SpEd Forms’ 2020 Redesign: What You Need To Know

As of Saturday, March 7, we’ve added a new drop down menu in “Profile” called “Version”. This menu allows users to choose from two versions of SpEd Forms: “2000” and “2020”. “2020” allows users to preview the “new and improved” SpEd Forms interface that will be released over the upcoming year. 

 

New “Version” menu

The 2000 version is selected by default. If a user chooses 2020 then some pages in SpEd Forms will look and feel different. For example:

 

Student list in SpEd Forms 2000
Student list in SpEd Forms 2000

Student list in SpEd Forms 2020

Super administrators can prevent users choosing 2020 by unchecking the “Enable SpEd Forms 2020” preference.

 

SpEd Forms 2020 is a new, contemporary user interface for SpEd Forms.

SpEd Forms has retained a similar look and feel for almost twenty years to minimize change over time for SpEd Forms users. However, in recent years it has become apparent the 2000 design cannot be adapted to meet the evolving needs of our customers.

The most important improvements in SpEd Forms 2020 are:

  1. Navigation and data entry on small mobile devices.
  2. Compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0).
  3. A user interface that is intuitive for new users.

Other improvements scheduled for July or sooner:

  1. Much improved data entry for MA activity logs.
  2. Single sign in from district identity portals
  3. Live Ed Fi record management (Wisconsin only)

SpEd Forms 2020 will be rolled out incrementally over the next twelve months. We encourage our “super-users” to try it out ahead of time, but we do not recommend schools make the full switch until July 2020, at which point substantial changes will be available. Schools will be able to choose to continue to use the familiar 2000 user interface until at least July 2021, allowing for gradual change-over. 

The workflow of 2020 is the same as the workflow for 2000

Although SpEd Forms 2020 looks different, the workflow remains the same as the 2000 version, and its pages contain the same elements as the old equivalent 2000 pages. Thus, the organization and workflow of SpEd Forms remains the same. For this reason we expect teachers to be able to use 2020 with minimal, if any, retraining.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about SpEd Forms 2020.