Behavior Communications Process Overview

Behavior letters are used to report behavior problems to students' parents or guardians. Use the Behavior Communications options (Interventions > All > Behavior Communications) to set up letter criteria, calculate which students will receive letters, list students who meet the specified criteria to receive behavior letters, and to generate the data file which can then be merged with form letters your district has created (using Microsoft Word) to notify a student's parents or guardians. The form letters include codes that will bring together Demographics information and Behavior information when you merge the form letters with the data file.
The procedure to create behavior letters involves a number of steps that are briefly explained in the following sections.

Note: You can use the Copy Setups Page option (Administration > Utilities > Mass Entry & Update > Copy Setups) to copy behavior configurations and notification setups. The behavior configuration can be copied to a building. The behavior notification setups can be copied to a building, to another school year, and to/from a summer school building.

Setting Up Letters

The following steps should be done once in the beginning of the year by your system administrator. If necessary, changes can be made throughout the year using the Behavior Criteria Setup Page option. You can access this option using any of the following menu paths:

Interventions > All > Behavior Communications > Behavior Criteria Setup

Administration > Interventions Setup > At Risk > Behavior Criteria Setup

Administration > Registration Setup > Activity Eligibility Setup > Behavior Criteria Setup

1. Use the Behavior Building Configuration Page option (Administration > Interventions Setup > Behavior > Behavior Building Configuration) to define the following fields:
   
   • Use Language Templates
   • Form Letter File Name
   • List of Language Codes
   • Registration District-Defined Screen
   The values entered in the fields on the Behavior Building Configuration Page determine the name and directory expected for your primary (form letter template) files and the kinds of information to be included in the letters. For the letters program to perform correctly, the values in these fields must be selected appropriately. Your system administrator usually sets up and maintains the configuration.
2. Use the Behavior Criteria Setup Page (using any of menu paths specified in the introductory paragraph for this procedure) to define and maintain the criteria that determine which students should receive behavior letters. For each criterion you define, you must write a behavior letter. Your system administrator usually sets up and maintains the letter criteria.
3. Use Microsoft Word software to create your Behavior form letter templates.
   Each form must be stored in its own file (called a form letter or primary letter file), and a letter must be written for each letter criterion defined. If you need letters in multiple languages, you must write one letter in each language for every criterion.
   In your form letter templates, you will use merge codes to include Behavior information and information from Student Demographics. The necessary merge codes are specified in the Merging Letters manual. These files are later merged with the disc data file created by the Send Communications List Report Page to create your Behavior letters (refer to step 3 of the Processing Letters procedure).
   The letters can include each student's name, address, parent or guardian names, behavior information, and any other information stored in the behavior letter records.

Processing Letters

1. Use the Behavior Criteria Calculation Page option to determine which students should receive behavior letters. You can access this option from any of the following menu paths:
   Interventions > All > At Risk > Behavior Criteria Calculation
   Interventions > All > Behavior Communications > Behavior Criteria Calculation
   Registration > Entry & Reports > Eligibility Calculations > Behavior Criteria Calculation
   When you run this option, offense code and action code totals are compared with letter criteria to find any students who should receive one or more letters. This process creates records in two letter tables: disc_ltr_header and disc_ltr_detail. These records specify which letters students should receive
2. If desired, use the Generate Communication List Report Page option (Interventions > All > Behavior Communications > Generate Communication List) to review which students are eligible for behavior letters.
3. Use the Send Communications List Report Page option (Interventions > All > Behavior Communications > Send Communications) to create and sort behavior letter records and create a data file.
   When you run this option, the information created when you calculated letters is combined with applicable student and incident information to create behavior letter records. These records are stored in a data file or secondary letter file, called disc, which displays in the Reports section of the Tasks and Reports Page or the Recent Reports section of the Tasks/Reports drop-down

   

   menu.
   A separate record is created for each letter a student will receive. For example, if a student is eligible for two letters, he or she will have two records in the data file.
4. In the Reports section of the Tasks and Reports Page or the Recent Reports section of the Tasks/Reports drop-down

   

   menu, right-click the disc file, and save it to your PC.
5. Merge your form letters with the disc data file to create your behavior letters.
   • When you use Microsoft Word software to create letters, you merge the disc data file you saved to your PC in the previous step with the applicable form letters to create your behavior letters.
   • For more detailed information, refer to the Merging Letters manual.