The Bright Futures on-line data entry system is provided for Florida's secondary private schools and public school districts that do not have the capability of creating and transmitting student records using FASTER.
Transcripts will be entered and updated by high schools or non-FASTER districts into a Practice System over the world wide web using any web browser compatible with Netscape 4.0 or better (such as Internet Explorer 4.01 or better). All new or modified transcripts will be evaluated nightly. Barring unexpected difficulties with the nightly evaluation processing, results of the evaluation process can be viewed on-line the next working day.
Once you are satisfied with the Practice System results, you will be able to either transfer all of your transcripts to the Production System or transfer transcripts individually. There, they will receive another evaluation after which you will have 10 calendar days to review and make additional transcript modifications before students are notified of their evaluation results.
This document describes the portions of the system which facilitate the initial data entry and subsequent editing of a transcript. The general system overview, details on obtaining and using a Logon-ID and Password and processing of transcripts after data entry is complete, can be found in Part II of the instructions. References to Part II are scattered throughout this document. At a minimum, you should read and understand Part II, sections 1 and 2, before continuing.
2.0 Main Menu Options
FIGURE 2.1 - Main Menu
Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship Program
Main Menu
OBXXXX
01 Jan 2002 00:00:00
NOTE: Do not use your browser's built in BACK function to return to previous screens. This may cause out-of-date information to be displayed. Use only the navigation buttons and links provided in the body of the screens.
The System is now accepting transcripts for 2002 Summer Evaluation.
Click the Bright Futures System Messages link below for more details
Set these options...
District/County
School
Private School?
System
Evaluation Year and Time-Frame
A Florida Financial Aid Application must be completed
BEFORE a student is moved from the Practice System to the Production System.
...then click on one of the links below
Bright Futures System Messages - Last Updated April 3, 2002
Florida Financial Aid Applicants List by SSN or by Last Name
Enter a New Transcript
Download Evaluation Report Print Files
Bright Futures List of Students by Student ID or by Last Name
To go directly to a specific student already in the database, enter the student's SSN (or Unique Local Student ID if SSN was not provided) here:
and select list a specific student
Summary Statistics for the options identified above for the selected School or District
Delete Transcripts from the Practice System for the selected School or District
Transfer Practice System Transcripts to the Production System for the selected School or District
Copy Early Evaluation Transcripts to Summer Evaluation of the SAME YEAR for the selected School or District
LOGOFF and Return to the Bright Futures Home Page
The options available on the screen above will vary slightly depending on your level of security.
The "Enter a New Transcript" option that is discussed in Section 3.0 also provides the information necessary to edit a transcript. The remaining options are explained in Part II.
2.1 Select School, System, and Evaluation Time-frame
Before selecting an action link from the bottom half of the main menu, you must select the district/county and school; indicate whether the school is public or private; choose the practice or production evaluation system; and select the evaluation year and time-frame using the options at the top of the screen: either early evaluation based on 7th semester or summer evaluation based on all high school coursework.
You may then choose one of the links below that will allow you to perform the action indicated. To view a complete list of students entered as of today's date, select "List of Students by Student ID or by Last Name." This will allow you to view a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2 - List of Students by Last Name
3.0 Entering a New Transcript
New Transcripts are always entered into the Practice, rather than the Production, system. To enter a new transcript for a student, select the "Enter a New Transcript" option from the Main Menu and enter the student's Social Security Number (SSN) or the student's 10 digit Florida Student Number in the appropriate field.
FIGURE 3.1 - Student Number Entry Screen
All fields on this screen are required. There are two action buttons on this screen:
"Submit" - This action button will take you to the Student Demographic Entry screen.
"Cancel" - This button results in canceling the new transcript request and returning to the Main Menu Screen.
When the submit button is clicked, the system scans the Bright Futures database for a possible match. If a match is found and the student was in a different school than the one selected on the main menu, then a message is displayed and the insert is cancelled. If a match is not found, then the State Student Financial Aid Database (SSFAD) is scanned for a matching Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA). If there is still no match found, then the following screen is displayed.
FIGURE 3.2 - Student Demographic Entry Screen
Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship Program
List of Students by Last Name
BRIGHT FUTURES TEST HIGH SCHOOL (990011N)
2002 EARLY EVALUATION PRACTICE SYSTEM
OBXXXX
01 Jan 2002 00:00:00
STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
FFAA Status
This student has no application on file. You will be able to update this demographic
data until the student submits a application at the State Student Financial Aid Database
(SSFAD) site (http://www.FloridaStudentFinancialAid.org)
Current
School
SSN
(preferred ID)OR
Unique Local Student ID
First Name
Middle Name
Last Name
Suffix
Street Address
City
State Zip
Phone
E-mail
Date of Birth (yyyymmdd)
Gender
Race
STUDENT EDUCATION STATUS
This colored section will not
appear for 7th semester/early
evaluations HS Graduation Date
Diploma Type Received
Standard
GED
Not Applicable
--OR--
Early Admission
--OR--
Not Yet Graduated
IB Diploma Received
Community Service Hours Complete
Home Education
National Merit
National Achievement
TEST SCORES as entered via the online system (Enter the student's best subtest scores for tests taken through the end of January 2002)
To see all the student's test scores click the ALL TESTS button at the bottom of this of this screen.
ACT-->
(1-36)
English
Mathematics
Reading
Science
SAT-->
(200-800)
Verbal
Mathematics
CPT-->
(1-120)
Algebra
Reading
Sentence Skills
If an FFAA record is found for the student, then the student's personal identification data (SSN, name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, birthdate, race and gender) are read from the application to display on the screen. The guidance counselor WILL NOT BE able to update these fields. The labels for required fields are in bold. Tab through the form entering as much of the additional information as you can. Edits and special considerations for data are as follows:
The following fields are required: student's First Name and Last Name, at least one line of the student's Street Address, the student's City, State, Zip, and Date of Birth. The remaining fields are optional but some have certain restrictions that apply as noted below.
The student's Social Security Number (SSN) should be provided whenever possible. Unless the student's SSN is entered, the Bright Futures System will not be able to retrieve the student's latest test scores. If an SSN is not available, a Unique Local Student ID must be entered.
Date of Birth must contain a valid date and must not be less than 10 years in the past.
Gender must be one of the following one-character codes: M-Male, F-Female, U-Unknown.
Race must be one of the following one-character codes: A-Asian/Pacific Islander, B-Black non-Hispanic, H-Hispanic, I-American Indian/Alaskan Native, W-White non-Hispanic, M-Multiracial, U-Unknown
HS Graduation Date must not be a future date.
Test Scores must be within the valid range as displayed on the screen. You should enter the student's best SAT, ACT, and CPT score for each of the subtests listed. For early evaluation, enter scores/or test taken prior to February of the graduation year. Nightly evaluation processing will retrieve official SAT and ACT scores from the Test Repository IF AND ONLY IF you provide the student's social security number. CPT scores, however, are not yet available through that facility.
There are eight action buttons (available according to your security access) at the top and bottom of the form which, when clicked, will result in the following:
"Save" - This action button sends the data to NWRDC where additional validity checks are performed. If no errors are detected, the demographic information is stored in the Practice Database. If any errors are detected, a message will be displayed and you will be directed to go back to the demographic screen to correct the mistake. Fix the error and click on the "Save" action button again.
"Courses" - This action button edits and saves the demographic information in the same way as the "Save" button but upon completion continues to the Course Summary Screen as seen in Figure 3.3 below.
"Main Menu" - This action button edits and saves the demographic information in the same way as the "Save" button but upon completion returns you to the main menu.
"Student List" - This action button edits and saves the demographic information in the same way as the "Save" button but upon completion will display the complete list of students' transcripts entered from the school.
"Delete" - Irretrievably erases the current transcript from the Bright Futures system. A confirmation alert box will be displayed to ensure that accidental clicks on this button do not result in the loss of a student's transcript.
"Reset" - This action button restores original values to all data fields.
"Cancel" - This action button will return the user to the Main Menu screen without editing or attempting to enter the demographic data into the Practice Database. Any information entered on the screen will be lost.
"All Tests" - To see all test scores for the student, press this action button.
FIGURE 3.3 - Course Summary Screen
Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship Program
Student Course Details
BRIGHT FUTURES TEST HIGH SCHOOL (990011N)
2002 EARLY EVALUATION PRACTICE SYSTEM
OBXXXX
01 Jan 2002 00:00:00
Student: EXCELLENT STUDENT
ID: 999999999
Select one of the school year buttons below to enter/update the courses taken by the student during that year.
School Year
Courses
Credits Earned
Credits Earned Plus Credits in Progress
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Totals
0
0
0
Figure 3.3 shows the screen displayed after the "Courses" action completes successfully. To enter course information for a particular year, simply click on the appropriate action button in the "School Year" column and you will continue to a screen similar to the one displayed in Figure 3.4. The "Courses" column displays the number of course records for that student currently in the database for that particular year. The "Credits Earned" column is a sum of the credits earned for that particular year. The last column provides the "Credits Earned Plus Credits in Progress" as reported for a 7th semester evaluation. Use these last three columns to double check against the totals you expect.
The five action buttons at the bottom of the form will help you navigate quickly to other areas of the online system.
"Demographics" - This action button returns the user to the Demographics Entry screen to allow editing of the current transcript's information.
"Main Menu" - This action button will return the user to the Main Menu screen.
"Student List" - Choosing this button returns the user to the Student List screen from which a single transcript can be edited.
"New Transcript" - Choosing this button will take you back to the Student Number Entry Screen (Figure 3.1) to begin entering another new transcript.
"Refresh Data" - When you return to this screen from entering courses, the count of "Courses", "Credits Earned", and "Credits Earned Plus Credits in Progress" should already be updated. However, if you suspect the numbers to be erroneous you can click this action button to force a recalculation from the database.
FIGURE 3.4 - Data Entry Screen for Entering Student Course Information
Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship Program
Student Course Details
BRIGHT FUTURES TEST HIGH SCHOOL (990011N)
2002 EARLY EVALUATION PRACTICE SYSTEM
OBXXXX
01 Jan 2002 00:00:00
Student: EXCELLENT STUDENT
ID: 999999999
School Year
State Course
Number
State Course Name
Local Course Title
Subject
Area
Course Flags
Final
Grade
Credits
Complete Course List
Most Commonly Used State Courses
----- English -----
1001310-Eng I
1001340-Eng II
1001370-Eng III
1001400-Eng IV
1001320-Eng Hon I
1001350-Eng Hon II
-- Foreign Language --
0708340-Spanish I
0708350-Spanish II
0708360-Spanish III
0791920-BF FL Waiver
---- Mathematics ----
1200310-Algebra I
1200330-Algebra II
1202340-Pre-Calculus
1206310-Geometry
1206320-Geometry Hon
1211300-Trigonometry
-- Natural Sciences --
2000310-Biology I
2000320-Biology I Hon
2003340-Chem I
2003350-Chem I Hon
2003380-Physics I
-- Social Sciences --
2100310-Amer History
2100370-E/W Heritage
2100380-Visions/Pursuits
2102310-Economics
2106310-Amer Govt
2109310-World History
2109390-Bibl Old Test
2109400-Bibl New Test
2105310-Wrld Religns
------ Other ------
0200310-Compu Appli I
0800300-Life Mgt Skl
1501300-Personal Fit
1500400-Intersch Sports Waiver
Special Note:
As mentioned in Part II: Section 2.0, your session will be terminated 30 minutes after your last internet transmission to NWRDC (that is, after the last time you clicked on an action button). Therefore, you should be sure to have the course mapping from your local course numbers to the state course numbers in front of you before you begin entering a transcript. The Bright Futures On-line Course Table at http://nwrdc.fsu.edu/fnbpcm02 can be used as an aid in accomplishing this task. If your session does terminate, however, you will not have much data to reenter since all previous data has already been stored on the database.
A maximum of 20 course records are allowed per school year. Edits and special considerations for each column of data to be entered are as follows:
State Course Number must be a valid course number that was active during the school year for which data is being entered AND listed in the Bright Futures On-line Course Table mentioned above OR a valid postsecondary course number. The right hand side of the screen lists the courses most commonly used by private high schools from last year's database plus the two courses for foreign language waiver (BF FL Waiver) and personal fitness waiver (Intersch Sports Waiver). If the course you need is in this list, you can click on the link and the "State Course Number", "State Course Name", and "Subject Area" will be inserted into the next empty row on the screen. If the course number is not in the list, you can enter it in the State Course Number column and it will be validated when either the "Save School Year and Continue" or the "Save School Year and Redisplay" action button is clicked.
Local high school courses which cannot be matched to a state-defined course may be entered as '9999999', but course records with the '9999999' course number will not be considered for Bright Futures evaluation. Postsecondary courses taken at private or out-of-state colleges that cannot be matched to a state-defined postsecondary course may be entered as 'ZZZ9999' and can be included in the Bright Futures evaluation.
State Course Name is an informative field which should not be entered by high school or district personnel. The field will be filled automatically if a course number is selected from the list of courses in the sidebar. If you type in the course number, State Course Name will not be displayed until after the course records are validated by the system. Any changes to this field made by the user are ignored.
Local Course Name is required when the State Course Number is '9999999' or 'ZZZ9999' (a postsecondary course number not in the Bright Futures Course Table). Local Course Name is optional for any other course number entered. You may wish to provide Local Course Name if it is significantly different from the State Course Name.
Subject Area indicates the subject area of the course. This field is required for courses entered as '9999999' or 'ZZZ9999' (a postsecondary course number not in the Bright Futures Course Table). The field will be set automatically if a course number is selected from the list of courses in the sidebar. It is automatically derived from the Bright Futures Course Table when the course records are saved to the database. However, for dual enrollment courses, you may override the subject area to be used by selecting one of the valid values in the drop-down box. Valid values are abbreviated as:
AG - American Government
AH - American History
CS - Community Service
EC - Economics
EL - Elective
EN - English
FL - Foreign Language
LM -Life Management
MA - Mathematics
PE - Personal Fitness
PW - Personal Fitness Waiver
PF - Performing Fine Arts
SC - Science
SS - Social Studies
TK - Theory/Knowledge IB
VO - Practical Arts (Vocational)
WH - World History
The Course Flags field is used to indicate that a course is in progress. A "P" may be entered in any one of the four character spaces in this field.
Final Grade is the grade earned by the student for the course. This field is required unless the course is in progress. Valid values are selected from the drop-down list and are: A, B+, B, C+, C, D+, D, F, and P. Although the '+' designations are valid, no extra grade points are given for those grades. If the course is an annual course in which the student earned a grade of B for the first semester and a grade of A for the second semester you have two methods for entering the course. You can enter it as an annual course with a grade of B+ and earned credits of 1 -OR- you can enter it as two semester courses, both having earned credits of .5, the first having a grade of B and the second having a grade of A. The second method will result in a better overall GPA for your student.
The Credits field indicates the number of credits the student earned or will earn for the course. This field is required. Valid values are selected from the drop-down list and are: 0, .17, .33, .5, and 1 The .17 value is used for college courses such as one hour labs. The .33 value is used to assign credits for trimester coursework. NOTE: when an annual course is entered, two records are actually inserted into the database. This will increase your total course record count displayed on the Course Summary screen (Figure 3.3).
There are ten action buttons at the bottom of the Transcript Course Screen which help you navigate quickly to other areas of the on-line system.
4.0 Contacting FIRN Applications Staff for Problem Resolution
Despite your best efforts, problems in entering the Bright Futures transcripts may occur. The quicker the problem is diagnosed, the more quickly it can be corrected, and the transcripts entered into the Bright Futures System. Contact numbers for FIRN Applications Programming staff:
Pete Tanzy (850) 245-9775
Laverne McKenzie (850) 245-9763
