Report Card & Transcript Builder: Where to Begin

Keeley Nutile

Time for a pop quiz! When did schools first adopt a systematic approach to grading? Give up? According to most accounts, it started to appear in the late 18th century. Some reports attribute it to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, in 1785; however, other reports attribute it to William Farish, a tutor at the University of Cambridge, in 1792.

Regardless of the exact date or location, the modern concept of grading, and report cards and transcripts specifically, have come a long way since their inception. But one thing remains true: report cards and transcripts are a crucial component of a school’s culture and infrastructure.

Fortunately, today in the 21st century, you can take advantage of several features in Blackbaud Student Information System that can help your school streamline the process of creating report cards, progress reports, and transcripts. Here are a few tips to get you started with the Report Card Builder and Transcript Builder tools to ensure you’re set up for success.

1. Do your prep work. There are a few initial tasks you need to complete before you can begin building report cards and transcripts. For example, if you are going to display a watermark, have you uploaded it in the Logos and Seals task? Have you decided if you are going to display mailing addresses or preferred addresses, and are these indicators selected appropriately in student Contact Cards? These are a couple of the tasks you’ll need to perform, but it’s important that you create a complete checklist of all setup steps and outline who is responsible for what.
2. Make a blueprint. Do you have a vision for what your report cards and transcripts should look like? Draw them! How many different templates do you need? What rows, sections, and columns do you require? You can customize each template to meet your school’s specific needs: you can determine what information appears, where it appears, and how it appears. Make sure you are also familiar with your school’s style guide since you can apply unique design options (e.g., font family) to each template.
3. Register for the Blackbaud University course, K–12 Blackbaud Student Information System: Building Report Cards and Transcripts. If you’re looking for additional information about creating, styling, and publishing report cards and transcripts, this class can help! Learn how to use the Report Card Builder and Transcript Builder tools to successfully manage all aspects of report cards and transcripts so your school can increase efficiencies and simplify workflows!
   
   Good news for Blackbaud Learn® subscribers! If you have a Learn More or Learn Everything training subscription, this class is included. Not a subscriber? Find out how a Learn subscription can help develop your efficiency and ongoing skills.