Course Submission FAQ

Here is a link to the NJ Smart Course Roster Submission FAQ as well.

• Q: How do I run the Course Submission?
• Q: Why are there no staff IDs pulling to my course submission?
• Q:  Why do I see courses in the submission files that do not exist in my curriculum?
• Q:  Why are some courses in the submission file missing Credits or Final Grades or Grade Span?
• Q:  Why do students appear in the Course Submission who DO NOT appear in SID Management?
• Q: How can I indicate a teacher has taught a course for part of the year?
• Q: A student entered a course mid year, but their start date is not reflected properly in the extract. How can I fix this?
• Q: Can SCED codes be transferred from last year's data to this year's?
• Q: What is the difference between the SCED code dropdown on Scheduling>Sections>Modify Section and the dropdown on Scheduling>Sections>Modify Course?  Do I need to update every single section?
• Q: What do all of these errors in my log mean?
• QA: I need to add a new course and a new section to be pulled to the course submission.  How do I add a course?
• QB: I added a new course but I cannot add a new section. Why?  How do I add a new section?
• QC: I added the new section, but how do I get students into the section for this year?
• Q: How can I just exclude a student from pulling to the Course Submission?
• Q: If a student left my district and did not complete a course, is the student reported to my district’s Course Roster Submission?
• Q: What do I do for courses that have secondary and pre secondary students?

Q: How do I run the Course Submission?

The course submission is found on the NJ>NJSmart>Course Submission tab. To "Run" it, click on the "Collect Data" button to the right of the school.

When it's finished, you can then download the Staff and Student files to submit/review in the "Staff Data" column and "Student Column."

You can click the log to the right of each extract to review the errors you may have received.

Q: Why are there no staff IDs pulling to my course submission?

A: This probably means that your district does not use the "Other ID" field in Staff.

If you go to the NJ>NJSmart>Course Submission screen, uncheck "Use Other ID" and click "Save settings for all schools." 

After that is saved, recollect the submission - and it will pull staff IDs from the LOCAL ID field within Genesis, rather than the "Other ID" field (which is most likely blank if nothing pulled to the extract.)

PLEASE NOTE: The reverse can be true, as well.  Check the option if you do use the Other ID field and that # needs to be reported to NJ Smart.

You can check this in your district via Staff>Staff>Search Staff:

Q:  Why do I see courses in the submission files that do not exist in my curriculum?

A:  If a teacher is assigned to a HR that contains students from grade PK through 6, and the teacher has no course sections assigned to them in the curriculum, then Genesis will automatically create a course with the proper NCES SCED code for them and the students in that HR.

You may disable this from happening by checking off "Never use Elem HR" on the course submission page.

Q:  Why are some courses in the submission file missing Credits or Final Grades or Grade Span?

A:  The reason is the NCES SCED Code attached to the course.  The export does not include credits, gradespan, or final grades for pre-secondary courses in the collection. Check the NCES Sced Code on the course. 

If it begins with 52 or higher, it is set with a Pre-Secondary Sced Code.

You can view the SCED code on the Curriculum file via Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course.

Q:  Why do students appear in the Course Submission who DO NOT appear in SID Management?

A: If a student attends a course in a district that district is responsible for reporting to the Course Roster Submission regardless of who reports the student to SID Management.

The Course Roster Submission record will compare to the districts SID Management and their Out of District Records page in NJSmart.

If the student is not their reporting responsibility but they attend the district, they should appear in that district’s Out of District Records page in SID Management.

If the student is not in either place then the record will be placed into error and it will need to be fixed in NJSmart.

Q: How can I indicate a teacher has taught a course for part of the year?

A: You can use the "Add Historic Teacher" button on the Scheduling>Sections>Modify Section screen to record these dates.

The gradebook exists independent of the teacher assigned to it. To change the teacher, you need to go to Scheduling>Sections and pull up the section in question.

Once you're there, swap out the teacher's name in the “Teacher” dropdown on the Subsection itself.

To add a historic teacher, click the green plus sign in the “Historic Teacher" area.  The screen will then allow for you to select the teacher and the dates they taught.  

Once you’ve entered the info, click “Add Historic Teacher" to save.

The historic teacher = the teacher who left the section.  You give them the dates of when they taught it. So, if the started the school year teaching this course and then left March first, their historic start/end dates would be 9/1-3/1.

The teacher in the main dropdown = the teacher who is currently teaching the course.

The system will automatically know that the currently assigned section teacher started the day after the end date on the historic teacher until the end of the year when you run the Course Submission.

Q: A student entered a course mid year, but their start date is not reflected properly in the extract. How can I fix this?

A: If they should have had a different start date, you can update this by clicking the "Edit Student Dates" button for the course on the student's Student Data>Modify Student>Current Year Schedule>Schedule Audit screen.

You can update the "Enter Date Student Entered Course" and/or the "Enter Date Student Dropped Course" field.

*If a student's start date is prior to course start date, the course start date will still be used in Course Submission.
*If a student's end date is after the course end date, the course end date will still be used in Course Submission.

There is also an "Adjust Active Student Schedule Start Dates for Course Section" tool on Scheduling>Curriculum>Tools. This tool allows you to mass change the student start dates for a course section for all students with a particular current start date.

There is an "Adjust Drop Dates on Student Schedules for Course Section" tool as well.

This tool allows you set the Drop date for students who dropped a course section on a given date to the start of school.

Courses dropped at the beginning of school ARE NEVER collected in the NJ Course Submission.

If you make any changes, you would need to recollect the extract to get updated data.

Q: Can SCED codes be transferred from last year's data to this year's?

A: There is a tool on Scheduling>Curriculum>Tools called "Copy NCES Fields to Next Year" that you can run from the prior year.

Make sure to check off "Only update next year course if SCED Code is blank (will not overwrite)" - it will just fill in any missing SCED codes and not overwrite any current data (should there be any.)  

There will also be a log so you can see exactly what it updated.

Q: What is the difference between the SCED code dropdown on Scheduling>Sections>Modify Section and the dropdown on Scheduling>Sections>Modify Course?  Do I need to update every single section?

A: If you enter a value onto the SECTION, it will override the value filled in on the curriculum level.

You need to fill it in on the COURSE, but you do not necessarily need it filled in on the SECTION (unless you need to override the code for the section etc.)

Q: What do all of these errors in my log mean?

A: More often than not, the log  will point you to exactly what the error is. This is the paper clip icon found to the right of each course submission collection:

A few examples are below. After making any changes, you will need to recollect the course submission.

• Teacher marked as exclude from NJSmart on subsection: go to Scheduling>Sections>Modify Section.  There is an "Exclude NJSmart" option that you can toggle on and off.
• Not set to include in NJSMART: Go to the Staff member via Staff>Staff>Modify Staff>Demographics.  There is an "Include in NJ SMART" box you can check/uncheck depending on if you need to report that staff member
• Does not have a SMID: Go to Staff>Staff>Modify Staff>Demographics and enter a State ID for the staff member.
• Suppressing COURSE: XXX SECTION: XX SUBSECTION: X for TeacherID: XXX.  No Students found in course: If you pull this section up, it will show you that there are 0 students added, so it was not reported.
• Suppressing COURSE: XXX SECTION: XX SUBSECTION: X for TeacherID: *OFFCAMPUSTEACHER*.  Off-site course.: This is pointing you to the Course Instruction Field on the Curriculum file.
• No NCES SCED Code detected for course ART - ART (section 110).  Update either Course or Section with a SCED Code:  This pointing you to the "NCES SCED Code" field on the Curriculum file.
• Suppressing COURSE: XXX SECTION: XX SUBSECTION: X for TeacherID: XXX due to NJSmart Primary Key Violation: This is really just indicating that the same teacher is posted more than one to the course - the teacher will only be reported once to NJ Smart.  NJ Smart only allows one row per teacher per course section, and, as of the day this was written, NJ Smart only wants the latest date to be reported.
• Student has no SID: Go to Student Data>Modify Student>Demographics>Required and fill in a State ID for the student in question.
• [Student ID, Student Name] set to Exclude from Course Submission: This is pointing you to the "Never include Students from these Collections" override set via Student Data>Modify Student>NJ Smart>Settings screen.
• ORA-12899: value too large for column "School Code"."NJ_SMART_STAFF_COURSES"."STATE_ID_NUMBER" (actual: 10, maximum: 8): This is telling you that there is an incorrect State ID entered for a staff member.  Take a look at the Staff>Staff>Search Staff screen. Try searching ALL staff members, and if you scroll through, you should see an SMID that is too long. Click into that staff member, make the change, and save. Then, recollect your course submission.
  
  

Q^A: I need to add a new course and a new section to be pulled to the course submission.  How do I add a course?

A: To add a new course to your school, go to Scheduling>Curriculum. Click "Add Course" and you will get a pop up. Enter the course code and description.

You will then be brought to the curriculum course screen, where you can enter sced code and grading info etc.  

You add a new section via Scheduling>Sections, making sure to check "Include Courses with No Sections."

Q_B: I added a new course but I cannot add a new section. Why?  How do I add a new section?

A: After you've added a new course, you will need to go to Scheduling>Sections.  Search for the new course code using the "Course Code" field, and then check off "Include courses with no sections."

You will need to check off that parameter to get the new course code to appear.  Without it, it will simply not display. 

 Once you've checked it off and clicked search, the course will appear highlighted in red.  

You can check use the "Quick Create a Blank Section" option or the "Create Section Wizard" box to create the new sections.

PLEASE NOTE: It's possible that when you added in the new COURSE that you forgot to mark it as GRADED (and/or it is not set to be graded.)  If that's the case, uncheck "Show Only Graded Courses" as well to get proper search results.

Q^C: I added the new section, but how do I get students into the section for this year?

A: You can do this with student lists via Scheduling>Mass Updates>Mass Add.  

You can also do this for individual students via Student Data>Modify Student>Current Year Schedule>Add Course.

Q: How can I just exclude a student from pulling to the Course Submission?

A: You should always make sure the student is placed appropriately, and reported correctly, based on your reporting responsibilities.

If needed, we have overrides in place for individual students - this can be found via Student Data>Modify Student>NJ Smart>Settings. If you check off "Course Submission" in the "Never include Students from these Collections" area, and save, the student will simply be skipped when you recollect the Course Submission.

Q: If a student left my district and did not complete a course, is the student reported to my district’s Course Roster Submission?

While inactive records that appear in the End of Year SID Snapshot are accepted within the Course Roster Submission, inactive students that have not completed a course are not required to be reported to the Course Roster Submission. The decision to report these inactive students to the Course Roster Submission will need to be made by the district based on how the student information system is used to manage student records.

You should reach out to NJSmart with specific scenarios if you are not sure if your district should report students.

You can review courses' (and dropped courses') start and end dates for kids via Student Data>Modify Student>Current Year Schedule>Schedule Audit.  You can modify/delete as determined by the district.

If needed, you can also check off "Course Submission" in the "Never include Students from these Collections" section via Student Data>Modify Student>NJSmart>Settings to exclude the individual student from the Course Submission.

Q: What do I do for courses that have secondary and pre secondary students?

Under the Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify screen, you can assign an NCES SCED code and a Pre Secondary NCES SCED code to a course.

Any students grades 09-12 will pull to the submission with the primary NCES SCED code and any students below grade 9 in the course would pull the Pre Secondary NCES SCED Code.

*Please Note: The Pre Secondary NCES SCED code will not populate for those pre secondary students until the FG has been posted.