Overview
FASTER and SPEEDE/ExPRESS are sets of predefined data formats used by educational institutions to electronically exchange student records and transcripts. The Focus system uses these data formats to provide a tool for districts to use for sending and receiving student data. This guide will help you better understand and utilize the tools Focus provides.
To use FASTER in FOCUS, navigate to Florida Reports > FASTER
Explanation of tabs:
- Incoming Requests – School or college is requesting information on a student
- Send Requests – Your school is requesting information from another district
- Incoming Transcripts – A request for a transcript is being sent to you
- Outgoing Transcripts – To send a transcript out to a Florida school or college
Incoming Requests
When a district requests a transcript from a school in your district, that request will appear in the Incoming Requests tab for that school to respond to. It’s important to check your incoming request periodically, and if you are checking them for the whole district be sure to check the box for Show all school and click the Go button. You will also note that only the most recent requests will appear because of the Report Timeframe filter at the top of this page. You can adjust the timeframe and click Go to see older requests.
When a request comes in you can fulfill the request by click on the student’s name.
From here you will see the matching screen where Focus will use information in the request to try to match it to a student in your system. You may need to uncheck certain fields if they are blank or you believe they are incorrect.
Once you find the student, you can fulfill the request by simply clicking on the student’s name in the match list. If you are unable to find a student you can respond with the pull-down field on the right called “message code” with either option: Student can’t be identified or Student is not in our records and click the button Student Not Found
Send Requests
You may also wish to request transcripts from other districts as well. Before you do this, you must add the student to your Focus system. Then from the FASTER page on the Send Requests tab, click the + Add Outgoing Request
Next select the District and School from the pull down menus for which you would like to request records from. The appropriate message and record type codes should already be selected for you by default. Then click the Next button.
Then search for the student:
Select the student for your request and you will receive the message below:
Once the request is fulfilled by the school you requested from you will see it in the Incoming Transcripts tab.
Incoming Transcripts
When you are receiving a transcript it will appear on the Incoming Transcripts tab for processing. Just like you saw under Incoming Requests, the first step for loading an incoming transcript is to match it to a student in the district.
To match a transcript, first click on the student’s name on this tab. Often times, some data fields may be missing in the incoming transcript or may not match what you have in your system for that student. We recommend unchecking some of the fields on this screen and then click the Search Again button.
Once you find the matching student, click on that student’s name to proceed with loading the transcript.
Demographics tab
On the Demographics tab, any field that already matches the transcript will have a green check. Any field you wish to copy from the Transcript can be checked and saved by clicking the Save Demographics button.
Note: Fields that are checked will IMPORT data from the FASTER column! Matching fields are automatically checked.
Immunizations Tab
The Immunization records can be saved from the Immunizations tab by clicking the Save Immunizations button. If you wish to remove previously entered immunizations you can first check the box Delete existing immunization records before clicking the Save Immunizations button.
School Years
The School Years tab will display the historical record of the student's Grade Promotion Status by school year. Uncheck the boxes if you do not wish to import a certain year. Then, click Save School Years.
Courses
The Courses tab will display the Course History data from the sending school. All records that are checked will be imported into the Course History. Those with green checks already exist in your district's Focus for that student. Once desired courses are checked, click Save Courses.
Note: After import, verify the review the grades to make sure everything is set correctly. Since grading scales vary from district to district, they do not automatically get assigned and will need to be adjusted.
ELL
This tab displays ELL data fields. A green check mark means fields match in both your district's Focus and the FASTER file. If anything is unchecked, the fields do not match. Check the box if you would like to import the data from FASTER. Then, click Save ELL.
Exceptionalities
The Exceptionalities displays a list of records including the student's Exceptionality, Placement Date, Eligibility Determination Date, Placement Program Status, Referral Reason, Dismissal Date, Completion Date, Evaluation Date. If you wish to remove previously entered exceptionalities you can first check the box Delete existing exceptionality records before clicking the Save Exceptionalities button.
Tests
Each test can be individually saved on the Tests tab by selecting the test administration record and clicking the Save Tests button. Alternatively, if you wish to save all tests from the transcript you can first select Include All Test Scores checkbox.
Note: Sometimes other districts may have bad testing data. Review the test data that imported and make sure there are no discrepancies.
Discipline
Discipline referral data from the sending school can be reviewed on the Discipline tab. This data cannot be loaded into your Focus system automatically as it belongs to the school the student came from.
FASTER Transcript Data
The raw data of the FASTER transcript for the student can viewed on the FASTER Transcript tab.
Creating an Outgoing Transcripts
Pre-Submission Verification
Before you create any transcript submissions in mass, verify your data is complete and accurate. Here are few good things to review with your school staff before submitting:
- Verify all applicable assessment data has been imported or hand entered.
- Verify student schedules are complete and accurate.
- Review Grades > Graduation Requirements Report for potential data entry errors or discrepancies that can result in ineligibility.
- Guidance staff should talk to Seniors to find out about any virtual courses the student is currently enrolled in to make sure they are entered as a course in progress for Bright Futures early evaluation. Also verify that all virtual coursework which has already been completed are reflected on the student’s transcript.
- Recalculate GPA in Focus (and class rank if applicable).
Add Outgoing Transcripts
In Florida Reports > FASTER, select the Outgoing Transcripts tab then select +Add Outgoing Transcripts.
Then choose who you are sending the transcripts to. Each of the state college addresses is a bit different. Some of them use SPEEDE and some use FASTER. Typically they have addresses under both folders. See Appendix Y. Participant Status under the FASTER manual here. To determine if the college participates in FASTER or SPEEDE. Typically the pull-downs to the right of the term for Record Type and Message Type Codes are defaulted to the correct values.
The next step in the process is searching for and choosing the students you want to send.
For Talented 20, you can use More Search Options to search on the flag Focus sets on the Talented 20 field in your search to find the eligible students. (you can find more on this later in this document)
For Bright Futures, you will need to use More Search Options and search for students by Grade Level to match the Bright Futures term you entered on the previous screen.
On the next screen select the checkbox for the students you want to create a transcript for and click the Next button to add their outgoing transcripts to the queue. The transcripts will be processed and sent by Focus overnight.
Transcript Status Flags
Resolving Errors
You may receive error messages after submitting outgoing transcripts.
When you find the Sent Errors status flag on a transcript submission you can click on the symbol to expand the error message which will then display the record type, field, columns, description, in addition to the REF# error code which you can click on to find the description of the error in the FASTER manual. This expands the error and shows the record type, field, columns, description and link to help to resolve the error.
Click on the student's name to open the student record to correct the data and save.
Once the error has been corrected, you must click the checkbox next to each record you would like to resend and click the Resend Selected button or click Delete Selected to remove the transaction from FASTER.
Please note if the error is in the header of the record, the record must be deleted and resent. Be sure to double check the message type/code and/or SPEEDE/ExPRESS number.