Create Form Cycles

🔐 Account type(s) with default permissions to manage this: Varies by account type — contact your Ellevation Administrator with questions about your account type or permissions.

💻 Tier(s) this is available for: Foundation, Essential, Pro

Form Cycles give your team a structured, time-bound framework for collecting educator input — such as progress monitoring forms by quarter — so you can organize, sort, and filter data consistently across your EL program. This article walks you through creating a draft Cycle from start to finish, organizing Cycles into folders, and setting a Cycle live for your contributors.

Jump to a topic:

• What Are Cycles?
• What to Do Before Creating a Cycle
• How to Create a New Cycle
• Pro Tips for Cycle Creation
• How to Duplicate a Cycle
• How to Delete a Cycle
• How to Organize Cycles
• Set Cycles Live and Manage Cycle Status

What Are Cycles?

Cycles serve as a framework that structures Forms into step-by-step, time-bound workflows. For example, you might use a Cycle to collect progress monitoring forms by time period — Quarter 1, Quarter 2, and so on.

Cycles help you organize, sort, and filter the data collected from Forms by the associated Cycle, making it simpler to manage and analyze the information over time.

What to Do Before Creating a Cycle

Complete these four steps in Ellevation before creating a Form Cycle. The fifth item doesn't require any action yet, but is worth thinking through in advance.

1. Configure Course Tags.
   • Course Tags simplify the process of assigning Forms to educators.
   • To set up Course Tagging, see Configure Course Tags.
2. (Optional) Create one or more saved Student List Views of students who will need Forms completed. Students can also be added to a Cycle later.
   • To learn more, see Adding Students to a Form Cycle.
   • Name your Student List Views something easy to find later — for example: K-5 EL Progress Monitoring Fall 24-25SY.
3. Select and/or configure a Form Template.
   • Form Templates are reusable resources that streamline Form creation.
   • To learn more, see Configuring Form Templates.
4. Manage Permissions.
   • Use Managing Forms Permissions to review user management permissions for Forms. This ensures Forms are visible to educators and allows you to adjust permissions by account type.
5. Think through who will review and complete your Forms. Within a Forms Cycle, these people are called Contributors. No action is required yet — but it helps to plan ahead. See Understanding Contributor Roles.

💡 Quick Tip

For written steps on creating a Student List View for use in a Form Cycle, see Adding Students to a Form Cycle.

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How to Create a New Cycle

Before you begin, make sure you have completed the prerequisite steps above. Once you're ready, follow these steps to set up your Cycle.

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1. Select Forms from the top navigation bar.
2. Click New Cycle.

📝 The Cycle Creation modal with all configuration fields.

3. Name your Cycle.
   • Enter a name in the Cycle Name field.
   • Examples: Progress Monitoring Q1, Assessment (MOY) LPAC, Reclassification Fall 24-25SY.
4. Select a Form Template.
   • Choose a Form from the Form Template dropdown.
   • If no Form Templates appear, contact your Partner Success Manager or click the Form Template button to create one.
   • For more guidance, see Configure Form Templates.
5. Configure the Meeting Date Requirement.
   • Select Require Meeting Date if a meeting date is necessary for this Cycle.
   • Leave unchecked if a meeting date is not required.

⚠️ Warning

If you require a meeting date, that date must be added to a Form before a contributor can mark it as Done. See Manage Contributors & Make Adjustments for details.

6. Select Student List View(s).
   • Choose the students for whom Forms need to be completed.
   • This step can be completed later. You can also add students to a Cycle through other methods — see Adding Students to a Form Cycle.
7. Set a Due Date.
   • Enter the Due Date for this Cycle.
   • This field can be left blank for districts with rolling due dates or year-long submission windows.
8. Configure Digital Signatures.
   • Signatures are toggled on by default. Turn them off if a digital signature is not required for this Cycle.
   • Click Standard to allow contributors to sign at different times, even after a form is submitted.
   • Click Strict to require all contributors to sign and submit forms together.

💡 Quick Tip

Strict mode works well for meeting-based scenarios where all participants are present together and can sign at the same time.

9. Configure the Done Editing Status.
   • Ellevation recommends leaving Include Done Editing Status toggled on when educators have multiple forms to sign. This allows educators to review and bulk-sign their forms before submitting.
   • If toggled off, educators will sign each form individually.
10. Set Forms per Student.
    • Use this setting when you need to send one form to multiple educators — for example, when progress monitoring forms need to go to both an ELA educator and an EL educator for each student.
    • Change the Forms per student number from 1 to the number needed.
11. Configure Roles per Form.
    • Click Select Roles and add the contributor type for each Form — for example, ELA Teacher and EL Educator.
    • To have multiple educators complete a single form together — for example, an ELA teacher, EL educator, and administrator:
      • If one Form: Click Select Roles and add all required contributor types on the same line.
      • If multiple Forms: First update Forms per student to the number needed, then click Select Roles and add all required contributor types on the same line for each form.
12. Set Signature Requirements.
    • Signatures for specific roles can be set as Required or Optional.
    • Required: The contributor must sign the form before it can be submitted. The edit icon appears black when Required is enabled. This is the default setting.
    • Optional: The contributor does not need to sign for the form to be submitted and can sign after submission. To make a contributor Optional, click the edit icon — it will turn white to indicate the change.
13. Configure Advanced Settings.
    • For forms with more than one contributor, you can set the minimum number of signatures required before a form can be submitted.
    • This setting works alongside the signature requirements above. For example: if two contributors are marked Required and the minimum is set to 1, both signatures are still needed. If two are Required and two are Optional, and the minimum is set to 4, both Required signatures plus any two additional signatures are needed.
14. Create the Cycle.
    • Click Create Your Cycle when you have completed all settings.

📝 Full Cycle creation flow from start to finish.

Forms are generated as soon as a Cycle is created. You can view generated Forms on the Cycle Details page. To match and assign Forms to educators, see Manage Contributors & Make Adjustments.

Pro Tips for Cycle Creation

• Create separate Cycles for elementary and secondary contributors. Elementary contributors are often a single homeroom educator, while secondary contributors may include multiple content educators. Keeping them in separate Cycles makes matching contributors more straightforward.
• Use descriptive Cycle names. Including the time period and function — for example, Progress Monitoring Q1 EL 24-25SY — makes it easier to filter for Cycle data in the Student List.
• Use the Cycle creation checklist. This reference sheet helps ensure you've completed every step.

How to Duplicate a Cycle

Duplicating a Cycle saves time when you need to generate Forms for students across multiple time periods. For example, you can duplicate a Quarter 1 Progress Monitoring Cycle for use in Q2 and Q3. All settings in the duplicated Cycle can be updated before saving.

1. Navigate to the Forms tab and click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Cycle you want to duplicate.
2. Click Duplicate Cycle.
3. Review and update the Cycle settings as needed — all setup fields are editable.
4. Click Save when ready to create the Cycle and generate Forms for students.

How to Delete a Cycle

If you set up a Cycle incorrectly or it is no longer needed, you can delete it.

⚠️ Warning

Deleting a Cycle permanently removes all data collected within that Cycle. This action cannot be undone.

Delete a Cycle With No Associated Forms

If no student list was used during Cycle creation, there are no Forms to clear before deleting.

1. Click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Cycle.
2. Select Delete and confirm.

📝 Deleting a Cycle that has no associated Forms.

Delete a Cycle With Associated Forms

If Forms exist in the Cycle, you must clear them before the Cycle can be deleted. Work through each bucket in order.

1. For Forms in the Submitted bucket:
   • Click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Form, then select Reopen Form and confirm.
   • This removes signatures and moves the Form to the In Progress bucket.
   • Repeat for each submitted Form.
2. For Forms in the In Progress bucket:
   • Click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Form, then select Reset Progress and confirm.
   • This removes any educator input and moves the Form to the Not Started bucket.
3. For Forms in the Not Started bucket:
   • Click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Form, then select Delete and confirm.

📝 Clearing Forms across all three buckets before deleting a Cycle.

How to Organize Cycles

Cycle folders on the Forms homepage help you keep related Cycles together and surface the ones that matter most — especially when managing a large number of Cycles across programs or time periods. This section covers how to create, organize, reorder, rename, and delete folders.

• Create a New Folder
• Add a Cycle to a Folder
• Move or Remove a Cycle From a Folder
• Reorder Folders
• Rename a Folder
• Delete a Folder

Create a New Folder

📝 Creating a new folder on the Forms homepage.

1. Navigate to the Forms homepage.
2. Click the New Folder button.
3. In the pop-up modal, type a custom name for your folder.
4. Click Create New Folder.

Your new folder will appear on the left side of the Forms homepage.

💡 Quick Tip

New folders are added to the bottom of your folder list by default. You can reorder them at any time — see Reorder Folders below.

💡 Quick Tip

When new students need to be added to several cycles at once, you can run Get new students at the folder level instead of opening each cycle one at a time. Learn more about managing students in a Form Cycle.

Add a Cycle to a Folder

📝 Assigning a Cycle to a folder from the Forms homepage.

1. Locate the Cycle on the Forms homepage.
2. Click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Cycle.
3. Click Assign Folder, then choose the desired folder from the list.

The Cycle will appear within that folder. Cycles within custom folders are displayed in alphabetical order.

Move or Remove a Cycle From a Folder

📝 Moving or removing a Cycle from a folder.

1. Open the folder containing the Cycle.
2. Click the ⋮ icon to the right of the Cycle.
3. Click Assign Folder, then choose Remove from Folder, New Folder, or another folder from the list.

If you select Remove from Folder, the Cycle returns to the All Cycles view.

Reorder Folders

📝 Reordering folders using the Move up and Move down options in the folder menu.

You can arrange your folder list in any order — surface the folders you use most at the top, or group them in a sequence that matches your team's workflow.

1. Locate the folder on the left side of the Forms homepage.
2. Click the ⋮ icon next to the folder name.
3. Select Move up or Move down to reposition the folder in the list.

Your custom folder order persists. Folders stay where you place them each time you return to the Forms homepage.

💡 Quick Tip

There is no limit to how many times you can reorder folders. If your priorities shift mid-year, just use Move up or Move down to update your list at any time.

Rename a Folder

📝 Renaming a folder from the Forms homepage sidebar.

1. Locate the folder on the left side of the Forms homepage.
2. Click the ⋮ icon next to the folder name.
3. Select Rename.
4. Enter the new name and save your changes.

Delete a Folder

📝 Deleting a folder from the Forms homepage sidebar.

1. Locate the folder on the left side of the Forms homepage.
2. Click the ⋮ icon next to the folder name.
3. Select Delete.
4. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

💡 Quick Tip

Deleting a folder does not delete the Cycles within it. Those Cycles will return to the All Cycles view.

Set a Forms Cycle Live and Manage Cycle Statuses

To officially launch your forms cycle and make it available to contributors, you need to change its status from Draft to Live. Understanding each cycle status helps you control access at every stage of your EL program workflow.

Set a Cycle to Live

Newly created form cycles default to Draft status. In Draft, the cycle is not visible to contributors and does not display progress buckets. Follow these steps when you are ready to launch.

1. Click the Draft status button on the cycle.
2. Select Live from the dropdown menu.
3. Click Set Live.

Once the cycle is set to Live, contributors can view, fill out, and submit its forms in Ellevation.

📝 The cycle status dropdown, accessed by clicking the current status button. Select Live to launch the cycle for contributors.

⚠️ Warning

If you set a cycle to Live too early, do not set it back to Draft — doing so removes progress buckets and may disrupt visibility for contributors. Instead, change the status to Closed temporarily, then set it back to Live when you are ready to launch.

Understand Cycle Status Options

Ellevation Forms cycles have four status options. Each controls what contributors can see and do within the cycle.

• Draft: The cycle and its forms have been created but are not yet available for contributors to complete. Use Draft status to preview and configure forms before releasing them to educators.
• Live: Contributors can view, complete, and submit forms in Ellevation.
• Closed: Contributors can review submitted forms but cannot edit or submit new responses. Closed forms can be reviewed and printed.
  • If you do not close a cycle, educators will continue to have access to the student's profile even after grade promotion or transfer.
• Archived: The cycle is closed and contributors can no longer complete its forms. Archived cycles are removed from the main cycle list and appear under the Archived tab on the Forms landing page. You can change an archived cycle's status at any time — for example, back to Live. Data from archived cycles remains fully accessible through the Student List, Dashboards, and other areas of Ellevation.

💡 Quick Tip

Make it a habit to close cycles at the end of each program year or before grade promotion. Closing cycles ensures that only the current year's educators have access to active student profiles, keeping your records clean and your data secure.