Sometimes there is data that does not come from a Gradebook or Assessment, but would like to be populated onto the Report Card automatically such as State Assessment Data, Student Birthdate, Attendance, or Co-Teachers, etc. In order to have it auto-populate onto the report card, the data needs to be part of a Custom Report.
Process Overview
Custom Reports for Report Cards are a super helpful tool! It provides the ability of any unique data (other than gradebook/assessment values) to populate onto the Report Card. The following is an overview of the process:
- If the data is NOT in Illuminate (i.e., Study Island, Scholastic, Attendance (for DNA clients), create and import results into a Summary Assessment
- Enter data into the Summary Assessment
- Create a Custom Report within the Summary Assessment data
- Create a field with the type Custom Report, linked to the report and column of data to be populated onto the Report Card
- When ready, map and layout the new field onto the Report Card
If data is already in Illuminate (i.e., State Assessment scores, Reading Levels or other data in a Summary Assessment, Programs, Attendance (ISI Clients) etc.), skip directly to Step 2 - Create a Custom Report!
Do you currently house or have access to data in Illuminate?
Only if data is NOT currently in Illuminate, would you need to create a Summary Assessment.
- This type of assessment is more like a repository where you are storing and housing data
- Data can be entered by users or you can import data from a file with data tied to student ID
- Importing is a manual import and can replace current data or add additional records of information
To learn more about Summary Assessments, visit the Summary & Demographic Assessments help manual.
If data is already housed in Illuminate, then you are ready for the next step. It will help to know the details and information on what data is expected to populate onto the Report Card such as state assessment name/type, year, and data field. Make sure you also have access to use the data for custom reports.
Be thoughtful about titles and data to help assist you with connecting back to field groups and fields. If the report has too much data, it may be hard to pull from easily within the setup process. Consider breaking the reports up by grading period or desired data (such as Fall, Winter, or Spring), so reports are smaller and more efficient.
- Go to Students.
- Select Search 2.0 which will provide you a currently enrolled student list to get started.
To learn more about how to use this tool, visit Create a Custom Report using Student Search 2.0.
We recommend titling the report Report Card XXX Custom Report or something to help you identify it is for Report Cards. This way you are least likely to modify it unless necessary.
Keep it simple, less is more - remove columns of data that don't need with the exception of Student ID. Grouping where you merge multiple student records into one record or value will not come over to report cards. Translations are just a mirage, not a true value and will not display in a report card.
Now that your Custom Reports are ready, you can continue with creating Field Groups and Fields as appropriate.
Best Practice Tips: For areas like Attendance that is its own Field Group, with Fields for each attendance mark. You can also create a Field Group called Custom Reports, and each field is an area in the system. This workflow is totally your choice in support of your setup process as the builder.
When creating a Field, you will choose the type Custom Report Value. From there, you will need to select the desired Custom Report and Column of data you wish to populate in this field. The selected custom report and column can change at any time up until entry begins. The Field Type however, cannot be changed.
We recommend to enable the option of "Overwrittable By Teachers" in cases where you may want the teacher to be given the ability to change the value due to data be incorrect and no time to troubleshoot.
By default the custom report value will display on the enter screen as the defaulted value. If there is no value for the student on the custom report, then no value will appear in that field for that student.
Visit the Step 8 - Create Report Card Fields for more information.
Once the field has been saved, the Custom Report and Column cannot be changed. Even when or if the field is duplicated, the Custom Report and Column cannot be changed.
This example shows set up for Trimester 1 Attendance. To prepare for Trimester 2, a new field group and field tied to a new custom report needs to be created.
Next Steps
Congrats! You are probably ready to move on to your Elementary Report Card building! Most likely, you are ready for Step 9 - Create Report Card Templates or Step 10 - Map and Layout the Report Card.