Playground will show you a red alert on your Classrooms tab if you have any classrooms that are out of ratio or over capacity. This article will help you understand why this happens and how to fix these situations.
Out of Ratio
When you create or edit a classroom via the ellipsis(. . .) in your Classroom tab, there will be an optional field for the "Student ratio". The ratio's purpose is to ensure you have enough teachers for a specific classroom. Additionally, you can view the current ratios for all classrooms from the Classroom tab.
Reasons for being out of ratio
Classrooms that are created or edited to include ratios will display the above error banner when the amount of checked-in students exceeds the set amount of clocked-in teachers or staff.
As an example, we'll take a look at the classroom below. The ratio for this classroom is 1 staff member for every 6 students.
If we have 7 students checked in, but only 1 staff member clocked in, then the ratio of checked-in students will exceed the number of clocked-in staff members.
Incorrect Ratio |
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In the example below, if we have 8 students checked in and 1 staff member clocked in, then the ratio of checked-in students will be equal to the ratio, as there are 8 students per 1 staff member.
Correct Ratio |
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To correct classrooms that are out of ratio, ensure that the proper amount of staff is correctly added and clocked in to service the ratio of that specific classroom.
Managing Ratios from the Ratio Tab
To get a closer look at the ratio status of all your classrooms in one place, you can also click the Ratios tab at the top of the Classrooms tab. Classrooms are organized into three groups: Out of ratio, In ratio, and No ratio set. You can filter the list by classroom status and by classroom details, including whether a classroom has active students or an enrollment.
Each classroom displays the following information: Current ratio, Max ratio, number of Staff clocked in, and number of Students checked in. The icon to the left of each classroom name indicates its ratio status at a glance:
A red triangle icon means the classroom is out of ratio.
A green checkmark icon means the classroom is in ratio.
A gray question mark icon means no ratio has been set for that classroom.
Each classroom also shows a name-to-face status below the classroom name, indicating when the last name-to-face check has been completed.
You can also click the classroom name to expand it and see a full list of students and staff currently checked in, as well as anyone scheduled for that day.
To take action on a classroom, click the Actions dropdown to the right. From there, you can Transition staff and students, Check out students, or Clock out staff.
If a classroom does not have a ratio set, you will see an Add link in the Max column. Clicking Add will open the Edit classroom window, where you can set a ratio or make any other updates to the classroom directly.
Classroom Ratios on Mobile
View your classroom ratios directly from the Playground mobile app.
From the Playground mobile app Home screen, tap the "View Ratios" button to the right of the number of students checked in or absent. This option is only visible to admin accounts and will not appear for teacher-based accounts.
Each active classroom will be listed with the number of students and staff currently checked into the classroom.
Below that count, there will also be the "Last name to face" done in the classroom.
To the right of each classroom, you will see if the classroom is "In ratio" and what that ratio is, "Out of ratio" and what the ratio is, or "No ratio set" if no ratio has been set in the classroom settings.
Over Capacity
If you see that a classroom is over capacity, this means that too many students are currently checked into that classroom.
💡 It is important to understand that capacities are based on students who are currently checked into the specific classroom, not those who are just assigned to a classroom.
This is worth pointing out because it is possible for a student to be assigned to one class but be checked into a different classroom.
Navigate to your My School -> Classrooms tab.
You should see a banner that shows you which classroom(s) is currently over capacity.
Locate the classroom that is over capacity and look under the Capacity and Checked in columns.
💡 If you can't see these columns, click the gear (⚙️) icon in the top right-hand corner and click the eyelash icon next to each table header to add them.
In the screenshot above, you can see that our Sharks classroom is over capacity because our capacity is 7 and we currently have 9 students checked in. Notice that we don't use the "Students" column when calculating capacities. This is because the Students column only shows how many students are assigned to the classroom, and not currently checked in.
Transition Students
If a classroom is over capacity, it usually means that a student(s) is checked into the wrong classroom. To fix this, we will want to transition 1 or more students out of our classroom and into another one. You can also edit the current classroom capacity if it is incorrect.
From your My School -> Classroom tab, click into the specific classroom that is over capacity.
Click into the Current tab to view the students currently checked into the classroom.
From here, click the checkbox next to the student(s) we want to transition.
In our example, it looks like Kayla and Maria were checked into the wrong classroom, so we are going to select them to transition them out of the Sharks class and into the Bunnies class.
Once the kiddos have been selected, click the Transition button.
Select which classroom you want to transition them into and click Transition.
💡 Transitioning students does not change their assigned classroom. It only changes the classroom they are currently checked into.
Edit Classroom Capacities
Classroom capacities can be set up when a classroom is created, or they can be added after the classroom is made. The following instructions will show you how to add a capacity after a classroom has already been created. Click here if you would like instructions on creating a new classroom.
Navigate to your My School -> Classroom tab.
Click the three dots next to the classroom you want to add a capacity to and select Edit.
Enter the classroom's capacity under Capacity.
Click Save to save your changes.