Courses - General Information (2024)

Security

Course Search Options

General Tab

Other Tab

NCLB Specific Fields

California Specific Fields

Correspondence Language Tab

MST Classes Tab

SMS Classes Tab

Standards Tab

Career Pathways Tab

College Articulations

Course Fees

Course Documents

Course Composites New

Characteristics

Maintaining Courses

References

Overview

Navigate to Scheduling Process > Courses

The Coursespage is used to add, edit and delete Courses and Course information used across the District. The information about each Courseimpacts numerous other functions/processes:

• Scheduling
• Grade Reporting/Standards Based Grade Reporting
• Transcripts/Graduation Status
• Career Pathways
• State Reporting
• Academic Plan

Note: Based on the significant impact of Coursedata, it is critical that it be accurately maintained. Aeries strongly recommends Districts limit the Course maintenance (adding, updating, deleting Courses and information) to just a few people at the District level.

Security ↑

Course Search Options ↑

The Course table has been enhanced to allow for various search options, filters and sorting of field columns. The Search control allows the user to search for a course by Course ID #, Course Title or State Course Code. An Include Inactive Courses option is available to include in the list any courses tagged with an inactive status tag. All fields have sorting options. The Course Search area has a collapsable accordian that will toggle the search area to remain open or closed while continuing to display the course information when needed. In order to search, the accordian must be expanded.

In the Search box, enter the desired search filter, i.e. English. The courses listed will automatically filter on the Course ID #, Course Title and State Course Code fields, resulting in course records that have "English" in any of those 3 columns. The filters display in blue when a Search filter is applied. Clearing out the Search box will remove all filters and allow for the user to search again.

User defined filters can be applied on the Course ID #, Course Title or State Course Code columns. For example, the Course Title column filter is set to contain the word "English". The State Course Code column filter is set to contains 9105. This will display all classes with a Course title that contains English and also has a State Course Code of 9105.

When a user defined filter has been applied to a column, the Clear button must be used to clear the filters within that column. Columns that still have a filter applied will display with a blue background, a column without a filter will show as clear.

TIP:If the Search criteria entered in the Search box is not giving the expected results, check to see if a user defined filter was applied. The filter icon will display with a blue background. Clear the filter, then proceed with the course search.

All fields have sorting capabilities. Select a column once, the data will sort in ascending order. Select the column a second time, the data will sort in descending order. Selecting a third time will reset the sort back to the original order. The arrow will disappear from the column indicating the field does not have sorting filters applied.

General Tab ↑

There are multiple tabs on the Course view. The first is theGeneraltab:

• Course ID (CRS.CN) - The Course ID is determined by the User and is a 6-character alphanumeric field. The Course ID is used extensively in the Student Scheduling process as well as Grade Reporting, Transcripts, and College Eligibility.Course IDis also required for State Reporting - see your State Reporting documentation for details.

Aeries recommends that Districts maintain a unique Course ID for all Courses taught. Although Course ID is an arbitrary number - '100A' or 'AB98-J' would be acceptable ID's - It is recommended that each District use a logical numbering system.

Here is an example:

• 1000-7999 - High School Courses
  • 1000-1999 - English Department
  • 2000-2999 - Math Department
  • 3000-3999 - Social Studies
  • 4000-4999 - Science
  • 5000-5999 - Visual/Performing Arts/CTE
  • 6000-6999 - World Languages
  • 7000-7999 - SpEd/All Others
  • TR100-TR999 - Transfer Courses
• 8000-8999 - Middle School Courses
• 9000-9999 - Elementary Courses

• Course Title (CRS.CO)- The name of the Course, and can be up to 15 characters in length. This field is required for State Reporting and is used throughout Aeries.
• Long Title (CRS.DE) - Course Description. Allows for a longer version of the Course Titleup to 30 characters.
• N/H Non-Academic/Honors Tag (CRS.NA) - A blank indicates this Course is an Academic Course, 'N' indicates this is a Non-Academic course, and 'H' indicates this is an Honors course. This field must be populated correctly for accurate Student GPA calculation. When populated, the Transcript shows an * (asterisk) next to the Course, unless hidden in the Transcript Definitions. The values for this field are hard-coded.
• College Prep (CRS.CP)- Identifies the Course as a College Prep course by entering a 'P'. A blank in this field identifies the course as “Not College Prep”. Populating this field correctly is important for accurate Course History calculation functions. When populated, the Transcript shows a 'P' next to the Course, unless hidden in the Transcript Definitions. The values for this field are hard-coded.
• Academic Weight (CRS.AC)- Available for use in 4 x 4 Block Scheduling. Valid values are 0-4. By assigning a value to each course, the Scheduler attempts to balance the Student’s work load for each Semester. The values for this field are hard-coded.
• Low Grd (CRS.LO) - The lowest Grade level that would take this Course. This field is used during Scheduling and prevents Students outside the grade level from being Scheduled into the Class.
• High Grd (CRS.HI) – The highest Grade level that would take this course.
• Default Credit (CRS.CR) – The default credit value per term for this Course the Student receives by passing the Course - e.g. 5 credits per semester. The value entered also automatically populates on the Master Schedule or Scheduling Master Schedule when creating a new Section.

• Max Credit (CRS.MC) – The Students With Repeated Courses report uses this field to determine the maximum number of Credits the Student can have.

• Status (CRS.TG) – A value entered into this field identifies this course as Inactive and prevents any new Sections from being added for this Course to the Master Schedule or Scheduling Master Schedule.

• Subject Area Codes (CRS.S1 - CRS.S5) – The Subject Area of the Graduation Requirements the Course counts toward. The codes for these field are the same codes set on the Graduation Requirementspage for this School. The five Subject Areas can roll over from one to the other. Initially, when the Credits are awarded for Course completion, the Default Credit are counted toward the Subject Area 1 (S1). If the Graduation Requirement for S1 has been completed, Credits are counted toward the Subject Area 2 (S2). If that requirement has been met, they roll over to Subject Area 3, then Subject Area 4, then Subject Area 5, if necessary. IfS2 - S5 are left blank, Credits are counted toward Electives.Subject Area 1is required, but it is not required to add additional Subject Areas, and not all Subject Areas have to be populated. Many Schools just use Subject Areas 1 and 2.

Note: It is not necessary to populateCRS.S2 through CRS.S5with the code forElectives. Additional Credits automatically go towards the Elective Graduation Requirement as long as the ElectivesSubject Area is code Z. If used, CRS.S2 through CRS.S5 must be populated with a different Subject Area Code than CRS.S1 or left blank.

• Dept (CRS.DC) – The code entered in this field is the Department that the Course is part of. For example, an English course would be part of the English Department. The values for this field are user-defined and can be added on the Update Code Table page. Various reports within Aeries have an option to allow sorting of the report by Department Codes.

• Term (CRS.TM) – The code entered in this field indicates the length of the Course. The Term is used in Scheduling and for the Academic Plan. This field is particularly important for Schools that offer Quarter classes. If the field is populated as a Quarter Term, the grades for the Quarter courses can be copied to the Transcript separately. The values for this field are hard-coded.
• Content Group (CRS.CCG)– The Course Content Group field is used to link courses together that have the same content.
  • The field is primarily used to link Math Courses together that combined meet the Algebra 1 Requirement in California. These combinations of Courses must be tagged with the same Course Content Groupcode. Please see the Algebra 1 Requirements document for more details.
  • TheRepeated Coursesreport evaluates courses with matching Course Content Groupvalues as sharing the same overall Course Max Credit.

• NCES Code (CRS.US) – This field is used to classify the content of the Course for the National Center for Education Statistics.
• CIP Code (CRS.CIP) - Classification of Instructional Programs code from the National Center for Education Statistics for use with Adult Education courses.
• Next Course (CRS.NC) – This field is used to identify the next course in a Multi-Course sequence. An example would be Spanish II as the next course for a Spanish I course. This field must be correctly populated in order to use the Create Sections for Next Term form. The form looks at the Next Course field to correctly create Sections.
• Trm Seq (CRS.TS) – TheTerm Sequence field is used to identify the Term Sequence for a Multi-Course sequence of courses. Using a sequence of Spanish courses as an example, Spanish I would be identified as '1' since it is the first in the sequence, Spanish II as '2' since it is the second course in the sequence, etc.
• Yr Seq (CRS.YS) – The Year Sequence field is used to identify the Year Sequence for a Multi-Course sequence of courses. Using English as an example, English I would be identified as '1' since it is the first in the sequence, English II would be identified as '2' since it is the second course in the sequence, etc.
• Exc (CRS.EX) – Populating theExclude field excludes this Course from calculating towards the Teacher Load. The Option'I' in School Settings needs to be set to “Monitor Teacher Load”.
• PE (CRS.PE)– Checking this field identifies the Course as a Physical Education course. Courses identified as PE are available for data entry by Teachers on the Physical Fitnesspage and is an important part of thePhysical Education Testingsetup.
• T/A (CRS.TA)– Checking this field identifies the Course as a Teacher’s Aide course. If flagged, various Reports within Aeries offer an option toSkip Teacher Aide courses when printing the Report.
• Next Yr Status (CRS.NTG)– The Next Year Status field allows you to identify a Course that is available for the next school year. Various pages within Aeries that look for Next Course orCourses Next Year include the Scheduling Master, SMS Board, Course Requests andMass Change Course Requests. These do not allow a Course to be used if theNext Year Status code is set to inactive.
• User1 – User8 (CRS.UC1 – CRS.UC8) – These fields are customizable for each District’s needs. Codes can be added using the Update Code Table form to create a drop down menu for each field. Captions can be customized on the Define Custom Captions page.
• Course Description (CRS.CD)– This could be a description of the Course and its content. Course descriptions are optional. When a Course Description exists, Students and Parents can view the Course Description in the Student Portal on the Course Request Entry page.
• Course Notes (CRS.CM) – This field is used to enter any applicable notes or additional information for the Course. An example could be referring to a School Board policy, or which Standards it meets.

Other Tab ↑

• Alternate Crs (CRS.AL) – The Alternate Coursefield is used as a reference for an optional Course that a Student can take if all classes of the Primary Course Requestare full.
• Prerequisite Crs (CRS.PR) – The Prerequisite Course field is used as a reference for a required Course that a Student must successfully complete prior to being enrolled in this Course. An example of how this field comes into play during the Scheduling process would be if Course '100' is a prerequisite of Course '101'. A Student who requests both Course '100' and Course '101' is scheduled into Course '100' in the Fall and Course '101' in the Spring.If not used correctly it may cause Scheduling errors.
• Content Standard Area (CRS.CS)– This field can be populated with the Content Standard Thread that this Course focuses on. The codes are stored in the CSN table.
• Trad Gender (CRS.TGN) – (California only) This Traditional Gender field is used in Carl Perkins reporting regardingHigh Quality CTE courses. If the CTE course is “not traditionally” for one gender, the non-traditional gender would be entered into this field. The values for this field are hard-coded and are for informational purposes. See your State Reporting documentation for its use.
• Voc Subj (CRS.E2) – The Vocational Education Subject Area field identifies the Subject Area the Course falls within.
• Crs Lvl (CRS.CL) – The Course Level field identifies theAcademic Level of the course. The values for this field are hard coded. NOTE: Courses designated as College Credit Only (CRS.CL=23)are excluded from all GPA calculations.
• Type (CRS.TY)– This field is normally populated only if it is a Course Type that is reported to the State. The values for this field are hard coded.
• Service ID -State assigned code for State Reporting. SeeC022 table.
• Service ID Description Suffix - Usedto distinguish multiple courses that have the sameService ID(e.g., Fall and Spring semesters of the same course). Example: CRS.SDS = "A" and CRS.SVC = "PES00052" would result in a Course title on the Transcript of "PEFOUND A".
• Population Served - The population that is targeted by the Course. Generally it is regular Students, but it could be Career-Tech, or Special Ed, etc.
• Class Type -Regular orNon-Regular.See TWEDS Code C179. (Texas)
• Crs Seq - Identifies the unique part(s) of a Course when a Course is taught during a single grading period or semester or across multiple grading periods or semesters. The code for the first semester of a two semester course is reported as "1", no matter if the Course is taken in the fall semester or the spring semester.
• Non-Campus Inst -indicates that a Course was offered for class credit or Student achievement, but 1) was not taught by a School District/Charter School employee or a contracted Teacher , or 2) was taught by a School District/Charter School employee or a contracted Teacher at a facility other than the campus where the Student is enrolled. Examples include, but are not limited to, College-based instruction, non-district Teacher, non-campus Teacher, internet-based instruction, electronic Course Pilot (eCP), and Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN).
• OnRamps Dual Enr -No longer used.
• Board Adoption (CRS.BD)– The date the Course was adopted (approved) by the District Board of Education. This field is for informational purposes.
• Last Revision Date (CRS.RD)– The date the framework of the Course was last revised. This field is for informational purposes.
• Revision Type (CRS.RT) – The type of revision that was made when the course framework was last revised. This field is for informational purposes.
• Inactive Date (CRS.ID)– The date this Course was inactivated. This field is for informational purposes.
• Include for Extracurricular Activity Elig -Used to indicate inclusion in UIL calculations
• Seats (CRS.MX)– The default maximum seats available for this Course.
• Meets Alg I Reqmnt (CRS.ALR) – Indicates that this Course counts towards the Algebra I Requirement.Please see the Algebra 1 Requirements document for more details. This field is specific to California and can be ignored by Texas users.
• Alg I Crd Required (CRS.ALC) – The number of credits required to meet the Algebra I requirement. This field is specific to Caifornia and can be ignored by Texas users.
• Hrs for Completion -Can be used to set hours for certain Courses/Requirements. Informational only.
• Cost of Course -Informational only. Use the Course Feestab.
• (Core/Prof) (CRS.E3) – This field is no longer used. It was previously used for Summer School Attendance Reporting.

NCLB Specific Fields ↑

The NCLB Specific Fields tab is optional:

Correspondence Language Tab ↑

The Correspondence Language tab is the final tab for the Course data section:

This tab should be used to input translations for the Course Title of the Course. The translated version of the Title is used when Report Cards are printed to aCorrespondence Languageother than English. Up to 6 translations of eachCourse Title can be included.

• Language (CRS.CL1 through CRS.CL6) – The language of the translation.
• Course Title (CRS.CO1 through CRS.CO6) – The translated Course Title.

The bottom portion of the Courses page lists Section information for any Sections of the Course, as well as additional tabs related to Career Pathways, College Articulations, Course Fees, Course Documents, Course Compositesand Characteristics.

MST Classes Tab ↑

This tab shows all Sections of the Course in the currentMaster Schedule (MST), including the Period, Section number, Teacher, Room, andClass size. The display can be filtered to Hide Inactive Classes or View Only Current TermSections using the check boxes at the bottom.

If a record is edited here, the changes sync to the SMSrecord with the same Section number.

SMS Classes Tab ↑

The second tab displays the same information for Sections in theScheduling Master Schedule (SMS).

When scheduling for the current year, anSMS record cannot be edited if the Section number also exists in MST.

Standards Tab ↑

The Standards (SBR) tab is used by Schools that run a Master Schedule and use Standards Based Grade Reporting. This tab is used to identify each Standard that should be associated with the Course. The checkbox to the right of each Standard indicates whether the Standard should be included on the SBG Report Card. See the Secondary Standards Based Grade Setup documentation.

Career Pathways Tab ↑

TheCareer Pathways (CCP) tab can be used to link a Course to a Career Pathway. If the Course is part of a Career Pathway at one or more Schools in the District, the School, Pathway, Level and Year of the Course in the Career Pathway should be indicated here. See the Career Pathways Tab on the Courses Page documentation.

The Career Pathways (CCP) tab can also be used to link a Career Pathway Course to an Internship on the Internship page. See the Internship documentation.

College Articulations ↑

TheCollege Articulations (CCC)tab can be used to define credits awarded by Colleges for completion of Course work in High School. If a School or District has an articulation agreement with a Community College that a High School Course articulates to College credit when the Student enrolls at the College, the details of the Articulation agreement for the Course should be listed here.

This information is now available to be included on Transcripts. Use theTranscript Definitions >Things to Printsection to configure includingCollege Articulations. See theTranscript Definitions documentation.

• School – When a College Articulation agreement is added at the School level, the current School automatically populates in the School dropdown. When the agreement is added at the District level, the School must be selected.
• College – Select the college that the articulation agreement is with. The Colleges are added on the Colleges page.
• Years Active – enter the School year(s) that the Articulation agreement is active. Enter the 4-digit Fall Term year when the agreement begins through the 4-digit Fall Term year that it ends. If the Articulation agreement is only valid for a single year, then the same 4-digit year is entered in both fields

• College Course Title – Enter the title of the College course that the High School coursework satisfies. The College Course Title displays on the Transcript under College Articulations when the Student has satisfied the criteria in the Articulation agreement.
• College Course ID– Enter the College Course number.
• Required Mark Points– Enter the minimum mark points necessary to receive College credit for the Course.
• Req’d on Final Grade Only – When checked, only the last Mark in a multi-term Course is used to determine if the Student received a qualifying grade in the Course. When not checked all Marks for this Course need to meet the Required Mark Points in order to qualify.
• Required Credit Comp – Enter the minimum number of credits needed to receive College credit for this Course.
• College Credit– Enter the number of College credits awarded for successful completion of this Course per the Articulation agreement. The credits display on the Transcript underCollege Articulations when the Student has satisfied the criteria in the Articulation agreement.
• Local Credit – For informational purposes at this time.

NOTE: Once theCollege Articulation record has been saved theSchool, Collegeand Years Active fields cannot be changed. If these fields are incorrect the record needs to be deleted and re-added. College Articulation records added to a Course must have a unique combination of School, College ID, Course ID and Years Active and cannot be duplicated in an additional record.

Course Fees ↑

The Course Fees (CRF) tab can be entered for Courses that require the collection ofRegistration fees, Tuition, Supply fees, etc., See Manage a Student's Financial Transactions for more information.

Course Documents ↑

The Course Documents (CDC) tab is used to associate common documents with the Course, such as Syllabi, Applications, etc. The documents display and are accessible for each course on the Student Class Schedulespage. An option is available to Display to Parent in the Parent Portal.

Course Composites New ↑

The Course Composites New (CMP) tab allows for multiple "Child" Courses to be associated with a "Parent" Course.

Multiple teachers can be assigned to the Master Schedule Section and when Grading is initialized, records are created for all the "Child" courses. This allows multiple Teachers to assign grades for the multiple Courses. The "Parent" Course is not included when initializing Grading.

Characteristics ↑

The Course Characteristics (CCH) tab can be used to record more granular, detailed information about Courses. Characteristics are added on the Update Code Table page, for theCCH.CDfield. These Characteristics also show up in the 'More' section of a Student's Transcript. Course Characteristicsadded to a Course cannot be deleted from a Student's Transcript record. A user with UPDATEpermissions to CRSwill have the ability to edit the Characteristicsrecords.

On the Coursespage Click on Add Characteristics to add a new Character:

The Add Course Characteristic(s) popup is displayed. A Search field is available if needed. Click the checkbox beside any Characteristics that should be attached to the Course and click OK.

Maintaining Courses ↑

To update a Course, search for and select the Course, click the Change button, edit the information, and click Save.

Because Course data is related to numerous tables in Aeries, especially the Transcript (HIS) table which stores Course completion data for Students, it is important to use caution before deleting any course from the Course table. If a Course is still in use in the HIS or other table, the Course should be Inactivated so that it can not be used for new Sections in a Master Schedule, but the data is still in the table to correctly populate Transcripts.

To Inactivate a course, search for and select the course, click Change to open the record and select I - Inactive from the drop-down. Click the Save button. The section is highlighted with a color border to indicate the inactive Status. This color border can be changed on the Status Code Color Assignment page.

References ↑

The basic information that defines a Course (e.g., Title, N/A, Subject Area, etc.) should never be changed unless the Course is not referenced anywhere in the database. If Course information is altered and the Course is still being used such as in the History table, the changes are reflected on those referenced tables, such as Student Transcripts. Use the References button to find all tables where this Course is in use.

In this example, course 0505 is referenced in 11 different tables for a total of 361 references.

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