terms, and each term below that should reflect the dates on the calendars you submit to FLDOE.

Attendance Calendars

To setup your calendars go to Setup > Attendance Calendar. You should setup one calendar for each program you offer if those programs are offered on different days. It is not necessary to setup a different calendar if the programs are offered on different days of the week as that can be customized on the sections.

Schools that have multiple calendars (IE: one for MWF and a separate TH calendar) should have an additional calendar setup as a general calendar which encompasses all possible schedule days. This calendar should be assigned to all students on their enrollment screen. The reason this enrollment calendar should be used is so that attendance data is not “hidden” when students move from MWF to TH schedules.

Program Offerings

FLDOE defines programs and courses for Adult General Education. More information about each program and course can be found on the FLDOE Curriculum Frameworks page for the relevant year here: https://www.fldoe.org/academics/career-adult-edu/adult-edu/

Adult General Education programs are available to individuals that:

Are 16 years or older.
Are not enrolled or required to be enrolled in secondary school.
Do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
Want to learn to speak, read, and write the English language.

AGE Programs & Courses

The following program numbers and course numbers should be used on the master schedule. You can edit and create courses in Focus under Scheduling > Courses & Sections.

Adult Basic Education (ABE) Program (9900000):
The ABE program is designed for Grade 30 or 31 students 16 years or older with an educational functioning level of ABE 1-4 in Math or RLA to prep for the GED Program or address gaps needed to get a job or improve functioning levels.

9900001 – ABE Mathematics
9900023 - ABE Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA) - Reading + Language

General Educational Development (GED) Program (9900130):
The GED program is designed for Grade 30 students 16 years or older with an educational functioning level of ABE 5-6 to address gaps needed to pass all GED subject area tests. Grade 31 students with a high school diploma (such as those that graduated in another country) are also eligible to participate in the GED Program, but this is not common.

9900135 – GED Comprehensive
9900131 - GED Prep Reasoning through Language Arts
9900132 - GED Prep Social Studies
9900133 - GED Prep Science
9900134 - GED Prep Mathematical Reasoning

Academic Skills Building (ASB) Program (9900500):
The ASB program is designed for Grade 31 students 16 years or older with an educational functioning level of ABE level 5-6 to address gaps needed to get a job or improve functioning levels. Grade 30 students without a high school diploma are also eligible to participate, but these students usually opt for the GED program instead.

9900501 - ASB Mathematics
9900502 - ASB Reading through Language Arts

ESOL Program (9900040):
The Adult ESOL program assists immigrants and other individuals who are English language learners in improving their reading, writing, speaking, listening and comprehension skills in English, mathematics and an understanding of the American system of government, individual freedom and the responsibilities of citizenship. In addition, the Adult ESOL Program is designed to lead to attainment of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent and transition to postsecondary education and training; or employment. Students eligible to enroll in the Adult ESOL program are those who are Grade 30 or 31, age 16 years or older, and not enrolled in the K12 system, and score within the Educational Functioning Levels (EFL) 1 – 6 of the Adult ESOL course as measured by Florida DOE-approved assessments

9900040 - Adult ESOL

Adult High School (AHS) Program (9900010):
The Adult High School Program is designed for Grade 30 students seeking an adult high school diploma. If a district or Florida College System institution does not operate an Adult High School program (program number 9900010), then they are not eligible to offer the co-enrollment program.

FLDOE approved core curricula courses are located on the Adult Education Curriculum Frameworks under the “Adult High School” heading.

Adult High School (Co-Enrolled) Program (9900099):
The Adult High School Co-Enrolled Program is designed for Grade 9-12 students seeking an adult high school diploma that have not been withdrawn from the K‐12 system, including summer students who are expected to return to the K‐12 system in the Fall. If a district or Florida College System institution does not operate an Adult High School program (program number 9900010), then they are not eligible to offer the co-enrollment program.

FLDOE approved core curricula courses are located on the Adult Education Curriculum Frameworks under the “Adult High School” heading.

Creating the Master Schedule in FOCUS

To add AGE programs, courses, and sections in FOCUS, go to Scheduling > Courses & Sections

Programs

Subjects act as an organizational container for the respective courses. This is where your programs should be set up. Use the + Symbol at the bottom of the subject list to create a new subject/program.

The “Subject” should be your Program Name. The name can be any variance you’d like such as:

ASB
Academic Skills Building
ASB 9900500

The only required field is the Title, which controls what is displayed under the “Subjects” header. Short name should be entered but is not required, and the percentage required field is not applicable for Adult General Education Courses. These names can be changed at any time without causing an issue.

Courses

Courses are added under the respective subject/program. The number and name match the FLDOE course code directory. Use the + Symbol at the bottom of the course list to create a new course.

The only required fields are the course number and title, which should automatically populate from the course catalog managed by the MIS department once the course is found in the course number search dropdown. Graduation subjects and credits should only be used for Adult High School courses that issue high school credit. Do not confuse these fields with postsecondary credit hours.

Sections

Sections are added under the respective course and represent a class. Most of the required information for scheduling is entered into the section data elements. Before all else, it is critical to ensure that the first 12 characters of the course number paired with the short name is unique to ensure the other data is properly transmitted. Use the + Symbol at the bottom of the section list to create a new section.

The following fields must be entered on the sections of the master schedule for Adult General Education, those marked with an * are part of the instructional hours calculation that is covered in depth in a separate article here.

Teacher: Primary Instructor for Class/Section
Room: Room where instruction is occurring
Period: Period when section meets. You may have a beginning and ending period to set depending on district settings.
Meeting Days*: Days the teacher is teaching the class regardless of student schedule days. Use M-F for online programs.
Marking Period*: Term that the teacher is teaching the class.
Seats: Maximum number of students who can be enrolled in the section.
Short Name: This will auto-populate but should be customized to ensure uniqueness.
Course History Term: Must be entered but only important if the class is graded.
Takes Attendance: This should always be checked for Adult General Education to track student attendance requirements.
Active: Must be checked for teachers to see class and for students to be scheduled into class.
Grading Scale: Must be entered but only important if the class is graded.
Grade Posting Scheme: Must be entered but only important if the class is graded.
Calendar*: Calendar must include attendance days that the section will meet.

Florida Tab:

Scheduling Method: Usually “S – Self-Contained” for Adult General Education Programs
Primary Instructor: Check to indicate that the assigned teacher on the General Information is the primary instructor.
Facility Type: Usually “00 – School District Facility” for Adult General Education Programs
Class Minutes Weekly: Number of minutes this section meets each week.
District of Instruction (Optional): Enter the district number only if the district of instruction is different from the enrolled district.
School of Instruction (Optional): School number only if the school of instruction is different from the school where the schedule is built.

Vocational/WDIS Tab:

Distance Learning: Usually “Z – Not Distance Learning Class” for Adult General Education Programs. This should be set as the most common default on the section and manually adjusted if needed on the student schedule.
AGE Online Course Delivery Indicator: Usually “Z – Not Applicable” for Adult General Education Programs. This should be set as the most common default on the section and manually adjusted if needed on the student schedule.
AGE Institutional Setting: Usually “Z – Not Applicable” for Adult General Education Programs unless providing education to inmates. This should be set as the most common default on the section and manually adjusted if needed on the student schedule.
Dual Enrollment Student Type and CTE Dual Enrollment Course Location: Always “Z” for Adult General Education.
Homeless Adult Indicator: Usually unchecked for Adult General Education Programs. This should be set as the most common default on the section and manually adjusted if needed on the student schedule.
Cost Reporting Code: Based on the program and defined by FLDOE (similar to K-12 FEFP Number)
- 401 for ABE
- 402 for GED
- 404 for ESOL
- 409 for ASB
WDIS Class Start and End Date*: The date the class is set to start and end for the school year.
Class Daily Hours*: The number of hours the class is scheduled to take place on meeting days. This should be set as the most common default on the section and manually adjusted if needed on the student schedule.
Adult Fee Status (First): Usually “R – Fee Required” first for Adult General Education Programs. This and Adult Fee Status (Second) should be set as the most common default on the section and manually adjusted if needed on the student schedule.
Voc./Adult Gen. Program Code: Based on the program and defined by FLDOE
- 9900000 = ABE
- 9900130 = GED
- 9900040 = ESOL
- 9900500 = ASB
WDIS Only: Check this box if your FOCUS includes both K-12 and PostSecondary, even if you can only access the PostSecondary School(s)

Items below highlighted in yellow are required. Items outlined in purple can have the most common default entered on the section and manually adjusted as needed on the student schedule. Items outlined in red impact the instructional hours calculation. District and School of Instruction highlighted in purple should only be entered if the school of instruction is different from the school where the schedule is built.