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Spark Help Center

How to create a group

Groups are how you organize your assigned students for sessions in Spark. You’ll create a group anytime you need to bring a set of students together under a shared curriculum, usually a school period or a small instructional cohort. Any Instructor with assigned students can create groups from their own roster.

Before you start

  • You need at least one student assigned to you. If you don’t see any students yet, check How students get assigned to me - your school administrator may still need to assign them.
  • All students in a group share a single curriculum (Reading or Math), so plan groups around the subject you’ll teach.

How to create a group

  1. Go to your My Students view. Click My Students in the left navigation, then select the Groups tab.

  2. Click + Create Group. A modal opens with the group setup fields.

  3. Select the school if you’re assigned to more than one. If you only work at one school, this field won’t appear and the school is set for you.

  4. Choose the curriculum. Pick Reading or Math. A group can only cover one subject. If you teach both to the same students, you’ll create a separate group for each.

  5. Add students. Start typing a student’s name in the Students field, then click to add them. Selected students appear as chips below the field; click the X on a chip to remove a student.

    Braintrust recommends keeping groups to 4 students or fewer for the best learning outcomes. If you select more than 4, you’ll see a warning - the group will still save, but consider whether two smaller groups would serve them better.

  6. Give the group a name. Use a name that helps you find it later, like “Period 3 Reading” or “Tuesday Math Cohort.” The name shows up in your Groups list and at the top of session pages.

  7. Click Save. The group is created and you’re returned to your Groups list with the new group at the top.

What happens after you save

  • For Math groups, the platform automatically assigns a starting Math Domain based on the curriculum content in your program. You can review or override the starting Domain on the Group Details page.
  • A pre-assessment is auto-assigned to your group based on the students’ grade levels and the curriculum. See How pre-assessments get assigned automatically.

Common issues

I can’t find a student in the Students field

The Students field only lists students assigned to you. If you expect to see a student who isn’t there, they may not be assigned to you yet, or they may be at a different school than the one you’ve selected. Check How students get assigned to me.

I got a warning about too many students

The 4-student recommendation is a guideline, not a hard limit. You can save a group of any size, but smaller groups typically lead to better outcomes. Consider whether splitting into two groups would let you give each student more focused attention.

I picked the wrong curriculum

Curriculum can’t be changed after a group is created. If you picked the wrong one, archive the group and create a new one with the correct curriculum selected.