Classes, Schedules & Rosters

Overview

Veracross offers functionality to manage all aspects of academic operations for departments, subjects, courses, and classes. At the class level, tools are available for managing class rosters class schedules, in addition to information like teacher, room, grading periods, etc.

This article provides an overview of the four tiers of Veracross academics; how to add subjects, courses, and classes; configuration options; how to enroll students; and the class enrollment record.

Four Tiers: Department, Subjects, Courses, Classes

Departments

Departments are at the top of the tree in the Veracross academic hierarchy. They correspond to major academic areas of study, are not linked to any school level, but span divisions, link to subjects (the next level down in the hierarchy), but do not necessarily need to correspond one to one with each subject offered at the school. Departments can be tagged with a “department chair person.”

For example, there might be a Fine Arts Department that oversees both the Music and Art subjects, rather than a separate Music Department and Art Department.

Note: Some schools choose not to track Departments and thus begin their hierarchies with Subjects, or use the same descriptions for Departments and Subjects.

Subjects

Subjects are the next level under Departments. They provide clearly defined groupings for Courses, can be school-level-specific, allow for basic credit tracking, and usually contain all the courses that pertain to that area of study.

For example, US Math might contain Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry courses because all of these pertain to the math area of study for Upper School.

If your school has multiple divisions, you may have multiple subjects to represent those in each school level, for example: MS Math, US Math; MS Art, US Art; etc.

Courses

Courses are the third in the hierarchy. They identify the specific curriculum offered by the school, are not tied to a specific school year, and may be offered multiple times a year and even taught by different teachers, as long as the content remains the same.

For example, the Art Foundations might be taught by two different teachers, but all the students are following the same curriculum.

Classes

Classes are at the bottom of the hierarchy, and most fundamentally represent a curriculum (course) taught by a teacher to a group of students in a given year. They contain the yearly specifics (e.g., the day and period/block it meets, room, enrollment, and teacher), represent each section of a course that’s offered in a given year (if multiple sections are offered), and record the grades (on assignments and for terms) that students earn in the class.

For example, a student might be enrolled in the ArtFnd.1 class which meets on MWF in B block with Mr. Smith. If additional sections are offered, additional Classes would be created to represent each section (but all under the same Course because they utilize the same curriculum).

Rosters and Schedules

A class roster is a list of students who are enrolled in a given class. A class schedule contains the specific periods/blocks and days that a given class meets.

Adding Subjects, Courses, and Classes

Adding a Subject

Subjects need to exist in Veracross before courses can be entered. Likewise, if departments are being used to categorize subjects, they too must already exist before adding subjects.

To add a subject, navigate to the System homepage, hover over the Add  button, and select Subject List.

On the detail screen, enter all relevant information. The only required fields are Description and Abbreviation. Here is additional information on several fields:

• Abbreviation. The abbreviation is used in certain detail screens.
• Credits. Optionally, enter how many credits students are required to take of the subject to graduate.
• Link Style. Enter a color that will affect the subjects display on certain screens.

Adding a Course

To add a Course, navigate to the System homepage, hover over the Add  button, and select Course List.

On the detail screen, enter all relevant information. Course Type, Subject, and Course Name are required fields. Learn more  about adding a course.

Adding a Class

To add a class, navigate to the System homepage, hover over the Add  button, and select Add a Class.

On the detail screen, enter all relevant information. School Year, Course, Class ID, Description, Status, and Grading Period Group are required fields, but all are important to review carefully. Here is additional information on several fields:

• Course. This connects the class to a particular curriculum (course). See further information below.
• Teacher. Though not required, indicating the teacher will add it to their list of classes.
• Room. Rooms need to already exist in Veracross. They can be added on the Resource Scheduling homepage. When populated, this field can appear on teacher and student schedules.
• Begin/End Dates are determined by the grading periods during which the class meets and do not need to be manually entered.
• Status If the class is currently meeting or active preparations are made for it to meet, this status should be "Active," otherwise leave it as "Future."
• Registration Deadline and Fee. These fields are used for Program classes and Athletics, and do not need to be entered for regular academic classes.
• Track Attendance Flag. Check the track attendance flag if attendance is tracked for this class.
• Trigger Imperfect Attendance Flag. If checked, class attendance updates will propagate to Master: Imperfect Attendance.
• Grading Configuration Fields. These fields are important to get correct based on how your school assesses students. See below for further information.

Further Information on Tying the Class to a Course

Linking the class to the appropriate course updates the Class ID and Description fields based on information already entered on the Course. The Class ID will append “.1” or “.2”, etc. to the Course ID, depending on how many other classes are already linked to the course. The Description field is copied from the Course, but can be manually overwritten.

For example, if two sections of a course have already been created for the school year, Veracross will append a “.3” to the Course ID because the class is the third section being entered. This can be manually changed and the Class ID can be letters, numbers or a combination of both. Classes in the same school year cannot have the same Class ID, though they can have the same descriptions.

Further Information on Grading Configuration

Grading configuration is important, as it has repercussions throughout the system, and is closely tied to grading and assessments for assignments and report cards. Here is further information on several fields:

• Grading Method. Classes using Numeric grades can have both qualitative and numeric grades on the report card. However, classes set up for Qualitative grading will not have any numeric grades appear on the report card or report card form, though these classes can still use the gradebook.
• Grade Conversion Scale. Converts one type of grade into another, for example, a 92% into an A- or an A. Learn more about grade conversion scales.
• Exam Type and Exam Weight. Learn more about exam types and weights. If the class does not take exams, leave the Exam Type field marked “No Exams” and leave the Exam Weight blank.

Add a Class Schedule: Schedule Tab

Navigate to the “Schedule” tab of a class record. To add a scheduled meeting time, click Add Record .

• Grading Period: Set the grading period during which the class meets. If the class keeps the same schedule for the whole year, choose the Grading Period “ALL” and Veracross will automatically copy the schedule you enter in this grading period for the rest of the grading periods all year long. If the class meets all year long, but changes schedules part way through the year, enter a schedule for each grading period. If the class only meets during part of the year, enter a schedule for each grading period during which that class meets.
• Day: Set the day in the rotation to which this class schedule record applies. If this class has the same schedule each day, select the “M-F” option, which will apply the same schedule every day of the week. If this class has a schedule that is different each day, enter the schedule for each day separately. If your school uses a rotation other than M-F enter a schedule for each rotation day.
• Block: If your school uses block scheduling, you may select the applicable block. If you are using period scheduling, leave this field blank. Learn more about block vs. period scheduling.
• Start/End Time: If the class does not meet during a block, specify the start and end time for the class. Use the Start Time (Override)/End Time (Override) fields if you are scheduling individual periods to est the scheduled times for the class.
• Room: Enter the Room in which the class meets on that day only if this is different from the Room that was entered on the class General tab.

Enrolling Students in a Class

Once a class is created, students can be added to the roster, ultimately creating enrollment records. This can be done in any of three ways: on the class record, on the student’s person record, or enrolling by homeroom.

Option 1: Add Students on the Class Record

Navigate to a class detail screen and click Add Record. Search for the student and click Update. You may add multiple students at a time before updating

Option 2: Add the Class to a Student’s Record

Navigate to a student’s record, and from the “Schedule” tab (MS/US) or the “Classes” tab (LS), click Add Record.

Option 3: Enroll Students by Homeroom or Student Group

If students should be scheduled together in a group based on their homeroom class then they can be enrolled by homeroom. To do this, first add all the students to the class roster of a class where the course type is “homeroom.” Next, from the “Other” tab of the other classes into which these students should be enrolled, set the correct “homeroom. Finally, go to the School Level homepage and select Enroll Students by Homeroom on the Action menu .

If students should be scheduled together in a group based on their student group, then they can be enrolled by Student Group. Set student group on the “Class Group” field of the “Other” tab.

Class Enrollment and Schedule Management

Student enrollment records track basic enrollment information, including grades, attendance, Late Date Enrolled, and Date Withdrawn. There are several ways to find class enrollment records:

1. Run the Find Class Enrollment Records query on the System homepage and click on the “Enrollment ID” in the results.
2. Navigate to a student’s Schedule tab and click the View Record icon  for a class.
3. Navigate to a class’s General tab and click the View Record icon  for a student.

Enrollment Detail Screen

The General tab of an enrollment record contains high-level information about a student’s enrollment in a class, such as dates enrolled/withdrawn, attendance, etc., as well as grade information for each grading period during which they were enrolled.

The enrollment record also contains two flags that control the inclusion of this enrollment on a student’s report card or transcript. Note that when a student is withdrawn from a class, the flags “Exclude from report card” and “Exclude from transcript” are set automatically to “Yes.”

To drill into a student’s grade record for a given grading period, click View Record .

In addition to the “General” tab, there are several other helpful tabs on a person record:

• Schedule Tab: allows the school to specify any days the Individual will not be in class regularly
• Other Tab: Includes the Override Grade Conversion Scale option, used if a particular student should have a different grading scale than others, e.g., a 9th-grade student in a 10th-grade class.
• Grade Detail Report: Links to the student’s grade detail reports.
• Attendance Tab: Lists any class attendance where the student was not present
• Assignments: Lists details for all assignments assigned to the student the current grading period, including due date, completion status, and score
• Assignments Prior: Lists details for all assignments assigned to the student in prior grading periods.

Schedule Management

The Veracross Class Enrollment Manager is a tool that can be used to manage changes to an individual student’s schedule at any point during the year. From the Class Enrollment Manager, users can view a student’s current schedule (both list and PDF), add or drop classes for a student, or withdraw a student from classes they are currently taking. Learn more about the Class Enrollment Manager.