How to Promote or Retain Non-Senior Students

Aspen Support Updated by Aspen Support

Promote, Retain, or Graduate Guidelines

All students from K0-12 must have a promotion status set in Aspen before the last day of school. The Students “Promote Status” field is blank by default in Aspen. This means they will be rolled up to the next grade level with the End-of-Year Rollover.

Schools should only make entries in the Promote Status field when a student is being retained in that grade or needs to go to summer school and anticipates promotion to the next grade level.

  • Graduate - [Gr12 only] Student has met state and local graduation requirements
  • Promote - Promote student to next grade (including summer school attendees*)
  • Met local - [Gr12 only] Student has met only local requirements for graduation. The student will NOT be returning for any additional instruction.
  • August Graduate Possible - [Gr12 only] Student can graduate by completing summer school
  • Retain - Retain student in same grade (only those you know will be retained)
  • Enroll in SP grade-level - [Gr12 only] These are students with IEPs who satisfied academic local requirements, have completed their diploma or certificate of attainment, and remain enrolled in BPS for special education, transition, and related services.
  • Retain due to age - Central Office Use Only - for students too young to promote to K1
  • Summer School Reg. - Student is registered in Aspen for summer school and is expected to attend and be in the next grade level in September.

* Use "retain" ONLY for students that will be retained regardless of summer school attendance or performance. Non-grade 12 students whose promotion depends on summer school should be left blank and they will be promoted with the end of the year data is rolled over.

School teams will have the opportunity to make updates in August, based on summer school results.

Making an entry in the Promotion Status field ONLY impacts a student’s grade level and assignment for next year.

During the End-of-Year Rollover process, Aspen will do the following, based on these values:

Graduate - Enrollment status will be changed to “Graduate”

Promote - Grade level will be incremented by 1

Met local - Enrollment status will be changed to “Withdrawn”

Retain - Grade level will be unchanged -Retain

Enroll in SP grade-level - Grade level will be SP

August Graduate Possible - Grade level will be unchanged

How to Promote or Retain Non-Senior Students

1 Click Student top-tab

Step 1 image

2 Click Grade in the Gray Header to sort students by Grade Level.

Step 2 image

3 Click the Field Set menu

Step 3 image

4 Select the Promotion Fields

Step 4 image

5 Click Options

Step 5 image

6 Click Modify List 

Step 6 image

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

Step 7 image

8 Schools are only required to change this for students who must be retained. Use retain ONLY for students that will be retained regardless of summer school attendance or performanceStudents are set to "Promote" by default. If a student is left blank, they will be automatically promoted. 

Step 8 image

9 Click the Dropdown menu and Select Retain

Step 9 image

10 To make this go faster, once you have set the Promote Status for the first student, use the TAB key to go to the next student. Instead of clicking on the drop-down menu, use the R key for RETAIN.

Step 10 image

11 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.

Step 11 image

12 Click The green check mark to SAVE your work on this page.

Step 12 image

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

Step 13 image

14 Click Modify List again to exit the editing mode. 

Step 14 image

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

Step 15 image

16 Click Promotion Status not Set

Step 16 image

NOTE: If you start with this filter, as you click the save icon, your screen will refresh and you will no longer see the students you just saved. But don’t worry, they disappear because those students no longer meet the filter criteria of “Promotion Status not set”.

17 To print this list, click Quick Print menu

Step 17 image

18 Select the report format you would like.

Step 18 image

19 Your report will download so that you can print.

Step 19 image

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 P key for promote, the R key for retain, the G key for graduate, and the M key for met local.

2. What if I leave a student blank?

  • Promote status is assumed by default. If a student is left blank, he/she will be promoted. 
  • All you have to  absolutely do is mark the students that should be retained.

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.

How did we do?

How to Enter a Student's Next Year Homeroom in School View

How to Set Promotion Status for Seniors

Contact