NERIC SchoolTool Team
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Check back often for FAQ updates.
FAQ information is updated often to respond
to the evolving needs of our districts.
What's NEW!
The Partner Project Fact Template
Progress Reports - New Video in SchoolTool Help!
Google Identity Services - Spring Migration
How do I populate new digital resource records for 2022-2023? New DOC added.
NOTE: ALL NERIC and Mindex trainings can now be found on the Trainings at a Glance page.
New FAQs
Question: When will the new Partner Project Fact DW extract be ready in SchoolTool?
ANSWER: The new extract is part of version 20.1-12. This was installed for NERIC hosted on 12/15. Read the release notes for 20.1-12
Question: Where do we add information for the Partner Project Program Fact DW export?
ANSWER: Partner Project Program Fact information is added the in the same place the P-Tech and Smart Scholars were entered previously. On a student record - Census > Student Tab > choose Other in the Enrollment dropdown menu. Records started in a previous school year must be ended (use no later than 6/30/2022 as an end date). Start a new record or edit a record that was started this school year and add the following information as required.
Select the Program (4026, 4037 or 4047)
Enter Start Date
Provider
Project ID
Program Duration – P-TECH Program Service records only
Project Start Date
Program Selection Criteria 1
Other Program Service information is optional for program service record setup
The Smart Scholar/Smart Transfer questions are the same as the P-TECH except there is no Program Duration question.
The Partner Project Program Fact records can be added in Batch in Census > Batch Program Services > Batch Add Program Service > Other. Complete the entry by adding all the same information as you did for an individually added record.
Question: Where can I enter the Education of the Parent?
ANSWER: On a student record – Census > Demographics > Edit. At the bottom of the page, select the Education Level of Parent.
Question: How do I report the student’s County of Residence?
ANSWER: The County of Residence will export depending on the Primary Parent’s district of residence. Your district of residence in SchoolTool has a default County of Residence. To determine your default County of Residence, go to Maintenance > District > District Options. The County of Residence will be other than the default if the student’s primary parent is from another district.
Question: Where do I enter the Post-Grad Plan for exiting PTECH and Smart Scholar students?
ANSWER: Individually in the student record by searching the student in Counseling > Notes Tab – select Post Graduate Plan or Batch Add in Counseling > Batch Post Grad Plan. Only students with one of the Program Service records for P-TECH or Smart Scholars will export to DW.
Question: Is there a video about Progress Reports I can share with my teachers?
ANSWER: Absolutely! And the great news is, the video is available directly from SchoolTool Help.
Here are the directions to view Teacher videos:
In SchoolTool, Go to HOME > MY HOME > and click the "?" Help icon on the right side.
This will open the new Help window.
In the Help window, on the top left, click the icon with the 3 bars.
Select the first link "Teacher Help: Resources," then select Videos.
Go to the category "Other Grading Activities" to see the Submit Progress Report Grades video.
Question: What can you tell us about migrating to the new Google Identity Service
ANSWER: Districts that setup Google after April 30th of 2022 should already be on the new Identity Service
For districts that set up Google Authentication prior to the above date, migration to the new Identity Service is required by March 31, 2023. The NERIC and Mindex are aware of this deadline and Mindex migrating districts to the new method sometime in early February. As far as we understand at this time, there will be no work on the districts to migrate, Mindex will take all the needed steps.
Question: We're done with scheduling but students still aren't showing up on rosters.
What am I missing?
ANSWER: Some SchoolTool settings to check:
Scheduling > Master Schedule. Make sure the schedule has been locked at least once. If there are no study hall fills left to do, you can click the LOCK button twice to fully lock the master schedule. (The LOCK button will disappear.)
Do you have a date on your calendar with "Students Off" checked?
If you're still not seeing the schedule information, please reach out to SchoolTool support.
Question: A user is having trouble logging in. What should I check?
If using Google/MS, verify they are clicking the button first (not typing in the username/password boxes).
Is the user entering the full email/user name, exactly as shown in SchoolTool on their Faculty > Accounts tab?
Is their email spelled correctly?
Has the user tried clearing and restarting their browser? How to Clear Your Browser docs can be downloaded from our Document Library page. Chrome, Firefox and Edge docs are available.
If the user is a parent, they should type their home email and password into the boxes rather than clicking the Google/MS button.
If the user is a parent, they must be assigned to the SMS Parent group on their accounts tab.
Check with your Tech department to confirm new user setup has been completed.
General Information
Where can I download SchoolTool Guides, Release Notes and User Group presentations?
All guides and other downloads can now be accessed from the Documents page.
Counseling
DROP/WITHDRAW/SWITCH - what is the difference when I change a student schedule?
Drop
When a course is dropped, the course is removed from the student schedule. The course information (all progress report and marking period grades) will remain on the Counseling > Grades tab (Show Dropped Classes checkbox at bottom). The course will not appear on report cards after the marking period in which it was dropped. Nor will it be seen on permanent records or transcripts. A Drop is intended to suppress a course as though it did not happen.
Withdraw
A withdraw is typically chosen when a student is unable to continue the course or finished early, but should get credit for any accomplishments to date. You can withdraw a student from a course at any time. If the course is withdrawn after a marking period ends, any submitted marking period grades will remain and continue to print on the report card. The marking period during which the student was withdrawn may not show a grade, but may instead display a district-designated withdraw code (e.g. W ABS (withdraw–absent), WP (withdraw pass), WF (withdraw fail), etc.).
Switch
Use a switch when a student is moving from one section of a course to another section of the SAME course. A switch can only be used when changing sections in the same course. For example, if a student is scheduled in section 1, period 1 of a course and needs to be moved to section 2, period 2 you would use a switch. When switching from one section of a course to another section, all grades (marking period and progress report) from the original section will switch to the new section. The switch creates a seamless continuation of the grades without gaps. Students switched to a new section that is taught by the same teacher can have their grade book assignments imported into the new section as well. Once the switch is made, history of the original section remains and can be seen in Counseling > Course History.
Where do I find settings for reports like Transcripts, Report Cards, and Mailing Labels?
To verify report settings , go to Maintenance > Application > Report Format.
Regents and Other Assessments
How do I manage Special Appeals?
Following NYS guidelines, there is a new Special Appeal process for students who passed a Regents course and scored between a 50 - 64 on the Regents Exam. SchoolTool has created a best practice workflow for districts to assist with entering this information for students whose Special Appeal has been approved. Use an Assessment Note to show a Special Appeal (SA) on the student's transcript while still reporting the actual numeric Regents score to NYS.
Managing Special Appeals in SchoolTool
Questions on reporting requirements should be directed to the NERIC Data Warehouse team at 518-862-5409 or dwhelp@neric.org
How do I exempt students from the January 2022 Regents and US History June 2022?
Indicating a student has earned an Exemption from the January 2022 Regents and US History June 2022 is done in the same way as was done for June 2020, August of 2020, January 2021, and August 2021.
Regents Exemptions Guides:
Digital Resources
Question. How do I populate new Digital Resource records for 2022-2023?
ANSWER - Click here to download the How To document: Creating Annual Digital Resource Records
NOTE: Digital Resource surveys are due January 27, 2023. (View the NYSED Reporting Timeline )
Question: How can I populate Digital Resource Missing Surveys for 2021-2022?
ANSWER - There are multiple ways to do populate missing survey records. Which you choose will depend on the best way to update only students needing surveys without overwriting or creating duplicates for students who already have a survey completed by a parent. Here are two excellent options:
Option 1) Follow the “How to Import Missing Digital Resource Surveys to SchoolTool” directions available for download from the Document Library. This will ensure only the students listed in your Level 0 missing survey list are changed.
Option 2) Export the missing surveys student list and create a notepad file with just the student IDs listed (exactly as they are entered in SchoolTool). Batch add survey records using the “From File” criteria. NOTE that you may need to add the District or Enrollment History criteria to ensure all students are found.
For information about the "from file" criteria, search ? HELP from the SchoolTool Census > Search screen.
For help exporting your IDs, contact the NERIC Data Warehouse team.
For help with Batching or Importing, please contact the NERIC SchoolTool team.
19.2-18 Digital Resource Survey Changes
As of 19.2 (installed date May 10th 2022 for NERIC hosted districts) the following changes will be made to SchoolTool digital resource surveys:
To align with NYS guidance, the UDS will be renamed NYS Digital Resources Family Questionnaire
The header text will be updated (only for districts that have not made changes to it). For those who have edited the header text, we recommend reviewing your header text at this time. (Maintenance > User-Defined Screens).
The NYS Data Warehouse will accept questionnaires with a minimum of one question answered. Fields on Digital Resources user-defined screen will no longer be required.
Surveys with at least one question answered will export in the NYS extract.
Where students change enrollment and a new digital resources questionnaire is entered, the NYS extract will now export the most recent questionnaire for each building.
Prior to May 2022
Our digital Resources video can be found here.
This video was current as of 19.0. After 19.1, guidance changed for handling survey dates and imports. Complete surveys with all questions answered except the end date will now export and will use the start date for the survey date. Do NOT import survey records with Select One in your data as this will cause issues with the student record.
Documents discussed in the video can be found here.
Where do I enter the Survey Date for the Digital Access data in SchoolTool and what date do I use?
The end date of the NYS Digital Resources Survey User Defined Screen in Schooltool populates the Survey Date in the Student Digital Resources NYS Export. As of version 19.1 build 29 (NERIC hosted installed on 1/4/2022), if there is no end date entered, the start date will be used for the Survey Date. Only records for the current school year (ending June 30) where every question has been answered will export to NYSED.
When the “Show in Mobile App” checkbox is enabled (recommended), the End Date is automatically updated depending on how it was submitted
Submitted from a Student Record: The End Date will be disabled when adding or editing on a person record. The End Date will be pre-populated with the Current Date.
Submitted from the Mobile App: Users will not see the End Date field, but it will automatically be filled in behind the scenes using the date the UDS was submitted.
Submitted from the Online Pre-Registration Sessions: The End Date will be automatically filled in with the date the Online Pre-Registration session was accepted into SchoolTool using the Census > Receive Student Data sub-module.
Questions on reporting requirements should be directed to the NERIC Data Warehouse team at 518-862-5409 or dwhelp@neric.org
Discipline
I received Data Warehouse (DW) errors for attendance for a student who had OSS. How did that happen and how do I fix it?
A: There are two main scenarios that cause this:
OSS is assigned on the discipline referral and the “All Day” checkbox is checked. Later, a staff member goes into the student record and adds an absence (This is not necessary; checking the “All Day” checkbox allows SchoolTool to take care of the attendance in the background. Creating an attendance “Absent” record –on top of All Day OSS- will cause DW errors).
TO FIX: In the student record, select the Attendance tab, scroll down to the Attendance section and click the red X to delete the erroneous dates (absences).
The student is marked “Absent” in attendance BEFORE the OSS Assigned Date is entered (with the “All Day” checkbox checked).
TO FIX: In the student record, select the Attendance tab, scroll down to the Attendance section and click the red X to delete the erroneous dates (absences).
Remote Attendance
Why does the “Remote” indicator not show in my elementary student’s locator?
When a student has an active remote schedule, the “Remote” indicator will only show in the student’s profile (under their photo) when they have a traditional period based schedule in place. Should the student be scheduled into supplemental courses (as is common practice for elementary scheduling), the “Remote” indicator will not show in the student locator.
A feature request has been submitted to the Vendor.
Why are Pre-K students not appearing on the On-Site and Remote Attendance Detail reports?
If a district has in-district students that are not appearing on the Attendance > Attendance Reports -- On-Site and Remote Attendance Detail report, the reason may be because they do not have a schedule (no classes, but perhaps only a homeroom). An example of this is a district-run Pre-School classroom where students only belong to a Homeroom and no classes.
A work-around would be to run the Daily Overview Report (sorted by Date).
Instructional Modality Attendance
How do I indicate the Modality (Remote or In-Person) and Physical Location (In or Out) of a student?
There are now a few options. For assistance on use, set-up, and what make sense for your school, please call us to discuss. For both options, you must go to Maintenance > Attendance > Building School Level Options. Turn on: ALLOW REMOTE ATTENDANCE IN PER PERIOD and ALLOW REMOTE ATTENDANCE FOR DAILY. (Guide on these attendance options).
1. Since version 19.0, you can allow teachers to indicate each student’s modality and physical location independently for a class by turning on columns of check boxes in their attendance screens. These columns will respect (by pre-checking check boxes appropriately) any Remote Schedules that are active. (guide and video on Remote Schedules). What teachers save will determine a student’s Daily Attendance Modality and Physical Location based on how you populate Daily Attendance.
a. Maintenance > Attendance > Building School Level Options. Select “BOTH for “Show Student Location and Instructional Modality”
2. Version 19.1 introduced an alternate workflow. You can now indicate that a student is “Remote” via an absentee reason that’s setup to report as a Present. This allows you to mark a student “Absent” with a code that is pre-defined with a specific Modality (Remote/In-person) and Physical Location (In/Out) combination AND will report as Present to NYSED.
a. Maintenance>Attendance>Absentee Reasons and create a new absentee reason. Uncheck “Count As Absent/In/Out” so this code will export as a Present to NYSED. Either check or uncheck Physical Location Out AND Modality Remote depending how you want those pre-defined for this Attendance Code. Enter a “Student Locator Text” that meets your needs.
b. Note: Student marked “Absent” with as absence code that reports as a Present will appear on Today’s Attendance, Student Portal, and Parent Portal. Using a name such as “Virtual – Present” may be beneficial.
Questions on reporting requirements should be directed to the NERIC Data Warehouse team at 518-862-5409 or dwhelp@neric.org
How do I Report Instructional Modality and Present Attendance?
On December 1, 2020, NYSED released a memo related to Recording and Reporting Attendance and Hours of Instruction for In-Person and Remote Instruction in the 2020-21 School Year which included new reporting requirements of Modality (remote, in-person, or both) and a Present attendance code for student attendance. Questions on reporting requirements should be directed to the NERIC Data Warehouse team at 518-862-5409 or dwhelp@neric.org.
SchoolTool allows districts to export both a Present Daily Attendance record and Daily Attendance Instructional Modality.
A Present attendance value is exported for each instructional day a student is not marked absent or tardy.
Instructional Modality exports based on Actual Remote Attendance taken depending on what drives your daily attendance. Specifically, are you using your Homeroom, a Period, or a Threshold to drive daily attendance?
Buildings that use Homeroom to drive daily attendance:
Your Instructional Modality is exporting based on the remote check box in the homeroom (only “Remote” or “In-person”) from the day you turned on and started using Allow Remote Attendance for Daily.
To find the date “Allow Remote Attendance for Daily'' was turned on: Go to Maintenance>Application>Audit log. Set date range from 12/1/2020 to today, Type = Maintenance, Sub-Type = Attendance, Text = Remote.
Prior to that date, modality will be “In-Person” by default and can be updated as needed.
Buildings that use Period to drive daily attendance:
Modality is exporting based on the remote check box in the Period that drives daily (only “Remote” or “In-person”) from the day you turned on and started using Allow Remote Attendance for Daily.
To find the date “Allow Remote Attendance for Daily” was turned on: Go to Maintenance>Application>Audit log. Set date range from 12/1/2020 to today, Type = Maintenance, Sub-Type = Attendance, Text = Remote.
Prior to that date, modality will be “In-Person” by default and can be updated as needed.
Buildings that use Period Threshold to drive daily attendance:
All dates export with “In-Person”. You will need to set up the NEW Scheduled Instructional Modality (SIM) Calculations job so modality will be based on Period Remote Attendance moving forward. See attached Feature Documentation.
For dates prior to setting up the NEW Scheduled Instructional Modality (SIM) Calculations, modality will be “In-Person” by default and can be updated as needed.
NOTE: The NEW Scheduled Instructional Modality (SIM) Calculations feature can be used by any building (as long as you are taking Period Remote Attendance) and is the only way to have SchoolTool export a “BOTH” modality without a manual override by the district.
FAQs on How Instructional Modality will export for your buildings moving forward.
Q: How do I update past Instructional Modalities?
A: Districts can change past date instruction modalities in Attendance > Instructional Modality. Also, make sure district staff understands how Instructional Modalities are currently being determined by SchoolTool. Most importantly, make sure your teachers and staff understand how their usage of the Remote checkboxes in the attendance screens impacts the Instructional Modalities for students.
If you would like to update past Instructional Modalities please reach out to us for assistance. Every district is different and each of the options in Attendance > Instructional Modality may or may not be useful to your district depending on a number of factors.
Q: How do I know if my building is using Homeroom, Period or Threshold to drive attendance?
A: Settings for this can be viewed by going to Maintenance > Attendance > Daily Attendance Setup.
Q: How do I know if I'm set up properly for daily instructional modalities to export correctly moving forward?
A: Homeroom drives daily attendance- do you have “Allow Remote Attendance for Daily” as “Yes” under Maintenance>Attendance>Building School Level Options?
If it is set to yes, no further action is required on this screen. Teachers must continue using the “Remote” checkbox as applicable.
If it is set to no, you must change this to yes. Teachers must start using the “Remote” checkbox as applicable.
Period that drives daily attendance- do you have “Allow Remote Attendance for Daily” and “Allow Remote Attendance in Per Period” as “Yes” under Maintenance>Attendance>Building School Level Options?
If it is set to yes, no further action is required on this screen. Teachers must continue using the “Remote” checkbox as applicable.
If either option is set to no, you must change them to yes. Teachers must start using the “Remote” checkbox as applicable.
Period Threshold drives daily attendance- do you have “Allow Remote Attendance in Per Period” as “Yes” under Maintenance>Attendance>Building School Level Options?
Additionally, have you set up a job under Maintenance>Attendance>Scheduled Instructional Modality Calculations?
If you answered “Yes” to both of the above questions, no further action is needed.
If the “Allow Remote Attendance in Period” is set to no, you must change it to yes. Teachers must start using the “Remote” checkbox as applicable.
If you do NOT have a Scheduled Instructional Modality Calculations job setup moving forward, you must do so.
Q: How do we confirm how our instructional modalities are exporting correctly from SchoolTool?
A: Use the custom export (RIC – Instructional Modality by Date 2) or other custom export (as desired, using the new modality export terms) for a certain set of students over a certain date range. We do not suggest you use your Daily Attendance State Reporting export to check modalities for certain students on certain days since the file will be very large.
Q: What happens if a teacher does not take attendance?
A:
Homeroom drives daily attendance - If a teacher does not submit homeroom attendance, the student’s instructional modality will export as “In-Person”.
Period that drives daily attendance - If a teacher does not submit period attendance, for the period that drives daily attendance, the student’s instructional modality will export as “In-Person”.
Period Threshold drives daily attendance - If a teacher does not submit period attendance, the student will be “In-Person” for that period.
Q: If I’m using Homeroom or Period to drive daily attendance, how do I get the “Both” modality to export?
A: Use Attendance > Instructional Modality > Manually Select Modality to update modalities to “Both”
Q: What is the Attendance > Instructional Modality screen used for?
A: Entering or changing instructional modalities for past dates.
Q: Do I need Remote Schedules set up in order for modalities to export?
A: No, all Remote Schedules do is pre-check the remote checkbox in the class attendance screen. Attendance still needs to be submitted
Q: What does the Scheduled Instructional Modality Calculations (SIM) area do?
A: The SIM area looks at a student’s period attendance, on a given day for the inclusion of the “remote” checkbox. Supplementals and courses marked as “Lunch” or “Study Hall” in Scheduling > Course Catalog will be ignored for these calculations.
Should every period have the “remote” checkbox checked, the student’s instructional modality will export as “Remote”.
Should every period NOT have the “remote” checkbox checked, the student’s instructional modality will export as “In-Person”.
Should the student’s period attendance, on a given day, have a combination of the “remote” checkbox being checked and unchecked, the student’s instructional modality will export as “Both”
Q: How do I know if I NEED to use the Scheduled Instructional Modality Calculations (SIM)?
A: You only NEED to use the SIM if you use Period Thresholds to drive daily attendance. Without the SIM, your students will have a default modality of In-person.
Q: If I use Homeroom or Period to drive daily attendance, CAN I use the Scheduled Instructional Modality Calculations (SIM)?
A: Yes. However, the SIM depends on teachers taking complete and accurate class attendance and using the remote checkboxes correctly in each class. The job looks at a student’s period attendance on a given day for the inclusion of the “remote” checkbox in each period. If you are not confident that all teachers are taking complete and accurate class attendance and using the remote checkboxes correctly in each class, we do not recommend using the SIM job.
Q: How do I know if my Scheduled Instructional Modality Calculations (SIM) job ran?
A: Maintenance>Application>Job Object History. Type- Scheduled Instructional Modality.
NYSED did not ask vendors to support collection of the 180 Day State Aid information as it is outside of the SIRS collection. Districts were advised that they are responsible for developing a mechanism to collect and report that information.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom Integration Guides:
Mindex - Sync Rosters to Google Classroom
Mindex - Import Assignments from Google Classroom
NERIC Teacher Guide on Roster Sync and Assignment Import
Google Sign-In and Google Classroom Recorded Webinar:
Google Classroom Integration Troubleshooting
Students must have an email in SchoolTool that is part of the district's G Suite for Education domain.
Distance Learning students who may have a different school email in SchoolTool will not sync.
If a teacher received the following Error message after clicking the Roster Sync icon: “Error processing request: An item with the same key has already been added”
Not all students have GSuite email addresses, so need to enter the missing emails
Only Assignments and Quiz Assignments in Google Classroom can be imported to SchoolTool. NOT Questions or any other “Classwork” in Google Classroom.
Assignment Scores must be "Returned" in Google Classroom before they can be imported into SchoolTool.
Currently, there are two methods to copy an assignment from one Google Classroom to another: "Reuse assignment" and "Add Assignment to additional classrooms". For the purposes of importing assignments to SchoolTool, we recommend using the "Add assignment to additional classrooms" method.
If using the "Reuse assignment" method and the assignment has already been imported into one SchoolTool grade book, then it cannot be imported to any other SchoolTool grade books.
If SchoolTool Google Classroom features were functional before, but now all users receive an error (e.g. "configuration error" or similar) when trying to use roster sync or assignment import, it is recommended to review the G-Suite service account created during the implementation of the SchoolTool Google Classroom feature. The Service Account must be both active and designated as Super Admin for SchoolTool Google Classroom features to function correctly.
In the Grade Book, when I click the G icon, there is nothing to select (it is grayed out and blank). What do I do?
Either the SchoolTool Roster has not been linked to Google, in which case Sync the Roster, then import the grades
OR the SchoolTool Roster is linked to a Google Classroom that is archived. In this case, unlink the roster then sync to the correct Google Classroom. Classes cannot be synced to courses that are archived.
Google Classroom Known Issues/Bugs
Bug 149149: Google Classroom assignments with Video Attachments will not import assignment grades
Workaround: Remove video prior to importing assignments
Bug 149685: Apostrophe in student's SchoolTool Email does not allow the Roster Sync to add the student to the Google Classroom
Workaround: Remove the apostrophe from the student email
