Exporting Data from Gradelink SIS for ARK Import

Exporting Data from Gradelink SIS for ARK Import

For schools using the Gradelink SIS, these instructions are intended to help guide you through the process of exporting Teacher and Student Data from the SIS and preparing if for upload into ARK using the templates in your welcome email and found on our Help pages.

ARK also recommends you name your Classes the same as what you have in your Gradelink system for religion classes. This will make identification and class assignment easier.


  1. Login to your Gradelink system
  2. Navigate to "Staff"
  3. Select "Reports"
  4. In the "Choose Columns" drop-down, remove the check for selecting all and then select:
    1. First Name
    2. Last Name
    3. Gender
    4. School Email
    5. NOTE: Gender may not be included and you will likely be missing "Catholic (Y/N)" You will need to manually enter this for the teachers on your import sheet
  5. Click "Export to Excel"
  6. Open the Gradelink file
    1. Confirm required data is present and add any missing content. (You must include First/Last Name, Sex, School Email address, Proctor(Y/N) and Catholic (Y/N)
  7. Open the ARK Teacher Data Template
  8. Copy the respective data from the Gradelink file into the ARK template
    1. First Name -> First Name
    2. Last Name -> Last Name
    3. Gender -> Sex (M/F)
    4. School email -> Email
    5. Catholic -> Catholic (Y/N)
  9. Save the file as a CSV
  10. In ARK, navigate to the Teachers menu
  11. Click "Import" and 'browse' to select the file you created
  12. Confirm the data fields are matched and click "Import"



  1. Login to your Gradelink system
  2. Navigate to "Administrative Reports"
  3. Select "Student Roster"


  4. In "Report Selection" choose
    1. Group by 'Student'
    2. Run for Gradelevel 'run for each grade tested'
    3. Export to Excel check the box and select 'csv'
  5. In the "Items on Report" select:
    1. Student Name
    2. Student ID
    3. Grade Level
    4. Gender
    5. Birth date
    6. School Email
    7. Religion
  6. Click "Submit"
  7. Repeat for each grade tested
  8. Open the Gradelink files
    1. Copy all student data into one file
    2. Delete the 'Middle Initial' column
    3. Use Find and Replace to change "Female" to "F" and "Male" to "M"
    4. Use Find and Replace to change "Catholic" to "Y" and any other entry to "N"
    5. Save As a new file and keep open
  9. Open the ARK Students Data Import template
    1. With both files open, copy the data from the Gradelink file into the respective column on the ARK Student Data Import template.
    2. If you are missing required data, please enter that manually. Required data for each student is:
      1. First Name
      2. Last Name
      3. Date of Birth (mm/dd/yyyy)
      4. Sex (Gender)
      5. Grade Level
      6. Catholic (Y/N)
      7. School Student ID
    3. Copy the respective data from the Gradelink file into the ARK template
      1. First Name -> First Name
      2. Last Name -> Last Name
      3. School email -> Email (if included)
      4. Birth Date -> Date of Birth
      5. Gender -> Sex (M/F)
      6. Grade Level -> Grade Level
      7. Catholic -> Catholic (Y/N)
      8. StudentID -> School Student Id
      9. You may have other optional data: Gaps, ESL, Accomodation, ARK ClassID, but these are option. Leave blank unless you have the detail
    4. Save the ARK Students Data file as a CSV
    5. In ARK, navigate to the Students menu
    6. Click "Import" and 'browse' to select the file you created
    7. Confirm the data fields are matched and click "Import"

    • Related Articles

    • Prepare Your Data

      This help article covers the very basics of data preparation. If, after reading this article, you still have questions, please refer to the other help articles listed for more in depth explanations. If the help articles listed still do not answer ...

    • Rostering Students

      Please ensure you have your Student Data available as described in 'Preparing your Data'. Adding Students to a Roster (Step-by-Step) 1. Navigate to https://test.arktest.org and login. This will bring you to the dashboard page. 2. Click on the ...

    • Assigning Students to Classes

      Adding Students to Classes (Step-by-Step) 1. Navigate to https://test.arktest.org/admin There are three ways to add students to classes. You can add them individually or as a group from the students page, individually by going into a specific class, ...

    • Rostering Teachers

      <br> Rostering/Uploading New Teachers (Step-by-Step) 1. From the center admin dashboard, navigate to the teacher tab on the left hand side of the screen 2. Once on the teacher screen there are two ways to ...

    • Common Errors With Uploading and How to Fix them

      Import Student Spreadsheet Uploading Errors Problem #1: The singular MOST common error with uploading relates to the ARK class ID. Please check that column first. Solution: The column for ARK class ID is a specific 5 digit number that's generated by ...