Creating Report Cards/Interims

Creating report cards/interims is a multiple-step process that provides numerous options for entering report card/interim content and formatting the printed report card/interim. It is imperative to create report cards/interims in GradeBook at the beginning of the school year to enable teachers to enter grades, to allow for proper grade calculation and attendance totaling, and to enable grades to be exported to StudentInformation.

1.On the Administrator Home Page, below Grading Setup, click Report Card Builder.

2.At the bottom of the Report Cards screen, click Add a Report Card.

The General tab is highlighted in the banner.

3.In the Enter a name for the report card field, enter a name for the report card/interim.

Note: This name should easily identify the report card/interim and display in the list on the Report Cards screen, Interims and Report Card Entry screens, ParentAccess, and the Frontline ProgressBook Parent & Student app.

4.In the Choose the type of report that will be produced drop-down list, select one of the following types:

•Report Card

•Interim Report

5.In the Select a format for the report option, select one of the following formats:

•Elementary – Recommended if using different assessments in each course (standards-based report cards/interims) and for school districts that want to print report cards/interims from GradeBook. Individual courses within one grade may have different sets of assessments.

•Secondary – Recommended if the same assessments are used for all courses (traditional report cards/interims). Since GradeBook does not calculate cumulative grade point averages, it is recommended to print secondary report cards/interims from StudentInformation. However, you must still create report cards/interims in GradeBook.

Note: The formats refer to style of report card/interim, as in traditional or standards-based, and not grade level.

6.If you are printing report cards/interims from GradeBook, in the Select the template for printing drop-down list, select one of the following paper size and layout options:

•Standard Elementary Report Card (11 * 17 landscape, 2 columns)

•Standard Elementary Report Card (8 1/2 * 11 portrait)

•Standard Elementary Report Card (8 1/2 * 11 landscape, 2 columns)

•Standard Elementary Report Card (8 1/2 * 14 portrait)

•Standard Elementary Report Card (Legal tri-fold)

7.From the Which Average Calculation Method would you like to use? drop-down list, select one of the following calculation methods:

•Use Basic Calculations (Default) – Use this option to determine how grades are calculated only for the reporting periods that are not set up as a GradeBook Range? on the Reporting Periods screen; often, this option is used if you are creating standards-based report cards/interims

•Use Advanced Calculations – Use this option to assign report card/interim grade entry methods for all assessments and reporting periods and then set up how grades are calculated for those designated as system calculations; use this option if creating traditional report cards/interims

Note: The main difference between Basic and Advanced Calculations is how grades used in system calculations are entered into GradeBook. If all of the grades used are entered on the same Assessment row, Basic Calculations can be used. If the grades used are entered on various Assessment rows, Advanced Calculations must be used.

Once you save the report card/interim, the banner displays different calculation tabs depending on your selection of either Basic or Advanced Calculations. These banner tabs are system calculation steps used for defining how semester and final grades are calculated. With Basic Calculations, Average Calcs is the only tab to complete on the banner.

However, Advanced Calc and System Calcs are the tabs to complete on the banner for Advanced Calculations.

In addition to system calculation steps, the Basic or Advanced Calculations option determines whether certain options display on the Assessments tab. With Basic Calculations, the Pull Mark? column displays for elementary style report cards.

The Calc Mark? column displays for secondary style report cards.

assessments_tab_basic_calculations_options_traditional_report_card.png

However, for both elementary and secondary style report cards with Advanced Calculations, these columns are unnecessary because the Advanced Calc tab designates how grades are entered on the report card.

Note:

8.In the Select the rounding precision to use when averaging numeric grades drop-down list, select one of the following values that represents the number of decimal places you want to display after the decimal point:

•0 – Rounds up or down to the nearest whole number, such as 90.

•1 – Rounds up or down to the nearest tenth and displays one place after the decimal point, such as 89.7.

•2 – Rounds up or down to the nearest hundredth and displays two places after the decimal point, such as 89.76.

•3 – Rounds up or down to the nearest thousandth and displays three places after the decimal point, such as 89.765.

•4 – Rounds up or down to the nearest ten thousandth and displays four places after the decimal point, such as 89.7658.

Note: The selection of the values determines the number of decimal places you want to display after the decimal point on the report card/interim when GradeBook calculates student grades using percentage averages. The default value is 2.

9.In the Select the rounding precision to use when averaging from letter grades drop-down list, select one of the following values that represents the number of decimal places you want to display after the decimal point:

•0 – Rounds up to the nearest whole number, such as 90.

•1 – Rounds up or down to the nearest tenth and displays one place after the decimal point, such as 89.7.

•2 – Rounds up or down to the nearest hundredth and displays two places after the decimal point, such as 89.76.

•3 – Rounds up or down to the nearest thousandth and displays three places after the decimal point, such as 89.765.

•4 – Rounds up or down to the nearest ten thousandth and displays four places after the decimal point, such as 89.7658.

Note: Do not select a value to display more decimal places than the number of decimal places defined in the ranges set up in the grading scale.

10.In the Select the report card mode options, ensure that Testing is selected.

The following modes are available at various stages of the report card/interim building process:

•Active – The report card/interim must be made active after it has been compiled and does not contain critical or severe errors. Once the report card/interim has been made active, teachers can update report card/interim grades on the Report Card Entry screen. Most changes made to the report card/interim while it is in active mode and in use cause errors.

•Inactive – Disables the report card/interim so that it cannot be accessed by teachers.

•Testing – Allows changes to be made to the report card/interim setup and allows report card/interim grades to be viewed by teachers on the Report Card Entry screen.

Note: An error message displays if you try to make changes to the report card/interim while it is in Active mode.You must change the mode to Inactive or Testing before you make changes.

11.In the Choose the data integration method drop-down list, select one of the following options:

•Live – Student marks are saved in GradeBook and are automatically updated in StudentInformation in real time.

•None – Should not be selected if your school district is integrated with StudentInformation.

12.If you selected the Live data integration method in step 11, then in the Choose the data integration source drop-down list, select DASL. If you selected None in step 11, in the Choose the data integration source drop-down list, select None.

13.In the Allow school administrators to update this report card setup? option, select one of the following access options:

•Yes – Lets users assigned the school administrator role update report card/interim settings.

•No – Lets users assigned the school administrator role view but not update report card/interim settings.

14.In the Post on Parent Access? option, select one of the following options:

•Yes – Displays report card/interim data in ParentAccess and the Frontline ProgressBook Parent & Student app.

•No – Does not display report card/interim data in ParentAccess or the Frontline ProgressBook Parent & Student app.

Note: Selecting No for this option prevents access to report cards on only the ParentAccess Report Cards screen (not official grades) in ParentAccess. The option to View Paper Report card may still be available if the View Official Report Cards option is enabled on the Page Level Security screen Student section within PA Admin (see the ParentAccess Administration Guide for more information).

15.If you are creating interims, in the Pull grades for previous marking periods from option, select one of the following options:

•Report Card – Pulls report card grades for previous reporting periods when printing the interim, which must use the same assessments and/or mark types as the interim.

•Interim Report – (Default) Pulls interim report grades for previous reporting periods.

Note: If you pull grades from report cards for the previous marking periods, ensure that the report card uses the same assessments and/or mark types as the interim.

16.If your district chooses to use the marks threshold override, for the Override all grades above and below the defined thresholds and round to the nearest threshold option, select Enabled (the default setting is Disabled). This option is available only for grades calculated using points where the GUI you selected on the Mark Types screen is Numeric Textbox.

17.Click Save.

The Grade Levels tab displays automatically.

18.Proceed to assign grade levels to schools that use the report card/interim.