Guide

Setting up a new school year

The school is already in RecordGrade. You are opening the next year. Students, classes, and last year’s grades stay where they are. You add the new year, protect last year, then say who is in which grade and which classes.

1. Open the right school

Log in. The school name shows at the top, next to the year menu. If you see a different school, open Settings → My Schools and click Switch to school.

If you do not have a login yet, register at /register and confirm your email. Then open Settings → My Schools, click Join school, and enter the join code. Someone who already has access approves you under Settings → Users. More about logins: Accounts & permissions.

The year menu at the top is how RecordGrade knows which year you are looking at. Almost every list follows that choice. After you create the new year, pick it there before you enroll anyone. A small lock beside a year means that year is read-only.

2. What carries over

These pieces are already in the school.

• Students stay on the roster. Add only children who are new this year.
• Courses stay. Add only classes that are new. A course is a class, such as Algebra 1.
• Last year’s grades stay on each student. Locking the year keeps people from changing them.
• Who is in this year, and which classes they take, is new every year. Those two lists are the enrollment steps at the end.

3. Create the new school year

A school year is this year’s dates, plus the terms inside it. A term is a quarter, a trimester, or a semester. Report cards, attendance, and behavior follow those dates.

1. Open Years → School Years.
2. Click New.
3. Set Start Date to the first day of school.
4. Leave Weekdays at 180, or type your real count of Monday–Friday school days. Change the start date or the weekday count, and the end date updates. Change the end date, and the weekday count updates.
5. The Title fills in from the dates, such as 2026-2027. Click Customize if you want a different name.
6. Add terms. Click Generate Quarters or Generate Trimesters, or click Add term and type your own dates and names. One term named Year is fine when you do not split the year.
7. Click Save.
8. Open the year menu at the top and choose this new year.

More about years and terms: Years & enrollments.

4. Lock last year

Locking makes last year’s records read-only. People can still open that year and look at grades, attendance, and notes. They cannot change them. The year stays in the year menu with a lock beside the name.

1. Open Years → School Years.
2. Click last year’s row.
3. Check Make Year Read-Only.
4. Click Save.

To allow a correction later, open that year and uncheck Make Year Read-Only.

Hide Year is a different checkbox on the same form. It takes the year out of the year menu. Leave it unchecked so people can still look last year up. Auto-Enroll also uses years that are still in that menu.

More about hiding or deleting a year: Years & enrollments.

5. Add new students

A student is a child on the school roster. Returning students are already there. This step is only for children who are new to the school.

1. Open Students → Manage Students.
2. Click New.
3. Enter the first name and last name. Middle name and student ID can wait.
4. Click Submit.

Add Many types several names. Import brings in a spreadsheet.

The name is only on the roster so far. Enroll them in the year in a later step.

If a student from last year is missing, turn on Inactive in the search on Manage Students. Open the student and uncheck Archived. Archived means hidden from the everyday list.

More about student records: Students & academic views.

6. Add new courses

A course is a class. Last year’s classes are already in the list. Add a course only when the class is new this year.

1. Open Courses → Manage Courses.
2. Click Add Course.

On the form:

• Title. The class name.
• Course Category. A subject group such as Math or English. Categories already exist for the school. Add one under Courses → Categories if you need a new group.
• Grade Level. 0 is kindergarten. 1 is first grade. 12 is twelfth grade. Auto-Enroll matches this number to the student’s grade.
• Credits. How much the class counts. Use 0 if you are not tracking credit yet.
• Minimum Grade Level for Credits. The student receives credit when they take the class in this grade or higher. It starts at the same number as Grade Level. Leave it unless your school has a different rule.
• Auto-Enroll. Leave this checked when every student in that grade should get the class. Uncheck it for an elective you will assign yourself.
• Units. The chunks you grade, such as Unit 1 or Chapter 3. Click Add unit or Add many. Each unit needs a short title (12 characters or fewer) and a test pattern. A test pattern says how the quiz and test scores in that unit combine into one grade. Patterns already exist under Courses → Test Patterns.

Click Save.

Before you enroll anyone, open any course you are not teaching and uncheck Auto-Enroll. An archived course is still included when that box is checked.

No-grade courses are classes that do not use percent scores, such as a lab, a reading log, or hours. They live under Courses → No-Grade Courses. Add a new one the same way: title, category, grade, credits, and Auto-Enroll. Check Track Student Hours when you want a time log.

More about courses, categories, and test patterns: Courses & gradebook. More about no-grade courses: No-grade courses & hours.

7. Enroll students in the year

A year enrollment means this student is in this school year, in this grade. Test scores, attendance, and class lists all look at this list. Each year has its own list, so returning students need to be enrolled again.

Confirm the year menu shows the new year. Then open Years → Year Enrollments.

Auto-Enroll from last year

This is the usual way to bring returning students forward.

1. Click Auto-Enroll. The window is titled Auto-Enroll from Previous Year.
2. It uses the latest year still in the year menu that ended before this one. It lists those students, except anyone who was in 12th grade, and it moves each student up one grade. A 3rd grader is offered as a 4th grader. Kindergarten is offered as 1st grade. The new grade is shown under each name. If last year is hidden, unhide it first, or this list can come from an older year.
3. Select the students who are coming back.
4. Click Enroll Students.

Leave a student unchecked when they are repeating a grade. Enroll them by hand at the same grade.

Students who were in 12th grade are left off the list. Enroll a student who is staying another year by hand.

The Auto-Enroll button shows up when the year menu has more than one year. If last year is missing, open Years → School Years, turn on Inactive, open the year, uncheck Hide Year, and save.

Enroll someone by hand

Use this for new students, students who are repeating, and anyone Auto-Enroll skipped.

1. Under Enroll students in grade, pick the grade they are in this year.
2. On the right, under Available students, click Enroll.
3. They appear on the left under Enrolled, with that grade. The pencil changes the grade later.

Look down the Enrolled list before you move on. Each returning student should show this year’s grade.

More about year enrollments: Years & enrollments.

8. Enroll students in courses

A course enrollment means this student is taking this class this year. A student has to be in the year first. If the page says there are no year enrollments, finish the previous step.

Stay on the new year in the year menu. Open Courses → Course Enrollments.

Auto-Enroll into grade-level classes

This puts students into the classes that match their grade.

1. Click Auto-Enroll. The window says students will be enrolled in the courses for their grade level.
2. That means every course with the same grade number as the student, and with Auto-Enroll checked on the course. A 4th grader gets the 4th grade courses that have the box checked.
3. Select the students and click Enroll.

Students who are already in a course stay as they are. Running Auto-Enroll again does not duplicate them.

Auto-Enroll works for grades 1 through 12. Enroll kindergarten from the course list by hand. Leave kindergarten students out of the Auto-Enroll list. If one is included, none of the students in that list are enrolled.

Add a class by hand

Use this for electives, a class from another grade, and any course that has Auto-Enroll turned off.

1. Pick the student in the Student box at the top.
2. Under Available courses, click Enroll next to the class.
3. The class moves to Enrolled on the left. A mark of In means they are already in it.

No-grade courses

If you use labs, logs, or hour classes, open Courses → No-Grade Enrollments. Auto-Enroll follows the same grade rule. You can also pick a student and click Enroll next to each no-grade course.

More about course enrollments: Courses & gradebook. More about no-grade enrollments: No-grade courses & hours.

9. Check your work

1. The year menu shows the new year, with no lock on it.
2. Last year shows a lock.
3. Open Years → Year Enrollments and look at a few grades.
4. Open Courses → Course Enrollments, pick a student, and confirm the class list.
5. Open Record → Test Scores. Students in a course that has units should be there, ready for this year’s scores.

Last year’s grades are still there. Choose last year in the year menu, or open the student under Students → Yearly Grades, Students → Transcript, or Students → Permanent Record.

More about entering this year’s scores: Recording test scores.

Common questions