Preparing for Fall Data Importation

As summer season kicks into high gear, ATI staff preparations for the new program year (PY) are well under way. In the area of data importation, the focus during PY transition is on new classes, rosters, and accommodating all staff changes a district may undertake between program years. For districts new to Galileo, the best way to create your class lists and rosters is through Galileo Data Import (GDI). The GDI process involves three basic steps:

1. Districts provide an export from their Student Information System (SIS) that lists all classes, teachers and students within the district.
2. ATI staff import this data to a test database and perform a thorough quality assurance review – any problems are resolved with the district before the data is imported (step 3) into the live Galileo database.
3. ATI staff import the district-provided information directly into Galileo K-12 Online.

Detailed instructions for GDI can be found in the Tech Support section of Galileo K-12 (and Pre-K) Online. Importation instructions are updated for each program year with the PY 12-13 instructions expected for release in mid-July, 2012. One important change to note in the PY 12-13 GDI instructions will be requirement of the Staff Email, previously an optional field. Inclusion of the Teacher Email field presents a significant benefit in that ATI will be using staff email for future development of an automated password recovery feature. Automated password recovery will enable users to instantly retrieve forgotten passwords directly through Galileo.
Districts participating in Instructional Effectiveness (IE) initiatives will want to make additional considerations when preparing for GDI in PY 12-13:

1. Due to early-PY roster adjustments (enrollment will inevitably change during the first few weeks of the year), prepare to provide an update enrollment sometime during the fall semester. If your district is, or will be pursuing, no-evaluation importation, rosters will be updated effectively as a result.
2. Make sure all classes/courses to be included in the IE initiative are exported from the SIS – this is a departure from previous years where some districts exported only core classes (math, English language arts [ELA] and science). ATI’s IE Assessment Coordinators will be available to assist during the importation cycle and monitor for the desired outcome.
3. IE reporting may require additional filtering based on student demographics (English language learner, special education, etc.). Prepare to provide full demographic information either with all imports or as a separate process at some point during the program year.
4. Non-conventional student groupings should still be considered “classes” for the purposes of import – this includes tied to the same instructor for the purposes of scoring outcomes, even if not necessarily attending the same structured period or “class setting.”

As you prepare your PY 2012-13 data for importation, please remember the following important points:

1. Be sure to include all the required information in your import.
2. Optional information is not required in the Galileo database, but failure to include this information may adversely affect future report filtering.
• Any omitted optional data can be imported at any time throughout the program year, either as part of GDI or as a separate process – contact ATI for more information.
3. If TeacherID or StudentID fields change within your SIS, please notify ATI prior to providing any import files to ensure proper transition within the Galileo database. Large-scale ID changes may require extra processing time so please notify ATI as far in advance as possible so we can help you plan accordingly.
4. Due to new class structures and teacher assignments, the quality assurance process is typically longest during the first upload of the year. Getting uploads underway as soon as data is available will help ensure adequate processing time before your first assessments of the year.
5. Providing ‘shell’ data with class structures and teachers as soon as they are entered into your SIS this summer will provide opportunity to perform thorough review of class alignment, course codes and teacher assignments. This will speed the processing of files containing student enrollment in the fall.

If you have any questions about GDI, please contact us at GalileoDataImport@ati-online.com.