boot camp guide v.1.01 congratulations on choosing ascendsms, we look forward to working with you!...

Boot Camp Guide V.1.0 1

Congratulations on choosing AscendSMS, we look forward to working with you!

The purpose of this guide to assist in creating, designing and populating your AscendSMS school.

Please feel free to contact us early and often! We love feedback and supporting our AscendSMS schools!

SMS help request: click the icon when logged inEmail: [email protected]: 513-682-5054

Welcome to AscendSMS

mailto:[email protected]

AscendSMSAdminGuide

1. Building your AscendSMS school 1. Your School’s AscendSMS Account2. Signing In to Your School3. AscendSMS Screen Layout4. Admin Home Tab Overview

2. Designing Your School 1. School Year2. Term Type, Dates3. Effort Card Templates4. Grading Scale Templates5. Subjects6. Subject Subheading Marks7. Assignment Categories8. Honor Criteria9. Create Homeroom and Leveled Classes

3. Populating Your School 1. Import Students to Homerooms2. Assign Leveled Subjects to Students3. Import Teachers4. Assign Homerooms/Subjects to Teachers

Table of Contents


Building your AscendSMS School

Perhaps you have (or someone at your school has) already created your school’s AscendSMS account by:• creating one by visiting going to ascendsms.com, or • working with someone at AscendSMS.

If your school already has an AscendSMS account, please skip ahead to the Intro to AscendSMS section. Note: You will need your login credentials.

If your school’s AscendSMS Account has not yet been built, please proceed to the next slide.

The first step is to build Your School’s AscendSMS Account

Has your school’s AscendSMS Account already been built?


Your School’s AscendSMS Account

Optional: Play Video of an AscendSMS Account being created.

What you’ll need: electronic image of school logo, sample report card, school calendar, basic information about your school (suggestion: review the following 5 slides before going to ascendsms.com.)

To create your school’s AscendSMS account:1. From your internet browser, browse to www.ascendsms.com2. Scroll to where it reads

“School Management Software. Redefined.3. Click on Sign Up Now.

Boot Camp Guide V.1.0 4Go back to start of

Building Your School

http://www.ascendsms.com/

http://youtu.be/ST-BX-HNX9Y

http://www.ascendsms.com/

Enter school name as you want to appear at the top of report cards

Enter principal name as you want it to appear on report cards

Enter a website root address name, and if it is still available, it’s yours. If not, you will be asked to try again after you have entered all of the required fields and have hit save.

Enter your school’s address, city, state, zip and phone

Enter your school’s school logo

Enter your school’s website beginning with http://

Select whether your students order lunch daily or monthly

Your School’s AscendSMS Account continued



Enter the title of your report card

Select primary logo to appear on report card

Select secondary logo that will also appear on report card (optional)

Enter statement to appear on report card

(default language provided by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)

Set Initial Passwords

Used by your school’s Ascend Certified Expert (ACE)

Used by the front office staff (attendance verification)

Used by the principal

Used by those administering the rti learning program

Used by the person(s) running the fundraiser auction

Used by the cafeteria/lunch staff

Used by the intervention specialist(s)




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZdIh3_PWP8

Enter the email(s) of your school’s Ascend ACE(s) to receive communications from AscendSMS/Contingent staff

Enter the email(s) of your school’s Ascend ACE(s) who will respond to help requests issued by parents and teachers

Enter Facebook account information

Enter Twitter link account information

Enter LinkedIn link account information

Hit Save





Good News! Getting to this School Creation screen means your AscendSMS shell has been built. To pre-load default data (grading scales, effort codes, subjects, subject subheadings , assignment categories etc.,) we need to know what term structure your school uses.

Select the Term Type (Annual, Semester, Trimester, Quarter).

The date settings will adjust to the term type you chose.

NOTE: It is not necessary to change the default dates at this point, but you certainly may.

Hit Save (This will create your schools first “School Year.” See explanation below.)


AN EXPLANATION OF THE TERM SCHOOL YEAR: After you hit save, AscendSMS will load the defaults to build your school’s first “School Year.” Each year when one school year ends, AscendSMS creates a new school year database, and retires the just finished school year, in a process called “Promotion.”

Therefore, the dates for the terms at this point are relevant, as we will be “promoting” the students to the next grade level once you fully have set up AscendSMS and have populated this school year with teachers and students.

Usually, for schools building/designing/populating their schools late in one school year in preparation for the next school year that begins in the fall, the default dates are set such that when your teachers log in for the first time, it will mimic being in the first term.Boot Camp Guide V.1.0 8

Go back to start of Building Your School



Congratulations – You have built you AscendSMS School and a created your school’s

first ‘School Year!”




From an internet browser, go to your school’s Ascend SMS website

• https://yourschool.ascendsms.com/

• Log in using the admin account credentials that you set when creating your school’s AscendSMS account (or that was provided to you by AscendSMS.)

Signing In to Your School



• Across the top displays your school logo – which is hyperlinked to your school website – together with your school name and address.

• Clicking on the ASCENDSMS logo always brings you back to this “Home” screen .

On All Screens

AscendSMS Screen Layout



On All Screens

• This tabbed menu bar varies based upon user-id type and available content.

• The quantity and type of tabs displayed will be different depending on the account type

• Each tab may have sub menus

• Account Types• Admin Accounts

• admin• schooladmin• principal• rtiadmin• auctionadmin• cafeadmin• instpecial

• teacher• student• parent

AscendSMS Screen Layout continued



• The left hand side displays the SECURE AREA , which describes the current date, term, and user login information

• User can also select to change their password or to logout on any screen.

AscendSMS Screen Layout continued



Admin Home Tab Overview MOST OFTEN USED DURING

THEDESCRIPTION DESIGN

PHASEPOPULATE

PHASESUPPORT

PHASE

Users Search student and parent accounts. Provides link to Parents Management X

School Year Manage current and prior school year databases X

Term Manage term type (i.e., quarters, trimesters) set begin/end dates, enable Report Card Links X x

Effort Card Manage effort card templates and codes, tailored to each grade level X

Grading Scale Manage grading scale templates and codes, tailored to each grade level X

Subjects Manage subjects taught, create subject subheadings, tailored to each grade level X

Classes Manage homeroom/leveled classes, import/export, create/download report cards X X X

Subject Subheading Marks Manage subject subheading marks templates and codes, tailored to each grade level X

Assignment Category Manage assignment categories (i.e., Homework, Quiz, Test) X X

Promotion Populate upcoming school year with past year students and advancing them to next grade level X

Shift Student Shift a homeroom student(s) to a different homeroom

Assign Subject Assign / reassign subject(s) to student(s) X X

Honor Grade Create Honor Grade reports that can be downloaded as a CSV file X

Reports Setting Select the type of grade and interim report cards to be used, manage honor settings X

Assignment Scanner Scan the number of assignments posted to each class X

Vitality View school student demographic data, with drill down to see what students make up that group x x x

Data Export Export student, teacher or parent account profile data to a CSV file based on selected criteria X

ACR Time Sheet Manage/Print/Export ACR Time Sheet data that was entered individually by teachers and staff X

Social Media Links Manage Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn social media site links X

Parent Account Letter Print auto-generated letters containing AscendSMS login credentials to be sent home with student XBoot Camp Guide V.1.0 14

Go back to start of Building Your School

STEP NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION HAVE THIS INFORMATION AVAILABLE

School Year Step 1: Edit Current School Year Data NA

Term Step 2: Set Term Type, Dates Current school year calendar

Effort Card Step 3: Create Effort Card Templates Report card from each grade level

Grading Scale Step 4: Create Grading Scale Templates Report card from each grade level

Subjects Step 5:Create Subjects Listing of all subjects taught

Classes Step 9:Create Homeroom/Leveled Classes Listing of all homeroom and non-homeroom class names

Subject Subheading Marks Step 6: Create Subject Subheading Marks Report card from each grade level

Assignment Category Step 7: Create Default Assignment Categories The main assignment categories (i.e., homework, quiz, test.) used

Reports Setting Step 8: Set Honor Criteria Report card from each grade level

Designing Your School


Click the edit icon.

Rename the School Year in the format to be displayed on the report card.Set the start date to 08/01 of the school year and the end date to 06/24 of the ending year.

School Year

Select School Year from the Home tab



The revised school year should look similar to the image above.The school year name will be transferred to the report card.The start and end dates define your school year.The check school year indicates the school year that is being used system wide.

School Year continued

Go back to start of Designing Your School


Select Term from the home tab.

Verify the term name and type are correct for your school.- To change the name of the term, click the edit button.- To define dates within your schools grading periods, click on

the term name

NOTE: Once set, the only way to change the term type is to go through the promotion process which creates a new school year.

Term Type, Dates



Edit each term detail to set the correct dates.

Update after revising the start and end dates.Repeat until all terms have been set.

Term Type, Dates continued



Sample of the defined terms after revision.

No Gaps: Please note that the terms do not have any dates undefined within the school year. After a term ends, the next term begins the following day (not next school day.)

Hint: When a term ends on a Friday, many schools will use Sunday as the last day of the term in AscendSMS. This allows teachers to post homework on the weekend and the default dates will still fall within the term the just completed.

Term Type, Dates continued



Select Effort Card from the home tab.

Review each description of the effort card by selecting the defined name.

Effort Card Templates



To change the Letter/Number of the description, click edit.

Update after changes.




If additional effort marks are needed within an effort card, click on add effort letter.

Enter new information and save.




Select Grading Scale from the home tab.

Review each description of the grading scale by selecting the defined name.

Grading Scale Templates



Grading ScalesGrading Scale Templates



To change the range of a letter grade, click into the minimum value cell and change it to your desired value. Click save.




Additional Grading Scales may be created to suit the needs of your school. Select Add Grading Scale to customize a new scale.

Name the new scale and save.




Review the default subjects and subheadings. Click edit to view the subheadings.

Select Subjects from the home tab.

Subjects appear on the report card and receive a grade.


Subjects


If a default subject does not apply to you school, simply delete the subject.

Subjects



Triple confirmation of deletion

Subjects


1

2

3Boot Camp Guide V.1.0 31

To Add New Subject

Click Add Subject

Add new subject and save.

Subjects



After saving, click edit to enter the subheadings of the new subject.

Subject Subheadings



Select Add Assignment Category to create the default assignment categories that teachers can use when creating assignments.

Default Assignment Categories



Admins are to create several default assignment categories that will be used by teachers at your school when they create graded assignments. The most common categories for assignments are Homework, Quiz and Test.

Teachers have the ability to create their own individual assignment categories, and can also delete categories from their list. When a teacher makes changes to assignment categories, it only effects that teacher.

Type the name of the assignment category (.i.e., Homework.)

We recommend creating the three assignment categories of Homework, Quiz and Test.

Default Assignment Categories



A Class in AscendSMS is simply a unique collection of students. For each unique collection of students, a separate class needs to be created. There are two different types of classes – 1) Homeroom classes and 2) leveled classes (aka non-homeroom) classes.

Both types of classrooms are created in exactly the say way, with exception, of course, as to whether or not the Homeroom checkbox is selected.

Homeroom Classes are involved in the taking of attendance and lunch counts. Accordingly, it is important that each student belong to exactly one Homeroom class. Homeroom classes may or may not contain subjects.

Leveled/non-homeroom classes are simply a separate collection of students grouped for the purposes of learning a subject. Accordingly, all leveled classes contain at least one subject.

Homeroom and Leveled Classes



Examples of Leveled/Non-homeroom classes:• 5 Accelerated Math:

• Some students in homerooms Gr 5A and Gr 5B students take math in Grade 7 Accelerated Math instead of taking math with their homeroom class. In this example, the three possible places a fifth grade student could be taking math is Gr 5A, Gr 5B, and Grade 5 Accelerated Math.

• 5 Blue: • Students in homerooms Gr 5A and Gr 5B take most subjects with

their homeroom. However, for Language Arts and Math, students were randomly divided into 2 groups. Half of the students are in 5 Blue, the other half are in 5 Gold. In this example, Math is not offered in a homeroom, leaving only 2 possible places a fifth grade student could be taking math: 5Blue and 5Gold.




A Note about moving students between homerooms / between leveled classes.Once you have completed your school setup and have place the students into their homerooms and leveled classes, you may be asked to make changes.

To do so, you will use either shift student or assign subject. It is important to know the difference between these to functions.

Shift Student un-enrolls the selected student(s) from one homeroom (and any subjects taught in that homeroom) and enroll them into the homeroom (and subjects) of the homeroom selected. Both the “from” AND “to” classes involved are Homerooms.

Assign Subject un-enrolls the selected students(s) from the subject(s) of one class to the subjects of a leveled/non-homeroom class. The “from” class can be either a Homeroom class or leveled/non-homeroom class, but the “to” class is always a leveled/non-homeroom class.




A Note about moving students between homerooms / between leveled classes.In summary, • use Shift Student ONLY when changing the homeroom of students. • use Assign Subject to keep the student in the same homeroom but to

assign subject(s) that are taught in a leveled/non-homeroom class.

Shift Student Moves Student(s) From Homeroom Class X To Homeroom Class Y

Assign Subject Moves Student(s)From Homeroom Class X Subject A

or To Leveled Class Y Subject A From Leveled Class X Subject A




We recommend first adding all of your homeroom classes, then adding non-homeroom classes.

In fact, you may decide first to populate each of your homerooms with students, then coming back later to add your leveled/non-homeroom classes.

To add classes, from this screen, click Add Class.




Name of homeroom class

Class code: Enter NA

Term (will be grayed out)

Select Grading Card

Select Effort Card

Uncheck any subjects that will not appear on the report card. The selected subject will appear on all of the students’ report card.




Class level

Check to mark class as eligible for honors?

Check to mark as a homeroom class?

Check to omit the grade average from appearing on the report card (usually checked for lower grades.)

Repeat the process until all homerooms and leveled (aka non homeroom) classes have been added.




Now that your AscendSMS school is built and designed, it is time to populate your school with students and teachers.

Students and teachers are imported into AscendSMS via an Excel spreadsheet in CSV format.

Students are imported by homeroom.

Optional: Watch video on the student export / import.

What you’ll need: excel spreadsheet of students including (at minimum student ID, last name, first name, saved in CVS format.

Populating Your School


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F6gUn9FwO8A

From the Classes screen, click the Import icon.

Import Students



Prepare the class lists, where columnA = StudentID, B = Last Name, and C = First Name.

If your school does not have a student id for each child, use the following format:First 2 digits = graduation year + 4 digits

Import Students

Start by downloading the CSV template, then entering the student info (at minimum the first 3 columns) then saving the CSV file with an appropriate file name.



To import the file Browse to the location of your class list by clicking, “Browse.”

Click “Import” to upload the class list. By adding students through the import tool, a parent account is automatically created.

Confirmation message “Data Imported” will appear after importing successfully.

Import Students



Users will now appear when selecting Home-Users. As you can see, parent accounts are automatically created.

Import Students

Select “Classes” from the Home tab and repeat the process until all students have been assigned to their homerooms.



Students are automatically enrolled in subjects offered in their homeroom.

To enroll a student into subject(s) offered in a leveled/non-homeroom class, Select Assign Subject from the home tab.

Assign Leveled Subjects to Students



Assign Leveled Subjects to Students



From the main menu bar, select import teachers from the Teachers tab.

Import Teachers



Prepare your teacher list where column: A=Title, B=First Name, C=Last Name, D= email address.

NOTE:• Like the student import files, this

document needs to be saved in csv format.

• Unlike the student import file, this file has no header row.

Select “Browse” and find your saved teacher csv file.

Import Teachers



Click “import” to complete the process.

Select the Teachers tab to verify the import.

Import Teachers



Hover over a teacher’s name to view the teacher’s password.

Click a teacher’s name to view/edit the teacher’s profile.

Click on a teacher’s LoginID to login as the teacher.

Import Teachers



Click the number under the column, Classes, to view, add, and/or remove the teacher’s assigned classes.

Select “Assign Class” to assign a class to a teacher.

Assign Classes to Teachers



Choose all subjects within the Class that are assigned to the selected teacher.

Choose “Home room teacher” if the selected teacher is the homeroom teacher of the selected class.




Using your teacher matrix as a guide, continue assigning classes until all subjects at every grade level have been assigned.




Upon completion, • all homeroom classes will be

assigned to a teacher• all subjects within a class will

be assigned to a teacher, except:• Personal Development• Work / Study.

The subheadings of Personal Development and Work / Study areas are made available to ALL teachers through the subject report to be include on the report cards.


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boot camp guide v.1.01 congratulations on choosing ascendsms, we look forward to working with you!...

Documents

ascendsms schools

ascendsms slide

ascendsms schoolbuilding

ascendsms section

school slide

schools school logo

ascendsms admin guide

school calendar