{"id":22,"date":"2009-04-01T13:57:05","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T05:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.quickschools.com\/?p=22"},"modified":"2026-08-18T01:51:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:51:47","slug":"producing-report-cards-does-it-have-to-be-so-tedious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.quickschools.com\/producing-report-cards-does-it-have-to-be-so-tedious\/","title":{"rendered":"Producing report cards: Does it have to be so tedious?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you’re a teacher or school administrator, you’re probably part of the report card generation process. And chances are, you’ll agree with me that in most cases, it’s tedious<\/em>. First of all, every report card must be passed to every subject teacher. Some teachers take a little bit longer to enter their grades. Some may even be on sick leave, leaving documents stranded half-way through. Whether or not this takes place manually using pieces of paper, or electronically using a shared location, it can be frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then after all the grades and comments are keyed in, the report cards are usually passed on to a homeroom teacher for their overall assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some schools, it’s then passed on to the principal for comments and for a final-look over. Finally, it can be bound together (if it’s paper), or printed (if it’s electronic), and then mailed or passed to the student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re talking about a school with 500 students, the above process has to be done 500 times<\/em>, and 2-4 times a year<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can it not be tedious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why I get so much joy whenever we implement QuickSchools.com at a new school. Invariably, the first feature we roll-out is the grading<\/a> and report card<\/a> module. I think it’s a work of art how our approach makes it so much easier on teachers during the report card generation process. And to see the teachers amazed at the end of a grading session, well, that’s really satisfying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we do it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, first of all, we can’t claim all the credit. We owe our approach to the supply chain software industry<\/strong>. You see, in supply chains, the processes and volume of transactions are\u00a0magnitudes<\/em> higher than in the report card generation process.\u00a0Supply chains also involve many people, with differing levels of computer ability. They’ve been forced to discover and implement innovative approaches to collaborate effectively in the supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we simply borrowed the concepts. (Oh, and it helps that some of the key designers of the QuickSchools.com software came from a supply chain background).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Ideas We Used<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are some key ideas behind our report card generation flow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n