FAQ: What can districts do to ensure proper setup of a new school or grades in FastBridge?
Summer tasks prior to setup in FastBridge:
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Request addition of school/grades - Submit a ticket in FastBridge (or email help@fastbridge.org). Special note: If you have already contracted for additional grade levels through the AEA contract (7-8th) or directly with FastBridge, skip this step.
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Sign up for important early warning system/MTSS emails - The Iowa Department of Education periodically sends out emails with important Iowa specific information and updates. Sign up for the EWS listserv
- Select Default Literacy Assessments for K-6 grades - Default literacy assessment selection will be completed in the CASA system for the upcoming school year
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Begin training new FastBridge District Managers - For new districts or non-public schools, partnering with another school district currently using FastBridge to train new FastBridge District Managers is suggested. This can also be done early in the Fall once your district/school is set up in FastBridge
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We can provide a demo login to the site that can be used for this training so no real student data needs to be used! We will be happy to provide some guidance on topics to address in that training, if desired.
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Great resources to help guide your training include:
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The following are things the district can check in the local student information system to ensure a smooth transition:
- Ensure district, school building name and grade levels in SIS match the data reported in the School Information Update application in EdPortal. They must match EXACTLY for the data to connect in FAST.
- Merge teacher records: It’s recommended that you merge records for any staff members that have multiple staff records. This usually happens at different buildings as a result of a defunct data entry practice. Teachers should have one teacher ID across the entire SIS.
- Staff email addresses: Ensure current, accurate district email addresses are entered for teachers.
- Staff FAST user role assignment: Assign a FAST user role at a building that is active in the FastBridge system.
- Courses: Schedule students into course sections for the 2020-21 school year and assign the appropriate teacher(s) to the courses. In JMC, the ‘courses’ are in the scheduler module.
- Students: Confirm state student IDs and accurate grade levels are entered.
After the new building(s) are visible FastBridge:
Note: the new schools/grades will likely be available in FastBridge shortly after your district is rolled over to the new school year in FastBridge.
- Ensure your Infinite Campus, JMC or Powerschool SIF agent is set to transmit data for the upcoming school year.
- Review documentation in the Iowa Resources section of the FastBridge Knowledge Base, there are differences for Iowa users vs FastBridge nationwide users. A great place to start is A newbie (& veteran) guide to system and process differences for Iowa
- For questions, requests or problems, submit a support request in the FastBridge application (support in the upper left corner) or email help@fastbridge.org, which automatically creates a support request. Do not use the chat or telephone information in FastBridge, that will not connect to the Iowa support team and you may receive inaccurate information.
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Complete the steps on the District/School Manager back-to-school checklist. This is available in the FastBridge knowledge base once you have access.
- Train staff on the FastBridge system and provide instructions (step 4 in the quick start guide for access) for logging into FastBridge via their EdPortal account.
Quick Warnings:
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DO NOT change assessment setup, screening windows or screening periods in FastBridge. The DE will take care of the screening window setup and assessment setup. See the What's Permitted? section in the article A newbie (& veteran) guide to system and process differences for Iowa