Family & Community Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

Steps to Start Fiscal Year FY12

1. Agency, Project, and Site
   • Update agency, project, and site basic information
   • Update project and site coordinator names to ensure that ACLS notifications are sent to correct coordinators
   
   
2. Students
   • Convert partial intakes to full intakes -- partial intakes are not allowed after the site has rolled over to new fiscal year
   • Remove partial intakes if no tests were taken in the partial intake record
   • Enter new students
   • Check the Welcome Screen to see if the link labeled "Other Site Assessments" appears which shows the list of co-enrolled students who took tests at other sites. There are 2 panels for current and exited students. Programs can view the list and drill down to the assessment screen to view tests for individual students. Programs can decide if they want to set primary areas for this test. A column has been added that shows if the primary area has been set. This feature will help programs know if dually enrolled students do not need to have another assessment administered immediately.
   • Enter assessments and set the primary area (Note: students can be enrolled in classes without an assessment in the primary area but attendance cannot be entered until the primary assessment area is indicated).
   • Select and copy over any May/June assessments administered in previous fiscal year if a new test has not been administered. You will see a box in the first column under the copy icon next to the May/June test. Click on the box and hit "Save" and the test will be copied to the next fiscal year. The copied scores will be pre-tests for the new fiscal year and will be color coded to indicate they were copied. They will be listed with a 7/1 date.
   • Review the section of the document on the ACLS website titled "FY12 SMARTT Changes" that explains assessments at the student level http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/smartt/changes.pdf
   • Enter goals
   • Update all current student information
   • Use the "Update Employment" screen to update the employment status of continuing students. A list of all students appears with a link to the student screen so that you can update the employment status. Select the "Show List" feature to scroll through all student records to update this information. Once the status has been updated, the name will disappear from the list. (Note that attendance can be entered even if this information has not been updated)

   Note: All students who were not exited from the site are still listed as current students. You should exit students who are no longer current in your program. Remember - if students return at any time, they will still be in the database. When a student does return, after you select "Intake" in the student section, you can use the "Lookup" button and enter the first few letters of the student's name to start the search. The student information will be retrieved from the database. Some information will need to be updated, but most of the information will still be listed.

3. Staff
   • Add new staff -- basic information and salary information
   • Ensure that duplicates are not created when staff transfer from other agencies
   • Update work e-mail field for all staff to ensure that ACLS notifications are sent to correct staff
   • Edit salary information for current staff if there were any changes in the salary data transferred from the staff plan in the approved program plan
   • Add professional development activities for staff who attended trainings other than those provided by SABES
   
   
4. Class Completion
   • Use the Post Planning-Class Completion screen to "complete" the classes generated from the Program Plan and enter the following:
     • Basic Information - subject, language, and instructional method
     • Monthly schedule - hours per month (review the calendar carefully to exclude vacations and non instructional periods)
   
   
5. Classes
   • Assign instructors to classes
   • Enroll students in classes -- note that students may be enrolled without a primary assessment area or a primary goal, but attendance cannot be entered until a primary assessment is entered
   • Review the section of the document on the ACLS website titled "FY12 SMARTT Changes" that explains fluid class slots and flexible class over-enrollments http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/smartt/changes.pdf
   • Enter class attendance - at least monthly
   
   
6. Wait List
   • Update wait list information --- add or delete students
   • Submit wait list verification by December 1st of each year --- verify that the numbers on the wait list are accurate for these time periods:
     
     <1 year; 1-2 years; 2-3 years; and > 3 years
   
   
7. Volunteers and Matches
   • Add new volunteers
   • Create new matches
   • Assign new students to existing matches if necessary
   • Enter match attendance for new and continuing matches -- for both the volunteer and the student
   • Assign volunteers to classes if they are in-class assistants
   • Enter attendance in class screen for in-class assistants
   • Dissolve matches that ended