04 Dec 2006 - DoDEA High School Longitudinal Study - The DoDEA High School Longitudinal Study continues. The attached memo describes the project. The attached form is to be completed by sponsors of students in grades 9-12 who withdraw during the year or graduate in June. Also included is an instruction sheet showing how the contact information should be entered into SMS using the contact 4 entry screen. DoDEA receives automatic data transfers from our Europe database nightly and delivers the data to the contractor, so schools need not forward the forms. The data should be entered into SMS whenever a student in grades 9-12 withdraws. A copy of the study completed last year is attached as well.
04 Dec 2006 - Ordering Report Card & Official Transcript Back Page - The notice below appeared in the Oct 20, 2006, Friday Directives. We have been informed that DoDEA schools must first purchase the backlog of the older version currently in the vendor’s inventory, before the new versions will be printed. The vendor will ship the older versions until they are exhausted. Therefore schools may wish to delay their purchases, purchase a smaller quantity or check with the vendor on which version will be shipped when ordering.Schools that wish to order forms for the back of an official transcript or the back of a MS or HS report card can do so using the following vendor: Scantron Corp. (contact Erik Wilson – 1-800-722-6876 X 7638). New forms, with current graduation and GPA requirements have been designed for this year. The vendor may still have a supply of the old forms so schools should specify which version they wish to order. Samples of the new forms are attached.”
04 Dec 2006 - SMS HS Historical Data Validation & Correction - A new timesaving process has been developed this year to assist schools in correcting student historical data in SMS. This process involves validation of student data through school use of the 'Historical Transcript Comparison Tool' report, followed by manual correction of discrepancies in the individual historical course data. After corrections are made at the school, SIS ETs will coordinate an extract/import of data to automatically transfer accurate data to the students' historical summary information page in SMS. Detailed instructions on the process can be accessed on the DoDDS-E SIS support site. The new tool will assist schools in preparing accurate student transcripts from SMS. For additional assistance, schools should contact their District SIS ET.
30 Nov 2006 - Historical Data Validation and Correction - A new timesaving process has been developed this year to assist schools in correcting student historical data in SMS. This process involves validation of student data through school use of the 'Historical Transcript Comparison Tool' report, followed by manual correction of discrepancies in the individual historical course data. After corrections are made at the school, SIS ETs will coordinate an extract/import of data to automatically transfer accurate data to the students' historical summary information page in SMS. This process will assist schools in preparing accurate student transcripts from SMS. Click here for instructions on checking and correcting historical marks. For additional assistance, schools should contact their District SIS ET.
17 Nov 2006 - The SMS Web will be discontinued as of January 1, 2007. For the latest information please self-enroll in the Blackboard Community DoDEA SIS Support at http://dodea.blackboard.com. To see the Europe What's New page go to COMMUNITIES > DODEA SIS SUPPORT > EUROPE WHAT'S NEW
26 Oct 2006 - K-3 Grading in SMS - New instructional materials are now available for K-3 teachers regarding the use of Gradebook and SMS 'My Classes' Grading. Each of these applications allow the teacher to enter overall marks and standard comments for students. Narrative comments can only be entered using 'My Classes'. These options are available for schools who wish to enter marks and comments for students electronically to have them displayed on the K-1 or Grades 2-3 DoDDS-E Progress Report.
25 Oct 2006 - Printing Secondary School Report Cards - Schools using the secondary report card for the reporting of first quarter grades will need to filter the reports and schedule them to run after duty hours according to the Report Printing Schedule for their District.
23 Oct 2006 - ES Progress Reports - Elementary Schools considering the use of the DoDDS-E Progress Report in SMS can now access documentation that provides an overview of the report.
20 Oct 2006 - Dropped Courses - entering semester marks for a student who remains enrolled, but drops a course during the semester.
29 Sept 2006 - Deadline for Schedule Changes Without a WF Grade - The end of the sixth week of school is rapidly approaching. After the end of the sixth week, any secondary school student dropping a course will receive a mark of WF for the semester. This mark counts as an F in GPA calculations. Counselors should remind students of this policy. Teachers who feel that a student is placed in an incorrect course should contact the counselor now. Do not wait until the end of the quarter. This does not apply to students withdrawing from school.
29 Sept 2006 - SMS--Sponsor Pay Grade of N/A - Please ensure that each student sponsor has the correct pay grade. In SMS, after choosing a Student and then choosing Contacts on the main Contact page, there is a section Sponsor’s Pay Grade and Rotation Date that contains the Pay Grade. More than a third of all Pay Grades in DoDDS-Europe are still showing the default of ‘N/A’. Some programs, such as Sure Start, rely on Pay Grade as part of the criteria for enrollment, so it is important that this field be updated accurately.
22 Sept 2006 - Grades Verification/Specific Grades Reports - Please do not run grade verification or specific grade reports during the day. These reports are very heavy reports and have caused SMS to slow down and even stop when users have run them during the day. While many of our reports have been re-written to run more efficiently, we do not have more efficient versions of these reports at this time. The reports have been restricted temporarily and can only be run by SIS ETs. We plan to make them available to schools again at COB Friday, September 22 so schools can begin using them again. They must be scheduled to run overnight.
22 Sept 2006 - Marks to Date of Withdrawal - If a student has attended school for 20 days, or more, in a semester and withdraws, he or she must be given marks to date of withdrawal. These marks are followed by the letter W, for example, AW, BW, etc. For all schools, these marks must be entered as Quarter marks. For secondary schools, the marks during the first semester must also be entered in the Quarter2/Semester1 field in SMS. During the first quarter, the semester grade should be the same as the quarter grade. During the second quarter, the semester grade should be an average of all work completed during the semester. At the present time, we do not have a transcript that includes marks for the current year. A copy of the transcript from last year may be provided to the student. A report card can be mailed to the student, and an updated transcript can be sent as soon as the report template is available.
22 Sept 2006 - Academic Progress Reports - Schools deciding to utilize SMS for first quarter academic progress reports are instructed to ensure that teachers enter grades in the ‘Academic Progress1’ (AP1) column in SMS ‘My Classes’ grading or by entering and saving the grade in the ‘Academic Progress 1’ score sheet in SMS Gradebook. Once marks have been entered, schools will need to filter the reports and schedule them to run after duty hours according to the Report Printing Schedule for their District.
18 Sept 2006 - SPED Data Extraction/SMS Flags for SPED Students- An Excent extraction for a data collection of DoDDS-Europe students with special needs and their services will be conducted as of September 29, 2006. Forward the Excent extraction to the district SMS ET as an email attachment no later than September 29, 2006.
It is critical that the SMS flags coincide with the Excent database for extractions. In order to successfully read Excent data in Spedman 4 and to track SMS data regarding students with disabilities, special education teachers need to provide the school registrar with a list of students who are eligible for special education services, those "Receiving Specialized Services."
COMMUNITIES > DODEA SIS SUPPORT > EUROPE WHAT'S NEW