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Genesis Student Information System Administrator Documentation

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ELEMENTARY GRADING – Define an Elementary School Report Card Template This document is designed to walk you through the creation of an Elementary School Report Card Template.

Figure 1 – The List of Elementary School Report Cards

All Elementary School Report Card Templates for the school district are listed on the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen. From this location you can add new templates and modify existing ones. This screen is the jumping off point for all template related changes:

• Adding new templates • Uploading new Report Card and Overflow forms to existing templates • Adding or changing Field definitions for templates • Displaying sample report cards and sample overflow forms

The remainder of this document describes creating and modifying a Elementary School Report Card Template.


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Step 1: Add a Report Card to the List Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Add

Figure 2 – Define a New Template via the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Add

screen

Procedure to Add a New Report Card Template Definintion 1. Navigate to the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen. 2. Click on the “Add” 4th level tab. This brings up the Elementary Grading Report

Cards Templates Add screen. See Figure 3 above. 3. Enter an identifying code for the Report Card. This is a short, unique code by which

the report card is known internally to Genesis. E.g. “GR23” for Grade 2‐3 Report Card.

4. Enter a name for the new Report Card. E.g. “Grade 2‐3 Report Card” 5. Enter the name of the author of the Report Card. E.g. “C. Zinn” 6. Specify the sequence # of for the new Report Card – this position this new Report

Card in the list of Report Card templates. 7. Click Add to create the Report Card Template definition.

This simply defines an “empty” template: you must upload PDF forms and specify field locations to create a functional Report Card Template.


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Step 2: Upload the Templates Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates

Figure 3 - The Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen after the definition of a new

and still empty Report Card Template

Procedure to Upload a PDF Form 1. Navigate to the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen. 2. Locate the Template for which you wish to upload a PDF form and click on the

“Modify” icon button. This brings up the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Attach screen. See Figure 4 below.

3. To upload a new Report Card PDF template, do the following: a. click on the “Browse” button for the “Report Card Form” b. Locate the PDF file containing the Report Card form. c. Click on the Upload Form button to upload the form.

4. To upload a new Overflow PDF template, do the following: a. click on the “Browse” button for the “Overflow Form” b. Locate the PDF file containing the Overflow form. c. Click on the Upload Form button to upload the form.

5. Return to the screen. There should now be PDF Icon buttons for the newly uploaded forms. Click on the PDF icon buttons to view the newly uploaded forms.


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Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Attach

Figure 4 – The Attach (or Upload) PDF template screen. Note the two separate upload fields, the top one

for the “Report Card Form” and the bottom one for the “Overflow Comment Form”


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Step 3: Define where and how information will be placed into the template. Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Fields

Figure 5 – The Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Fields screen

The Fields Screen The fields screen is what controls how information will be ‘painted’ onto both the Report Card template and the Overflow page template. Each entry on the Fields screen controls the placement of one piece of information. You specify:

‐ What information to print. This is one of the “Elementary Report Card Field Macros”. The complete list of these macros are listed below in the Field Macro List.

‐ How to print the information. This is the font and font size to use when printing the information contained in the macro.

‐ Where to place the information on the template page. These fields are the hardest to determine: they consist of the precise location, in points, where the information will sit on the specified page of the form, as well as the page number of the form on which to print the field.

‐ Optional information that is used to help Genesis understand how to resolve the macro and figure out exactly what data to print on the finished report card.

‐ Sample information that is used to show you exactly what a sample finished product will look like.


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Defining these fields – and determining the exact X and Y point locations for the fields is a laborious, repetitive process. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done about this. The Fields List The fields list specifies what pieces of information to place on either the template or the overflow form, and where and how to place the information.

• Macro – The name of the macro that specifies information to place on the template. The list of available macros can be found below in the Field Macro List.

• Copy – • Font – Select the font. Genesis provides you with 3 builtin‐in fonts. You can add

additional fonts. The three built‐in fonts include: o Helvetica o Courier o Times Roman

• Font size – Point size of the characters. Typically size 12 is used for normal type and size 10 for small type.

• X – Horizontal position on the page. See Page Position below. • Y – Vertical position on the page. See Page Position below. • W – Width of the field in points. There are 72 points to the inch. • Align – How to align the information in the field. There are three alignments:

o Left o Center o Right

• Sequence # ‐ This is just for sorting the list of fields – it has nothing to do with controlling how the information is placed on the template.

• Option – The Option field will contain extra “parameter” information for resolving the macro. For example, it is used with the macro to specify how many lines of comments can be printed in the space provided.

• Sample text • Page # ‐ The page number specifies on which page of the PDF template to place this

field. Typically, Elementary School Report Card templates have multiple pages. The page # (e.g. 2) controls which page Genesis places the field. There is a special page #, “99”, to indicate that information will be placed on the Overflow page (a separate PDF file). Any macro can be placed on any page, including the Overflow page.

Procedure to Add a Field to the Field List

1. Navigate to the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen. 2. Select the template you wish to add a field to and click on the Fields icon. This

brings up the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates Fields screen for the selected template.

3. Enter the field information:


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a. Enter the macro name. Select from the list below in the “Field Macro List”. b. Specify the copy # c. Select the font for the field. d. Select the font size for the field. e. Specify the X (or horizontal) location for the information on the page of the

template. This must be specified in points. f. Specify the Y (or vertical) location for the information on the page of the

template. This must also be specified in points. g. Specify the width of the field in points. h. Specify the field’s alignment (left, right or center). i. Provide a sequence # for this field. This just positions the field in the list of

fields on the screen. It is required but does impact the template itself. j. Specify any optional information that should be passed to the Macro to

select the right information for the report card. This field should be blank if there is no optional information.

k. Specify sample (i.e. fake) information to be used to generate a “sample” of the finished report card.

l. Specify the Page number of the template on which to place this macro’s information. The page number “99” is selects the Overflow page (a separate PDF).

4. Click the “Add” button to add the field. 5. Verify that the field has been added and placed in the list. 6. To add additional fields, repeat steps 3 to 5.


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Field Macro List Basic Information Macros:

• STUDENT_NAME – Student’s name in last name first format: Zinn, Christopher • STUDENT_NAME2 – Student’s name in normal format: Christopher Zinn • STUDENT_ID – E.g 234892 • HOMEROOM – Student’s current year homeroom. E.g. 103 • SCHOOL_YEAR – E.g. 2005‐06 • GRADE_LEVEL – Student’s current grade level. E.g. 02 • SCHOOL_NAME – Genesis High School – Set on the Setup Schools Modify School

screen. • PRINCIPAL_NAME – Dr. Angela Ronka - Set on the Setup Schools Modify School

screen. • SCHOOL_PHONE_NUMBER – 908‐123‐2123 - Set on the Setup Schools Modify

School screen. • TEACHER_NAME – Teacher name with last name first: Zinn, Christopher • TEACHER_NAME2 – Teacher name in normal format: Chistopher Zinn • TEACHER_NAME3 – Teacher name with honorific: Mr. Christopher Zinn • DATE – 6/10/2007

Teacher Comment Macros:

• TEACHER_COMMENTS_BLOCK_CURRENT – This macro prints the comments for the current marking period on the report card template. As much of the teacher’s free‐form comments into the specified space as will fit in the space are printed. If the comments are actually larger than the available space, the excess comments are suppressed. You can use the OVERFLOW_COMMENTS_BLOCK_MPx macro to print these ‘overflow’ comments in another location or on the overflow page (see Section III above). The “Option” field corresponding to this macro must contain a count of how many lines of comments can be printed in the space provided. This number MUST be present or really strange things can happen when the comments are printed. You might try starting with a count of 10 and increase or decrease the count through trial and error. This field can really only be tested with real teacher data: there is no effective sample data. The current marking period can be set on the Elementary Grading Setup Open/Close Grading screen. If this field is blank, comments will not print.

• TEACHER_COMMENTS_BLOCK_CURRENT3 – This macro does the EXACT same thing

as the TEACHER_COMMENTS_BLOCK_CURRENT macro, the only difference is that the teacher’s name is printed as the TEACHER_NAME3 macro prints it, with an honorific: Mr. Christopher Zinn.

• TEACHER_COMMENTS_BLOCK_MPx – This macro does the EXACT same thing as the previous two macros, the only exception is that the comments are for the specified Marking Period, rather than the current Marking Period.


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• OVERFLOW_COMMENTS_BLOCK_MPx – If the comments in the other comment fields do not fit, this field will print the overflow. The overflow is typically printed on the separate “overflow” page. The overflow page has a special magic page number of 99. When defining this Overflow field, you must set the page number to 99 or strange behavior will occur. Before defining fields on the Overflow page, make sure that the overflow PDF is uploaded and installed.

Attendance Information Macros:

• ATTENDANCE_PRESENT_MPx – Display number of days prsent for this marking period

• ATTENDANCE_ABSENT_MPx – Display number of days absent for this marking period (this combines the excused and unexcused counts)

• ATTENDANCE_TARDY_MPx – Display number of days tardy for this marking period • ATTENDANCE_PRESENT_CYCLE_Q1 – Replace the “Q1” with any valid semester

code. Display the number of days present for the specified cycle. • ATTENDANCE_ABSENT_CYCLE_Q1 – Replace the “Q1” with any valid semester code.

Display of days absent for the specified cycle. • ATTENDANCE_ABSENT_TARDY_Q1 – Replace the “Q1” with any valid semester

code. Display the number of days absent or tardy for the specified ATTENDANCE_CYCLE_CODE. This is the cycle code of the school and is set up on the Setup Schools School Parameters Attendance Cycles screen.

• ATTENDANCE_TOTAL_ABSENTS – Display number of total absences in the specified SCHOOL_ATTENDANCE_CYCLES. The “Field Option” must include a comma separated list of attendance cycle codes to use; for example: MP1,MP2,MP3,MP4. Attendance cycles are listed on the Setup Schools School Parameters Attendance Cycles screen.

• ATTENDANCE_TOTAL_TARDIES – Display number of total tardies in the specified SCHOOL_ATTENDANCE_CYCLES. The “Field Option” must include a comma separated list of attendance cycle codes to use; for example: MP1,MP2,MP3,MP4. Attendance cycles are listed on the Setup Schools School Parameters Attendance Cycles screen.

Conference Macros:

• CONFERENCE_REQUESTED_MPx – Display an x if conference is requested • CONFERENCE_ATTENDED_MPx – Display an x if a conference was attended in the

specified MP Subject and Skill Grade Macros:

• SUBJECT_GRADE_MPx_SUBJECTCODE – Display the subect’s grade for Marking Period X. Replace the word “SUBJECTCODE” with the subject’s code.

• SKILL_GRADE_MPx_SUBJECTCODE_SKILLCODE – Display the subject’s skill grade for Marking Period X for the specified SUBJECTCODE and SKILLCODE. Replace the word


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“SUBJECTCODE” with the subject’s code and the word “SKILLCODE” with the subject’s skill’s skillcode.

• SKILL_GRADE_CURRENT_SUBJECTCODE_SKILLCODE – Display the subject’s skill grade for the current Marking Period for SUBJECTCODE and SKILLCODE. Replace the word “SUBJECTCODE” with the subject’s code and the word “SKILLCODE” with the subject’s skill’s skillcode. The current marking period is set in the Elementary Grading Setup Open/Close Grading screen when grading is opened.


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Step 4: Producing a Sample Report Cards and Overflow Forms Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates

Figure 6 - The Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen – Note the location of the

“Sample” icons Procedure to Produce a Sample Report Card

1. Navigate to the Elementary Grading Report Cards Templates screen. 2. Select the template you wish to “sample”. 3. Click on the “Sample” icon button. A sample report card will be generated and

displayed in Adobe PDF reader. The sample is created using the information in the “Sample” column on the Fields screen(). CAVEAT: There is no effective “sample” for Teacher Comments. To ensure that Teacher Comments are correctly placed on the final report cards and overflow pages, you will need to test run a set of actual report cards (you will NOT need to print out these sample cards, only generate them so that the position of the comments in their fields can be viewed and checked for good placement).


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Figure 7 – Sample Report Card with Sample Data plugged into the Report Card Template


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APPENDIX: Samples of the Report Card and Overflow Forms

Figure 8 – A partial view of a sample Elementary School Report Card Template


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Figure 9 – A partial view of a sample Elementary School Overflow Comments Template

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