Setting Up Renaissance – Accelerated Reader

When you first start using Renaissance, you need to set up your data in the software.

Importing Data from Other Sources

Before you go through the checklists below, consider whether you can bring in some information from another program. If you have other software with student, teacher, course, and class information in it, you may be able to get the data into Renaissance by doing one of the following:

Import the data
If you have purchased the Custom Data Integration (CDI) service, Renaissance data is automatically populated from your student information system. Our nightly data exchange will update students, teachers, courses, classes, and rosters. Contact your Renaissance representative for more information.

Setup Checklist for District Level Administrators, School Level Administrators, and Non-Teaching Staff

To set up Renaissance for the first time, use the checklist below. In some cases, Renaissance may have done some of these tasks for you.

The check marks show who can do the tasks if the default user permissions have not been changed; if user permissions have been added for other users, they may be able to do these tasks as well.

If district-level personnel will be adding students or transferring them from one school to another, school personnel should wait until this is done before adding their students to avoid adding the same student more than once.

	Task	District Admin	District Staff	School Admin	School Staff	Teacher
	Add the marking periods for each school (used for goals and reports).
	Add the days off during the school year for each school (used for report calculations).
	Add all school personnel and all district personnel who will be using the software, or import their information.
	Add the students who will be using the software, or import their information.
	Add the courses of study, which stay in the database for your school from year to year.
	Add the classes for this school year to the courses. Classes must be added every year. As you add the classes, select the lead teacher and the products the class will use, and add the students. (If you imported classes, edit them to select the teacher and products and add the students.)

Setup Checklist for Technology/Computer Coordinators

	Task	How to Start the Task
	Make sure each computer that will be used with the Renaissance software has a shortcut or favorite set up that points to the current Renaissance address.	Follow the instructions for your computer's operating system and/or browser.

For most Renaissance products, there are also tasks that need to be done to set up the software, such as setting preferences, setting up or choosing objective lists, setting levels, setting benchmarks, or setting screening dates. Refer to the help for each of your products for more information.