How to Set Promotion Status for Seniors

Aspen Support Updated by Aspen Support

2024 Graduate, Met Local, Retain, August Graduate Guidelines

All seniors/grade 12/grade SP need to be coded in Aspen. The status window is open until June 23. This field needs to be updated 48 hours, excluding non-school days, before your school’s scheduled diploma pick-up appointment.

Aspen includes a field called Promote Status with the following possible values:

  • Promote - Promote student to next grade - do not use for grade 12
  • Retain - Retain seniors who will be returning in September for SY24/25 and should be active in the September Aspen Roster. These students have no chance to graduate by September 25, 2024.
  • Met local - Student has met only local requirements for graduation.  This student does not need additional courses to support in MCAS prep, either during the summer or the fall.  This student is waiting only for MCAS CD in all three subjects. This student’s Aspen transcript is up-to-date and does support the status of “Met Local Graduation Requirements”.  This student will become INACTIVE on June 30, 2024 and open up the seat for district assignment.
  • Graduate - Student has met Local Graduation Requirements and has met State Requirements (CD in MCAS ELA, Math, and Science). Students will be discharged as a GRADUATE.
  • Enroll in SP grade-level - These are students with IEPs who satisfied academic local requirements, have completed their diploma or certificate of attainment requirements, and should still be enrolled in BPS for special education, transition, and related services. These students should not be identified as retainers.

    SP Assignment checklist:
    Students will be assigned to the SP grade level if the student meets the following:
    The student has an IEP at the end of their 12th-grade year, and
    Has signed the documentation that they are choosing to continue to receive special education services beyond the age of 18, and
    The student who has satisfied academic local requirements, and
    The student has not met Competency Determination for MCAS; OR
    The student has an MCAS-Alt designation determined by the IEP team and will stay until 22.
  • Retain due to age - do NOT use for grade 12
  • Summer Graduate Possible - Student is missing credits and hopefully will finish via Summer school or summer online credit recovery. Students may also be waiting for the MCAS CD via appeal process or through the June MCAS exam. The student needs to stay “active” in Aspen for posting summer grades/credit recovery grades. If the student does not complete in August, they will return in September.  They will not be taken off the school’s Aspen roster.

With larger school teams, please be clear WHO at your school is doing the updates in Aspen and by when your team will have completed the updates. Catherine & Kate will schedule the deadline with each school, based on when your school’s graduation ceremony is scheduled and when you plan on coming to Suite 3 in the BLA building to pick up.  (443 Warren Street, Suite 3, Dorchester, MA)  You will also pick up and transport your diploma cases on that date.

When you come to pick up diplomas, please bring your own list of seniors to cross reference with our diploma preparation.  

There will be a separate process for the August/September 2024 diplomas. Please be sure that the Aspen transcript fully supports the issuance of the high school diploma. All students must have fully met your school’s local requirements and have CD code of 1 or 2 in ELA, MATH, and SCI MCAS.  All students must also take and pass four ELA and four math courses as part of the minimum district course requirement, which is also part of the mandatory EPP for students who earned CD=1 on ELA or Math MCAS.   Another friendly reminder: if the MCAS CD status is not in Aspen, it does not exist for diploma purposes.  Only exceptions are when Catherine Chiu receives a secure email from DESE Assessment Office with a student’s MCAS score or BPS ODA communicates in writing about the CD status.  Each student receives ONE diploma.  We are unable to accommodate reprints for lost or misplaced diplomas, or diplomas damaged in fire, etc.  The transcript is the official record of every student’s status. Please make sure your students are informed of this. No diploma will be mailed.

How to Set the Aspen Status for Seniors

This article is also available as an interactive tutorial. Click here to view the interactive tutorial or scroll down to view a step-by-step version.

1 Click Student top-tab

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2 Click Filter

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3 Select the Grade Level equals filter

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4 Select 12 from the pick list

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5 Click Submit

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6 Click the Field Set menu

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7 Select the Promotion Fields

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The default status for all 12 graders is set to “blank”. High Schools will update this field from late-May to June 2024. The BPS Office Guidance Team will use this information to prepare your school’s June 2024 diplomas. Your deadline for completing this will be arranged with Catherine Chiu and Kate based on the date of your graduation ceremony.

You will now see the following fields in your list:

  • Promotion Status
  • Met MCAS

This field is read-only, and is updated in the Central Office

If this field is blank, the student has not yet met all three MCAS requirements for graduation

8 Click Options

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9 Click Modify List 

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10 Click the blue pencil above the Promote Status column to Edit it.

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11 Finally, set the status for each senior. Each senior must be given a status. Please do not leave the field blank and do not use “Retain due to age”

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12 IMPORTANT: The green check mark is your SAVE button for each screen! In other words, if you have 25 students per page in Aspen, you must save before you move onto page 2, with records 26 - 50.

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14 Click the green check mark icon to Save changes.

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15 When you are done changing all student status, click Options.

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16 Click Modify List again to exit the editing mode. 

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17 To see if there are any seniors in your school who still need their status changed, click Filter again.

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18 Select Senior Status not Set.

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19 To print this list, click Quick Print menu.

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20 Select the report format you would like.

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21 Your report should download so that you can print.

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Tips and Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Are there any tips or tricks to make this go faster?

  • Yes!  Skip the mouse and use your keyboard to complete this task in record time!
  • Once you have set the Promote Status for 1 student, use the TAB key to go to the next student.
  • Then, instead of clicking on the drop-down menu, use the G key for Graduate, the M key for Met local, the A key for August Graduate Possible, and the R key for retain

2. The icon is your SAVE button. SAVE often.

For questions and support please contact the Guidance Office at 617-635-8030. For technical support email aspen@bostonpublicschools.org or call the BPS Technology Help Desk at 617-635-9200.

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