Parent Guide
1
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Welcome
1.
How to Use this Guide
Getting Started
1.
AscendSMS Student and Parent accounts
2. Logging In
3.
Completing the Parent Profile
4. Linking Additional Parent Accounts
5.
Help Resources / Question Mark Icon
Dashboards
1.
Parent Dashboard - Multiple Students
2. Detail Dashboard - Individual Student
Toolbar
1.
Home Tab
1.
Schedule
2. Homework Tab
1.
Homework Calendar
2. Homework Detail
3.
RTI
3.
Report Card Tab
4. Question Mark Icon
1.
Access Resource Library
2. Contact AscendSMS
Action Links
1.
Edit Profile
2. Change Password
3.
Manage Accounts
1.
Linking Parent Accounts
2. Progress Graph
3.
Assignment Graph
5.
6.
7.
Action Links (continued)
1.
Grade Alerts (on Detail Dashboard only)
1.
By Subject
2. By Percentage
3.
By Missing Assignments
2. Logout
3.
Term Selection
4. Viewing Student Selection
Panels
1.
Student
2. Subject
3.
Homework
1.
Tomorrow Detail
2. Upcoming Detail
3.
Missing Assignment Detail
4. Attendance Summary
1.
Absent /Tardy Detail
5.
Conduct
1.
Conduct Detail
Date Tables and Graphs (on Detail Dashboard Only)
1.
Homework Table
2. Assignment Performance Table
3.
Performance Graphs
2
Welcome to AscendSMS
Congratulations on your school’s choosing AscendSMS! We feel the
parent is the primary educator of a child. Our aim is to make keeping
current with your child’s education as easy and convenient as
possible.
Please feel free to contact us should you have questions or concerns!
We love feedback and supporting our AscendSMS schools!
 SMS help request: click on the
icon when logged in
 Email: support@ascendSMS.com
 Phone: 513-682-5054
3
How to Use This Guide
When viewed electronically, underlined items & red boxes
are hyperlinks which, when clicked, will navigate to that
page of the guide. To get back to the table of contents,
simply click on the “Back to Table of Contents” icon located
at the bottom of each slide.
4
Getting Started
In this section, we’ll:
• Learn about the relationship between student accounts and
parent accounts
• Use the parent letter(s) you’ve received to get your school’s
AscendSMS URL and parent account login credentials
• Login for the first time
• Change our password
• Complete the profile
• Accept the end-user license agreement
• Link additional parent accounts
• Discover AscendSMS help resources
5
Getting Started: AscendSMS Student and Parent Accounts
• Each student is provided a student account.
• Each student account is associated a parent account. If the parents of
a student live in separate households, that student account will be
associated with two parent accounts. Parent Accounts may not be
shared with another household. Each household must have their own
parent account.
• If you have more than one child attending this school, you will have an
associated parent account for each child.
• Parents may link multiple parent accounts together. Linking:
• Allows you to view information for each of your children with just
one username and password, saving you from logging in and out
of several accounts.
• Copies/Pastes the Profile information entered on the originating
account is to the profile of the linked account, saving you from
retyping the same information over and over.
• In order to receive a daily email for a student, the parent account
associated with that student must be completed.
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Getting Started: Logging In
Each student is sent home
an AscendSMS
Parent/Guardian letter
which contains the:
1) URL
2) login credentials to
your parent account.
There is a separate parent
account for each child
account, but your parent
accounts can be linked,
making them act as one
account.
7
Getting Started: Logging In
Navigate to https://yourschool.ascendsms.com
Be sure that your school’s logo and name appear at the top.
Enter your login credentials
Typically, the login ID and
password are the same as
your students, only with a
p added:
•
•
Login Id: #####p
Password: #####p
Suggestion: Create a bookmark for this page!
8
Getting Started: Change Password
Upon you first login, you will be required to change your password.
For security purposes, type in the password with which you just signed in,
then type in a new password. To confirm the password you just
entered, enter it again then hit submit.
9
Getting Started: Completing the Parent Profile
Fill out the required * fields.
If a child has parents in two
households, please request
that a second parent account
be created. Parents in
separate households are not
permitted to share an
account.
Note: When you select Divorced
or Single for the marital
status, the other side of the
screen greys out, meaning
those fields are no longer
required to be completed.
Select Save when complete.
To use AscendSMS, you must
accept the end user license
agreement.
10
Getting Started: Linking Additional Parent Accounts
To link additional Parent Accounts, click Manage Accounts.
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Action Links: Manage Accounts
Linking Additional Parent Accounts
To link additional parent accounts, enter the credentials of the PARENT
ACCOUNT you wish to link to this parent account.
Linking will copy/paste the profile from this account to the linked
account.
12
Action Links: Help Resources / Question Mark Icon
To access help resources or to contact AscendSMS, click the question mark icon
13
Dashboards
There are two different types of dashboard screens:
1. Parent Dashboard – displays summary information panels for all of your
linked parent accounts on one screen. This is the default dashboard that
first appears when you log in, making is quick and easy to see you your
children are doing in school at a glance.
2. Detail Dashboard –displays the summary information for one student
with additional detailed Homework and Assignment Performance tables,
as well as Performance Graphs – listed underneath the panel.
14
Parent Dashboard (Multiple Students)
The parent dashboard appears once logged in. In a glance, you can get information
about all of your children from a single screen. To view more detail, select a
student from the Viewing: dropdown, or click on the student name..
Toolbar
Action Links
Panels
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Detail Dashboard Screen (Individual Student)
Click on a red box hyperlink for more information about that item
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Toolbar
The Toolbar is the blue bar shown at the top of every screen.
The Toolbar includes:
1. Home Tab
2. Homework Tab
3. Report Card Tab
4. Question Mark Icon
17
Toolbar: Home Tab - Schedule
Clicking on the Home
tab refreshes your
screen.
Select a specific date to see the schedule for
that specific date / day of the week (m-f.)
Hovering over the Home
tab allows you to
click your child’s
schedule.
(Note: Not all
schools/teachers
have inputted their
schedules into
AscendSMS. For
those, schedule
information will not
appear
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Toolbar: Homework Tab – Homework Calendar
Homework Calendar
• Shows the number of
homework items the
student has on a
specific day.
• Clicking on number
of homework items
pulls up a detailed
view.
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Toolbar: Homework Tab - Homework Listing
Homework Listing shows the detail of homework, items to take home,
items to bring to school, and messages from teachers.
Date Homework Issued.
Date Homework Due (this item will appear each day from 8/5 to 8/12.)
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Toolbar: Homework Tab - RTI
21
Toolbar: Report Card Tab
Once report cards have been finalized by the school each term, select Grade
Report to download, view and/or print your child’s report card.
You will receive a message if the report cards have not yet been finalized.
It takes about 30 seconds to generate and download a report card.
Note: Note all schools enable report cards to viewed online.
22
Toolbar: Question Mark Icon
AscendSMS is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive. However, you
may decide to access our resource library or contact AscendSMS by
issuing a help request.
Hovering over the question mark icon brings up 2 options:
1. Access Resource Library
2. Contact AscendSMS
23
Toolbar: Question Mark Icon
Access Resource Library
The Resource Library includes videos, this parent guide, and helpful
parent tips. You can also submit a question from this page.
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Toolbar: Question Mark Icon
Contact AscendSMS
When you select the Contact AscendSMS option, a text box appears.
Simply type your question or comment and hit send. This email is
received by both your school’s AscendSMS administrator, as well as
AscendSMS support staff. Because you are logged in, we’ll know who
this help request is from.
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Action Links
Action Links include:
1. Edit Profile
2. Change Password
3. Manage Accounts
4. Grade Alerts (on Detail Dashboard only)
5. Logout
6. Term Selection
7. Viewing Student Selection
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Action Links: Edit Profile
Note: After linking,
changing profile
information on one
parent account, even if it
is linked to this parent
account, will not change
the profile on the other
parent accounts.
It is permissible to change
the Login ID to
something you can more
easily remember. Be
careful when typing,
however, there is not a
confirm box as there is
for password
27
Action Links: Change Password
For security purposes. type in the password with which you signed in,
then type in a new password. To confirm the password you just
entered, enter it again.
28
Action Links: Manage Accounts
Manage Accounts:
1. Allows linking of additional parent accounts
2. Displays accounts that are linked to this account,
3. Allows setting of graph(s) to be displayed for you and your child(ren)
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Action Links: Manage Accounts
Linking Additional Parent Accounts
To link additional parent accounts, enter the credentials of the PARENT
ACCOUNT you wish to link to this parent account.
Linking will copy/paste the profile from this account to the linked
account.
30
Action Links: Manage Accounts
Graph Settings - Progress Graph
When enabled, the Progress Graph shows the performance of:
• your student
• the class average
• the top student
Clicking the
various graph
titles will toggle
that graph to
display or be
hidden.
31
Action Links: Manage Accounts
Graph Settings -Assignment Graph
When enabled, the
Assignment Graph
shows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Frequency table
Bar chart
Class average (mean)
Student score
32
Action Links: Grade Alerts (on Detail Dashboard only)
IN ADDITION TO the daily summary
email, you may elect to receive an
email alert for one or more students:
• By Subject
• By Percentage
• By Missing Assignment
Email Preferences:
• You may not opt out of receiving the
Daily Summary: as such, it is greyed
out.
• You may elect to receive Weekly and/or
Monthly Summary emails.
• You may add additional emails to
receive summary emails.
33
Action Links: Grade Alerts - By Subject
You may elect to receive an email alert anytime an assignment is posted in
certain subject. You may elect to receive all assignments, or choose between
just receiving Tests, Quizzes, Homework, or other categories.
Reminders:
• An email alert is specific only to that student. As such, alerts must be set per student.
• An email alert is in addition to the daily summary email.
• Be sure to hit save when finished making your alert selections.
34
Action Links: Grade Alerts - By Percentage
You may elect to receive an email alert anytime an assignment is posted that is
less than a percentage you set. You may set a different percentage for each
subject.
Reminders:
• An email alert is specific only to that student. As such, alerts must be set per student.
• An email alert is in addition to the daily summary email.
• Be sure to hit save when finished making your alert selections.
35
Action Links: Grade Alerts - By Missing Assignment
You may elect to receive an email alert anytime an assignment is posted that is
marked incomplete, absent and/or pending.
Reminders:
• An email alert is specific only to that student. As such, alerts must be set per student.
• An email alert is in addition to the daily summary email.
• Be sure to hit save when finished making your alert selections.
36
Action Links: Logout
Logout immediately logs you out of AscendSMS
and brings up the Log In screen for your return.
37
Action Links: Term Selection
AscendSMS automatically defaults to the
current term based on the date. You can choose
to select prior terms, if needed.
38
Action Links: Viewing Student Selection
Selecting a student brings up the Detail
Dashboard for that student.
39
Panels
Both the Parent Dashboard and the Detail
Dashboard display summary panels.
40
Panels: Student
Displays:
• Student Name (clicking on first name brings up the
detail dashboard for that student.)
• Homeroom Class
• Composite GPA
• N/A means either:
• GPA is not used/set up at this grade level
• GPA is not used/set up at this school
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Panels: Subject
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Arrow Color will be colored: Assignment:
• Green Up –raising grade posted today
• Red Down - lowering grade posted today.
• Blue Up/Down - last assignment posted
prior to today
Subject Name (clicking opens progress report)
Overall Grade (clicking opens progress report)
Overall Percentage (if blank, your school
chose not to display the numeric average usually for lower grades.)
Teacher Name (clicking opens Outlook to
send email to the teacher)
Schedule – when class meets (Note: Not all
schools/teachers enter their class schedules
into AscendSMS.)
eClassroom – (clicking opens eClassroom)
Trend Indicator – Arrow Indicates whether
last assignment increased or decreased the
overall average)
Subject Box will be shaded:
• Blue – Overall Grade is A or B
• Orange- Overall Grade is C or D
• Red – Overall Grade is F
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Panels: Subject Detail
In order for the Performance
Graph to display:
• Your school must have them
enabled.
• You must have them enabled
(see manage accounts)
43
Panels: Homework
Quickly see what homework is due tomorrow and what is upcoming.
Also see how many assignments are considered missing.
Hovering over the assignments due tomorrow brings up a popup screen.
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Panels: Homework Listing
Clicking on the number of homework items under Tomorrow and/or
Upcoming brings up the appropriate Homework Listing
45
Panels: Missing Assignments
Clicking on the number of Missing Assignments displays all assignments
that are:
• Absent (overall average not effected)
• Pending (overall average not effected)
• Incomplete (overall average effected, treated as a zero)
46
Panels: Attendance
Quickly see how many Absences and Tardies your student(s) have.
Also see how many conduct violations your student(s) have.
Hovering over the Absences and Tardies brings up a popup screen.
47
Panels: Attendance
Clicking on the number of homework items under Tomorrow and/or
Upcoming brings up the appropriate Homework Listing
48
Panels: Conduct
Quickly see how many Conduct Violations your student(s) have.
Hovering over the Conduct Violations brings up a popup screen.
49
Panels: Conduct – Infractions Record and Comments
Clicking on the number of conduct violations brings up the Infractions
Record and Comments made by the issuing teacher.
50
Data Tables and Graphs (on Detail Dashboard Only)
Under the panel on Detail Dashboards are the
1. Homework Table
2. Assignment Performance Table
3. Performance Graphs
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Data Tables and Graphs (on Detail Dashboard Only)
Homework Table
Homework Table shows a listing of all homework items.
Clicking on the teacher name opens your email client (i.e.,
Outlook) so that you can send the teacher an email.
Hovering over the homework description brings up a popup the
shows the entire description
52
Data Tables and Graphs (on Detail Dashboard Only)
Assignment Performance Table
The assignment Performance Table shows detailed information about the
most recent assignments.
Clicking on the teacher name opens your email client (i.e., Outlook) so
that you can send the teacher an email.
53
Data Tables and Graphs (on Detail Dashboard Only)
Performance Graphs
When enabled, the Progress Graph shows the performance of:
• your student
• the class average
• the top student
Clicking the
various graph
titles will toggle
that graph to
display or be
hidden.
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