Elementary Scheduling / Courses and Sections

Overview of Elementary Scheduling

Setting up Elementary schedules includes creating subjects, courses, and sections, building course packages, and lastly, scheduling students. In this document, you will learn how to schedule using elementary packages as well as how to utilize the built-in reports Focus has available for scheduling.

Scheduling Set-Up Checklist

Before you begin scheduling, it is important to make sure the following set up has been completed:

• Create / Verify that all teachers are in Focus
• Create/ Verify that all rooms are set up in Focus and assign to the correct teacher
• Verify that Periods and Bell schedules have been set up
• Verify that calendar(s) have been created
• Verify that Marking Periods have been created
• Verify that grad posting schemes have been created
• Verify that grading scales have been created

Subject, Course, and Section Setup

To begin, navigate to the Scheduling menu and select Courses & Sections.

Subjects

When you enter Courses & Sections you will first see an area called Subjects. This area allows you to create folders to house your courses and sections.  In elementary set up it is recommended that you file your courses by grade level as shown in the screenshot.

If your courses and sections were rolled from the previous year you may already have Subjects set up.

You can begin adding Subjects by clicking the + plus sign found under ‘Subjects’. After clicking the +plus sign you will see that a new subject area will appear at the top of the screen.

Enter the following:

• Title = Name of your Subject / Folder title
• Short Name= Abbreviation for your title
• Vocational Program Number = Leave Blank
• Total Hours for Program= Leave Blank
• Required Percentage of Hours Attended= Leave Blank

Click Save.

Courses

Courses align with the Course Catalog (if turned on) and are associated with state-approved course numbers. If the course catalog is enabled schools may be unable to create their own courses. Courses can be placed in any Subject desired; it is recommended that Elementary courses are filed under grade-specific subjects.

Once you have added all of the subjects for your school, you must next add courses to the subjects.

Click on the Subject you would like to begin with and Focus will display any courses already “filed” under that subject.

You can add additional courses by clicking the +plus sign at the bottom of the courses list.

Use the Course Number text field in the upper left to locate a specific course. As the numbers are typed, a list of corresponding courses matching the numbers will be shown (if using the course catalog). Click the desired course or enter the full course number.  Once your course is selected some of the remaining fields may auto-populate (if using the course catalog).

Select the Subject pull down in the upper right-hand corner to place the new course in the appropriate subject folder.

Click the Save button.

Continue this process until all courses are added.

Sections

Once your Courses have been added, it is time to create sections. Sections are the individual classes you create for the courses taught in your school. To create a section, click on the course you would like to create a section for.

Another column will appear on the right-hand side of the screen called Section. Click the + plus sign to add a new section.

Section Fields

Course Sections contain many important scheduling fields along with necessary state reporting information. Pay careful addition when populating the fields listed below.

• Teacher - Select the teacher assigned to the section. Only active users with the Teacher profile will be available for selection.
• Room - Enter the room number or click the green ellipses icon to select a room number from the Resource Scheduler/Rooms pop-up window. If the homeroom number is set in the Teachers tab of the user record, the room number will auto-populate when the teacher is selected.
• Display Room Optional - This field is used to display a different name for the room besides the standard room number.
• Period - Select the period(s) the section will meet.
• Rotation Days- If the school uses rotation days, select the rotation days the section will meet. If the section meets on all rotation days, select all the checkboxes; do not leave them blank. The length of the rotation and the rotation day label (letters or numbers) are set up in Setup > System Preferences > Scheduling tab using the “Advanced Rotation” and “Rotation Day Label” preferences. If the school does not use rotation days, this field will not display on the section
• Meeting Days - Select the days of the week the section meets. This should be set to M -F and can be overridden on the student schedule.
• Marking Period - Select the full term of the course (full year, semester 1, semester 2, quarter 1, etc.). This indicates the seat time of the course. For most elementary courses, this will typically be set to Full Year.
• Seats - Enter the maximum number of students who can be enrolled in this section. Users with edit rights to the master schedule can override the seat maximum when scheduling students.
• IEP Seats - Enter the maximum number of special education students who can be enrolled in this section
• ESOL/ELL Seats- Enter the maximum number of ESOL/ELL students who can be enrolled in this section
• Short Name - This field will auto-populate with the next increment but can be edited as needed. Short names must be unique for all sections within a course.
• Course History Term - Select when grades should be sent to Course History. At the selected term, the posted grade will be included in GPA calculations and appear on student transcripts. For Elementary it can be set to N/A if you do not want grades to go to Course History.
• Takes Attendance - Select this option to designate that this section must take attendance.
• Graded - Select this option to designate that the section is graded. This is used to determine if the teacher will use the grade book and be required to post final grades.
• Affects GPA - Select this option to designate that the section will affect GPA. For Elementary this should be unchecked.
• Active- Select the check box to designate that this section is an active section. Deselecting the check box will prevent students from being enrolled in the section. Only sections that do not have students currently enrolled can be marked as inactive. Inactive sections do not display on the Teacher Schedules Report. Attempting to add an inactive section to a student’s schedule in Student Schedule or Mass Add Course will display an error message. 
• Gender Restriction - Select whether the section is restricted to male or female students or select None.
• Grade Levels - Select whether the section is limited to students in certain grade levels. Leave blank if the section is available for all grade levels.
• Grading Scale - Select the grading scale. Options available for selection are based upon the grading scales set up in Grades > Grading Scales & Comments.
• Standards Grading Scale – If using standards report cards, select the grading scale that will be used to post standards grades for standards assigned to the course. Options available for selection are based upon the grading scales set up in Grades > Grading Scales & Comments. Curriculum Frameworks are loaded into Focus and are linked to courses, allowing teachers to grade students based on these standards.
• Grade Posting Scheme - This is used to determine how semester and full-year grades are calculated for a given section.
• Calendar - Select the calendar the section will use (if there is more than one calendar set up for the school). A non-default calendar should be used if the course meets on dates not defined in the default calendar, if the course meets on dates that change frequently, or if the course meets on dates that cannot be defined using the Meeting Days field.
• Parent Section - Select a parent section for the section. This option is used when sections should be linked together.

Section Tabs

 In addition to the main section fields, you will also see several tabs available when creating sections.

• Co-Teacher Tab - The Co-Teachers tab is used to define the co-teachers for a section, set the co-teachers permissions to the section’s attendance and Gradebook, and define whether the co-teacher will be included in state reporting.
• History Tab - From the History tab, schools can track any changes made to the teacher of record for this section. When a section is reassigned to a new teacher, the change is logged and the previous teacher’s record will still display in the section’s history.
• Florida Tab - The Florida tab contains fields used for FLDOE state reporting submissions.
• Vocational/ WDIS Tab - The WDIS/Vocational tab contains all of the fields that are specific for Adult General Education (AGE) and WDIS state reporting submissions. Not Used in Elementary
• Inclusion Tab - The Inclusion tab on the Courses & Sections screen is used to set up inclusion sections. This tab allows users to create inclusion sections without having to create separate sections and package them together.
• Subs- The Subs tab displays substitute teachers assigned to the section from Attendance > Attendance Setup > Subs. Only users with the "View Substitutes" permission for Attendance Setup can view this tab on the section screen. Users with "View Substitutes" and "Edit Substitutes" permissions for Attendance Setup can add, modify, and delete substitutes from the Subs tab on the section screen. Records that have been added, modified, or deleted in the Subs tab on the section screen will be reflected in Attendance > Attendance Setup > Subs, and vice versa.

Florida Fields

Click this link to view our article on High Priority Florida fields.

Copy Sections

The Copy section feature is used when additional sections are needed within the same course. This process allows you to make an exact copy of an existing section. From there you can change the period, teacher, etc. for your new section.

To do this select the section you would like to copy, then in the top right corner, you will click the Copy button.

You will then receive the following message, you can click OK.

You will now have an exact copy of the previous section. The only exception will be the short name. It will contain the word COPY in it. Enter a new short name for this section.

Deleting Sections

To delete a section, first select the section you would like to delete, then click the Delete button in the top right-hand corner.

Scheduling Reports

Focus has many built-in scheduling reports that can be used to view and edit your master schedule

Master Schedule Report

The Master Schedule Report provides a complete view of the subjects, courses, and sections of the master schedule. From the Master Schedule Report, Administrators can review the overall schedule and make updates directly from the report.

Teacher Schedule Report

The Teacher Schedules Report displays a list of teachers and their scheduled sections. This report can be used to make changes to the teacher’s schedule by literally moving (dragging and dropping) sections around.  If using the drag and drop feature AFTER sections are parented, be sure to move the parent section. The information on this report can be updated to display additional fields such as room, courses and section numbers, terms, and totals by setting the Show pull down. The report also highlights possible section conflicts by displaying those sections in red. Red indicates more than one section has been scheduled into a single period.

You can filter this report by course and section subject folder by using the Filter by Subject pull down. Clicking on the course name will take you to the section details screen.

Building Packages

Package Scheduling ties multiple sections together for ease in scheduling (also referred to as “Parenting”). The homeroom or grade level course section is identified as the Parent Section. All other sections assigned to the package are Child Sections- including specials.

Before you begin this process, you must have all sections built for a complete master schedule.

Navigate to Scheduling > Create Packages

Use the Parent/Homeroom Section pull-down to select the parent section. The Filter box can be used to locate a particular section.

For example, begin to type the course name, number, teacher name, period, or section number in the Filter box. Sections that match the search criteria will display in the pull-down, choose the parent section

Use the Children Sections pull-down to select the children sections. One or multiple sections can be selected.

To locate the children sections, begin typing the course name, number, teacher name, period, or section number in the Filter box. Sections that match the search criteria will display in the pull-down. Click each of the child sections to add it to the package.

Each of the selected child sections will be listed beneath the Children Sections pull-down.

Additional child sections can be added by selecting them from the Children Sections pull-down. To remove a section from the package, locate the section within the pull-down and click it to deselect it. 

All children sections can be removed by clicking on the Clear selected link within the Children Sections pull-down.

When finished creating the package, click Save at the top-right corner of the screen.

Repeat this process for each separate package.

Scheduling Students

Once course packages have been created, students can be scheduled into a homeroom section; this will schedule the student into all of the Child sections linked to the Parent Homeroom section, including specials.

Students can be scheduled individually or en masse.

Schedule Individual Students

To complete this process for individual students, Go to the Scheduling menu, and select Student Schedule. Search for the student you would like to schedule. Click + Add a Section; this will load the pop-up window with the list of course Subjects by grade level.

Select the grade level under Subjects and Courses and then select the Homeroom (Parent Section).

Once you select the Parent Section, all of the Child Sections will be added and the student will be fully scheduled.

Mass Schedule Students

Using the Mass Add Course option in Focus allows for enrolling a group of students instead of one student at a time. This functionality coupled with the Package makes scheduling fast and easy.

Click the Scheduling menu and then select Mass Add Course. Then click on More Search Options. Select the grade level or group of students you would like to schedule and click the Search button.

The Mass Add Course screen appears. First, select a Start Date (usually the first day of school). Next, click on the link Choose Course.

In the popup window, select the appropriate Subject (Grade Level), Course (Homeroom), and Section (Teacher).

Selecting the section will display the entire package. Click the red X on any class you would like to remove.

In the lower portion of the Mass Add Course screen is a list of students containing the results from the student search performed previously. Use the checkbox on the left side of the student’s name to select them.

Verify that the selected students and sections are correct, and click the Add Course(s) to Selected Students button in the top right corner of the screen to add all students selected into the classes displaying at the top of the screen.

A confirmation message, stating that the courses have been added to the student’s schedules will be displayed.

Elementary Scheduler 

You can also place students in classes using the Elementary Scheduler. 

To access our help document on the Elementary Scheduler click HERE.