Prepare Your Data

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 your questions, there are various other help articles available as well or you can contact the ARK help desk. 


  • Teacher and student data will be imported. To start importing data, please ensure that your data is in a .csv file format.  Each column should contain header information to identify the data. 
    • For Teachers, you will need: First Name, Last Name, Email, Sex (M/F), Proctor (Y/N)
    • For Students, you will need: First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Grade, Catholic (Y/N), Gaps in Catholic Education (Y/N), English as a Second Language (Y/N), and Accommodation (Y/N). You may optionally add the unique ARK Class ID (Schools with many classes/sections per grade can export the ARK-generated class ID for those class listings in ARK. This can be added to the Student import to automatically assign students to those classes. Data must match exactly.)
    • NOTE: You MUST Include a School Student ID starting in 2025. This can be obtained from your Student information system along with the other student data. Please include a "Y" for Gaps and an "N" as default for ESL and Accommodations if not otherwise known.

      Note! Please use one file for Teachers and a separate file for Students.

      If you still have questions about preparing your data to upload or have run into any issues with uploading your file, please see the article entitled "Common Errors and How to Fix them" linked here
  • Setup of Proctors, Classes, and Testing sections will be done using the ARK interface (it will not be imported).
  • For Classes: Please ensure you have the Textbook Publisher, Textbook Name and Edition for each class you will roster in ARK. ARK utilizes a simple drop-down selection featuring the USCCB approved textbook list. 
  • For more help setting up classes please see the following help article entitled "Creating Classes" 
  • For more help setting up testing sections please see the following help article entitled "Creating testing sections" 

    • Related Articles

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • 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 ...

    • Creating a Teacher Testing Section

      Key Differences for Teacher Tests Any Teacher/Proctor can Proctor the Teacher Test Section. The Teacher Test can be taken synchronously or asynchronously. In the event of asynchronous testing, the Test remains “Open” until the final teacher completes ...

    • Classes and Testing Sections FAQ

      Note: This list of questions is not exhaustive. If your question is NOT answered by the following list, it is possible that the answer can be found in MORE detail in a different help article. The purpose of the following FAQ is to help guide you to ...