Setting Up Disciplines and Electives

Overview

A Discipline is how Grado represents a flexible curriculum requirement — one that can be satisfied by any subject from a defined list, rather than a single fixed subject. Disciplines are most commonly used for electives.

Before a Discipline appears on student checklists, two things must be in place:

1. The Discipline is created under Setup → Disciplines with its subject pool defined.
2. The Discipline is added to the relevant curriculum as a requirement.

This article covers Step 1. For adding a Discipline to a curriculum, see Managing Curriculum Requirements.

How to Create a Discipline

1. In the side navigation, go to Setup → Disciplines. This opens the List of Disciplines page.
2. Click + Discipline. This opens the New Discipline page.
3. Fill in the following fields:

4. Under the subject pool section, type the name of each subject eligible to satisfy this Discipline and select it from the results. Repeat for each subject.
5. Click Create & Exit to save.

How to Modify an Existing Discipline

1. Go to Setup → Disciplines.
2. Find the Discipline in the list and click the Edit icon beside its name. This opens the Update Discipline page.
3. Make the desired changes.
4. Click Update Discipline to save.

Key Behavior

🧩 Examples

Example 1 — Single elective slot (SHS Math Elective)

A school offers a Math Elective for Grade 11 Academic Track students. Eligible subjects are Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus. One Discipline is created — Math Elective — with all three subjects in the pool.

When a student enrolls in Geometry, it is automatically credited to Math Elective. No manual action needed.

Example 2 — Multiple elective slots sharing a subject pool (BS Tourism Foreign Language Electives)

BS Tourism requires three foreign language electives, each selectable from: Mandarin, Spanish, French, German, Arabic. Three Disciplines are created — Foreign Language Elective 1, Foreign Language Elective 2, Foreign Language Elective 3 — each with the full subject list in the pool.

When a student takes both French and German in the same term, Grado credits both to Foreign Language Elective 1 by default. An admin must manually reassign them to the correct slots. See Manually Crediting a Subject to an Elective for instructions.

💡 Tips

• Name each Discipline slot clearly and sequentially when there are multiples (e.g., Foreign Language Elective 1, 2, 3) — this determines the default crediting order.
• Include all allowed subjects in the pool upfront. A subject not in the pool cannot be credited to the Discipline, even retrospectively, unless the pool is updated first.
• For programs with multiple same-pool elective slots, plan to do a checklist review before enrollment starts each term.

FAQ

Can the same subject appear in more than one Discipline's subject pool? Yes. A subject can be included in multiple Disciplines. This is expected for programs where the same set of subjects satisfies different elective slots (e.g., all three Foreign Language Elective slots share the same pool).

Can I delete a subject from a Discipline's pool after students have already been credited? Removing a subject from the pool does not affect crediting that has already occurred. However, it will no longer appear as an option when manually crediting future students.

Where do I add a Discipline to a curriculum? Disciplines are added as requirements in the curriculum builder. See Managing Curriculum Requirements.

Summary

Disciplines let you define flexible elective slots in a curriculum. Create each Discipline under Setup → Disciplines, add its eligible subjects, then attach it to the relevant curriculum. When multiple Discipline slots share the same subject pool, expect to manually correct checklist crediting after enrollment.