From the calendar page, you will need to enter key dates for your academic year. Most importantly you'll need to enter School year Dates, Platform pacing Dates, MAP testing windows, and Non-Instructional Periods, all of which determine the pacing of the blue line in each course and when students will be held responsible for using and working on the Platform.
How do I set calendar dates?
- Click "Setup" from the menu
- Click "Calendar"
- Select the year from the top right
- Go to "Important Dates"
- Click "School year dates"
- Enter the first and last dates of your school year. Click "Save"
- Next click "Platform pacing Dates"
- Enter the first and last dates that students will be using the platform for academic purposes. Click "Save"
- Click to add "MAP Testing window" dates for when your school will be administering the Fall and Spring tests
- Click "+ Add Non-Instructional Period"
- Enter the dates for any period of time that students will not be using the platform (ex: school holidays, teacher workdays), as well as a description of the non-instructional period Click "Enter"
- Click "Save Changes"
Note: Non-instructional dates cannot occur after a School year or Platform pacing Date. This means that you may need to remove or adjust non-instructional dates in order to select a different School year or Platform pacing Date
What do these terms mean?
- School year Dates
- The first and last day of your school year.
- Platform pacing Dates
- The first and last day that students will use the Platform. Platform pacing Dates determine when students will be held responsible for using and completing their work in the Platform.
- Platform pacing Dates determine when the pacing line starts and stops moving. The blue vertical Pacing Line indicates where a student should be today to be on track, or on-pace, to complete a given course by the end of the school year.
- MAP Testing Window
- Enter dates to track when you'll be administering the Fall and Spring MAP tests. Note that dates entered here do not affect the Pacing Line. Learn more about how to purchase MAP tests.
- Non-Instructional Periods
- Enter the dates for any period of time that students will not be using the platform (ex: school holidays, teacher work days), as well as a description of the non-instructional period.
- Weekends by default are considered non-instructional periods. The dates entered here pauses the pacing line and can be adjusted at any time.
How do the dates affect my students?
Platform pacing Dates, MAP testing windows, and Non-Instructional periods all determine the number of days that students have to complete coursework and master Focus Areas in the platform.
The pace of the blue line in each course at your school is calculated by number of Platform pacing Dates subtracted by the sum of the days that students will be taking MAP testing (MAP testing window) and the days that your students will not be using the Platform (Non-Instructional periods).