GEAR UP Virginia Database Program User Guide
Contents Click on topic to advance to specific section. GEAR UP Virginia Program Database Introduction and security information 3 User/Login Names and Password Information 4 How to Access the Database 5 Time-out Functionality 7 Screen descriptions 8 Program Welcome Screen 8 Student List Screen 9 Student Profile Screen 10 Student Services Screen 11 Student Courses Screen 12 Student Groups Screen 13 School Profile Screen 15 Teacher Professional Development Screen 16 Summative Report Screen 17 Add Service Screen 19 Add Course Screen 20 Reports Screen 21 Course Report Screen 22 Service Report Screen 23 Students Report Screen 24 Mass Upload of Student Data 25 Frequently Asked Questions 26 GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 1
Program Policy Initial Program Eligibility Requirements 28 Criterion 28 GEAR UP Pledge 28 Data Coordinator Responsibilities 29 Database Contact Information 30 KEY TIP Look throughout this guide for special tips on navigating the database. NOTE Points of interest and special instructions are marked with this note graphic. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 2
GEAR UP Virginia Program Database Welcome to the GEAR UP Virginia web-based program evaluation database. This electronic tool provides a system for recording all major activities and services that participating schools provide through their GEAR UP programs. It also allows the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to follow the progress of GEAR UP students, participating schools, and the state program through the life of the grant. The data gathered in this system will be used to manage and evaluate the federal grant, and is compiled and presented in aggregate to the United States Department of Education (USDOE) on an annual basis through the required GEAR UP Annual Performance Report. GEAR UP Database Security Information The information contained in this electronic database is confidential and intended to be used only by authorized personnel. It is therefore protected from unauthorized use or dissemination by laws governing the Commonwealth of Virginia and relevant sections of the United State Code governing use of student information. If you have not been designated as the authorized person or the authorized person s agent, you are hereby notified that any review, use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this information is strictly prohibited. You are also asked to notify SCHEV immediately by email to Christine Kemp at christinekemp@schev.edu should there be a security violation of this site. Security Awareness List Ensure that your institution s database access information is kept secure. Continue to update contacts/authorized users as needed. Do not give database access information to anyone who is not listed as a contact/authorized user. Do not send sensitive information (i.e. student social security numbers) via email. Please sign and date this form indicating that you agree to the above terms. Name Date GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 3
User/Login Names and Password Information User/login names and passwords are created by the GEAR UP Information Management Specialist. Each data coordinator will receive a username and password for the secure website that houses the GEAR UP Virginia Program Database. The data coordinator also will receive a username and password for the database. These usernames and passwords are case sensitive and alphanumeric. You will have three attempts to enter the secure site to access the database. If after three attempts you fail to enter the correct username and password, the database will be locked. If you have locked the database, please contact Christine Kemp via email at christinekemp@schev.edu or telephone at (804) 371-2141 as soon as possible to prevent other data coordinators in your region from being locked out of the database. The password to the secure site will be reset every 45 days and sent via email to data coordinators. Record your login information and passwords here for future reference. School Name: Secure Site Database Username Password Login Name Password You will have three attempts to enter the database. If after three attempts you fail to enter the correct username and/or password, the database will be locked. Please contact Christine Kemp via email at christinekemp@schev.edu or telephone at (804) 371-2141 to have your username/password unlocked. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 4
How to Access the GEAR UP Virginia Program Database Step 1: Open your Internet browser. Step 2: Enter the website address into the web browser field https://secure.schev.edu/gearup/login.aspx You may want to add this website to your favorites or bookmarks. Step 3: Enter your secure username and password, and then click the OK button to access the actual database login screen. You may have an option to click Remember my password. You will have three attempts in this secure site box to access the database login screen using your user name and password. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 5
Step 4: Enter your login name and password. Click the Submit button to access the database. Please take a moment to read the Warning on the login screen. Contact Christine Kemp if there is a security violation. You will have three attempts to access the database login screen using your login name and password. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 6
Time-out Functionality A time-out screen has been added to the database to ensure that all student-specific information is protected. As long as you are actively working in the database you will not be timed out. The database time-out will log you out after 20 minutes. The pop-up warning screen will appear when there are five (5) minutes remaining. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 7
Screen Descriptions Program Welcome Screen This is the default screen for local and regional program users. Two messages that are to be administered by the GEAR UP Information Management Specialist are displayed on this screen. The first is a reminder to forward sign-in sheets to SCHEV. The second is welcoming you to the database. Click the Continue button to enter the database. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 8
Student List Screen (Home Page) This screen shows the home page for a selected school. It provides a list of GEAR UP students attending the school and allows the data coordinator to select students associated with the school. If you click on the titles, they will list the information either in alphabetical or numerical order. Common Tasks Adjust the number of visible results Select the desired number of results to display from the Items per page drop-down list located on the right side of the screen. Display Not Enrolled Students By default, only students with a program status of enrolled are included in the student list. To include not enrolled students, check the Show Not Enrolled box located on the left side of the screen. To display more students on the screen, choose either 25, 50 or all in the Items per page box. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 9
Student Profile Screen This screen is used to maintain a student s demographic, academic and program information. When you enter this screen you are already in edit mode. Common Tasks Updating Demographic, Academic and Program Information To update information, enter the new information and click the Save button at the bottom of the screen. Resetting Student s Information If you do not want to save the information entered, click the Cancel button at the bottom of the screen and the existing data will reset. Only the Information Management Specialist can add or delete a student s information from the database. If you need to have a student added or deleted please contact Christine Kemp. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 10
Student Services Screen This screen is used to maintain student service data. Common Tasks Editing/Deleting a Service Service details can be edited or deleted using the corresponding Edit or Delete link. Throughout several screens there are Hints (ex. To add a service activity, use the Add Service link above) to help you to use the database more efficiently. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 11
Student Course Screen This screen is used to maintain student course data. Common Tasks Editing/Deleting a Course Course details can be edited or deleted using the corresponding Edit or Delete link. To display more students on the screen, choose either 25, 50 or all in the Items per page box. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 12
Student Groups Screen This screen is used to maintain student groups. Common Tasks Creating a New Group Click the Add New button located at the bottom of the screen shown above. This will place the screen into add mode. The screenshot above illustrates this mode. Enter a unique group name (ex. Algebra 1 Tutor Group) and select the students to include by checking the include in group checkbox. Click Submit to save. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 13
Editing an Existing Group Choose the group from the Student Group Name to be edited. Place or remove a check ( ) for those students in the Include in Group? and click the submit button to make the changes. Deleting an Existing Group Choose the group from the Student Group Name to be deleted. Click on the Delete Group button. A pop-up screen will appear asking Are you sure you want to delete the group? Click the OK button if the answer is yes. Otherwise click the Cancel button to return to the Student Groups screen. If you choose OK you will then be returned to the Add New screen. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 14
School Profile Screen This screen is to be used to maintain school profile information. Common Tasks Editing a School Type the new information in the appropriate boxes and click save to make the changes. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 15
Teacher Professional Development Screen This screen is used to maintain a school s professional development information. Common Tasks Adding a New Activity Select a professional development activity from the Type box. Enter the number of participants in the Total Participants box. Enter the date of the activity in the date box. Enter the total hours in the hours box and click Add New. Edit/Delete an Existing Activity Activity details can be modified or deleted using the corresponding Edit or Delete link. The types of professional development are Division Sponsored, NCCEP, Other, Regional Meetings, State Sponsored, and School Sponsored. All professional development events attended by teachers and staff that work or will work with GEAR UP students should be documented in the database. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 16
Summative Report Screen This screen is used to submit summative report information. The status of the summative report can be indicated as shown below. 1. Not submitted: This indicates that the report has not been submitted by the school data coordinator. No information has been added or updated. 2. Submitted: This indicates that the report has been submitted by the school data coordinator. Additional submission (updates) can be performed up until the summative report is closed. 3. Closed: This indicates that the close date has been reached for the reporting period. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 17
Common Tasks Viewing a Previous Summative Report The Report History provides a list of available summative reports. Click the corresponding view link to open a read-only version of the summative report. If you need to make changes to your summative data after the close date you must contact the Information Management Specialist. Click on the? (located in the middle of the screen) to find out how the average hours for the professional development are calculated. Information regarding the Summative Report will be sent annually via email to all coordinators at the beginning of January. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 18
Add Service Screen This screen is used to add student service records. By default, the page lists all enrolled students. By creating student groups, (see Student Group Screen) the selection of students can be made easier by displaying only students that are part of a selected group. Common Tasks Adding a New Service Select the service. Enter the date of the service and the hours of the service. Select the participating students by placing a check ( ) in the corresponding Participated checkbox. Select the number of parents who participated if applicable. Click the Add Service button to save the service information. A pop-up box will appear after you add a service. It will tell you how many records were added. If you get 0 records added, then you have already added this service to the database. The database will not duplicate this information. Use the Back to Top icon to return to the beginning of the screen once you have entered the information. Deleting an Existing Service Enter the date of the service and the hours of the service. Select the participating students by placing a check ( ) in the corresponding Participated checkbox. Select the number of parents who participated if applicable. Click the Delete Service button to delete the service information. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 19
Add Course Screen This screen is used to add course information for students. By default, the page lists all enrolled students. Common Tasks Adding a New Course Select the applicable course. Select the academic year (ex. 2009-2010). Select the grade level when the course was taken. Select the semester the course was taken. Select the students who took the course. Choose pass or fail and click on Add Course to save the information. A pop-up box will appear after you add a service. It will indicate how many records were added. If you get 0 records added, then you have already added this service to the database. The database will not duplicate this information. Use the Back to Top icon to return to the beginning of the screen once you have entered the information. Deleting a Course Using this same screen, select the applicable course. Select the academic year (ex. 2009-2010). Select the grade level when the course was taken. Select the semester the course was taken. Select the student who took the course. Choose pass or fail and click on Delete Course to delete the information. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 20
Reports Screen The above screen is used to retrieve reports. The Courses Report, Services Report and Students Report can be generated from this screen. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 21
Course Report Screen This screen shows the courses students have completed. Common Tasks Creating a Course Report Select the academic year (ex. 2009-2010), the semester, and the course. Click on the Search button to retrieve a course report. You can click on the Search button to retrieve all course information. Use the student select option to gather additional information on students. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 22
Services Screen This screen shows all services in which students have participated. Creating a Services Report Enter a date range (note format) and select a service. Click on the Search button to retrieve the report. You can click on the Search button to retrieve all service information. Use the student select option to gather additional information on students. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 23
Students Report Screen This screen shows demographic information for all students for an individual school. Creating a Student Report: Click on the Search button to retrieve student reports. If you click on the titles (ex. Student Name), it will list the information either in alphabetical or numerical order. Click on the Export to Excel button to export present information in an excel spreadsheet. Once you save it to an excel file the data can be modified. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 24
Mass Upload of Student Data Courses At the end of the school year all student course information must be provided to SCHEV via the course upload sheets. A data coordinator can enter the information into the database after each semester. Sample Course Upload Sheet GPA After each semester each student s GPA must be provided to SCHEV via the GPA upload sheet. A data coordinator can enter the information into the database after each semester. Sample GPA Upload Sheet GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 25
Frequently Asked Questions about the Database 1. What should I do if I ve forgotten my password for the database? Contact Christine Kemp at 804-371-2141 or via email at christinekemp@schev.edu, or contact Deborah Morgan at 804-225-2620 or at deborahmorgan@schev.edu. 2. What should I do if I am locked out of the secure website for the database? Do not continue to enter the password. Call or email Christine Kemp or Deborah Morgan and ask them to unlock the website. 3. How should I expect to see inactive students' names? Click on the Show Not Enrolled box and it will refresh the home page. Inactive students will be listed with a red X next to their names. 4. How do I sort to see student s names? Click on the Student Name and it will sort in descending order. If you click on it again it will sort in ascending order. 5. How do I add or delete a student's information? Data coordinators are not allowed to add or delete a student's information. Contact Christine Kemp and request that she add a student and/or make a student not enrolled if they are no longer active. 6. Why can t I enter information into the summative report tab? If the summative status is closed you cannot enter information. Once the status changes to open/active you will be able to enter information. 7. What should I do when the timeout error occurs? When you see the pop-up box for timing out, click ok and save what you have entered. You then can begin entering data again and the time out clock starts over. If you have already timed out you must go back to your home page, which may take you back to the login page to have you log in again. 8. What should I do to sort a report? You can sort a report by clicking on any of the titles. It will sort in descending order first. If you click again it will sort in ascending order. 9. What should I do if I add a service or a course and it does not add any records? If you get the pop-up box with zero (0) records added for services or courses, then the information has already been added. This will avoid duplication. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 26
10. What should I do if there are no services for a given month? Send an email to Christine Kemp so that she can annotate her spreadsheet indicating that there were no services during the period. 11. I am the data coordinator and I am not sure what to enter in the database under the Teacher Professional Development screen. What should I report as a professional development activity? Any professional development (division, school, state, or federally sponsored) can be recorded in the database. 12. Regional Resource Manager is always stressing that we need to get reports in on time. Why can t we be a few weeks late on our reporting? It is important that you send your reports in on time. The database was created to allow for retrieval of real time current information. SCHEV staff has to report regularly on the progress of the grant. 13. Can a career coach enter their data into the database? No. In order to comply with FERPA regulations we only allow access to student data to the designated data coordinator. 14. What professional development do I record? All professional development events attended by teachers and staff that work or will work with GEAR UP students should be documented in the database. 15. Why do we record Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment or IB classes? To comply with federal grant requirements, SCHEV reports the number of students who have completed and passed at least one Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment or IB course. 16. How and when do we need to enter course information? (1) First semester course information will be collected in aggregate via the database summative screen each March. At that time data coordinators also will be required to enter into the database individual student AP, IB or DE course completion for the 9th grade and any 10th grade students who completed the course in the first semester. (2) At the end of the school year all course information must be provided to SCHEV via the course upload sheets OR by entering the information into the database. (A data coordinator can enter the information into the database after each semester.) GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 27
Program Policy Initial Program Eligibility Requirements Criterion: The criterion used to select schools to participate in GEAR UP was based on federal guidelines stipulating that 50% or more of the students attending a middle school must qualify to receive free or reduced lunch. GEAR UP Virginia Pledge: Students signed a pledge at the beginning of the program noting that they will graduate from a Virginia high school and apply for admission to at least two Virginia colleges or universities; attend school regularly, maintaining an attendance rate of 95% or better; provide information needed for evaluating the success of GEAR UP Virginia; encourage parents/guardians to actively participate in GEAR UP Virginia meetings, workshops, and events; attend at least one parent/teacher meeting per year, accompanied by at least one parent/guardian; and, establish a student account on the Virginia Mentor website. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 28
Data Coordinator Responsibilities 1. Communicate with Career Coach and School Coordinator(s) to collect activity logs for entry into GEAR UP database. 2. Document program activities and participation data weekly via an electronic database supported by SCHEV. 3. Complete summative report annually. 4. Update student information periodically. 5. Forward copies of student sign-in sheets to SCHEV monthly. 6. Assist in the distribution and collection of student and parent surveys. Coordinator s Responsibilities 1. Work collaboratively with GEAR UP Regional Resource Manager to develop a school GEAR UP program. 2. Work with teachers and counselors to promote the school plan. 3. Work with teachers and counselors to implement the school plan. 4. Work with school/division fiscal officer to communicate program expenditures and help to identify associated matching funds. 5. Plan and implement programs where GEAR UP scholarship information can be disseminated to students and their parents. GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 29
Database Contact Information Christine Kemp, GEAR UP Information Management Specialist: Address: State Council of Higher Education for Virginia 101 N 14 th Street James Monroe Building, 9 th Floor Richmond, VA 23219 Telephone: 804-371-2141 Fax: 804-225-2604 Email: christinekemp@schev.edu SCHEV Website: www.schev.edu GEAR UP Website: www.gearupva.com GEAR UP Forms: http://www.schev.edu/gearup/coordinators/forms.asp GEAR UP Virginia Program User Guide 30