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How do I create a report card item list?

This article explains how to create different types of report card item lists to meet the varying needs that your district or school may have. Report card item lists serve as the link between the student grades in the instructors’ gradebooks and how that information is formatted on the actual report card. Districts and schools may require multiple report card item lists for their varying report card needs. For example, a math teacher may require individual Learning Target grades that are covered in that grading period, whereas a Kindergarten teacher may need a circle list to display which alphabet letters their students know.

To create a report card item list:

  1. Go to Main > Grade Reporting > Report Card Item Lists > Create Report Card Item List
  2. (District level only) Choose the appropriate Availability
  3. Enter a descriptive Title for the Report card item List
  4. Save

Report Card Items

Once the report card item list has been created, the next step is to add report card items to it. Report card items support the grading needs for courses. A simple report card item list may only have a single report card item, such as the student’s grade displayed as a score. A more complex report card item list will contain more report card items, with multiple grades displayed. In general, there are three report card item types:

  1. Give Letter Grade, Score and/or Comments
  2. Standards-based Grades
  3. Circle Items in a List

To create an report card item:

  1. Go to Main > Grade Reporting > Report Card Item Lists
  2. Find an existing report card item list or create a new one, then go to Report Card Items > Create Report Card Item
  3. Select the proper Type
  4. Enter a Title that will be displayed on the report card
  5. Configure other options. These vary according to report card item type.
  6. Save

Give Letter Grade, Score and/or Comments

This report card item type allows the school to display a letter grade, numeric score, or both on report cards. Additionally, it gives teachers the ability to write their own comments or select from a comment list. It is commonly used in a traditional grading setup, and it is useful when setting up an official grade for a class. For example, high schools typically create such a report card item to hold the official grade for the class. Official grades are printed on transcripts and determine the student’s credits and GPA if the course settings allow it.

This option is also used for non-official grades using a traditional grading scale. For example, a math class which has a “habits of work” grade separate from the official academic grade.

The following options control how the traditional grade is displayed on the report card:

  1. Managing how the grade is displayed: A school can choose one of these two options or both.
    • Give Letter Grade allows teachers to select a letter grade from the grading scale to display on report cards.
    • Give Score allows teachers to enter a numeric score for this report card item to display on report cards.
  2. Official Grade: This option displays the letter grade/score on transcripts and determines whether the student will earn credit for this course. If the course is set to count for GPA, this grade will be used in GPA calculation. Only one report card item on the list can be assigned the official grade.
  3. Selecting a Grading Scale:
    • Use the grading scale defined for the class is the only permitted option if this item is marked as the official grade. Teachers enter grades from the same grading scale that is assigned to the course.
    • Schools may select a different grading scale when grading secondary report card items such as work habits or study habits.
  4. Comments:
    • When selected, this option allows teachers to write their own comments if the report card setting allows it.
    • A school can set an approved comment list from which teachers may choose predefined comments. Read here for more information on how to create a comment list.

A sample report card entry of this report card item would look like this:

Traditional_Assessment_List.JPG

Standards-based Grades

This report card item type allows standards-based report cards grades entry. It automatically pulls the correct learning targets and allows the teachers to import or manually enters scores. It also allows for the calculation of an overall standard grade and the entering of comments on the report card.

The following options control how the standard grades are displayed on the report card:

  1. Individual Standards: A school can choose one of these two options or both of them.
    • Give Letter Grade allows teachers to select a letter grade from the grading scale to display on report cards.
    • Give Score allows teachers to enter a numeric score to display on report cards.
  2. Show Overall Standard Grade:
    • This option will display an additional row on the report card with an overall grade that is calculated as follows:
      • Learning target grades will be calculated from gradebook assignment scores based on the grading scale calculation mode.
      • Those grades are averaged to calculate a strand score. A strand is a higher level learning target.
      • The overall grade is the average calculated for the highest strand in the learning targets hierarchy.
    • The overall grade can be assessed by letter grade, score, or both depending on the choice for Give Letter Grade and Give Score.
    • The default title for this line on report cards is “Overall Standards Grade”, but when selecting change a new name can be entered.
  3. Comments:
  4. When selected, this option allows teachers to write their own comments if the report card settings allow it.
    • A school can set an approved comment list from which teachers may choose predefined comments. Read here for more information on how to create a comment list.

A sample report card entry of this report card item would look like this:

standards_assessment_list.JPG

Circle Items in a List

This report card item type displays a list of items and allows the teacher to circle those items that the student understands or has completed. When selecting this report card item type, the admin can create a custom item list or choose a preloaded one from this list:

  1. Letters: Upper and lower case letters together.
  2. Lower Case Letters.
  3. Upper Case Letters.
  4. Numbers 1-20: A list of the first twenty numbers.
  5. Shapes: Allows teachers to select from the following 10 shapes: circle, triangle, square, diamond, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, oval and trapezoid.
  6. Custom Shape List: This option allows the admin to remove shapes to create a smaller list of shape choices.
  7. Custom Text List: This option allows admins to create a list of text items. For example, a Kindergarten teacher may want a list of fine motor skills such as grasps, correct pencil grip, cuts in a straight line, and so on.

The following options control how the circle list items are displayed on the report card:

  1. Choose the appropriate List Template
  2. Preview/Edit Items: This is where new items could be added and existing items edited.
  3. Display a total count: When this option is selected, the total number of circled items is displayed on the report card.
  4. Max Columns: This allows you to adjust the number of columns in which the list is displayed.

A sample report card entry of this report card item would look like this:

Circle_List_Assessment_List.JPG