This article explains how an Illinois public school can correct the following ISBE Student Course Assignment error:
ALL mandatory Course End fields must be supplied: (Course End Date) (Letter Grade)
The above error is generated when a student completes a term of a class but there is no course final letter grade submitted for the class term. This is indicated in the Student Course Assignment file when the Student Course End Date is equal to the grading period end date and the Course Final Letter Grade is blank. The best thing to do is to work through the following steps in sequential order, previewing and submitting the export file after making each correction, until the errors are resolved.
Steps
- Resubmit the Student Course Assignment File
- Enter State Grade Codes
- Enter Official Report Card Grade(s)
- Exit the Student from the Class or School
- Check and Correct Class Grading Periods
Resubmit the Current Student Course Assignment File
To get started, it’s always best to make sure that you’re working with a most recent export file that includes any recent changes that may have been made in the system. Therefore, if it’s been a few hours or a few days since the last file was submitted to the state, then resubmit the file before troubleshooting.
To generate the Student Course Assignment File:
- Go to District Main > Import/Export > Export ISBE Files
- Select File Type Student Course Assignment V2
- Select Academic Year Current Year
- Select Time Period
- Select Home School
- Select Grade Level
- Options:
- Deselect Show only invalid records
After generating the file, find the row with the student, class section, and grading period that resulted in an error. If the Course End Date and Course Final Letter Grade columns are not blank, then the issue has been resolved. In this case, upload the file again without making any changes.
On the other hand, if you find that the final letter grade is still missing, work through steps 2 through 4 above. After completing each step, generate the Student Course Assignment to see if a grade appears. If the grade does not appear, continue to the next solution.
Enter State Grade Codes
All grading scale grades and special grade codes need to be associated with valid state grade codes.
To check the ISBE’s list of acceptable codes:
- Go to the ISBE Data Elements and Validations page
- Go to the Course Assignment section
- Click on the Student Course Assignment link
- Check the valid ISBE codes next to the Course Final Letter Grade field
To edit your traditional grading scales:
- Go to District/School Main > Grading Scales > edit
- Select the ISBE code in the State Code column
- Save
To edit your special grade codes:
- Go to District/School Main > Grade Reporting > Special Grade Codes
- Edit the special grade code
- Select the ISBE code in the State Code field
- Save
Once the state codes have been updated, re-submit the Student Course Assignment.
Enter Official Report Card Grade(s)
When students have completed a course through the end of the term being reported to ISBE, a grade must be provided. If a student does not have an enrollment or roster exit date, or the exit date is on or after the end of the term, the assumption is that the student completed the course for the term and should have a grade. When a student will not receive a grade because classwork is not completed, a grade code is still required. In this case, a special grade code such as incomplete or withdrawn can be provided.
To enter a report card grade(s) for an individual student:
- School Main > Grade Reporting > Report Card Grades
- Search/Select a student
- Select a Report Card
- Click edit in the column of the grading period that is missing a grade
- Enter a grade or special grade
- Save
To enter grades for an entire class from an instructor account:
- Go to School Main > Instructors
- Click on goto next to the instructor that the class is assigned to
- Enter report card grades
Exit the Student from the Class or School
In the case where a student exited the school or a class prior to the end of the grading period and as a result, should not have a report card grade, you should make sure that the student has the correct exit date. The student’s exit date will signal that the student did not complete a class in the reported term. When a student has an exit date prior to the end of the grading period, a value of 17 (withdrawn) will be supplied in the Student Course Assignment file for you. In this case, you do not need to enter a grade.
To enter or correct a roster exit date:
- Go to School Main > Student Single View
- Search/Select a student
- Click on the Scheduling tab
- Click on the Rosters link
- Edit the class that the student withdrew from
- Enter an Exit Date
- Save
To enter or correct a school enrollment exit date:
- Go to School Main > Student Single View
- Search/Select a student
- Edit Student
- Scroll to the Enrollment Details table
- Enter the last date that a student attended the school into the Exit Date
- Select an Exit Type
- Save
Check and Correct Grading Periods
The Term column value that is exported for the Student Course Assignment file is determined by the grading periods that are added to the classes and to the official report card. When a summary grading period such as Sem #1, Sem #2, or Final is added to classes and to the report card, SchoolInsight will export an S1, S2, or Y1 value for term respectively. When there are no summary grading periods added, SchoolInsight will export the actual term such as Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, T1, T2, or T3.
A common error is to submit a class section with a T1, T2, T3 or Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 value in the Term column and then later, to add a semester or final grading period to classes or vice versa. To learn more about this issue and how SchoolInsight can help you fix it, read the following KB:
Fix course assignment files at the end of the academic year.