Release 1.14.0 / 1.16.0 / 1.17.0
Release Date
- August 25, 2023 (v1.14.0)
Sections
Max Class Enrollment Size
Staff can now set the max number of students to be enrolled in a class on the class configuration page. This number includes any active student statuses (typically Accepted and Student for most schools). If a max number of enrollments is set for a class that is available on a Class Signup step in the admissions process, once the max number of active enrollments is reached, students will no longer be able to select this class on the Class Signup step. Staff can still manually enroll students in the class once the max enrollment number has been reached. If configured, the max number of enrollments and current number of enrollments for the class now show on the Classes page for quick staff visibility.
Combine Fees on Tuition Agreement
Staff users can now have any unpaid fees that are already on a student's account be combined with the tuition fee that is applied in the Tuition Agreement step, so that all fees are included in the payment plan for the student.
Pay Immediately on Tuition Agreement (K-12 Only)
Staff users can now configure the Tuition Agreement step to charge the first installment for the family immediately upon completion of the step, regardless of the due date of the first installment for this students' payment plans.
Payment Plan Template Configuration Update
Staff users can now specify if they would like the first installment of a payment plan template to be due on a specific date, due immediately (the day the payment plan is applied to the student's account either automatically through the Tuition Agreement step in admissions or manually applied by a staff user), or due within a number of days of the payment plan being applied to the student's account. If the installment is due within a number of days of being applied, the staff user configures a deadline that the payment must be made, even if the number of days has not yet elapsed.
Ungraded Assignments
We've introduced a new grade type for assignments! Now in addition to having Graded or Pass Fail assignments, staff users can create Ungraded assignments. Ungraded assignments can be used for administrative tasks that you want students to complete but they do not receive a grade for, such as getting student feedback at the end of a class. Ungraded assignments can either require Staff Review or No Review, depending on the assignment type.
Update to Class Discussions
We've adjusted how Discussions function in Align. Previously, Discussions were a type of lesson step that could be either optional or required for students to complete as they worked through their lesson and had no bearing on the students' grades for the class. We've updated Discussions to now be a type of assignment, so that participation in Discussions can be used to factor into a student's final grade for the class. Discussions can still be used in lessons by linking them as an assignment in the lesson. We've also added configurations for student requirements to complete the Discussion assignment. Staff users can make the discussion optional, require interaction by students by either starting a new thread or making a comment on an existing thread, require every student to start a new thread, and/or require every student to make a comment on at least one thread that is not their own.
*Any Discussions that existed as lesson steps before this update were migrated to be Ungraded, optional assignments.
Late Homework Attendance Lockout
Staff users can now configure the Late Homework alerts for students and configure an attendance lockout for students who have a certain number of past due assignments. When enabled, the attendance lockout prevents students with the configured number of late assignments from checking into On Campus class times from the check-in screen. Those students will accrue absences for On Campus class times until they turn in the appropriate number of late assignments. The lockout by default will apply to all students, but it can be configured to only apply to students of certain school years. Please note: at this time the attendance lockout will not occur for online class times.
To configure the Late Homework alerts and attendance lockout, first enable the Homework Alert Configurations permission on the appropriate staff team (typically Administrators). Then the Homework Alerts and Lockout option will appear on that staff team's Advanced page in the General block.
Autopay on Class Signup Step
Staff users can now enable autopay on the Class Signup step in the admissions process. Autopay can be enabled only if Stripe (credit card) or Authorize.net (ACH) is being used as the school's payment processor.
Tuition Agreement Payment Plan Logic Update
We've updated the payment plan logic so that when a payment plan is applied to a student either through the Tuition Agreement step or manually by a staff user, any installments of that plan which were due either today or before today now have their installment date adjusted to be Due Today (meaning the date that the payment plan is applied to the student's finances). Staff users can still edit a student's payment plan to move installments to the past to make it Past Due.
View Responses Error
This fix addressed an error that staff users encountered when clicking "View Responses" to see applicant responses to questionnaires in the admissions process.