Academic Procedures

The Seattle School provides as-needed accommodations to support students with qualifying disabilities who unpredictably experience acute symptoms that delay or prevent their participation in certain learning activities. The purpose of as-needed accommodations is to ensure that students with disabilities are provided equitable access to learning opportunities and the appropriate support to demonstrate the learning outcomes of the course. 

In this linked Guide for Instructors, you will find:

• An overview of how as-needed accommodations work

• A link to the new instructions and email templates provided to students

• Instructions on what to do when a student makes use of an as-needed accommodation

• A reminder of resources and people available to support you with accommodations

• Optional email templates that you can use, adapt, and save in Gmail so they are ready to go in response to student as-needed accommodation requests

Additionally, this linked video provides a reminder tutorial of how to set up course recordings for students with accomodations.

WHEN do books required for purchase need to be posted on Populi?

In order to be in compliance with the Higher Education Act’s rules around transparency of the full cost of attendance, any books students are required to purchase should be posted on Populi before registration opens each term. 

A list of any required and recommended books should be sent to the library at the same time so that the library staff can: 

• Order and catalog any items not already owned. When available and affordable, priority is given to digital versions of the books.

• Pull all required and many of the recommended books and put them on Course Reserve for in-library use only.

• Add links to digital versions of books when available to the relevant class pages.

HOW do I post books to my class page on Populi?

Library staff can post the book list for you upon request. If you’d like to post them yourself, specific steps on how to add Required or Recommended (Optional) books to the Syllabus page on your class page can be found here.

Can you order me a copy of my required books?

Upon request, Library staff will purchase copies of required books for faculty. If needed, copies of required books are also acquired for Instructional Assistants’ use and should be returned to the Library at the end of the term. In both cases, priority is given to digital versions of books; print copies are only purchased when digital versions are not available or prohibitively expensive.

If you are looking for new course materials library staff are available to assist you in locating print and/or e-books.

Posting Additional Readings (articles, book chapters, etc.)

When do additional readings (articles, book chapters) need to be posted on Populi?

Additional course readings should be posted on Populi two weeks before the beginning of each term. Those dates are August 31st for Fall 2026, December 28th for Winter 2027, and April 12th for Spring 2027.

What if I don’t have a copy of the article or chapter that I am assigning?

Library staff will provide scanned copies of any articles/chapters that you don’t already have, either from our existing collection, purchasing the book (if appropriate), or by obtaining them through interlibrary loan. Every effort is made to ensure that the copies are machine readable (imperative for students with reading accommodations, beneficial for all readers). It can take a few days to obtain things we don’t already own, so plan accordingly.

Library staff are also happy to identify and obtain relevant articles, chapters, or books as you design and/or update your class syllabus. 

How much of a book can I post on my class page?

All posted material must adhere to US Copyright Law Title 17 of the U.S. Code or have written permission from the copyright holder. The copyright rule is complicated, but a good rule to follow is to limit posting to one chapter from a book, no more than 10% of a book, or one article per journal issue. 

How do I post files (articles, book chapters, etc.) to my class page on Populi?

There are a few options for posting readings listed below. Reach out to Katie Clum if you need additional assistance getting started. 

Option 1: Add all readings to a central location (Files).   

1. Navigate to your specific course in Populi.

2. Click Files in the left sidebar menu.

3. Click Add Files or drag and drop your PDFs and documents directly into the window.

4. Students can now view, download, and read these files from their own Files tab.

Detailed instructions with screen shots can also be found here.

Option 2: Embed readings into specific weekly folders so students know exactly what to read for a given class meeting. 

1. Navigate to your specific course in Populi.

2. Select Lessons from your course navigation menu.

3. Open or create the specific lesson (e.g., Week 1: Introduction).

4. On the right side of the lesson editor, look for the Add Material section.

5. Click Files and either select a file you’ve already uploaded or upload a new one directly from your computer.

6. Save the lesson.

Option 3: Use Permalinks. Instead of uploading PDFs of copyrighted journal articles, provide persistent links (permalinks) to the articles or book chapters in the reading lists in your syllabus. This has the added benefit of ensuring copyright compliance and provides students with direct access via their Seattle School login.  

1. Search through our library’s Quick Search tool (the main search on the library’s home page) to see if we have the article/book chapter.

2. If we have it electronically, there will be a Share (permalink) in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

3. Use the permalink to link students right to these resources from your syllabus. Alternatively, you could save the pdf and upload it to Populi.

How do I make things accessible (machine-readable) for all of my students?

Most things downloaded from our EBSCO and ProQuest databases (journal articles and book chapters) are already in a machine-readable format. For other things, you can reach out to the library staff for assistance in converting older scanned readings into a machine readable format.

To quickly check if a PDF is machine-readable, open the file and try using the Find tool (Ctrl+F or Command+F) to search for a specific word. If the text is not selectable, or if it acts as a single image, the PDF is not machine-readable. For more information, this YouTube video, How to Check a PDF for Basic Accessibility, provides some helpful hints.

What if I have more questions?

For Library related questions contact: 

librequest@theseattleschool.edu

Sam Skillern, Library Services Manager - sskillern@theseattleschool.edu

Mary Rainwater, Interlibrary Loan Specialist - mrainwater@theseattleschool.edu

Cheryl Goodwin, Consulting Librarian - cgoodwin@theseattleschool.edu

Required Course Texts: Required course texts adopted by the faculty member or teaching team  will be provided by the institution if the instructor does not have a personal copy.  Priority is given to digital versions of the books if available and affordable.   IAs will also be loaned a copy of new required texts, and these will be checked out to them for the term.  After the term, IA texts will be placed in the IA reserve.  All approved book orders are placed through the Library Services Manager, Sam Skillern (sskillern@theseattleschool.edu). 

Texts for Professional Development: Core faculty have access to a limited stipend each academic year in service of book purchases for professional development.  All approved book orders are placed through the Library Services Manager, Sam Skillern (sskillern@theseattleschool.edu).

Building hours, facilities requests, and campus safety information can all be found on the Campus Services Website.

• If an instructor wishes to require and integrate an external learning opportunity in their course, formal request must be made to the registrar 30 days in advance of registration for the associated term. Department of Education regulations require that students be made aware of all course related expenses at the time of registration, including fees, books, additional time requirements, etc.

• Fees in excess of $100 per student per course will require approval of the Dean of Teaching & Learning (Misty Anne Winzenried; mwinzenried@theseattleschool.edu). 

Recordings of online and on-campus synchronous lecture courses should be made available only to students who need them as part of an academic accommodation. Recordings of classes, regardless of modality, will not be made available to the general student population. This linked video provides a reminder tutorial of how to set up course recordings for students with accommodations.

In the event that an emergency, crisis situation, or other extenuating circumstances require a student to miss class, this form may be given to the student in order for them to request one-time access to a class recording. Requests for recording access due to scheduling issues or mundane illnesses (i.e., the common cold), etc. will not be approved. In these cases students are encouraged to connect with classmates and/or instructors to catch up on what is missed. Please note that this only applies to classes that are already being recorded. Lab classes are never recorded.

The Academics Office attaches a standardized course evaluation to the Reporting section of each class page in Populi at the end of each term. Faculty are notified when they are available and encouraged to leave time on the last day of class for students to complete them. The Academics Office may also post a reminder in the student newsletter. 

Faculty can access completed course rotations via Populi (go to the course page>reporting>evaluation) once 60% or more of the students in a given course have completed the evaluation. After course evaluations close, the Academics Office will email instructors copies of any evaluations with less that 60% completion.

Faculty are expected to review course evaluations at the end of each term, incorporate student feedback, and make adjustments as appropriate.

Curriculum Guides are the authoritative sources for course descriptions, course learning outcomes, and program assessments.  Faculty are responsible for making sure they are using the most up-to-date information from the curriculum guides in their course syllabi. Curriculum guides (including course descriptions, learning outcomes, and program assessments) are approved by the core faculty and may not be altered by individual faculty for individual classes/sections.

When an instructional team member is ill or has a family emergency and needs to cancel class, that instructor should email the Registrar, communicate with students using the email feature from the roster section of Populi, and put an announcement on the dashboard of their class page. 

We recommend posting substitution material asynchronously online via Populi. An individual class session of a weekly class does not need to be rescheduled. If your situation requires that you miss more than one session of a weekly course, or the equivalent percentage of an intensive course, please be in conversation with the Dean of Teaching & Learning and the Registrar.

If assistance is needed with providing asynchronous course materials, please contact the Instructional Designer.

We have a budget to support the inclusion of guest lecturers in our classes in order to diversify the voices students hear from, as well as introduce learners to researchers, scholars, and practitioners outside of The Seattle School. The guest lecturer stipend rate is $200 per hour long lecture, with a cap of $600 per course. Click here to request approval for a guest lecturer stipend. 

Independent Study:

The Dean of Teaching & Learning, in consultation with the proposed course instructor, may grant permission for a student to enroll in a regular course through independent study. Independent study should not be undertaken solely for personal convenience, but only because of extenuating conflicts that prevent the student from taking the course when it is normally offered. Requests for independent study must be submitted to the Academic Office no later than 30 days prior to the first day of the term the student is applying for. Requests submitted after this date will be considered for the subsequent academic term. See catalog for more details.

Individualized Research:

The Dean of the Graduate School, in consultation with a proposed course instructor, may approve an individualized course of research. This elective permits students to design and pursue personalized courses. The course numbers for individualized research courses are generally listed on the transcript with a 580 numeration. No more than 2 individualized research credits will be granted for each degree program. To be eligible for approval, the study must not replicate a course normally offered in the regular program. The student must be maintaining an overall grade point average of at least 3.0 in the degree program.

Individualized research credit may be granted to a student with the following requirements:

• Student submits a proposal to an appropriate faculty member and the faculty member agrees to grant individualized research credit.

• A sample syllabus is developed by the faculty member and student and submitted to the Registrar.

• Final approval is granted through the Dean of the Graduate School.

• Requests for individualized research must be submitted to the Academic Office no later than 30 days prior to the first day of the term the student is applying for. Requests submitted after this date will be considered for the subsequent academic term.

Instructional Assistants (IAs) are valued members of the instructional staff. As experienced professionals/practitioners and graduate degree holders in their own right, they are hired to assist faculty with large course sections and they support both faculty and students in meeting course and learning objectives in a variety of ways.  An IA's job includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Take attendance, attend classes, and collaborate with content delivery as needed/appropriate for a particular course and faculty needs.

• Assist students in understanding course syllabi and assignments.

• Evaluate student assignments, examinations, presentations, and other deliverables based on standards and rubrics provided by the faculty member.

• Record student grades.

• Conduct weekly office hours with students and respond to student inquiries via email.

• Meet with faculty periodically throughout the term

When enrollment is able to sufficiently justify the need (generally around 35 students), faculty will be assigned an Instructional Assistant as appropriate. In these cases, faculty will be assigned a Seattle School employed and approved Instructional Assistant hired by the IA supervisor. 

IAs are compensated per course with an understanding that their work load for the term should not exceed 105 hours.  It is up to individual faculty and the AIs to decide how those 105 hours are best divvied up given particular course needs (which may or may not require attendance at every class meeting).

At the beginning of each term, faculty are encouraged to:

• Have an early conversation with the IA about how you’ll communicate and meet with one another. There is no ONE way of working with IAs or ONE way IAs prefer to work, so establish together clear lines of communication, expectations, preferences, boundaries, etc.

• Be thoughtful about the power differentials present when planning for a course. While IAs carry significant responsibility, their role is also notably limited in scope and agency.  Faculty can help IAs be successful in their work by providing growth opportunities and taking care not to ask AIs to over-function. 

Some helpful reminders for both faculty and IAs:

• • IAs can grade up to 2/3 of a course’s total grading. In part because of accreditation requirements, faculty must grade 1/3 of the overall course deliverables, with the assumption that they evaluate at least one piece of work from every student.

  • IAs grade on behalf the Instructor using assessment criteria provided by the Instructor.

  • IAs are expected/encouraged to maintain the school’s goal of 2 week turn around for graded assignments. 

  • Faculty Instructors make all decisions and determinations about late assignment extensions and disability accommodations. 

    • • By and large, when Instructors approve an extension, it is helpful when they also take responsibility for grading that work, so as to limit the impacted timeline of the AI’s workload/grading time turn around.

      • Disability Accommodations are determined by the Instructor in conjunction with Daniel Tidwell-Davis, Accessibility Manager; AIs can help implement those accommodations when relevant.

      • Only Faculty Instructors can manage the Incomplete Process for a student.

  • Faculty Instructors finalize grades in Populi at the end of term. IAs confirm when their portion of grading is complete before finalization takes place.

The Instructional Designer's job is to support faculty in enhancing their teaching practice. The ID can provide a wide range of services, including: 

• Populi assistance

• Software assistance (what and how to use)

• Assignment creation

• Gradebook setup

• Learning material creation

• Modality consultation

• Curating ideas and resources for student engagement

For more information, check out the Teaching Resources/Course Design section of the Academic Hub and connect with Katie Clum, Instructional Designer: kclum@theseattleschool.edu.

When courses have multiple sections taught by different faculty concurrently in the same term, one instructor (usually a core faculty member) will be identified as the “Lead” Instructor. The purpose of having a Lead Instructor is to provide basic leadership for the teaching team and to help ensure some level of continuity between course design and implementation (and thus student experience). It is not intended to negatively impact autonomy, reduce academic freedom, or take away from the individual teaching style of each faculty member tasked with teaching their courses. Each non-lead Section Instructor should take ownership in their Populi course, their syllabus, and their overall instructional practice.

Standardized Across Courses

• Course Description

• Course Learning Outcomes

• Program-Level Assessments embedded in courses

• Course texts required for purchase

• Starting Course Syllabus

Recommend Consultation With Teaching Team

• Major topics and assignments

• Guest lecturers to be shared across sections

• Ensuring that all sections meet the essential course requirements in terms of reading, writing, and seat hours

Up to Individual Section Instructors

• Other reading materials not required for purchase (articles chapters, videos, podcasts)

• Course topics, order of presentation of topics

• Learning activities

• Guest lecturers

• Discussion board use

• Configuration of lessons

• Use of pre-recorded lectures

• Word version of final syllabus (including any updated versions throughout the term) sent to the Library Director for archival purposes

See Curriculum Guides for additional information about standardized course requirements

Lead instructors are responsible for:

• Syllabus & Curriculum Guide: Lead Instructors will provide a starting copy of the course syllabus, ensuring that the Course Description, Course Learning Outcomes, Program Assessments, and Course Policies are correct and updated to the most current syllabus template. The syllabus should be provided to the other instructors 6 weeks prior to the start of the course.

  • The Lead Instructor is also responsible for working with the other instructors to select required course texts that must be purchased and communicating that information to the Library Director before registration opens for the upcoming term.

• Populi: The Lead Instructor will be responsible to provide a course “shell” or “template” in Populi which each of the instructors in the section will begin with and then modify to their individual needs as required 4 weeks prior to the start of the course.

  • A published course may, of course, be an adapted version of a previously-taught/cloned course, but the lead instructor is still meant to pave the way and provide a jumping off point for the other instructors.  

  • Lead Instructors are encouraged to ask for assistance from other TSS staff or instructors (Instructional Designer, Library Director, Registrar, etc.) when needed.

• Facilitating Collaboration: The Dean of Teaching & Learning is responsible for orienting new faculty (adjunct and otherwise) to the institution and ongoing mentoring, but the Lead Instructor is asked to help support connection-making and resource finding for new(er) instructors as it pertains to teaching a particular course. This may include:

  • Orienting new instructors to how this course fits in with the curriculum as a whole, including learning that comes before and after in the curriculum

  • Pointing out where to locate essential resources

  • Providing a walk-through of the Populi course

  • Familiarizing new instructors with how AIs might function/support in this particular course

  • Sharing teaching resources or activities as appropriate for the course content

  • Providing mentorship throughout the term as needed

  • The Lead Instructor should coordinate brief check-ins and collaboration time with the teaching “team” 2-3 times throughout the term. A suggested meeting format would include a meeting before the start of the term, one at mid-term, and one towards the end or after the term has concluded.

• Ensuring that the starting syllabus meets essential academic requirements:

  •  See faculty handbook for guidelines. Attention should be given to:

    • Credit hours

    • Course workload

    • Instructional time

Section Instructors are responsible for:

• Syllabus & Curriculum Guide: Section Instructors are responsible for updating the starting copy of the course syllabus, received from the Lead Instructor, with specifics related to their section of the class, including dates, course topics, assignments, additional readings (chapters and articles), specific guest lecturers, or course activities. As a reminder, the Course Description, Course Learning Outcomes, Program Assessments, and Course Policies standardized and should remain the same across sections.

• Populi: Section Instructors will be responsible for personalizing the course “shell” or “template” in Populi with specifics related to their section of the course, including correct dates, uploading readings, slides, links, discussion board questions, etc.  

  • Section Instructors are encouraged to ask for assistance from other TSS staff or instructors (Instructional Designer, Library Director, Registrar, etc.) when needed.

• Facilitating Collaboration: We encourage Lead Instructors, Section Instructors, and their AIs (if applicable) to meet a few times per term as a “teaching team” to collaborate, share ideas, and troubleshoot challenges. We all do better work when we have thinking partners we can bounce ideas around with. Section Instructors can reach to Lead Instructors with questions or concerns that arise as they teach their courses. They can also always reach out to the Dean of Teaching & Learning, the Instructional Designer, or the Registrar with questions.

• Ensuring that their own syllabus meets essential academic requirements:

  •  See faculty handbook for guidelines. Attention should be given to:

    • Credit hours

    • Course workload

    • Instructional time

Faculty/staff are often asked to provide letters of recommendation for students or else be otherwise engaged in some kind of "official" correspondence which would best be completed on institutuional letterhead.  Here is a link to a Google Doc version of a TSS letterhead template.  In order to utilize it for yourself, you'll want to open the link, and then click File>Make a Copy.  From there faculty/staff may make changes and save the new letterhead copy to their records as needed.

All syllabi should be posted on class pages no later than 2 weeks before classes begin.

In addition, a Word or PDF copy of all syllabi should be sent to academics@theseattleschool.edu for the archives (for accreditation, licensure, and future class planning).

Instructors should be sure to use the most recent year's syllabus template (see Academic Hub main page). To make a copy for yourself, please click on the link, then go to File>Make a Copy and save it for your own records. Instructors should use the most up-to-date template when preparing their syllabus and copy/paste any content being used from prior course syllabi into that template. This will ensure that the most recent academic policies and program learning outcomes are included. Instructors should also make sure their Populi course site aligns with any changes or updates made to the syllabus (e.g. assignment descriptions, weights in the gradebook, due dates, etc.).  Contact the Instructional Designer for further assistance if needed.

Purdue Writing Lab Faculty Guide for Working with Multilingual Student Writers (PDF)—Purdue OWL. A comprehensive guide to strategies for reading, assessing, and providing feedback on the work of multilingual learners. Although the guide focuses on undergraduate students, much of the material applies to graduate students. 

Responding to Multilingual Writers' Texts—Johns Hopkins University Writing Program. This article provides quick tips on responding to multilingual writers' work at the sentence level. 

The Writing Center supports Seattle School students in their writing processes by providing access to writing resources, formatting and citation guides, and one-on-one meetings with Writing Center Consultants. Consultants can support multilingual students in several ways. Consultants partner in conversation with writers to tease out overall structure and meaning. They can also assist students in recognizing patterns and offer strategies to help students succeed in an American academic writing context. Please feel free to contact writing@theseattleschool.edu for more information.