Guide
School setup
Configure course categories, grade scale, report defaults, behavior items, and other school-wide settings that carry across years.
On this page
Recommended setup order
- Course categories needed before courses and no-grade courses.
- Unit test patterns needed before (or while) defining course units.
- Grade scale so letters and GPA are correct on transcripts.
- Report settings so printed output matches your school’s policies.
- Behavior groups if you rate character or habits on report cards.
- Graduation levels if you track multi-year credit requirements.
- Users invite staff after structure exists so they are not blocked mid-setup.
Course categories
Assignments → Course Categories
Categories group coursework for transcripts, permanent records, and graduation requirements. Create them before adding courses.
- Examples: Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Elective, Bible, Fine Arts.
- Every graded course and no-grade course is assigned one category.
- You cannot remove a category still used by a course or manual entry.
Tip: Use the empty row at the bottom—type a title and press Enter to add, then Save.
Unit test patterns
Assignments → Unit Test Patterns
Patterns define how a unit’s score is calculated from groups of tests (each group has a title and weight 0–100). Click Generate Defaults for a starter set, or build custom patterns.
Full explanation and math example: Courses & gradebook → Test patterns.
Grade scale
Settings → Grade Scale
The grade scale maps a numeric percentage to a letter grade and grade points for GPA. When a percentage is calculated, RecordGrade picks the highest scale row whose minimum percentage the student meets or exceeds.
| Example letter | Min % | Points |
|---|---|---|
| A | 90 | 4.0 |
| B | 80 | 3.0 |
| C | 70 | 2.0 |
| D | 60 | 1.0 |
| F | 0 | 0.0 |
Customize thresholds and points to match your school. Letter grades and GPA on transcripts use this scale when enabled in report settings.
Report settings
Settings → Reports
Report cards
- Term average calculation method — Course Average, Weighted Course, or Unit Average.
- Decimal places for displayed averages.
- Show Course Progress, Show Credit Earned, Show Attendance, Show Notes, Show Behavior.
- Show No-Grade Courses with Tracked Time — hour-based labs on the report card when relevant.
- Parent / school signature lines with custom labels.
- Default report card style — Week, Total, or Foldable (users can still pick a style when printing).
Transcripts
- Decimal places, letter grades, attendance, academic summary, GPA, signature line and label.
Attendance
- Hours Present Per Day — used when converting attendance into hour totals on reports.
See Reports & transcripts for what each PDF includes.
Behavior settings
Settings → Behavior
Create groups of custom behavior items (for example Respect, Responsibility, Participation). Teachers rate students per term on Record → Behavior. Rated items can appear on report cards when “Show Behavior” is enabled.
Graduation levels
Settings → Graduation Levels
Define credit requirements by category (and totals) for diplomas or tracks. Used by projections and transcripts when a level is assigned. Details: Graduation & projections.
Users
Settings → Users — approve staff and set permissions. See Accounts & permissions.