Terms OLD

What is a Term?

Terms in Spark are defined date ranges (like school years or semesters) that structure courses, assignments, and attendance records. While not required for creating assignments, terms offer valuable organization, improve reporting, and support attendance tracking.

Creating Terms

To create a term:

1. Navigate to the School Calendar in the left navigation (found in the Admin side of the Microschool version).
2. Click + Add New Term at the top right and name it.
3. Set start and end dates or choose unlimited dates.
4. Add grading periods (semesters, trimesters, or quarters).
5. Toggle whether the term is open to students.
6. Click Create.

Your term will appear on the calendar with green school days.

To add, remove, or edit days, click the Edit Term Calendar toggle at the top of the page.

Managing Terms

To edit your Term, click the Edit Term Calendar toggle at the top of the page.

Term Settings

You can edit term details such as the name, dates, and visibility settings.

To change the term name:
Click on the term name, make your edits, and save your changes.

To add or remove term dates:
Select “Clear” or choose a day type from the right column, then click on the days in the calendar to add or remove them. Remember to save when finished.

Other Term Settings:

• Open/Closed:
  This setting controls whether students and guardians can view assignments and events for the term. To update it, open the Open/Closed dropdown and select your preferred option.
• Default Term:
  The default term determines which term appears first when users log in. Pages such as the Student Planner and Attendance will automatically display this term.
  See the FAQs below for instructions on setting a term as the default.

Grading Periods

Grading periods help organize students’ grade records within a term. You can set them up when creating a term or add them later while editing.

To add or edit grading periods:
Click Periods at the top right of the term editor, then add each period along with its start and end dates.

Term Day Types

Each day in the calendar is assigned a day type, which defines its purpose. The system includes built-in types—School Days and Irregular School Days—and you can also create custom types such as Workdays, Testing Days, or Field Trip Days. These can be edited to fit your school’s needs.

When editing the calendar, day types appear in the right-hand column. Day types can be added to or deleted from this list. They can also be customized by clicking on the edit symbol.

To add, remove, or change a day type on your term calendar, make your selection from the right column or the quick-select menu below the calendar, then click any date (or click and drag across multiple dates).

A summary at the bottom of the right-hand column shows total school days and instructional hours to help you monitor attendance and compliance.

Each day type has settings that control how it’s counted:

• In Session marks it as a school day, even for nonstandard activities like testing or field trips.
• Onsite Instructional Hours and Virtual Instructional Hours define how much in-person or online learning occurs.
• Standard School Day marks it as a typical instructional day when teachers can assign work and schedule class events.

A day can be “In Session” without being a “Standard School Day,” such as on testing or field trip days.

Using Terms

Terms can be used in various places to organize or filter information. Almost all entities with Spark can be assigned a term (eg: assignments, activities, gradebooks, attendance schedules, enrollment programs).

Many pages in Spark can be filtered by term using the Term dropdown at the top of the page.

With these flexible term management tools, Spark helps keep your school’s academic structure clear and customizable.