With the close of the current school year or the start of a new one, comes preparation for the coming year. Here are some suggestions for things that may need to be done in Illuminate.
Part of the Year to Year Data Rollover lesson includes rolling over non-teacher users such as Principals, System Admin, District Admin, etc., so that the user's permissions and affiliations copy from one year to the next. Teacher users or those with a roster coming from your Student Information System, will automatically be created.
- Any new administrators, non-teacher users, and or new users to your site/district, will need accounts set up in Illuminate.
- Any administrator who changes sites will need their affiliations updated.
- Don't forget that teachers are added and edited through the nightly upload process so there is no need to add/edit their profiles
For more information, visit the Create a User and Edit a User Profile lessons.
Permissions may need to be adjusted for the coming year based on preferences and implementation needs.
- The use of modules such as Gradebook or Report Cards in Illuminate require additional permissions for both administrators and teachers.
- Keep in mind: Although some permissions can be set to Yes, you may need additional support from your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or Support Staff.
For more information, see the guide Add or Edit Permissions.
After some time in Illuminate working on local assessments, it is helpful to review how assessments are tagged or associated with information that helps with searching, how they are shared, and if they need to be duplicated for the upcoming year. In the Testadmin account or users who manage local assessments, prepare the assessments for the upcoming year.
Review and Update a Single Assessment
Some local assessments may not change in structure, design, alignment, or information and can be administered each year, as is.
- Academic Year is a tag that assists users in searching for an assessment. By default when creating an assessment it is associated with the academic year it was created (i.e. 2018-19).
- If the assessment will not change in design (answer key, standard alignment, structure of the assessment), you can set the Academic Year to Repeats Yearly.
- Publisher assessments, chapter tests, and quizzes are good examples where the assessment can be administered and used yearly as is.
- All student response data will be available for all years, based on visibility.
If the assessment changes questions or performance bands, you do not want to use the Repeats Yearly option. Instead, duplicate the assessment and associate with the new academic year and updated structure or design. Remember to share the assessment as appropriate.
Review and Update Multiple Assessments
How assessments are tagged can be very helpful when sharing Assessments to users. Editing, Sharing, Unsharing, and Deleting can be done quickly for multiple assessments within the Assessment List. For users utilizing Key Data Systems assessments, it is very helpful and highly advised to tag and associate the assessments as described below.
To Edit and Update Information on multiple assessments, do the following:
- In Assessments > View Assessments, use the checkboxes to select all assessments you want to mass update. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Select Edit in the dropdown, then click Submit.
- Choose the appropriate information such as Description, Academic Year, Subject, Scope, Grade Levels, that applies to all assessments selected.
- Select Submit to confirm changes.
- Test by selecting the tags in the assessment list and see if the assessments are display.
When Sharing or Un-sharing multiple assessments, please keep in mind:
- Assessments with previous sharing permissions enabled will continue to follow those permissions with no need to re-share.
- Changing how assessments are shared can result in users no longer having access to those assessments and/or student response data.
- Using the mass select tool is helpful when needing to share Grade Level assessments quickly to that of a particular grade level (i.e. Fourth Grade) or roles (i.e. Principals and System Admin).
When Deleting multiple assessments, please keep in mind:
- Assessments can only be deleted by the assessment author.
- When deleted, all assessments and student response data will be removed permanently from Illuminate.
- When deleted, any users who had access to both the assessment and student response data will no longer have access.
For more information on editing, sharing, deleting, or un-sharing assessments please visit the Assessments help manual.
When using Illuminate Gradebooks and Report Cards, Grading Periods and Report Cards need to be reviewed for the upcoming year. System Admin users or those with permission will need to have completed the Year to Year Data Rollover before moving forward with these next steps.
Report Card Rollover
Gradebook Rollover
Next Steps
Ready to rollover to the next school year? Visit Rollover to the Next Academic Year for DNA to learn more.