Post-Year-End Processing in the Student Management Suite Skyward Insider Team by Skyward Insider Team Skyward Insider Team Read time: Congratulations—you’ve finished pre-year-end planning and your year-end process! Take a deep breath, enjoy a bit of relaxation, and set yourself up for success in the next school year with these post-year-end Skyward tips. Just like pre-year-end planning, getting into a routine of planning for the next school year over the summer can save a great deal of time and energy. Rather than scrambling later, let’s take a look at the post-year-end review and look ahead to the next school year now. We’ll split this into a two-part process: Reviewing the previous year’s data Preparing for your next school year Post-Processing Review Immediately after year-end processing: 1. Unlock Skyward (and your brand-new school year) using the same credentials used to lock the system. 2. Follow the post-year-end checklist in SkyDoc to run validation reports and clean up any errors. 3. Your district may have some specific post-year-end processes you've identified. Here are a few examples: Lock access to Educator Access Plus, Student Access, or Family Access (note this may be done at the entity level, so check them off one by one) Change security groups Change administrator names Change effective years for health records Print any updated paper copies kept at building level Match incoming high school freshmen with counselors Adjust transportation records Review attendance days and weekends for substitute calendars Review professional development days Remove inactivated building staff Clone gradebooks at each entity Purge records or send permanent records to new buildings Update district contacts in the system Planning for Next Year It's never too early to start planning for the new school year. The better you're prepared, the smoother the first day of school will go for staff, students, and teachers. You'll find out earlier if you need support from Skyward. Click the link below to view the official First Day of School checklist in SkyDoc. Tasks are split into seven categories: Attendance Demographics Food Service Gradebooks Grading Health Records Scheduling ↪ See the First Day of School checklist in SkyDoc. Double-check all tasks as you complete them for each entity in your district. You may want to focus on completing all tasks for a single entity, then move on and start the list again, so you’re not jumping back and forth in the system. Wrapping Up Some of the lists involved in year-end processing may take several days to complete, but the preparation is worth the effort. Keep up communication with stakeholders as you get closer to locking out the system to process the year end in Skyward. With careful planning, the process should go a little smoother for everyone. School may be out for summer, but IT administrators stay busy as ever. We hope this series can help you stay organized, too! Follow-up Resource: Download a PDF Checklist Want to save a copy of the steps outlined in this series on ending the school year in Skyward? Here's a PDF version you can use to begin your tailored year-end process for your unique district. Skyward Insider Team Share this story: