Report Cards 101

You don't have to be a graphic designer to create a spiffy report card that will impress your students and their parents. Your design dreams can come true within The Education Edge!

Before logging in, think about your report card's appearance. Do you want multiple columns on the same page? Do you want the school logo included? Should you include attendance and credits? For some inspiration, check out our shared sample report cards on the forums. Have an idea of what you want? Let's hop over to Mail, Forms, open a report card parameter, and get started!

On the General tab, select the basics, i.e., the year to run the report card, the school, the term, and the session. On the bottom of the screen, select the paper size, the orientation, and the text font style and size. Your selections won't override the font already entered in grade comments.

Now let's head to the Details tab to set up the meat of your report card. You select the sections to include such as Academic Summary, Attendance, and Activities.

Let's take a closer look at the Course section because everyone needs one on their report card.

1. Highlight the Courses row and click Open to see the treasure chest of tabs!
2. On the General tab, there are more formatting options. Select the options you think will look awesome on your report card.
3. On the Columns tab, select the columns to display under the courses section. Some good choices are Course Name and Marking Column. After you add the Marking Column column, select the grade format and whether or not to show attempted and awarded credits.
4. You can select to print skills, comments, and class notes on the respective tabs.

When you're done with the Courses section, click OK to return to the Details tab where you can add other sections. The available columns and details will depend on your selected section.

Look no further than the Summary Notes tab to include some of the same sections as the Details tab in other areas of the report card such as the right side or the bottom of the page. You can also add freeform notes here, which is great for grading scales or any other information that must be on your report cards. Keep in mind if you choose to print Summary Notes on the bottom: they will print on each page.

Use the Filters tab to select the students and courses to include, the Attributes tab to add, update, or delete student attributes, and the Addresses tab to select the address that will print on the report card.

On the Format tab, you can select the header layout and format the student and teacher names. In the Header section, you can add your school logo image and select the school and student information that displays within the header.

Ready to check out your work? To save time, go back to the Filters tab and select one student to test on. If your previewed report card isn't exactly what you wanted, don't fret; adjust the parameters until you've achieved your vision!

Need tamper resistant paper just in case Caroline tries to erase her F? Check out our selection of forms.

Happy voting everybody!