In SchoolStatus, you can use Searchlight filters to create a group of students. These groups will update nightly, adding or subtracting students as their status changes.
***Groups created by teachers from the previous school year are DELETED once the new school year begins. Any group created by an administrator or via Searchlight will remain unless deletion is requested by the district.
What is a Dynamic Group?
A Dynamic Group is a group that will automatically update as data changes in our nightly data syncs.
Why Would I Want to Build a Dynamic Group?
Let’s say that you want to build a student group of 11th-grade females to promote a Women in STEM program that your school is hosting. Traditionally, if you built a group of 11th-grade females at the beginning of the year, someone would need to manually enter any new students that enroll in the school into this group. Now, the group will update nightly. So if you build the group on August 10th and a new 11th-grade female enrolls in school and is entered into your Student Information System on August 18th, she would be added to the 11th-grade Females group that night when our data sync with your Student Information System and other data portals occurs.
How Do I Build A Dynamic Group?
You build a Dynamic Group using Searchlight, our query tool that allows you to build a custom list based on existing data.
To start, create the Searchlight list that meets your criteria:
Click on Searchlight.
Click on +New.
Click the Select field.
Next hit +Add filter and Start filtering! In most cases, you will choose Enrollment Status from the list and set the toggle to Yes. Choose any data points you wish to add.
In our example we will choose Grade and set it to “is 11”. You will choose whatever data point you would like. Continue to add filters until you have the query you need.
Pro-tip: Hit "Run" each time you add a new filter to make sure the list returns data. You'll see the number of students who meet your filters to the left.
Your district may not have configured sharing for all data points listed in the drop-down.
Save your Searchlight
Once you are done filtering data, click the red Save List button, and set your visibility. The visibility of the Searchlight can be set to:
- Just Me - meaning only you as the creator will be able to see this Searchlight
- Everyone - meaning everyone in your district can see the Searchlight, but will only see students that fall under their scope
- Select Group - only staff members assigned to a group can see the Searchlight. For more information on this, read
Type in a unique name for the list and hit Save
Use that Searchlight list to make a Student Group
Next hit Make Group.
Your newly created group will now be viewable in the Groups menu and can be communicated with through Broadcasts.
To learn more about Groups and Searchlight, check out the following help articles:
All about Student Groups and User Groups
All About the Searchlight Module
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