Collecting & Updating Student Data

Collecting Data

You can collect student data from your school’s database, student surveys, or directly from the students themselves during one-on-one meetings.

School Database (Powerschool, AERIES, ..)

This is where you will be collecting your students’ names, ID numbers, birth dates, demographics, GPAs, student emails, class schedules, etc. Ask your on-site to show you how to download these reports if you have direct access to the database, or provide a copy if you don’t have direct access.

Surveys

You’ll likely have to distribute a survey to collect any student information that your school doesn’t collect, such as first-generation status, post-secondary plans, schools of interest, intended major, etc. Think about how to reach all of your students through these surveys, whether that be by having them complete it in their English classes, providing incentives, or calling out students who don't complete it.

Tip: Conducting surveys online will save you a lot of time when collecting data, as you'll have a spreadsheet of data ready for you rather than manually inputting data from a paper survey. You can have students conduct the survey on computers or on their phones, if available. Not all students may have phone/computer access, so keep a few hard copies of the survey on hand.

One-on-One Meetings

Throughout your interactions with students, you’ll learn more about their college application progress. Take some time during your one-on-one meetings throughout the year to ask your student about information that is missing from their GRACE profile.

Updating Data

When you collect student data to update values on GRACE, rather than opening and updating each student's page, you can Bulk Add/Update information with the following steps:

Open GRACE and select 'Bulk Add' > 'Bulk Students'.
Export the Student List for your high school. This will download all of the data on GRACE that can be bulk updated. You should always download a new list, since reusing an old one may rewrite any changes you've made on GRACE since you last downloaded it.
Open the Student List in Excel and make any updates by typing in or copying/pasting information for each student, or using Excel functions* to import data from other sources.
- Tip: You can delete any students that don't need to be updated from this file. For example, if you're only updating information for seniors, you should delete all other grade levels so you're working with smaller batch of data. Deleting them from this file won't delete them from GRACE! They simply won't be updated.
Save your updated student list.
Navigate to 'Bulk Add' > 'Bulk Students' > 'Select Import File' and select your saved student list.
A field assignment page will open. Check that all of the headings match with the names of the columns on your updated student list and click 'Submit'.
Once your file is processed, you'll see a page which will let you know if each student's information has been updated successfully. Check for any students in red, as this indicates an error has occurred. The cause of the error will be listed. Go back to your updated list, fix any errors, and return to Step 4 above.

*Excel Tips & Tricks