Eagle Software is pleased to announce the initial rollout of the ability to synchronize your students to your Google Apps For Education (GAFE) accounts.  As more districts use hosted services like Google for Email, Applications and Learning Management, automating the management of these services has become a major task for districts.  This new integration between Aeries and GAFE will help streamline account management.

This rollout is a beta release, and we would like to invite districts to participate.  Ideal candidates would be districts that are not currently relying on their GAFE accounts and are willing to run tests and do a phased implementation or who can setup a test domain and compare the results in their test domain to their current production domain. 

Current Features:

• -        Synchronizes Student Accounts into Custom Organization Units (OUs)
• -       Nightly "push" of student accounts to GAFE
• -       Real Time account creation when students are enrolled through Aeries.net

Next Steps:

• -       Automated Teacher and Staff Account Creation in GAFE
• -       Google Authentication for Students, Parents, Teachers, and Office Staff into Aeries.net
• -       Access Google Drive through Aeries.net
• -       Automated Creation of Google Classrooms and Linking of Staff and Students 

If you are interested in participating in this beta release, please contact Eagle support.

Sample Screenshots:

Student Accounts in Google Apps for education:

Organizational Unit management:

Options for synchronizing students for Google Apps for Education:

As a customer for close to 15 years, Eagle Software has intimately witnessed the growth of Orange Unified School District. In fact, in that time, a few Orange USD employees have made the transition to work for Eagle Software. On Wednesday, March 11, 2015, Eagle Software Vice President Brent Lloyd had the opportunity to participate in the district’s Principal for a Day event. Here is Brent’s story:

When I was asked to be Principal for a day at Orange USD, I was both flattered and thrilled about the prospect. I was assigned to Prospect Elementary School, a TK-6 school led by Principal Elena Rodriguez. Despite her demanding schedule and particularly challenging past few weeks, Mrs. Rodriguez was very communicative and sincere during the tour of the campus and classrooms, as well as when speaking about her responsibilities.

During my day-to-day job, most of my interactions with school personnel are with school district administrators and the IT department, so it is a refreshing change-of-pace to be able to visit classrooms. Throughout my short time at Prospect Elementary, I witnessed a lot of the familiar topics discussed throughout the school district administration level, down at their very origin. Common Core standards and teaching were definitely present – classrooms and labs were filled with technology that was implemented in everyday learning and students were in constant collaboration. As a community with a high level of low-income families, as well as some students that only spoke Spanish, it was encouraging to witness and learn about the in-school and after-school programs available to stimulate and supervise students of all backgrounds and interests.

Most of my questions to Elena following the tour applied to how the staff was responding to changing the curriculum and requirements facing them. While she admitted that it was certainly challenging and more change in a two-year span than any of her prior twenty years in education, the teachers and staff were undeniably taking it all in stride. Elena also diplomatically answered my questions regarding the amount of demands and stress involved with her job. From my one day there, I could see how much work was required of all staff, and just how dedicated they were in tackling those responsibilities. Elena has plenty to be proud about, not only with her enthusiastic personnel, but how she was keeping it all together with her passionate leadership.

At the reception event with the other Principals for a Day at the Orange USD District Office that I had visited many times before for other meetings with other staff, everyone shared their experiences. The others echoed my observations of devoted teachers and admins.

You can view Orange Unified School District’s press release here: http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/news/2015/Principal20150316.asp#sthash.ZJNkH6Pu.dpbs

Google Chrome

Even as public concern caused Google to slow its original timeline to remove support for Netscape Plug-In API (NPAPI) technologies like Microsoft’s Silverlight and Adobe’s Flash by the end of 2014, it has pressed forward with its original plan. The latest example of this was the most recent version of Google Chrome that released in April—version 42.

Silverlight Continued Use

A year ago, Eagle Software publicly announced its own intentions to drop Silverlight support and move towards a more progressive and enduring platform in HTML-5 and CSS-3, which you can read about here. Only a few areas of Aeries remain that utilize Silverlight—including the old version of the gradebook, which will continue to be supported until the end of this school year. While Internet Explorer remains a valid option for users that are running into issues with Google Chrome, there is also a workaround that can be found here.

Aeries Transition off of Silverlight

Transitioning from one platform to another is a tricky process due to the underlying differences between any given application framework and another. Microsoft Silverlight is a rich tool that allowed Aeries to accomplish many things and converting to HTML-5/CSS-3 meant that not all features were able to be matched precisely, but functionality was retained and often improved. The most noteworthy advantage to HTML-5 is the fact that it does not require a plugin to be run in a browser and provides the broadest, cross-platform reach, which also allows for support of mobile devices like tablets.

The first area of Aeries that was converted off of Silverlight was the Aeries.net teacher gradebook, which was completed last summer and has been very well-received since, especially with the numerous enhancements that continue to accompany it. After that, the file uploader employed in the parent data confirmation was replaced in December of 2014. Gradebook terms, a new feature for the HTML-5 gradebook, which was released in late February 2015, formally eliminated the ability to use the older Silverlight gradebook. Query results and the Scheduling Master Schedule (SMS) Board in Aeries.net were rebuilt in HTML in late March 2015. The new HTML-5 Aeries Analytics Analysis Dashboards were released in beta recently. The test scanning and scoring elements of Aeries Analytics will not be converted out of Silverlight; Eagle Software recommends that users continue to utilize Internet Explorer for this process.

Below is some information to be aware of for the end of school year.

E155 Year End Enrollment Code

As of last year, all students enrollment must be exited every year.  Aeries will automatically populate the SENR file with the E155 exit code for all students without exit codes.  The E155 exit code will be populated in the SENR file 14 days before the last day of school, based on your school calendar.   Any new exit codes added to Attendance, the End of Year Status or the Completion Status fields will be extracted in subsequent SENR extracts and will overlay the previously reported E155 code in CALPADS. 

The E155 code will not be populated in Aeries and will not be available as an Attendance Leave Reason for manual population. 

SDIS Student Discipline Extract

A new field has been added to the SDIS extract for this years End of Year reporting: Element 4.23, Removal to Interim Alternative Setting Reason Code.  Both Aeries and Aeries.net have been updated on the April 17^th versions to include this new field on the Assertive Discipline forms.

The new field is optional this year but will be required next year.

CALPADS will change the SDIS file format on Monday, May 4^th to add the new field.  We will be posting a new update on Friday, May 1^st to accommodate the change.  Please be aware of the May 4^th date when submitting SDIS files to CALPADS.  The updated Aeries version must be used if you are planning on uploading SDIS files to CALPADS on or after May 4^th.

Below are several links to our documentation with more information:

• CALPADS_in_Aeries.pdf
• CALPADS_Data_Submission.pdf
• AeriesNet_Assertive_Discipline.pdf
• Assertive_Discipline.pdf

Aeries has developed a new extract, available in the District application, with the data required to populate the CalDATT tools from Attendance Works. The CalDATT tools are self-calculating Excel spreadsheets that track chronic absences. They are free to all schools and districts and can be downloaded from the Attendance Works website. Once the extract is created, it can be pasted to the CalDATT spreadsheets to automatically generate the reports.

We would like to invite districts to use this new free tool to track chronic absenteeism and truancy and analyze the relationship between them as defined by California law.

More information on how to obtain these tools from Attendance Works can be found at: Attendance Works

Sample Screenshot

The form is simple to set up:

·         Date Range: limits the extract to the specified date range. The start date defaults to the first day in the district calendar. The end date is two weeks before the current date.

·         Grades: select the grades that you want to include in the extract

·         Truancy Letters: select all the letters that indicate truancy

·         Absenteeism Letters: select all the letters that indicate excessive absence

·         School List: select the schools you want to include in the extract 

Sample Reports

At-risk students by grade level

 District-wide attendance patterns over time

Eagle Software will be offering a new round of free Aeries Maximization workshops throughout the state in the month of May and early June. The counties chosen are located throughout the state in order to offer all interested school districts an option in their area. Workshops currently being offered include: Orange County, San Joaquin County, Santa Clara County, San Luis Obispo County, and Riverside County. Two additional locations being planned are Tehama County and Los Angeles County sometime in early June.

Workshop description - Do you ever wonder if you are getting the most out of Aeries and all that it has to offer? Aeries is constantly changing and adding new features.  Come to this free workshop to learn about great new features of Aeries and how your district can take advantage of them.  Also learn about our plans for the future of Aeries and see where we are headed.  Topics will include: Online Enrollment and Registration, Early Warning, Analysis Dashboards, Intervention Management, Academic Plans, Gradebook and Grade Reporting, 3rd Party Integrations, Q & A time, and a sneak peak at the future of Aeries.

To sign up for one of these free events, please visit our Events page and find the event located near you!

 Eagle Software is pleased to announce a major renovation to the Aeries Standards Based Report Cards!  Several enhancements are available that will greatly enhance the look of the Standard Based report cards:

• - Ability to hide gridlines for empty space/blank filler
• - Ability to print a border around “Explanation of Marks” section
• - Ability to adjust width of “Explanation of Marks” section
• - Option to show mark description for only mark type 1 and 2
• - Ability to shade any standard line
• - Ability to edit the number of lines of any standard
• - Option to display the standard ID number in the Print Preview

Due to the nature of these changes, Eagle Software does not want to release these adjustments to all schools at this time during the school year.  Existing report cards will not look the same after installing the update, and for that reason, Eagle Software has decided to offer these enhancements in a Beta version for those who want it.

You can find a document detailing the changes available in this Beta version here.  Please let Eagle Software know if you are interested in this opportunity by emailing support@aeries.com.

Over time, Aeries SIS has grown into a vast system that is utilized by students, teachers, and admins alike in the monitoring of students' comprehensive educational careers.  As a result, Aeries is utilized in a wide variety of manners by a wide variety of people. Eagle Software remains committed to providing Aeries users a large selection of training resources. The Training/Support Video library continues to expand to cover more and more topics where documentation alone just doesn't cut it. Some new video series include:

Scheduling Groups and Teams

The Scheduling Groups and Teams video series provides information involving setting up and flaging students that need to be grouped together in particular courses when the scheduling process is performed.

• 1. Intro
• 2. Aeries CS Fields
• 3. Aeries.net Fields
• 4. Codes/Descriptions
• 5. How the fields work
• 6. When to use the fields
• 7. HS Academy Example 1
• 8. HS Academy Example 2
• 9. MS Teams Example 1
• 10. MS Teams Example 2
• 11. Query population of fields
• 12. Number of Students in Each Group
• 13. Troubleshooting
• 14. Elective Wheel

ABI to Aeries.net Transitional Assistance

During schools' transitions from ABI to Aeries.net, this video series covers many of the common areas that teachers have trouble adjusting to when initially making the transition, including student data lookup. Also covers the admin role in migrating teacher portal accounts from ABI to .net.

• 1. Core Feature Comparisons
• 2. Migrating Teacher Portal Accounts
• 3. Student Data Lookup

Backup, Backup, Backup

This video series covers the all-important topic of backing up your Aeries data - unless you decide to have Eagle Software handle it for you by going to Aeries ASP.

• 1. SQL Backup Concepts
• 2. Backup Types
• 3. Practical SQL Backup/Restore & Log Truncation (includes Manual Backup, Manual Restore (including with no historical convenience), SQL 2012/2014 Restore Differences, Transaction Log Truncation)
• 4. Maintenance Plans

As always, you can find these videos on our Training/Support Videos page.

Eagle Software strives to make your state testing and state and federal reporting as simple as possible. We regularly monitor state and federal website for new reporting requirements and updated file layouts. We also participate in CALPADS vendor-based calls and provide our input when necessary.

Below are a few reports that have been updated for this school year:

Civil Rights Data Collection– the Civil Rights Data Collection Options form was updated in October to meet the first CRDC reporting period. It has recently been fine-tuned, and the documentation has been updated. The CRDC has recently posted the official due date for submission as August 7^th, 2015. The Civil Rights Data Collection encompasses many areas, some of which may not be stored in Aeries. We strongly encourage districts to begin working on the Civil Rights Data Collection as soon as possible.

·               Civil_Rights_Data_Collection_Report_District_PART_1_2013_2014.pdf

·               Civil_Rights_Data_Collection_Report_District_PART_2_2013_2014.pdf

State Seal of Biliteracy– the State Seal of Biliteracy is a program that recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in one or more languages other than English. While the State Seal of Biliteracy is still set as a Beta in Aeries, the program has been updated to meet the 2014-15 guidelines.  A State Seal of Biliteracy document is now available.

·               State_Seal_of_Biliteracy.pdf

Golden State Seal Merit Diploma–students in the class of 2015 are eligible to receive this award if they have demonstrated mastery of the curriculum in at least six subject matter areas with four of them including English-language arts, mathematics, science and US History. The Golden State Seal Merit Diploma was updated in February to meet the 2014-15 guidelines. The Golden State Seal document is also available.

·               Golden_State_Seal_Merit_Diploma.pdf

California College Guidance Initiative– a new extract was created in February for the California College Guidance Initiative. The CCGI Extract includes school, student, transcript and test score information for students in grades 6 - 12. The California College Guidance Initiative partners with K-12 school districts to support students, counselors, parents and community-based organizations in the college planning and preparation process.

·               CCGI_Extract.pdf

We are aware of the next phase of changes coming up and monitoring sites for updated information.

CAASPP 2015 Electronic Reporting Data Layout – we are monitoring the CAASPP website for a file layout for the final student data file. Once available we will be reaching out to our clients for a copy of their CAASPP results to aid us in testing the update. When you receive your 2015 CAASPP scores, if you would like to help us in testing the update, please contact support@aeries.com, and they will provide information on where to send your scores file and database.

CAASPP Interim Assessment Scores -  we have a copy of the SAR Extract Dictionary. If any districts have a copy of Interim Assessment scores and would like to help us in testing an update that will import the Interim Assessment scores into Aeries, please contact support@aeries.com and they will provide information on where to send your scores file and database.

CELDT Pre-Identification Form - We have received an updated CELDT Pre-ID File Layout for 2015-16. (Version 1.0 March 1, 2015). Our development team is in the process of updating the program according to the current layout.

Carl Perkins– we are participating in CALPADS vendor calls and WebEx’s regarding the Carl Perkins/CALPADS transition.

In an effort to ease the job of Alternative Ed Schools and teachers, Aeries has updated several forms and reports to allow for an easier way to schedule students.  It's important to note that this new feature is intended for schools where teachers instruct different students in different content (examples: Court, Alternative Ed, and Independent Study schools).  The new Alternative Education Scheduling option simplifies the building and maintenance of the Master Schedule by only requiring sections for each Subject Area that a teacher teaches, not every course they might teach.

To allow the simplification of the master schedule while still tracking the specific course of instruction for each student, the system allows the generic, subject-area-based sections to be scheduled for students, but the Course ID is editable on each student.  This means that for a given section, each of the students enrolled in that section can have a different Course ID.

This new system will work just fine for CALPADS and other state reporting.  It's important to note that for Highly Qualified Teacher reporting to CALPADS, make sure that you have the "Staff Highly Qualified" (STH) table populated correctly and completely.

More information about this new option can be found at: Alternative Education Scheduling

Sample Screenshots

Teacher: There are six sections defined, each with a generic Course ID as a placeholder

Classes: The generic Course IDs have been replaced with real courses. Each student can have a different course within the same Section. In the below example the Course ID for section 200 is changed from the generic Math code to a specific Math course.

Updated 07/09/2015

 Eagle Software is pleased to announce a major renovation to the Aeries Standards Based Report Cards!  Several enhancements are available that will greatly enhance the look of the Standard Based report cards:

• - Ability to hide gridlines for empty space/blank filler
• - Ability to print a border around “Explanation of Marks” section
• - Ability to adjust width of “Explanation of Marks” section
• - Option to show mark description for only mark type 1 and 2
• - Ability to shade any standard line
• - Ability to edit the number of lines of any standard
• - Option to display the standard ID number in the Print Preview

Due to the nature of these changes, existing report cards will not look the same after installing the update.  Please be sure to complete printing your 2014-15 report cards before updating to the 06/26 or later version.

You can find a document detailing the changes available here. 

Eagle Software is proud to present full compatibility for both Transitional Kindergarten and Preschool grade levels!  We are also providing the ability to define your grades above 13.  The student grade level will continue to store a numeric value, but all data entry and views will display the translated value.  For example, Transitional Kindergarten is stored as -1 in the student field (STU.GR), but will display as "TK" on all pages and reports in Aeries.  The Define Student Grade Levels form is now available in both Aeries.net and AeriesCS:

The setup form will allow you to define the descriptions of each of your grade levels. For example, the high school levels above are defined as "Freshman" through "Senior" instead of simply "9th Grade" through "12th Grade".  The Code, which displays in place of the grade's Actual Value, can be modified for Preschool (i.e. "PS" or "PK") and for grades above 13.  There is also the ability for each school to define whether the grades above 13 can be used.  In the above image, the Elementary School has selected not to use "Ungraded Secondary" (15), or "Adult Education" (18).  The code value (i.e. “TK”) will display on any page that includes a grade level.  Data entry will use dropdown lists, based on the Define Student Grade Levels configuration, instead of free text.

Click here to view documentation.

Our unexpected guest

Months ago, when planning for our big celebration began, everyone agreed the middle of July would likely be like any other Southern California warm summer day. Unfortunately, historic tropical storm Dolores decided to make an appearance despite overlooking to RSVP. We kept a watchful eye on the weather report all week, and sure enough, from right around 1PM until just after 5PM on Saturday, it rained in Anaheim.

Devotion and appreciation

In spite of the weather, well over two hundred guests came to celebrate our 20^th anniversary. Aeries users and their families from throughout California shared in the festivities. These included:

BBQ from our very own Director of Programming, Cam Iliff

A cotton candy machine

An inflatable castle water slide

A photobooth

Coffee & Tea from our favorite local coffee shop – Grow Coffee + Tea

Sporting activities

Tours of our office building - where the magic happens!

Prize giveaways

Thank you to everyone that came out to join in our celebration! All of you continue to make it easy to come to work each day and love what we do. Our commitment to our users and their cause to improve student outcomes has never been stronger. Here’s to 20 more years!

A new 504 Plan page has been released in Aeries.net. The 504 Plan page can assist Districts in outlining a plan on how a student’s specific needs can be met in the education environment.

The 504 Plan page can be used to list Disability Effects as well as Accommodation plans to assist the student in meeting their educational goals. Responsible Participants involved with the 504 Plan can be added as well as Areas of Need. A Plan Details area can be used to record a 504 Plan enter, leave and review date.

The 504 Plan page utilizes a tab design for easy navigation between the 504 Plan areas which makes for quicker access to Plan information.

Full documentation is available on our website on the Downloadable Documents page in the "Aeries.net User Docs" section or by clicking here: AeriesNet_504_Plan.pdf

With the August 3^rd, 2015 release of Aeries.net, districts can now integrate their Teacher and Office Staff logins to Aeries.net with Google User Authentication.

This means that districts already using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) can eliminate the need for a different username and password for Aeries.net, effectively further simplifying the use of Aeries.net.  And even with Google Authentication turned on, districts administrators can still create native Aeries.net accounts that authenticate to an internal password.  So it's not an all-or-nothing situation.  Districts can even mix and match the 3 different types of Authentication Aeries.net supports—Internal, Google, and LDAP (Active Directory)—providing maximum flexibility and security.

For many months, Aeries has integrated with GAFE to allow for automatic creation and management of student accounts in Google from Aeries.  Google Authentication solidifies the commitment by Eagle Software to integrate Aeries with industry leaders like Google.  Next up will be full integration with Google Classroom now that Google has released a public API for Classroom.

Google Authentication does come with some warnings.  Google Accounts are "omnipresent" on a workstation and within a browser.  This means that when an Aeries.net account is linked to a Google Account and when a workstation/browser is logged into Google, no additional layer of authentication is required to access Aeries.net.  Although this may provide additional ease-of-use for many end-users, this does present a certain security risk if the workstation is not secured and protected properly from unauthorized users while logged in as a teacher or office staff member.  Eagle Software recommends either reminding users to lock their computers when not in use or screen saver passwords and short screen saver activation times be implemented if Google Authentication is enabled. 

For details and screen shots on how to set up Google Authentication in Aeries.net, see the full documentation:

http://www.aeries.com/Downloads/Docs.1234/AeriesNet/Google_Authentication.pdf

The CAASPP Test Results (STAR) has been updated to process the Local Educational Agency CAASPP 2015 data file according to the August 27, 2015 layout. With this version, test results such as Raw Score, Scale Score, Performance/Achievement level, School, Test Date, Test Administration, and ELA and Math Claims Performance Levels will be loaded into the Testing Data (TST) and Content Standards (CST) tables. The Early Assessment Program (EAP) Authorization to Release for English and Math records will also be added to the Authorizations (AUT) table.  The update to add the Accommodations and Modifications for the Test Exclusion (TEX) table will be available soon.

While testing the 2015 CAASPP Results import, several anomalies have been found within the data files. In some data files special characters in the Student Name fields compromised the remainder of the records imported into Aeries. The anomaly is not evident while viewing the file in Notepad, but can be seen with other Text Editors. A workaround has been developed whereby the system will only load the records up to the last good record.

Please refer to the documentation for more informationon how to import the CAASPP data into Aeries: Load_CAASPP_File.pdf

Student Profile

Once the CAASPP data has been added to Aeries, the Student Profile Screen will display the most recent test scores for Smarter Balanced ELA and Math (SBAC) and for the Science tests (CST) for grades 5, 8 and 10.

Test Details

Clicking on the SBAC or CST link will open up the new Test Details screen, which will display the Performance Level and Scale Score for the test and the Claims Performance Levels.

Putting together a comprehensive Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) is a difficult task for districts.  Numerous factors have to be taken into account.  In the past, powerful tools have not been available to analyze the information needed.  That is why Aeries® SIS has released Free Analytics Dashboards, specifically designed around the needs of building an LCAP.

Aeries Analytics and the new LCAP Dashboards provide rich data analysis features on everything from grades and attendance to test scores and UC/CSU Eligibility Rates. Each data set is broken down by core subgroups as required by LCAPs.  Our hope is that this information will help drive informed LCAP decisions and help focus resources on the students who need it most.

These new dashboards are especially powerful when you consider that any employee of the district with an Aeries.net account can access these dynamic dashboards and apply their own custom filters and analytics.  This early engagement from stakeholders can help drive a more diverse LCAP.

The Aeries LCAP Dashboards work on the well-established Aeries Analytics engine.  This proven platform can analyze any student data element in the system and cross-compare that data with any other data set.  This power allows not just the identification of current at-risk students, but also helps compare student outcomes based on different intervention programs.

Initializing the LCAP Dashboards will provide districts with more than 25 dashboards, 50+ charts, and over 100 indicators with standardized subgroups providing cross-sectional analysis with more than 10 subgroups, including race and ethnicity and various programs and services provided by the district.

Note:The free LCAP Analytics Dashboards can only be viewed in Aeries.net and the pre-configured dashboards cannot be edited without a full license of Aeries Analytics.

Full documentation is available online on our Aeries Downloadable Documents page in the Aeries.net User Docs section or by clicking the following link: LCAP Dashboards

Gender Dashboard Example

Clicking on an area on the chart will bring up the list of students in that subgroup/band.  Intervention/Supplemental Attendance records can be created for these students, a set of students can be KEPT, or you can “Set” Aeries.Net to a student, and go out of Aeries Analytics to view other information on that specific student, such as Attendance or Grades

Advanced Placement Dashboard Example

A chart is created for every type of Advanced Placement test that has test results in the CTS table. Scroll bar on the right allows you to easily scroll through all of the charts. Scores are categorized into “Well Qualified” and “Not Well Qualified”. 

CAHSEE Dashboard Example

The ELA and Math charts display the pass rate/not taken rate of the students in grades 10 – 12. The ELA and Math Proficiency charts indicate how well the students that took the CAHSEE performed on the test (roughly 1-350, 351-380,381-424, 425-450)

As part of its ongoing commitment to furthering educational progress, Aeries once again played an integral role in the California Attorney General’s Report on Elementary School Truancy and Absenteeism Crisis.  Since 2013, our partnership with the Attorney General’s office has provided them with access to a unique dataset that provides detailed information about elementary school absenteeism in California.  This year, there was a notable increase in the number of school districts that utilized the extract within Aeries to provide their anonymous, aggregated student data to the Attorney General’s office.

The report, available here http://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2015, found that “When students are chronically absent from elementary school, they fall behind academically, they are less likely to graduate from high school, and they are more likely to be unemployed, on public assistance, or victims or perpetrators of crime.”  The report adds, “Missing school deprives students of important developmental and learning opportunities, reducing opportunities for later success in life, and increasing the risk of later involvement in the criminal justice system.”

Using the data provided by Aeries school districts, the report estimates that approximately 8% of elementary school students in California are chronically absent.  That means over 230,000 of our youngest students are already at risk of falling behind in school.  Additionally, the 2015 report confirmed high rates of truancy and chronic absence for low-income students and students of color.  A few other notable observations include:

• ·         Over 75% of students with chronic attendance problems are low-income.
• ·         Nearly 20% of African American and Native American elementary school students were chronically absent in the 2014-2015 school year, while only 8.0% of Whites and 3.7% of Asians were chronically absent.
• ·         Chronic absence rates for Native American and African American students were almost 30% in kindergarten.

Moreover, the report underscored the importance of reducing the disproportionality in the high rates of suspension among students of color, particularly boys.  The data from Aeries districts indicate extreme disproportionality in suspension rates by both race and gender, as well as for other subgroups.  For example:

• ·         The suspension rate for African American elementary school students is four times the rate of their White peers.
• ·         African American boys are 5 times more likely to be suspended than all other boys.
• ·         Native American, foster and special education students also have significantly higher suspension rates than the averages for all students.
• ·         Boys had significantly higher suspension rates than girls in 2014-2015. African American boys in particular had the highest elementary school suspension rates, over four times that of African American girls in the 2014-2015 school year.

It is evident that the data confirms the need for greater attention to improving attendance for foster and homeless students, low-income students, and special education students.  Among these groups, K-5 chronic absence rates range from 9.0% to 13.1%.   It should also be noted that the students are not the only ones affected when they are absent from school.  According to the report, “The high cost of student absences in elementary school extend to lost revenues for school districts in California, revenues that could be used to improve the quality of education and outcomes for students who need it most. In 2014-15 alone, school districts statewide lost over $1 billion due to student absences.”

Lastly, the report highlights the need for school districts, parents, and educators to focus attention on student attendance, particularly in the early years.  The report sets out several guidelines and policy recommendations that will aid educators, administrators, officials, and parents to address this solvable issue.  Aeries remains committed to supporting the Office of the Attorney General in their efforts to battle the elementary school truancy and absenteeism crisis in California.   Aeries applauds the 92 districts that contributed their data and the work done by the Attorney General’s office and would like to thank them for continually recognizing Aeries® SIS as one of the leading student information system providers in California.

Full Report: http://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2015

Fact Sheet: http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/tr/truancy_factsheet_2015.pdf?

In the 09/18/2015 version of Aeries.net, Eagle Software introduced a new CASEMIS import process and it comes packed with some exciting features.  With the Configure CASEMIS Import form, you will be able to schedule CASEMIS Imports to automatically process your CASEMIS Type A and Type B files, import data directly into Aeries, and report back via email to keep you apprised of the results. 

When you first arrive at this form, there are a couple of options for file locations.  If you store your Special Education data files on a Secure FTP server, the CASEMIS Import can download those files directly from the FTP. If you have a network location that is accessible to your Aeries Reporting Service, you can use that location to house those files, and when the CASEMIS Import is scheduled to process, it will look in that folder instead.

*Note: Secure FTP on port 22 is the only FTP option currently supported.

For those who are familiar with the CS import process, in this new Aeries.net process,  the configuration has been simplified so that loading and matching are done automatically during the scheduled process.  During the processing of your CASEMIS Type A Student file, the import will first look for student’s with matching SSID’s and failover to match on a first name, last name, birthdate combination if a matching SSID is unavailable.  Each matching record that is imported will then be reported back via email to the email address you define on the configuration form.

The email report does not only contain imported data, though.  It will also deliver a detailed report of which records that were unable to be matched, duplicate records in your data file, errors that may have been encountered, a list of active special education students who are identified in Aeries, but not found in the CASEMIS file, and an original line number for each identified record so you can easily return to the data file and reference the exact record that did not import successfully.

These imports can be set to import as often as daily, once a week, or if your district would like to import less often, there is the option to not schedule the process and initiate the import manually when it is needed.

Full documentation can be found by clicking here.

The Student Groups feature from Aeries CS is now available within Aeries.net.  As one of the few significant items remaining to be converted from CS, the Aeries.net version has been introduced with even greater capabilities. This significantly expands the ease of searching for any particular group of students conceivable.

The new form allows for the creation and maintenance of ad-hoc student groups and is available at both the school and district levels.  It offers several filtering options to select the subset of students, including the ability to use complex series of Query KEEPs and SKIPs.

Once a student group is created, you can easily filter down to that group on the Student Search and View All Reports screens.  This makes looking up, reviewing, and running reports for specific Student Groups a simple process.

Staff linked to a Student Group automatically have access to the students in that group in Aeries.net.  The group appears in the Student Search Class Filter as well.

View All Reports

Student Search

Mass Add Period Absences

Additionally, Student Groups can be used on the Mass Add Period Absences page to quickly add an "Activity" absence code to that group of students.  This is of great use for circumstances involving student clubs and athletic teams.

Sample screenshots based on user security rights:

Read Only:  the form displays all the information pertaining to the group: Group Name, Description, Dates, as well as the Staff and Students included in the group.

Update/Change:  the student selection can be done by Student ID, by Counselor, by Grade, or Search by Class. It also allows editing and deleting Staff as well as the general information.

Click here to view the documentation available on the Aeries Online Help.