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Set Up Course Planner

To set up Course Planner:

  1. Assign staff user role permissions.
  2. Define subject areas.
  3. Import and manage the course catalog.
  4. Import course mapping.
  5. Build and manage Plans of Study.
  6. Build and manage Career Pathways.
  7. Optionally:
    • Set Global Grade Settings.
    • Set Course Plan Approval Options.
    • Enter custom labels for career clusters and pathways.
    • Add links and documents to the Manage Plan page in Naviance Student.
    • Allow students to select credit recovery courses in their course plans.
  8. Update Naviance Student settings.
  9. Publish Plans of Study.
  10. Publish Career Pathways.
  11. Optionally, assign the edit course plan task to students.
  12. Import and manage student course data.

Assign Staff User Role Permissions

District-Level Staff Permissions

Assign the following permissions to district-level user roles, so district staff can access course planner features in Naviance.

User Role PermissionDescription

Add/edit course catalog

Add and edit courses.

Publish course catalog

Publish the course catalog to schools in the district.

View course catalog

Review the course catalog.

View plans of study and career pathways

Review the plans of study and career pathways.

Manage plans of study and career pathways

Add and edit the plans of study and career pathways.

Publish plans of study and career pathways

Publish the plans of study and career pathways to schools in the district.

School-Level Staff Permissions

Assign the following permissions to school-level user roles so that school staff can access course planner features in Naviance.

User Role PermissionDescription

Add/edit course catalog

Add and edit courses.
View course catalogReview the course catalog.

Add/edit plans of study and career pathways

Add and edit the plans of study and career pathways.

View plans of study and career pathways

Review the plans of study and career pathways.

Recommend students for courses

Recommend a course to a student.

View course recommendations

Review all course recommendations.

Define Subject Areas

You must define the subject areas of all courses being imported to ensure courses are mapped to the correct subject area when imported.

To define subject areas:

Manually Enter a Subject Area

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Subject Areas.
  2. Select Add a Subject.
  3. From the Add a Subject Area modal:
    1. Enter a Name.
    2. Select a Classification of Secondary School Courses (CSSC) code or a School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) code from the corresponding lists.

      You must use SCED codes and subject areas if your school or district uses Naviance Insights Premium.
    3. Click Save.

Auto-generate Subject Areas

Include the Subject Area and SCED Subject Area fields in your data file when importing your course catalog information. You must populate the SCED Subject Area field with the subject codes defined by the National for Education Statistics.

If importing SCED subject areas, ensure the SCED subject areas are also identified in your Student Information System (SIS).

Update Subject Areas

You can edit or delete subject areas not associated with any classes in Naviance.

Update a Course Subject Area

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Subject Areas.
  2. From the Subject Areas page:
    1. Select the pencil icon to edit the subject area.
    2. Select the trash can icon to delete the subject areas.

Update Course Subject Areas in Bulk

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Course Catalog.
  2. Select all courses or specific courses to update, then choose Change Subject Area from the Bulk Actions list.
  3. Select the new subject area, then click Save.

Course Catalog

Import Courses in Bulk

Add courses from your course catalog in bulk via:

Review the course catalog import fields for more information on the data to import.

Alternatively, districts using PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) can set up data integration with Naviance. Review the course catalog field mapping for more information on fields available for integration.

Add a Course Manually

You can also manually add courses to the Naviance course catalog.

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Course Catalog.
  2. Select Add a Course.
  3. Enter the course information.
  4. Optionally, select courses for Credit Recovery, Equivalent Courses, Course Prerequisites, or Course Corequisites.

    1. Enter a course name in the Search by Course Name or ID field, then select the course from the list.
    2. Click the plus icon to add more courses and create an And Condition.
    3. Select Add an Or Condition from Course Pre-Requisites for an Or Condition.

      • Add Credit Recovery courses to identify the courses that students can take to recover credit for a failed course. If none are specified, students can select courses from the requirement.
      • Add Equivalent Courses for courses that students should receive credit for but are not included in the plan of study, such as transfer credits. The equivalent course will not be included in the plan of study; however, when importing the student's course data, the equivalent course and credits will populate the student's course plan.
      • Add Course Prerequisites if students need to take classes before another class.
      • Add Course Corequisites for courses that must be taken at the same time.
  5. Click Save.

    Alternatively, select Map this course to schools upon saving, then click Save. From the Map Course to Schools modal, select the schools that should have access to the course or enter a course name or ID to copy the course mapping. Click Save School Mapping.

Edit a Course

If you have set up an automated import or PowerSchool Data Integration for your course catalog or course mapping, edit course information from your SIS, not Naviance.
  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Course Catalog.
  2. Select the pencil icon for the selected course.
  3. Optionally, click Edit School Mapping.
    1. From the Map Course to Schools modal, select the schools that should have access to the course or enter a course name or ID to copy the course mapping.
    2. Click Save School Mapping.
  4. Update the course information.
  5. Click Save.

Course Mapping

After importing a district course catalog, you must map courses to schools. You do not need to complete course mapping when importing courses at the school level.

Map courses in bulk via:

Review the course mapping import fields for more information on the data to import.

Alternatively, districts using PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) can set up data integration with Naviance. Review the course mapping field mapping for more information on fields available for integration.

Plans of Study

A Plan of Study is a framework for students, allowing them to create course plans that meet state and school graduation requirements and personal goals. From the requirements included in the plan of study, students select from a given list of courses to fulfill each plan requirement. Using Course Planner 2.0, you can create a single Plan of Study, then create multiple Career Pathways so students can select courses related to their interests or career path.

Create a Plan of Study

After defining subject areas and importing your course catalog, create Plans of Study from scratch or copy an existing course plan. If using Course Planner for districts, create plans of study at the district level, then publish them to selected schools. Individual schools within the district cannot create plans of study.

You must add courses that are part of a career pathway as a requirement in a plan of study to ensure that the courses are included in the student selection grid. After creating the plan of study, you can create the Career Pathway.
  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Plans of Study.
  2. Select Add a Plan.
  3. Choose Build a new plan from scratch, then click Continue.

    Alternatively, choose Build a plan from a copy of an existing plan and select a plan from the list. Edit the plan requirements and rule types as needed.
  4. Enter the plan details, then click Save and add requirements.
    • Naviance Student displays the Plan Name and Description to students.
    • If 1-1 alternates are selected, students must choose a course, priority, and grade level when selecting alternates in Naviance Student.
    • After saving the plan of study, click Edit to enable Grade-specific Credit Alerts, then set minimum and maximum credit requirements by grade level.
  5. From Add a Requirement, enter a Requirement Name and the number of Credits that students must complete to fulfill the requirement, then click Save and Add Course.

    If you allow students to select alternates, set up Alternates as a Requirement, then add courses that can be interchanged with any other course in the plan of study.
  6. From Add Courses, select the subject areas from which you want to select courses, then click Build Rule for the selected rule type:

    • You must add enough courses to fulfill the credit requirement.
    • You must add courses that are part of a career pathway as a requirement in a plan of study to ensure that the courses are included in the student selection grid. After creating the plan of study, you can create the Career Pathway.
    • Mandated Courses - Courses that students are required to take in a specified grade.
      1. Select a grade, enter a course name or ID, and then choose the course from the list.
      2. Click the add icon to add more mandated courses.
      3. Click Rule Complete.
      4. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      5. Click Save Requirement or select Add another requirement, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
    • Groups of Courses - Courses that must be selected as an entire group.
      1. Optionally, enter a group name.
      2. Enter a course name or ID and choose the course from the list.
      3. Optionally, click the add icon to add more courses.
      4. Select courses for the second group.
      5. Optionally, select Add another group of choices, then select courses for the group.
      6. Click Rule Complete.
      7. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      8. Click Save Requirement or select Add another requirement, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
    • Choices by Grade - Course choices presented by grade level.
      1. Select a grade from the list.
      2. Enter a course name or ID and choose the course from the list.
      3. Optionally, click the add icon to add more courses.
      4. Optionally, select Add another group of courses for the selected grade.
      5. Select Add another grade and create a group of choices.
      6. Click Rule Complete.
      7. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      8. Click Save Requirement or select Add another requirement, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
    • Items from a List - Courses students choose from a list of courses.
      1. Optionally, filter courses by Subject Area or Course Characterizing.
      2. Enter the number of credits the student must select from the list.
      3. From the list of Available courses, select the courses to add, then click Add or Add All.
      4. Optionally, select courses from Or if you want students to choose a course from one of two lists.
      5. Optionally, select Add another list, then select And or Or to add an additional list.
      6. Click Rule Complete.
      7. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      8. Click Save Requirement or select Add another requirement, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
  7. From Plan Requirements, continue adding requirements and building course rules for the plan of study.
  8. Optionally, from Plan Requirements, click Reorder to display the courses in a different order for students.

Publish Plans of Study

You must publish plans of study to make them available in Naviance Student.

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Plans of Study.
  2. Click View/Edit for the selected plan of study.
  3. Click Publish.
  4. Select one or more schools, then click Publish or Publish to Schools.
If courses in your published plan of study are not available for selection in Naviance Student, confirm that the course has been mapped to that school.

Edit Plans of Study

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Plans of Study.
  2. Click View/Edit for the selected plan of study.
  3. From the plan overview:
    1. Add, edit, or delete plan requirements.
    2. Reorder requirements
    3. Edit plan details:
      1. Edit the plan name, description, grade-level availability, or alternates settings.
      2. Select Grade-specific Credit Alerts to enter the minimum and the maximum cred requirements by grade to override the global grade settings.
  4. Click Publish and Update to publish the changes and automatically update students' course plans to the latest version.

    The update may take up to one day to complete depending on the number of students affected. After the update is complete, students can continue planning using the latest changes.

Inactivate or Delete a Plan of Study

You can delete any plan of study that you have not published. If you have already published the plan of study, you can inactivate it.

Delete a Plan of Study

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Plans of Study.
  2. Optionally, select No from the Published list to display unpublished plans of study.
  3. Click View/Edit for the selected plan of study.
  4. Click Delete Plan.
  5. From the modal, click Delete Plan.

Inactivate a Plan of Study

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Plans of Study.
  2. Optionally, select Active from the Status list to display only active plans of study.
  3. Select the Status indicator for the selected plan of study.
  4. Select Inactive for the selected schools.
  5. Click Save.

Career Clusters and Pathways

After building your Plan of Study using Course Planner 2.0, you can create multiple career pathways to streamline student course selection and ensure they add courses to their plan that fit with their interest, potential career path, or endorsement.

Create a Career Cluster and Pathway

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Career Pathways.
  2. Select Add New.
  3. Enter the cluster details, then click Save and Add a Pathway. Naviance Student displays the Cluster Name and Description to students.
  4. From Add Pathway Details, enter a Pathway Name the number of Credits that the student must complete to fulfill the pathway, select grade levels, and then click Save and Add Courses.
  5. From Add Courses, select the subject areas from which you want to select courses, and then click Build Rule for the selected rule type:

    You must add enough courses to fulfill the credit requirement.
    • Mandated Courses - Courses that students are required to take in a specified grade.
      1. Select a grade, enter a course name or ID, and then choose the course from the list.
      2. Click the add icon to add more mandated courses.
      3. Click Rule Complete.
      4. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      5. Click Save Requirement or select Add another pathway, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
    • Groups of Courses - Courses that must be selected as an entire group.
      1. Optionally, enter a group name.
      2. Enter a course name or ID and choose the course from the list.
      3. Optionally, click the add icon to add more mandated courses.
      4. Select courses for the second group.
      5. Optionally, select Add another group of choices, then select courses for the group.
      6. Click Rule Complete.
      7. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      8. Click Save Pathway or select Add another pathway, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
    • Choices by Grade - Course choices presented by grade level.
      1. Select a grade from the list.
      2. Enter a course name or ID and choose the course from the list.
      3. Optionally, click the add icon to add more courses.
      4. Optionally, select Add another group of courses for the selected grade.
      5. Select Add another grade and create a group of choices.
      6. Click Rule Complete.
      7. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      8. Click Save Requirement or select Add another pathway, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
    • Items from a List - Courses students choose from a list of courses.
      1. Choose a Subject Area or Course Characteristic from the lists to filter the available courses.
      2. Enter the number of credits the student must select from the list.
      3. From the list of Available courses, select the courses to add, then click Add or Add All.
      4. Optionally, select courses from Or, if you want students to choose a course from one of two lists.
      5. Optionally, select Add another list, then select And or Or to add an additional list.
      6. Click Rule Complete.
      7. Optionally, click Preview Courses.
      8. Click Save Requirement or select Add another pathway, then Build Rule to add courses using a different rule type.
  6. From the Cluster Details page, continue adding pathways and building course rules for the career cluster.

Publish Clusters and Pathways

You must publish career pathways to make them available in Naviance Student.

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Career Pathways.
  2. Click View or Edit for the selected plan of study.
  3. Click Publish.
  4. Select one or more schools, then click Publish or Publish to Schools.

Configuration

Enter Global Grade Settings

Use global Grade Settings if you want to set a minimum and a maximum number of credits that students must include in their course plan. If students submit their course plans for approval, they cannot do so until they have met the minimum or the maximum number of credits.

Override the global grade settings by entering grade settings for an individual plan of study.
  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Configuration.
  2. Select Grade Settings.
  3. Enter the minimum and the maximum number of credits students need in their course plan.

    If you only enter the minimum number of credits, the maximum number of credits will be auto filled with the same number and vice versa.

  4. Click Save Changes.

Select Course Plan Approval Options

Choose to have students submit their course plan for approval.

If students are not submitting their course plans for approval, the course plan status always displays In Progress. Students can continue to edit their course plans until you manually approve them and thereby lock the course plans for editing.

Optionally, you can require both school and parent approval of course plans.

Parents or guardians can approve course plans in Naviance Student if they have an account. Otherwise, print and distribute a student's course plan for approval using the Student Readiness Report. The course plan status will not display Approved until the parent or guardian has approved it, even if the school has already approved the course plan.
  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Configuration.
  2. Select Course Plan Approval Options.
  3. Choose how you want student course plans to be approved.
  4. Optionally, deselect Students must meet the minimum number of required credits to submit their plan.
  5. Click Save Changes.

Configure Labeling

Display terms in Naviance Student that students are familiar with in your school or district.

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Configuration.
  2. Select Configure Labeling.
  3. Enter an alternate name for Cluster.
  4. Enter an alternate name for Pathways.
  5. Click Save.

Provide Additional Resources for Students

Share links or documents with your students on the Manage Plan page in Naviance Student.

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Configuration.
  2. Select Provide Additional Resources for Students.
  3. Optionally, select Show to students.
  4. From Add Custom Links, enter a Name and URL. Click the plus icon to add two more links.
  5. From Upload a File, enter a Name. Click Choose File to locate and open the file.
  6. Click Save.

Manage Course Plan Features

Allow students to select credit recovery courses in their course plans. To use this feature, you must assign credit recovery courses to courses in the Naviance course catalog manually or via a data import.

  1. Navigate to Courses, then select Configuration.
  2. Select Enable/Disable Course Plan Features.
  3. Choose to prompt or not prompt students to select credit recovery courses.
  4. Click Save Changes.

Naviance Student Settings

Select the following features so students can access the Courses section and related tools in Naviance Student.

FeatureDescription
Courses SectionEnables the Courses menu, including the Course catalog and Favorite Courses.
View and edit course plans

Allows students to access and create course plans using active Plans of Study.

Success Plan Task Related to Course Planning

Assign the following school or district task to track the completion of student course plans.

TaskCompletion Trigger
Edit Course PlanStudents must add at least one course to a course plan.
Naviance Student does not display duplicate tasks for students when both the school-level and district-level tasks are assigned.

Student Course Data

Import student course data so students can:

  • Review their progress towards completing their plan of study requirements.
  • Determine if they meet course corequisites or prerequisites.
  • Naviance only applies course data that fulfills the plan of study requirements to a requirement's credit count.
  • When students move from one school to another within a district, their course plans move with them. Course plans do not move with students if they transfer to a school outside the district.

Import student course data via:

Review the student course data import fields for more information on the data to import.

Alternatively, districts using PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) can set up data integration with Naviance. Review the student course data field mapping for more information on fields available for integration.
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