Required Placements

Required placements let you lock a specific student into a specific classroom before running the placement generator. A valid placement keeps those destinations fixed and places the remaining students around them. Verify the saved classrooms before sharing the final lists.

What Are Required Placements?

A required placement is a binding instruction that says "this student must be placed in this classroom." Unlike preferences , which request a pairing, a required placement specifies the destination itself. Restrictions are also hard constraints, but they require separation rather than choosing a classroom.

When to Use Required Placements

Required placements are useful in situations where a student's classroom placement is non-negotiable:

• Specialized programs — A classroom offers a specific curriculum track (e.g., gifted program, bilingual instruction) and certain students must be enrolled in it.
• Parental requests — A parent has formally requested a particular teacher or classroom, and the school has agreed.
• Additional support needs — A student requires a specific classroom environment, aide, or teacher trained to support their needs.
• Administrative decisions — School leadership has decided certain students should be in a given classroom for scheduling, logistical, or policy reasons.
• Returning students — A student who changed classrooms mid-year needs to be placed back into the same classroom for continuity.

How to Add a Required Placement

To create a required placement, add students and classrooms first. If either prerequisite is missing, the Required Placements page shows the next setup action instead of an empty form:

• Navigate to the Required Placements tab on your placement workspace.
• Select the student you need to lock from the dropdown.
• Choose the target classroom from the Classroom dropdown.
• Click Add Required Placement to save it.

Each student can only have one required placement. If you change your mind, delete the existing required placement and create a new one.

How Required Placements Affect the Algorithm

When you generate a placement, the algorithm:

• Uses each required placement as that student's designated classroom.
• Treats those placements as immovable — they cannot be changed during optimization.
• Distributes the remaining students around the fixed placements, balancing preferences and scales while respecting restrictions.

Because required placements are locked in, they affect the balance calculations. For example, if you lock five boys into the same classroom, the algorithm has fewer options to achieve even boy/girl distribution across all classrooms.

Tips for Required Placements

• Don't over-constrain. The more students you lock, the less flexibility the algorithm has to create balanced classes. Use required placements only when there is a clear reason.
• Keep necessary requirements. Record required classrooms for genuine placement needs, then review how the remaining students are distributed.
• Check for conflicts. Make sure required placements don't contradict restrictions. If Student A is restricted from Student B but both students are required to be in the same classroom, the algorithm cannot produce a valid result.
• Review before generating. Double-check your required placements list before generating a placement. It is easier to adjust beforehand than to re-run the algorithm.