Requirements for Multi-School Files Imports
Contact Technical Support for help preparing and importing your data; call 1-800-338-4204 or select Live Chat at the top of the Home page.
Use the Multi-School Files import type to import your school rosters into Renaissance if you use Clever or a similar student information system (SIS) to manage your school rosters outside of Renaissance. This option requires all five of the following files: students, educators, enrollments, sections, and schools.
Important Requirements and Specifications
File name |
Required |
Notes |
students.csv |
YES |
For adding students enrolled in only one school. (Use the enrollments.csv for multiple school enrollments.)
After the import, merge students as needed to clean up any duplicates. |
educators.csv |
YES |
For adding teachers (not non-teaching staff or administrators). |
enrollments.csv |
YES |
For enrolling students into classes. Can use this file to enroll students in multiple schools. |
sections.csv |
YES |
For adding courses and classes. Don't forget to assign products to classes after the import so students can use the software. |
schools.csv |
YES |
For informational purposes only. This file is only used to update the meta data on a school. You cannot add or delete schools using this file; doing so will cause the import to fail. |
districts.csv |
NO |
For informational purposes only. You will never update this file or import it back into Renaissance. |
Content of Headers and Fields
- A header row is required and must match the header names in the templates
exactly.
- Some fields are required—if they are not present, the import will fail. (See below for details about which fields are required.)
- Some fields are optional—they may be left blank.
- All files must be uploaded for the import to succeed. For example, a directory with only students.csv will not be processed.
How to import Multi-School Files templates
Who can do this with default user permissions?
District Level Administrators, School Level Administrators
- On the Renaissance Home page, select your name in the upper-right corner. In the drop-down list, select Manage Apps & Users.

- Under New School Year Wizards, select Upload Your Roster.
- On the Import Rostering Data page, select the Multi-School Files import type.

- Based on what you want to do, choose one of the following:
- Export files directly from your external rostering tool, such as Clever or some other student information system (SIS), to import into Renaissance without making any changes. Skip to step 8.
- Export your current rostering information out of Renaissance (in case changes were made in Renaissance that you want to capture), make any necessary changes, then import back into Renaissance. Continue with step 5.
- To create an export of your current roster in Renaissance, first, select the school year that you want to export data from. Be sure to select the school year that you also plan to import data into; do not use an export file from a previous school year. Then, select Generate Roster Export. After it has processed, you will see a red failed or a green complete message.


- To download a completed roster export, select Download [date of export] CSV Files.
(Note: We recommend that you download and use the export file the same day it was generated to ensure you are using the most current roster. If the date in the file name is a day or two old, go back to the previous step and generate a new export for today. This is especially important if the current school year has changed in the software.)
A Multi-School FilesExport.zip file will download. Save the .zip file and extract the files. (Note that there is a districts.csv file in the export; it is for information purposes only and will not be used in the import.)

- Make your changes and save the files.
If you plan to use Excel to update your files, be careful to follow these steps to avoid introducing formatting issues that would cause data to import incorrectly. Repeat these steps for each file you update.
- Rename the extension of your file from .csv to .txt.
- Open Excel.
- In Excel, browse for the file you renamed and open it. The Import Text Wizard will appear.
- Under Choose the file type..., select Delimited. Then check the My data has headers box. Select Next.
- In step 2 of the Import wizard, check the comma box as the delimiter and remove any other selected delimiter. Select Next.
- In step 3 of the Import wizard:
- Under Data preview, click in the header of the first column to select it, and then hold down the Shift key; scroll to the right and click the header of the last column in the file to select all the columns.
- Under Column data format, select Text to change the format of all the column headers from General to Text.
- Select Finish.
- Your file will open and you can update it. Make any changes and save the file.
- When you are done and the file is ready to import, change the file name extension back from .txt to .csv.
- Continue with step 8 below.
Which fields are required?
These tables, one for each file, indicate which fields are required by Renaissance to have data (shaded rows), those that are not required to have data (white rows), and important tips to help you enter the correct information in each field.
students.csv
Column Header |
Required |
Notes |
School_id |
YES |
School ID in Renaissance, Primary school of enrollment. Renaissance School_id must match the id listed in schools.csv. Student can only be enrolled in one school in this file. For multiple schools, use the enrollments.csv file. |
Student_id |
YES |
Unique and constant id for student, may be student_number, state_id, or other unique identifier, to be used in enrollments.csv upload. Must be unique across the district. |
Student_number |
NO |
Local student identifier. Must be unique across the district. If not entered, it will be populated with a user name on import. |
State_id |
NO |
State student identifier |
Last_name |
YES |
|
Middle_name |
NO |
May be middle initial |
First_name |
YES |
|
Gender |
NO |
Supported values: "male" or "female" |
DOB |
NO |
Date of birth (format is MM/DD/YYYY) |
Grade |
NO |
Integers for grades 1-12, or "Kindergarten",
"Prekindergarten" or "Postgraduate". |
Race |
NO |
Supported values: A B I M P W
A Asian
B Black or African-American
I American Indian or Alaska Native
M Multiracial
P Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
W White |
Hispanic_Latino |
NO |
Supported values: Y or N |
Ell_status |
NO |
Student's English Language Learner status. Supported values: Y or N |
Student_zip |
NO |
Alphanumeric 5- or 9- digit ZIP code with no punctuation |
Student_email |
NO |
Must match format x@y.z |
Contact_name |
NO/YES |
If providing student contacts, then Contact_name is required. |
Contact_type |
NO/YES |
Type of contact - e.g. "family",
"emergency" or "guardian". If providing student contacts, then Contact_type is required. |
Contact_phone |
NO |
A 10- or 11- digit phone number. |
Contact_email |
NO |
Contact's email address. Must match format x@y.z |
Username |
YES |
Student's default user name if using passwords for logging in. If not provided, it will be created – first initial of first name, last name, and a number.
|
Password |
NO |
If not provided, it will be created – first initial of first name, last name, and a number (same as user name). Users will be prompted to change password when they login.
|
educators.csv
Column Header |
Required |
Notes |
School_id |
YES |
School ID in Renaissance that is the school of employment. Renaissance School_id must match the id listed in schools.csv. |
Teacher_id |
YES |
Unique and constant id for teacher (may be teacher number, state id, or other unique identifier) to be used in sections.csv upload. Must be unique across the district. |
Teacher_number |
NO |
Local state identifier. Must be unique across the district. |
State_teacher_id |
NO |
State teacher identifier. |
Last_name |
YES |
|
Middle_name |
NO |
May be middle initial. |
First_name |
YES |
|
Teacher_email |
YES |
Teacher's email address. Must match format x@y.z |
Title |
NO |
Teacher's role or title. |
Username |
YES |
Teacher's default user name if using Clever passwords for instant login. User names will be available to connected applications. |
Password |
NO |
|
Role |
NO |
|
enrollments.csv
Column Header |
Required |
Notes |
School_id |
YES |
Renaissance School_id must match the id listed in schools.csv. |
Student_id |
YES |
Student_id must match a Student_id provided in students.csv. You can include students enrolled in multiple schools in this file. |
Section_id |
YES |
Section_id must match a Section_id provided in sections.csv. |
sections.csv
Column Header |
Required |
Notes |
School_id |
YES |
Section's Renaissance school. School_id must match an id provided in schools.csv upload. |
Section_id |
YES |
Unique and constant id for section/class, to be used in enrollments.csv upload. Must be unique across the district. |
Teacher_id |
YES |
Unique identifier of primary teacher for section/class, must match a Teacher_id found in educators.csv. |
Teacher_2_id |
NO |
Unique identifier of supplementary co-teacher for section/class, must match a Teacher_id found in educators.csv |
Teacher_3_id |
NO |
Unique identifier of supplementary co-teacher for section/class, must match a Teacher_id found in educators.csv |
Teacher_4_id |
NO |
Unique identifier of supplementary co-teacher for section/class, must match a Teacher_id found in educators.csv |
Name |
NO |
Unique name for class/section and time offered, e.g. "Algebra -101 - Period 1A". |
Grade |
NO |
Grade level for class/section. Can be an integer (1-12), a range (9-12), or "K" or "Pre-K". If value is a range, the lower bound integer will be the grade used. |
Course_name |
YES |
Name of the course associated with the class/section (e.g. Algebra). Will be used to create section names if "Name" is not provided. |
Course_number |
NO |
Identifier for the course associated with the section/class (e.g. 100). Frequently used in combination with the Course_name to identify classes. |
Period |
NO |
Bell schedule information for section/class (e.g. 1A). Will be used to create section/class names if "Name" is not provided. |
Term_name |
NO |
The name of the term/marking period associated with the section/class (e.g. "Year", "S1", "Q3"). |
Term_start |
NO |
First day of term/marking period (format is MM/DD/YYYY) |
Term_end |
NO |
Last day of term/marking period (format is MM/DD/YYYY) |
Ren_course_sourced_id |
YES |
A unique identifier for a course. |
Ren_term_sourced_id |
Yes |
A unique identifier for academicSession (schoolYear or term or gradingPeriod. |
schools.csv
Column Header |
Required |
Notes |
School_id |
YES |
School ID in Renaissance. Used in all other files. |
School_name |
YES |
School name in Renaissance |
State_id |
NO |
State school identifier |
School_address |
NO |
School's address. Must be enclosed in double quotes if it includes a comma. |
School_city |
NO |
|
School_state |
NO |
Two-letter abbreviation |
School_zip |
NO |
Alphanumeric 5- or 9- digit ZIP code with no punctuation |
School_phone |
NO |
a 10- or 11- digit phone number |
Low_grade |
NO |
The lowest grade at the school. Can be an integer (1-12), a range (9-12), or
"Kindergarten", "Prekindergarten", or
"Postgraduate". If value is a range, the lower-bound integer will be the grade used. |
High_grade |
NO |
The highest grade at the school. Can be an integer (1-12), a range (9-12) or
"Kindergarten", "Prekindergarten", or
"Postgraduate". If value is a range, the lower-bound integer will be the grade used. |
Principal |
NO |
Principal's full name |
Principal_email |
NO |
Must match format x@y.z |
- In Renaissance, on the Import Rostering Data page for the Multi-School Files import type, drag and drop or browse to upload all five of the files you completed.

- Select Import.
- Review the Most Recent Import Status at the top of the page to see the progress of your import. Select View Import Log to see information in a .txt file about how the import process went, including an error message if the import failed. (See Import History page for more information.)

- Once your import is complete and successful, assign products to classes so students can begin to use the software.
How do I prevent unwanted changes to my roster?
We highly recommend that you set Data Editing Restrictions to prevent anyone from modifying rostering information within Renaissance.
How do I update my roster after I import?
You have two ways to make changes, additions, deletions, or corrections to your roster:
- Edit in your external rostering tool: Make all changes in your external rostering tool, then create exports to import into Renaissance again, starting with step 8 above.
- Edit in Renaissance: Make all changes in Renaissance. Note that an export of these changes cannot be imported into your external rostering tool.