Select a term to see a definition:
actual school days
All the days in a school year when school is actually in session. Holidays, non-teaching days and other occasions when school is not in session are considered days off and are not used to calculate the number of actual school days in the school year or a reporting period.
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authorisation password
A security measure to prevent unauthorised student testing; when the relevant preference is set, a teacher or test monitor must enter an authorisation password before a student is allowed to start a test or take a quiz.
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benchmark
A standard against which the achievements of a student, year, school or school network are measured. It is the lowest level of performance that is considered acceptable.
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capacity
The number of available "seats" a program has for students to use. Capacity can be changed depending on the number of seats required by a school or school network.
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characteristic
An attribute assigned to a student (e.g., gifted/talented, physically disabled, special educational needs). Several standard characteristics are included in Renaissance.
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class
One unit in a course. To be complete, classes need a lead teacher, enrolled students, and the products the class will use assigned. Classes that are missing any of this information are incomplete; they cannot use the software until they are complete.
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class enrollment
The assignment of one or more students to a specific class. A student can be enrolled in a school and not have any class enrollments, but a student enrolled in a class must be enrolled in the school that class takes place in.
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comma-separated value (CSV) file
A text file format that uses commas to separate values and new lines to separate records. CSV files store tabular data in plain text, where each line of the file typically represents one data record. Each record consists of the same number of fields, and these are separated by commas in the CSV file. These are often used to import/export Renaissance data.
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complete classes
Complete classes have a lead teacher, students enrolled, and products selected and assigned. These are the classes that can use your Renaissance products.
Incomplete classes are missing the teacher, students, or products. These classes cannot use your Renaissance products.
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consolidated reports
Reports specifically designed for school network level administrators, school network dashboard owners, school network staff, school level administrators and school staff to give them an overall picture of how entire school networks/schools are performing.
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course
A container to help you structure and organise your classes: classes are added to courses. For example, there could be three different classes (first period, second period, and third period) in a single third-year maths course. Courses stay in the database from year to year; classes must be added or imported every year or copied from the previous school year.
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Custom Data Integration (CDI)
A service that integrates an external rostering service with Renaissance's rostering.
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data
All of the information that Renaissance keeps track of, including information about the school network, schools, personnel, courses, classes, and students.
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database
A set of stored data from a Renaissance site. For some types of data, it is possible to import data into Renaissance from an external database.
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day off
A day in which school is not in session, such as a holiday or a teacher in-service day. They are sometimes known as non-teaching days. Days off do not include weekends.
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deleted (erased)
- A deleted record is one that has been removed from the Renaissance database. The program no longer uses it and cannot access it.
- A deleted record cannot be reclaimed.
- Records for personnel, students, courses, and classes can be deleted.
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demographic group
A customised group made of students with similar properties, such as ethnicity, gender, and year.
enrollment
See class enrollment and school enrollment.
erased
See deleted (erased).
export file
A data file that has been exported from one program so that it can be imported into Renaissance.
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first/last day for students
The dates that students will actually be in school and attending classes during the school year. These dates are used to calculate scores to align precisely to a school network's calendar.
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historical and growth expectation extracts
Two types of student data that can be exported from certain programs to CSV files:
- Historical: Useful for planning for a new school year, comparing predictions of students' performance on KS2 SATs tests with their actual test results and identifying trends in performance and growth for students or teachers.
- Growth Expectation: Provides information that can be used for evaluating educator effectiveness or during data retreats with staff, as well as aiding with school year planning.
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incomplete classes
Incomplete classes are missing the teacher, students, or products. These classes cannot use your Renaissance products.
Complete classes have a lead teacher, students enrolled, and products selected/assigned. These are the classes that can use your Renaissance products.
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IP restrictions
Your Renaissance site has a list of authorised IP (Internet Protocol) addresses for the computers in your school or school network, giving them access to it. IP restrictions can be set to prevent students from using Renaissance programs from unauthorised computers.
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lead teacher
When you add team teachers for a class, you choose which teacher is the lead.
In classes that only have one teacher, that teacher is automatically the lead teacher.
marking period
A span of time during a school year. Many reports for Renaissance products can be customised to show data from a particular marking period, and some products have targets based on marking periods. Marking periods can also be used to specify the duration of a class.
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new school year wizards
Built-in software assistants that help users set up Renaissance for the first time or get Renaissance ready for a new school year.
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non-teaching days
See day off.
parent
The mother, father, or legal guardian(s) of a student.
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permission group
preference
Preferences are the settings for your Renaissance programs. Some preferences affect an entire school or school network; other preferences are specific to a class or student.
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probable non-reader
A student who answers too many items on a Star Reading test incorrectly and may be randomly guessing answers.
products
The individual programs that are used with Renaissance, such as Accelerated Reader and the Star products.
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record
A collection of data about an individual student or personnel member.
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report
A customised analysis of various pieces of Renaissance data, often including charts and graphs. Compare with dashboard.
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school
A building or group of buildings where classes are taught to students. A school network is made up of schools located within a specified area that are all administered by a board of education.
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school assignment
The assignment of a personnel member to a school. Personnel members can be assigned to more than one school in a school network.
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school enrollment
The assignment of a student to a specific school. A student can be enrolled in more than one school in a school network.
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school level administrators
A personnel member who serves in an administrative capacity at a school (e.g., deputy head teacher, head teacher, intervention specialist, or librarian).
school network
A geographical division with specified limits whose school(s) are administered by a local board of education.
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school network dashboard owner
A user who has rights to run reports for any school in the school network; by default, this is the only right this user has.
school network level administrator
The head of a school network (the Renaissance administrator).
school network staff
Non-administrative personnel whose job functions may range across several schools in a school network (e.g., personnel director, curriculum director, school network secretary).
school staff
Non-administrative personnel members other than teachers that are assigned to a school (e.g., school secretary, guidance counsellor, EAL coordinator).
school year
A single full-length school session, usually running from September of one calendar year to July of the following year. The starting and ending dates for a school year typically change from one calendar year to the next. School years are sometimes divided into quarters, semesters, and/or trimesters; summer sessions may also be considered a part of a school year.
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software update
Renaissance applies updates to your products to fix problems or add new features.
student
A student enrolled in one or more classes in a school. Students can be enrolled in more than one school in a school network.
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subscription information
A list of the products registered for a school or school network, along with the subscription dates.
supporting software
Third-party software that is used by some Renaissance products, such as Adobe Reader.
teacher
A personnel member assigned to instruct one or more classes, either as a lead teacher (every class must have one) or as a team teacher. Lead teachers are selected when you add or edit a class. Teachers can be assigned to multiple classes and to more than one school in a school network.
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team teachers
Team teachers can be added to classes, but they are not required for classes. Team teachers can view class information and work with classes. When you add teachers to a class, you can choose which teacher is the lead teacher.
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technology/computer coordinator
The person(s) at the school or school network responsible for performing tasks such as checking the software requirements at school computers, importing data, setting data restrictions, or choosing access and security settings. This person may have a different title in the school network or school, such as IT specialist; in some cases, the school network administrator may be the one performing these tasks.
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user name
A name assigned to personnel members or students which is used to log in to Renaissance.
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user permission group
A user permission group is a set of people who hold particular positions within a school or school network. The user permission group a person belongs to determines what user permissions that person has in Renaissance. The user permission groups are school network level administrators, school network dashboard owners, school network staff, school level administrators, school staff, and teachers. A person can belong to more than one user permission group (e.g., a school staff member who also teaches classes).
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user permissions
The ability to perform certain tasks in Renaissance software. Default user permissions are assigned to people based on what user permission group they belong to, but they can be changed (either for individuals or for user permission groups).
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