Scheduling Parameters and Constraints are the “Setup” phase in scheduling. The steps outlined in Phase 3 are designed to make the building of the board and making schedule edits easier and more efficient. Some of the steps in Phase 3 roll over from previous years, and will only require edits after year 1. For those following the Quick Scheduling Guide, some of these steps are intentionally skipped in the interest of time. For large schools or those with complex schedules, Phase 3 will be an invaluable tool for improving scheduling efficiency in future phases.
To visit the entire Illuminate U lesson, check out U655 Scheduling A to Z for Phases 1-3.
Where to Start
You must be logged in under the school year for which you are impacting scheduling, as well as a specific school site. Note (in the upper-right corner of your screen in the Control Panel) that you are now logged in under the upcoming school year.
If you are not, use the Change Student Set/Site in the upper corner of your Control Panel to log in under the upcoming school year.
Click the Scheduling tab and choose Teacher-Course Availability from the Schedule Constraints header.
Or use the Quick Nav option on the Draft Overview page to access Teacher-Time Availability.
Add Course(s) to Teacher(s)
The teacher listing on the right side shows the teachers at the school, as well as the courses they are each available to teach. To add a course for one or more teachers:
1. Click (to highlight) the Courses on the left. If you want to select more than one course, simply hold down the Ctrl key on your PC keyboard (or Command key on your Mac keyboard) to click multiple selections, or hold down the Shift key on your PC or Mac keyboard to select all options listed between (and including) the 2 options you click.
2. Next, click to place a check mark in the box in front of the name of every Teacher who may teacher the course(s) you selected.
3. Click Save to complete the process.
4. Once a course has been added, you will see the name of the course appear beside the teacher’s name.
Remove Course(s) for Teacher(s)
To remove course(s) from teacher(s):
1. Locate the teacher in the Teachers list.
2. De-select the check mark in front of the course in the teacher’s list of Courses.
3. Click Save to complete the process.
Click the Scheduling tab and choose Teacher-Time Availability from the Schedule Constraints header.
Or use the Quick Nav option on the Draft Overview page to access Teacher-Time Availability.
3. Editing the Teacher Timeblock Availably requires selecting a draft, however Teacher Timeblock Availability is Draft Independent. Changes made to this page effect all drafts.
Once a draft is selected, the sub navigation menu will change, adding two additional ways to navigate throughout Scheduling tools available to you.
Teacher Filter
By default, teacher names are featured at the bottom of the page. However, you may opt to use the Teacher Filter function to narrow down the list of teachers you are viewing below.
Add Filter Criteria (Optional)
You can filter the teacher list by using departments. Departments are typically set up and assignments to teachers and courses. To add Teacher Filters:
1. Merely select one or more Department filter options (if you only want teachers within those departments to appear on the list from which you select teachers to add to the group).
2. Select Load to refresh the list. Notice how the list of teachers is reduced.
Keep in mind that districts vary in terms of their use of department labels. If nothing happens, or if no teachers appear under an appropriate department; it could be that your district has not yet assigned department labels to its teachers or courses.
If you need to select more than one teacher, hold down the Ctrl key on your PC keyboard (or Command key on your Mac keyboard) to click multiple selections, or hold down the Shift key on your PC or Mac keyboard to select all options listed between (and including) the 2 options you click.
Remove Filter Criteria
If you later want to remove a filter, select all departments in the Department filter, and then click Load. Notice how the list of teachers has expanded to include all teachers.
Establish Teacher Availability
This is where you select each teacher's availability by timeblock. You want to select all timeblocks that teachers are available to be assigned courses and sections.
1. By Individual Teacher for each teacher, place a check mark in the box of every period he or she is available to teach.
2. By Timeblock, All Teachers If you want to save time and automatically populate/check (filldown) every teacher's box for a particular period (knowing you can always uncheck boxes for particular teachers afterward), simply click the checkbox at the top of a column, and the system will automatically check all the boxes in that column. If you want to do the opposite and automatically empty/uncheck every teacher's box for a particular period (knowing you can always check boxes for particular teachers afterward), simply click the checkbox at the top of a column again, and the system will automatically uncheck all the boxes in that column.
3. Auto Prep Assignment If you want the master schedule builder to automatically select prep periods for a teacher, simply enter the number of prep periods the teacher should have in the box in the right-hand Auto Prep Assignment column. Note that you should still check the availability boxes for the periods that can be used as prep periods. For example, if you enter '3' the system will automatically select 3 prep periods based on the timeblock availability selected.
4. Assign a Specific Prep Assignment If you would rather force the schedule to give a teacher a prep period during a specific period, uncheck the teacher's availability box for that particular period and leave 0 in the Prep Periods column (unless the teacher has additional prep periods that you do want the master schedule builder to automatically select). For example, only 4a is unchecked/blank within the available timeblocks. '0' would tell the system, that 4a is the teacher's prep period.
When finished, select Save to confirm changes and confirm availability.
Student-Student Restrictions are useful tools when students are loading into classes (Phase 5). This will prevent students who have a student/student restriction from being scheduled in the same section. They can be added or edited at any point during the scheduling process. Use this tool sparingly, multiple scheduling restrictions for the same student can cause problems with that student being assigned a complete schedule schedule. When a student’s schedule is not complete because of restrictions, there is not a flag or log to easily identify the conflicts. Strategic and sparing use is the best practice.
Click Add Student Restriction.
1. Select a Grade Level to filter the list of students that appears below.
2. Select a Student Subject.
3. Next, use the Add Student drop-down menu to select the students who should not be scheduled together.
4. Click Save to create the restriction.
Click Add Teacher Restriction.
Student-Teacher Restrictions are useful tools when students are loading into classes (Phase 5). This will prevent students who have a student/teacher restriction from being scheduled in any section taught by the named teacher. They can be added or edited at any point during the scheduling process. Use this tool sparingly, multiple scheduling restrictions for the same student can cause problems with that student being assigned a complete schedule schedule. When a student’s schedule is not complete because of restrictions, there is not a flag or log to easily identify the conflicts. Strategic and sparing use is the best practice.
1-2. Select the Student Subject and Teacher from the drop-down menus.
3. Click Save to create the restriction.
Unlike the previous two restrictions, Student-Timeblock restrictions do have a systematic/mass use. School sites that have multiple lunch periods often assign lunch by grade level. If all 9th grade student should be at lunch during 4th period, create a Student-Timeblock restriction for the entire grade level. This will prevent all students from being assigned a 4th period. This is also a useful tool for students on limited/flex days. Many sites use Student-Timeblock restrictions for students with early dismissal, half-day, or early-college programs. The restriction will ensure that the student is assigned their courses only during their available timeblocks.
1. Click on the Scheduling tab.
2. Under Draft Student Schedule, select Student-Timeblock Exclusions.
Once you've selected your draft schedule, you will be taken to the Student-Timeblock Exclusions list.
3. To add a new exclusion, click New Student-Timeblock Exclusion.
4. Use the filters to find the students you wish to create timeblock exclusions for.
5. Click Find Students.
6. Select students by clicking the checkbox to the right of their name. Or Select All by pressing the checkbox at the top of the column.
7. Exclude Students From- Click the dropdown menu to select which timeblock(s) you want to exclude these students from.
8. Click Exclude Timeblock.
You will receive the success message, "Student-Timeblock Exclusions successfully created." The scheduler will automatically exclude these students from the period9s) you selected.
From here you may delete these exclusions by clicking the 'X' button in the right column.
It is very easy to add Student-Timeblock exclusions to a large group, but deleting them is student-by-student. Know that you need an exclusion before you assign them to a large group of students.
Next Steps
Now that you have reviewed and setup availability, you are ready to move to Phase 4: Building the Board.
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