How to migrate data from past years into a new RFBA installation
RFBA does not currently have a way to migrate data from our older product, RFM, or from any other product. This topic describes a workaround for manually entering data from past years into RFBA. Basically, you change the year on your computer's clock back to the earliest year for which you have data you wish to enter into RFBA. This method has been performed successfully at Read Naturally and at some schools.
ATTENTION: You can use this method only if you are using RFBA for the first time, that is, before you have specified the first school year. Be aware that improperly performing this procedure could require you to reinstall RFBA.
Note: If you are unable to change the year on your computer's clock, it is most likely due to a restriction set by your technical department. If this is the case, contact your technical department and have them temporarily grant you the necessary permissions to change the year on your computer.
To migrate past year's data on a Mac OS X computer:
- Install RFBA. It is OK to log in for the first time and enter the school information and set a new administrator password. You could also enter teachers and students at this point, but be sure to only enter those for the earliest year for which you wish to enter data, for example, 2003.
- Click on the day and time in the upper right corner of your screen and choose Open Date & Time.
- Change the month and year so that it is within the earliest assessment term for which you want to enter data. For example, if your first assessment term is Fall 2003, you could specify a date of September 2003. (The exact date does not matter.) Click Save, and then close the Date & Time window.
- Start RFBA. (If you are logged in, quit and log in again.) Choose the School tab, and then click Start New School Year. Notice that the year to choose reflects the date you set in the previous step. If it matches the year you wish to start with, select it. If not, click Cancel and adjust the date again as necessary.
- If you haven’t already, add your teachers and students.
- On the Students tab, select a student and then click Scores.
- Enter the student's scores for each of the terms (fall, winter, spring) for which you have assessment data. Repeat for each student.
- When you have entered all of the scores for that year, do one of the following:
- If you have more data to enter for past years, click Start New School Year, and then enter the scores for that year.
- If you are done entering data for past years, change the date and time on the computer to the actual date and time, and then click Start New School Year. Keep starting a new school year until you get to the current year.
To migrate past years' data on a Windows computer:
- Install RFBA. It is OK to log in for the first time and enter the school information and set a new administrator password. You could also enter teachers and students at this point, but be sure to only enter those for the earliest year for which you wish to enter data, for example, 2003.
- Choose Control Panel from the Start menu, and then double-click Date and Time.
- Change the month and year so that it is within the earliest assessment term for which you want to enter data. For example, if your first assessment term is Fall 2003, you could specify a date of September 2003. (The exact date does not matter.) Click OK to close the Date and Time window, but do not close the Control Panel window for now—just minimize it.
- Start RFBA. (If you are logged in, quit and log in again.) Choose the School tab, and then click Start New School Year. Notice that the year to choose reflects the date you set in the previous step. If it matches the year you wish to start with, select it. If not, click Cancel and adjust the date again as necessary.
- If you haven’t already, add your teachers and students.
- On the Students tab, select a student and then click Scores.
- Enter the student's scores for each of the terms (fall, winter, spring) for which you have assessment data. Repeat for each student.
- When you have entered all of the scores for that year, do one of the following:
- If you have more data to enter for past years, click Start New School Year, and then enter the scores for that year.
- If you are done entering data for past years, change the date and time on the computer to the actual date and time, and then click Start New School Year. Keep starting a new school year until you get to the current year.
A special "thank you" to ESL teacher Shaeley Santiago in Ames, IA, for her contributions to this article.