Prioritizing Staff for Observations
The Prioritized List on the Home page helps principals, assistant principals, and coaches decide which teachers to observe next. Instead of manually tracking who's been visited and who hasn't, Aprenta automatically ranks your staff based on their observation frequency level and how recently they were last observed.
Accessing the Prioritized List
Navigate to the Home page
Select the Administrator tab (visible to users with administrative roles such as Organization Manager, Observation Manager, Scheduler, or Reporter)
The Prioritized List appears on the left side of the dashboard
The To-Do List of scheduled observations appears on the right side
How Prioritization Works
Aprenta calculates a priority weight for each staff member using two factors:
Frequency level base weight -- Staff members set to higher frequency levels start with a higher base score. "Consistently" has the highest base weight, while "Rarely" has a low weight.
Weeks since last observed -- For each week that passes since a person's last observation, their score increases. A teacher set to "Consistently" who hasn't been observed in four weeks will have a much higher priority than one observed yesterday.
The list is sorted by this combined weight in descending order, so the person who most urgently needs an observation appears at the top.
Key rules:
- Staff set to Never are excluded from the list entirely
- Staff who already have an upcoming scheduled observation (on the To-Do List) are also excluded, since they're already on your radar
- Staff who have never been observed show a dash ("-") in the Last Observed column and are weighted based on their frequency level alone
What You'll See
The Prioritized List table has four columns:
Column | Description |
Name | The staff member's name |
Last Observed | How long ago they were last observed (e.g., "3 weeks ago"). Hover to see the exact date and time. Shows "-" if they've never been observed |
Observation Frequency Level | A color-coded dropdown showing their current frequency level. You can change it directly from here |
+ To-Do | A button to add this person to your To-Do List as a scheduled observation |
You can search for a specific person using the Search field in the header, and filter by frequency level using the frequency dropdown next to the search field.
Changing Frequency from the Prioritized List
You can adjust a staff member's frequency level without leaving the Home page:
Find the person in the Prioritized List
Click the frequency level dropdown next to their name (it's color-coded -- red for Consistently, orange for Often, yellow for Occasionally, gray for Rarely, light gray for Never)
Select the new level -- the change saves automatically and the list re-sorts to reflect the updated weight
This is convenient for quick adjustments during planning. For example, if you've just completed a coaching cycle with a teacher and want to reduce their observation frequency from "Often" to "Occasionally," you can do it right from the dashboard.
Adding Staff to the To-Do List
When you've identified who to observe next, click the + To-Do button next to their name. This creates a scheduled observation for that person and:
Removes them from the Prioritized List (since they now have an upcoming observation)
Adds them to the To-Do List on the right side of the Home page, where you can set the date, observer, and observation form
This workflow makes it easy to go from "who should I observe?" to "when will I observe them?" in a single step.
Using the Prioritized List in Practice
Here's how administrators typically use the Prioritized List as part of their observation workflow:
Weekly planning -- At the start of each week, open the Home page and review the top of the Prioritized List. The staff members at the top are the ones who most need an observation based on their frequency level and how long it's been.
Add to To-Do -- Click + To-Do for each person you plan to observe that week. This moves them to your To-Do List where you can assign dates and times.
Adjust frequency as needed -- If a teacher's circumstances have changed (e.g., they've completed a coaching goal, or they're struggling with a new curriculum), adjust their frequency level directly from the list.
Monitor coverage -- Check the list periodically to make sure no one set to "Consistently" or "Often" has gone too long without an observation. The algorithm ensures these teachers naturally rise to the top as time passes.
Relationship to Other Features
The Prioritized List works alongside several other features:
Observation Frequency -- Frequency levels are the primary input to prioritization. See Setting Observation Frequency for how to set them and what each level means.
Scheduling -- Once you add someone to the To-Do List, they become a scheduled observation. See Scheduling Observations for more on managing your schedule.
Staff Results -- Review past observation data to inform your frequency decisions. See Viewing Staff Results to check how many times each person has been observed.