Create Students using Bulk Import

Instead of having teachers register students manually, you have the option of importing a spreadsheet to create student usernames.  You will need administrative access to www.discoveryeducation.com.  Click on My Admin to access the administrative page, and then click on Bulk Import/Update Users under the User Management Tools section.

1. Select the Create Rosters tab:

2. Click on Basic Student Template, save the .csv file to your computer, then open the file with Excel:

3.  Columns A, B, and C (Site Passcode, Account Name, and Site Name) are automatically populated with your specific District and School’s information.  The Site Passcode is the unique identifier for each school in our database and is required. These 3 columns will determine where the username is created.  Multiple schools can be used on the same spreadsheet.

*Copy and paste this information for each entry that you wish to create under that specific school*:

4. Columns D and F (First Name and Last Name) are required. Column E (Middle Initial) is optional.  Avoid using special characters in these fields (see Tips section below):

5. Columns G and H (Username and Password) are required.  This is the username and password that the user will login with.  Usernames must be at least 6 characters long. Please do not use a social security number, birthdate, or any other personal information as the username. 

Passwords must be at least 5 characters long. The only acceptable characters for the Username are letters, numbers, periods, underscores, and the @ symbol. Please do not use a social security number, birthdate, or any other personal information as the username.

Passwords may only use letters and numbers, and cannot be the same as the Username. (see Tips section below for more information on making unique Username and special characters)

*The Username must not already be registered in our database or the entry will not be created*:  

6. Column I (Student ID) is optional.  Student IDs must be unique to each username within your Account (District). Duplicate Student IDs within your Account will be rejected.  The Student ID can be used later to enroll students into classes:

7. Column J (Student Grade) is Required.  The accepted entries for this field are grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12:

8.  Column K (Parent Email) is optional. This field is used for sending the COPPA access letter for students under 13 years of age. Only one email address is accepted in this field. (see Help section on the website for more information on COPPA).

9. Column L (Archive Flag) is required.  This field is used to determine if the entry will be created or archived. Enter “N” in this field to create the entry. Enter “Y” in this field to archive the entry.  You can create and archive usernames on the same file if you wish. This must be entered for each row or else the entry will be rejected:

10. Be sure that all the required fields are filled out for each entry and that all special characters (especially commas) are removed. Save the file to your computer as a .csv file type:

11. Within Excel, click File then choose Save as.. so that you can choose the name, file type, and location of your file. Always keep a copy of your file on your computer for future reference:

12.  Return to the Import page within My Admin.  Click on the Browse button under Step 2:

13.  A pop-up window will appear.  Locate the file on your computer, then click Open:

14. If the file format is correct and all of the column headers match the template, then the file will be uploaded into the Validation Queue.  If the file is in an incorrect format or the column headers were changed or missing, then the file will be rejected:

15. The data will be validated within 2 hours. A status email will be sent to your provided email address that will outline any errors in the spreadsheet. You can see a detailed report once it is available by returning to the import page and clicking the Import Status button.  You also have the option to abandon the upload:

16. If the file format is correct and there are no extraneous commas, then the process will check each individual entry for any possible errors. If no errors were found then the file is ready for Import at 12:00 a.m. (CST).  If there were entries with errors then you may view these by clicking on Info in the Validation column. You may also save a detailed report of all entries by clicking on Download Details under the Actions column:

17. Once all errors are corrected you have the option to either abandon the original upload and reimport the entire file, or you can simply upload a file with only the corrections.  Only entries that pass Validation will be scheduled for Import at 12:00 a.m. (CST):

Error Messages

Tips

1. The usernames should have a unique school identifier at the beginning or end to avoid the username already being taken in the database. Even using just a student ID number will not guarantee the username will not already be taken. eg,  JohnSmith_AMS, 123456CHS, 123456_Wildcats.  For teachers, using a school email address is a viable option, eg. jsmith@school.k12.md.us.

2. Usernames must be at least 6 characters long.  Passwords must be at least 5 characters long. Passwords are not case sensitive.

3. Do not change, rename, or delete the column headers from the template, even if the optional columns are not filled out.

4. Copy and paste the Site Passcode, Account Name, and Site Name that populated for your specific account for each entry.  If you have multiple schools under you, then delete the populated entries that you do not wish to use.

5. Avoid using any special characters eg. commas, hyphens, apostrophes, spaces, etc within the First Name, Last Name, Username, and Password columns. Use of commas in any cell will cause the import to fail. *Please note that when copying information from another program, hidden characters may be present*

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Customer & Technical Support team at 800-323-9084 or education_info@discovery.com.