Below are the new features, system enhancements, and bug fixes for v8.4. As always, if you have any questions about a feature, please contact your Implementation Manager or Customer Support.
NOTE: If you are a client with both DnA and ISI: If you click on a document link within the Release Notes for an ISI feature, but you accessed the Release Notes via the DnA Help site, the link will NOT work. You must be in the proper help site (the one related to the feature being linked) to utilize the direct links in the Release Notes.
Next tentative release to Demo Site and Sandboxes: January 11,2016
Next tentative release to Live Sites: January 14, 2016
*Release dates are subject to change pending development and testing timelines.
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All Product: Enhancements
[Enhancement] Behavior-MetaData for Weight has been added.
[Enhancement] Behavior- Primary Violation/Durations are no longer dynamically calculated, this was crashing the dashboard which is a huge no no.
Report Cards: Enhancement

[Enhancement] Secondary Report Cards- The print screen now allows users to select the RC template they would like to print. Woo Hoo!
GradeBook: Enhancements

[Enhancement] GradeBook- Custom Roster (students who are not currently scheduled to a teacher) must have valid leave date before they are associated to a GradeBook. Blank leave date fields are shown with a red border line and this message: Leave Date is required for all students.
Brace yourselves, we went Al Borland on the GradeBook this release!
[Fix] Fixed a Standards-Based GradeBook rounding issue that displayed a 13 digit decimal place calculation result when using the Power Law standard score calculation. This scenario occurred when only two assignments of the same standard existed. Now, using Power Law for standard score calculation, a whole number is displayed since only the most recent score will be reflected for less than three assignments or scores.
[Fix] Fixed grade posting so that the GradeBook score column matches the overall score shown on GradeBook scoresheets regardless of what standard calculation is configured.
[Fix] We've fixed unmatched column headers and assignments on Standards-Based GradeBooks that are enabled to group assignments by standards. The problem specifically occurred to standards with same state number.
[Fix] Fixed the Mark column in GradeBook’s Assignment List view. Some teachers noticed and reported that it did not sort correctly. All sorting options in Spreadsheet view, Student List view, and Assignment List view of both Standards-Based GradeBooks (SBGBs) and Points-Based GradeBooks (PBGBs) should continue to work as expected.
[Fix] The Most Recent standard calculator has been fixed to honor rounding preference. This resolves the issue reported by teachers where standard scores appeared to have been different for students with the same assignment scores.
[Fix] Fixed a display issue that prevented teachers from selecting the correct standard name when linking an Assessment to GradeBook. Previously, standards linked to assessments were appearing with the parent or stem display only on the Link to GradeBook standards list page. Now, teachers are able to select the correct standard name to use since the complete name is displayed.
[Fix] A Standards-Based GradeBook (SBGB) that was configured to calculate standard score using Power Law and was also set up to calculate blank scores as Not Zero and Missing or Zero and Missing displayed incorrect values on scoresheets. The issue was confirmed to occur only to assignments with a blank score.
[Fix] Fixed an issue that prevented teachers from viewing a GradeBook's Assignment Standard heading. Previously, when teachers viewed a GradeBook with assignment(s) linked to standards, the standard name was not displayed on its headings. Now, the standard's names are correct and displayed in standard headings when viewing a Standards-Based GradeBook assignment Spreadsheet View page.
[Fix] Fixed an issue that prevented teachers from removing student responses in an assessment. Previously, when teachers deleted a student response in an assessment linked to a GradeBook, an error occurred. Now, they are able to delete student responses without getting an error.
[Fix] Fixed an issue that teachers were not able to delete a value from the GradeBook Scales for a Standards-Based Gradebook. Before, when the teacher tried to delete the value for a Grading Scale an error occurred. Currently, the teacher is be able to delete both the label and value from Grade Scales.
[Fix] Fixed an issue that prevented teachers from linking multiple assignments from the Manage Assignments screen.
[Fix] Fixed an issue that notified parents that their student received a zero (0) score on an assignment even though the score was blank. Previously, when teacher's GradeBook was set to Not Zero and Missing for calculation of blank scores, parents would receive notifications that their students got a 0 score on an assignment. Now, parents will no longer receive a 0 score notification when their student's assignment score is blank.
[Fix] The GradeBook widget in the parent and student portal now shows 0% for blanks when a GradeBook is configured to calculate blanks as zero and missing.
Reports: Enhancements

Notice anything different about reports? No?! Ugh, you never notice when we try new things! Well, we've been giving our reports sweet makeovers slowly but surely.
[Enhancement] NWEA Student Report has been restyled.

[Enhancement] Assessment Site Peer Comparison has been restyled.
DnA: New Features and Enhancements

[New Feature] Admin- Integrations Configuration Page-Admin users with the correct permission can now Manage Third Party Integrations for their Illuminate Site.
For more information on this feature, see the Help documents here 'Third Party Integrations'.

[Enhancement] Constructed Response now allows for annotations! Now students can review why they received the score they did. Teachers can highlight words/segments to add notes (positive and negative) that will show up in the Assessment Review for students.
For more information on this feature, see the Help document 'Grading Constructed Response Items (Online Testing Administration)'.

[Enhancement] Assessment Review- You can now add a start date (Enabled On) for the Assessment Review to display to students.
For more information on this feature, see the Help document 'Enable Assessment for Online Testing'.

[Enhancement] Assessment Review- Comment section-Teacher comments now display on top for students. Students can also hover over 'i' icon to see the score breakdown.

[Enhancement] Assessment Review-Assessment Summary Page- Students can now view a question breakdown in the student portal.

[Enhancement] Assessments- Added the ability to delete an assessment from within the assessment itself. Navigation: Assessment Overview Page > Advanced > Delete Assessment
DnA Performance
Our DnA team made Online Testing performance and reliability a top priority for this release and released several upgrades that should result in a highly improved user experience. There were seven key areas that were targeted, and we were able to verify the changes resulted in measurable improvement. Our team will continue to dedicate development resources to keeping the system fast and snappy! If you're a super nerd and want to know all the details, please feel free to contact us!
ISI: Enhancements
Phew, all these scheduling enhancements make us feel like Oprah on giveaway day! Here we go!
[Enhancement] Scheduling- A new button 'Set View' (Next to the 'Toggle' button) has been added to the Live Board and the Draft Board. This will set the default view when the page is loaded. When you are on the detailed view and you set it as the default view, every time you load the Live Board or Draft Board, it will show the detailed view. Both pages use one value for the default view. If you set detailed view as the default view in the Live Board, the Draft Board will also have the same default view.
For more information on this feature, see the Help document '4.3 Place and Create Sections Using the Draft Board'.

[Enhancement] Scheduling- Multi-course user interface for Packages. Incorporated tabs for fields on the Course Request Package interface, and implemented an "Add" button to the module which enables users to submit multiple courses.
For more information on Packages, see the Help document '2.2 Packages'.

[Enhancement] Scheduling- Conflict Matrix- Added a search filter for Courses so that users can now filter records in the matrix.
[Enhancement] Scheduling- Student Course Counts- Renamed "Block Count" column to "Annual Block Count" and added a hover over which explains how it is calculated. Also added a legend at the top of the interface which provides details to the user about running this report.
[Enhancement] Scheduling- Live Board- The Live Board has been updated to display the number of students in both semesters, so that users no longer have to change the dates of the board to balance counts.
[Enhancement] Scheduling and Student Groups- When a user other than the author/creator of the student group adds a course or refreshes the package, it will not longer link all students to the package.
[Enhancement] ADA- Users can now filter daily ADA by race/ethnicity.
Health: Enhancements

[Enhancement] Individual Health Plan can now be accessed via Health Alerts.

[Enhancement] Health Search- We changed the Yes/No buttons to checkboxes for ease of use. The search also now returns fewer, more specified results as a user checks off more filters.
For more information on this enhancement, see the Help document 'Health Search'.

[Enhancement] Health Widgets- You asked, we listened. We moved the 'Edit' button on Health widgets to the top of the widgets.
For more information on Health Widgets, see the Help document 'Student Health Profile Widgets'.
ISE: Enhancement

[Enhancement] Added an enhancement to allow System Admin the ability to Update IEP Dates as appropriate. Note: This should only be used for very specific situations such as a system issue where an IEP cannot be published on a required date, etc.