Sessions

Understanding Spark's Organization Structure

Spark offers flexible tools for organizing your school’s dates, terms, programs, and student records. These organizational layers help keep enrollment, schedules, and records structured in a way that fits your school.

There are two main organizational layers in Spark:

• Academic Years or Programs
• Sessions

Academic Years & Programs

Academic Years and Programs are how Sessions are organized, acting as an umbrella for grouping multiple Sessions together. The individual Sessions contain the actual dates and scheduling details.

In an Academic Year, Sessions are grouped as Terms. Examples include:

• 2026–2027 Academic Year
  • Fall Semester
  • Spring Semester
  • Summer School
• 2027–2028 Academic Year
  • Quarter 1
  • Quarter 2
  • Quarter 3
  • Quarter 4

In a Program, Sessions are grouped as Program Offerings. Examples include:

• Enrichment Program
  • Art Class, Fall 2026
  • Music Class, Fall 2026
  • STEM Class, Spring 2027
• HVAC Program
  • Cohort 1
  • Cohort 2

Sessions

A Session (also called a Term) defines the dates of a specific academic period, such as:

• Fall Semester 2026
• Quarter 1 2026
• Summer Camp 2027

Each Session contains the calendar structure for that period, including:

• Start and end dates
• In-session days
• Holidays and breaks
• Other important calendar dates

Sessions are organized within an Academic Year or Program. They can be created when setting up a new Academic Year or Program, or added later to an existing one.

How Should You Organize Your School?

All schools need Sessions in order to organize records and data within their Spark platform. Schools start out with a Default Session. This can be renamed or ignored.

Schools can also choose to either organize their sessions within an Academic Year, Program, or both.

Academic Years: Best for schools organized around yearly academic cycles, such as:

• Private schools
• Microschools
• Full-year homeschool co-ops

Programs: Best for schools managing multiple independent programs or groupings, such as:

• Homeschool co-ops
• Trade schools
• Cohort-based learning programs

Schools can also use Programs and Academic Years at the same time. For example, a school may organize:

• Academic Years for yearly enrollment and grading
• Programs for electives, enrichment classes, or specialized cohorts

Existing Terms (created before the June 2026 release) will continue to work as expected and can be found as a standalone Session on the Sessions page. They can be organized within a Program or Academic Year if desired.

Setup Guides

Creating a Session

To create a new Session:

1. Go to Scheduling → Sessions.
2. In the Sessions section, click + Add Session.
3. Enter a name for the Session.
4. Optionally select a Program or Academic Year to place the Session within.
5. Select the Session dates.
6. Choose whether the Session is visible and open to students and guardians.
7. Click Create.

After creating a Session, you can customize the calendar by editing individual day types, such as:

• In-session days
• Holidays
• Breaks
• Other custom day types

These day types are visible to staff within their Student Planner and Schedule, helping teachers and staff plan effectively.

To learn more about Sessions and how to edit them and create day types, see the Academic Calendar help doc.

Creating an Academic Year or Program

To create an Academic Year or Program, go to Scheduling -> Sessions.

Academic Years:

1. Click Create and select Create Academic Year.
2. Enter a name for the Academic Year.
3. Select the Term structure for the year.
4. Name each Term and define its dates.
5. Click Create.

Once created, Sessions can be added to the Academic Year as Terms.

Programs:

1. Click Create and select Create Program.
2. Enter a name for the Program.
3. Optionally create the first Program Offering.
4. Name the Offering and define its dates.
5. Click Create.

Once created, Sessions can be added to the Program as Program Offerings.

Moving a Session into a Program or Academic Year

For schools that had Sessions created before the June, 2026 release (previously terms), these sessions can be moved into an Academic Year or Program. Additionally, Sessions in one Academic Year or Program can be moved to another.

1. Open the Session.
2. Select the desired Program or Academic Year.
3. Click Save.

The Session will automatically be organized beneath the selected structure.

Managing Records & Enrollment

Filtering Data

Most data in Spark can be organized and filtered by Session, Program, or Academic Year. This helps schools quickly view the records and information that are relevant to a specific time period or organizational structure.

Filtering is available throughout many areas of Spark, including:

• Grade Records
• Attendance
• Schedules
• Classrooms
• Enrollment data
• Reports

When filtering data, the dropdown menu will display:

• Academic Years
• Programs
• Other sessions

Selecting a Program or Academic Year will automatically include all Sessions contained within that structure. You can choose to only view one or a few of the Sessions within the Program or Academic Year.

This allows you to view data as broadly or specifically as needed. For example, you might:

• View all records for an entire Academic Year
• View only Fall Semester data
• Compare multiple Program Offerings at once

Enrollment

When enrolling students in your school, you can specify the Academic Year, Program, or individual Session they are enrolled in.

This can be done through:

• The enrollment application
• Enrollment → Enrolled Students

Assigning students to the correct organizational structure helps keep records, schedules, attendance, grade reporting, and classroom data properly organized throughout Spark.

Reports

Grade and attendance reports can be generated for specific Academic Years, Programs, or individual Sessions.

When creating a report, select the Sessions you want to include.

If you select a Program or Academic Year, Spark will automatically include all Sessions contained within that structure.

This allows schools to generate reports at both broad and detailed levels, such as:

• Full-year report cards
• Semester-specific reports
• Program-specific attendance reports
• Multi-session progress reports

Spark’s reporting filters make it easy to organize and generate records based on your school’s structure.