As with teachers and classrooms, student and parent information can also be imported from a spreadsheet that you fill out. The students and parents spreadsheet provides the format for the spreadsheet. It has two tabs (sheets).

1. students_parents. This tab provides the format for the import with some sample rows of information. Remove the sample rows and enter your student and parent information.
2. Column Description. This tab provides information for each column of the import file, indicating what should be placed in the column and whether or not it is required.

Here is the information contained in the Column Description tab:

Field	Description	Required
class_code	A unique identifier for the homeroom/classroom that the student is in. A student may be in only one homeroom/classroom	Yes
year	The school year in the format of YYYY-YYYY, i.e. 2008-2009, 2009-2010	Yes
student_id	A code to uniquely identify the student. Though this is not required, it makes it easier to use import to move students between classes, and to setup the system in subsequent years	Suggested
student_first_name	The first name of the student. It is best to use the students given name, and not a nickname, so that it is easier to match the student on subsequent years.	Yes
student_middle_name	The middle name of the student	No
student_last_name*	The last name of the student. This can include suffixes, such as Jr or III.	Yes
gender	M or F	No
date_of_birth	The date of birth of the student	No
student_nickname	If the student is typically called something different that their first name, enter that here. It will be displayed along with the full name.	No
parent_1_full_name	The full name of one of the parents. If this contains only a first name, the last name of the student will be used for the parent’s last name. NOTE: None of the parent information fields for parent 1 or parent 2 are required. Parent information can be added manually through the ClassroomParent interface.	No
parent_1_address	The street address of the parent listed in parent_1_full_name. If a parent_1_full_name (or parent_1_first_name and parent_1_last_name) is provided, you must also supply an address for the parent.	No
parent_1_city	The city of the parent listed in parent_1_full_name. If a parent_1_full_name (or parent_1_first_name and parent_1_last_name) is provided, you must also supply an address for the parent.	No
parent_1_state	The state of the parent listed in parent_1_full_name. If a parent_1_full_name (or parent_1_first_name and parent_1_last_name) is provided, you must also supply an address for the parent.	No
parent_1_postalcode	The postal or zip code of the parent listed in parent_1_full_name. If a parent_1_full_name (or parent_1_first_name and parent_1_last_name) is provided, you must also supply an address for the parent.	No
parent_1_homephone	The home phone number for parent 1	No
parent_1_email	The email address for parent 1	No
parent_1_cell_phone	The cell phone number for parent_1	No
parent_1_work_phone	The work phone number for parent 1	No
parent_2_full_name	The full name of a second parent. If this contains only a first name, the last name of the student will be used for the parent’s last name	No
parent_2_address	Address information for the parent listed in parent_2_full_name is handled in a few ways. If there is no name in parent_2_full_name, then these fields can be blank. If there is a name in parent_2_full_name, and the parent_2 address fields (address, city, state, postalcode) are all blank, then the address information for parent_1 will be used for parent_2. If a portion of the address information for parent_2 is supplied, then all of it must be supplied, and it will be assumed that the parent lives at a separate address.	No
parent_2_city	See note on parent_2_address	No
parent_2_state	See note on parent_2_address	No
parent_2_postalcode	See note on parent_2_address	No
parent_2_home_phone	The home phone number for parent 2	No
parent_2_email	The email address for parent 2	No
parent_2_cell_phone	The cell phone number for parent_2	No
parent_2_work_phone	The work phone number for parent 2	No

A couple important notes about the student_parent import format

1. ClassroomParent bases student address information on the student’s parent address(es). The system compares the various addresses of parents and if they are different assumes that the parents do not live together and both addresses should be listed with the student. It also treats each parent as a separate entity. This means the following:
   1. Be very careful to ensure that if a family has more than one student in the school that the parent information is entered identically for both students.
   2. If the address information for both parents is the same, it is better to leave the second parent’s address information blank (the system will fill it in for you during import).
2. Parent last names should be left blank if they are the same as the students. This helps ensure that they aren’t misspelled.
3. Try as best you can to enter the student names as they appear in the school’s systems. This will make it easier to use data from the school (if available) to place students in homerooms in the following years. Use the nickname field to provide names different from formal names the school may use in their system.
4. The system checks for parent uniqueness using their name and email address. So be very careful to enter them correctly for all students in the school from the same family. If an email address is entered differently for the same parent with two different children at the school, CP will assume they are different parents and will create duplicate entries (which can be cleaned up later, but it is far easier to get it right the first time).

It is critical that you take the time to set up the import files correctly. Though ClassroomParent can help in ensuring your data is correct, in the end, it is up to you to verify its accuracy, completeness and correctness. Spending a few extra minutes to double check the information will go a long way to making the process run smoothly.

Categories: parents, students, getting started, imports

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