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Report cards

_In the app: `/report-cards`_

Report cards let you generate clean, professional PDF cards for any grade level. Choose a period — quarter, semester, or annual — and ArborSlate pre-fills subjects from your enrollments. Add grades, effort marks, attendance, reading logs, and parent comments. Generate a PDF to keep on file or share with evaluators, grandparents, or state oversight.

How to

Create a report card

  1. Go to Report cards.
  2. Pick a student, school year, and period (Quarter 1, 2, 3, 4; Semester 1, 2; or Annual).
  3. Click Create report card. ArborSlate opens the editor with subjects auto-filled from that year's active enrollments.
  4. Edit the student's legal name (or confirm it's correct — it pulls from settings).
  5. For each subject, enter a grade (A, B+, 89%, etc.), effort (Excellent / Good / Satisfactory / Needs work), and optional per-subject notes.
  6. Fill in attendance (days attended, absent, excused) and reading (books read, minutes logged, favorite titles — all optional).
  7. Add a parent narrative or leave it blank.
  8. Click Generate PDF to download.

Edit an existing report card

  1. Go to Report cards.
  2. Click Edit next to the report card you want to change.
  3. Make your edits (subjects, grades, attendance, reading, comments).
  4. Changes auto-save every ~800ms. Watch for the 'Saved.' indicator.
  5. Click Generate PDF to re-render and download the updated PDF.

Understand period options

  1. Quarter: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 — use for four progress snapshots across the school year.
  2. Semester: S1, S2 — use if you report twice yearly.
  3. Annual: end-of-year summary (see also Combined / EOY reports for multi-period rollups).

Generate a combined or end-of-year (EOY) report card

  1. Go to Report cards. The Combined / EOY section appears once you have 2+ report cards for the family (it filters by student and school year when you use it).
  2. Pick a student and school year.
  3. Check the periods you want to include (e.g., all four quarters for a full-year snapshot).
  4. Choose a layout: EOY Summary (subjects as rows, periods as columns — what state evaluators expect) or Spacious (page per period, plus a year-summary page for binders).
  5. Optionally add signature name and date, or overall parent comments.
  6. Click Generate PDF. ArborSlate combines the selected periods, auto-derives semester / annual grades from quarters, and calculates unweighted GPA.

Understand grade auto-derivation in EOY reports

  1. If you enter Quarterly report cards, the EOY report auto-fills Semester and Annual grades by averaging the quarters.
  2. Format detection: if all source grades are percentages (89%), the derived value is a percentage. If mixed or letter, it's a letter grade.
  3. Annual is the year-final grade — it only appears if both semesters exist OR all 4 quarters exist.
  4. The Overall GPA (unweighted 4.0-scale) counts only leaf cells to avoid double-counting — quarters are preferred over semesters, semesters over annual.

Download a report card PDF

  1. After editing, click Generate PDF.
  2. The PDF downloads to your default Downloads folder (filename: report-card.pdf).
  3. PDFs are clean (no watermark) on paid plans (Family Monthly, Family Annual, Co-op, Transcript Pro); trial PDFs include a watermark.

Delete a report card

  1. Go to Report cards.
  2. Click Delete next to the report card.
  3. Confirm deletion when prompted. You can always recreate it.

Options & settings

  • Grade type per subject (letter, percentage, pass/fail, not graded) — set in Gradebook enrollments; report card respects this for each subject.
  • School name — defaults to your family name; editable in the Header section.
  • Supervising parent name — defaults from Settings; editable per report card.
  • Effort scale — four options per subject (Excellent, Good, Satisfactory, Needs work) or leave blank.
  • Attendance tracking — optional days attended, days absent, days excused.
  • Reading log — optional books read, minutes logged, favorite titles.
  • Parent narrative — optional text block for progress notes, milestones, or focus areas.
  • Signature block — optional issuer name and date signed.
  • EOY layout choice — EOY Summary (matrix) or Spacious (page-per-period).

Common questions

Why did my subjects auto-fill?

When you create a report card, ArborSlate pulls active (non-archived) enrollments for that student + school year. If you've added subjects via Gradebook, they show up automatically so you don't type them twice. If a subject is missing, add it manually in the editor — you can also check your enrollments in Gradebook.

How do I add or remove subjects?

In the Subjects section of the editor, type a new subject name and click + Add a subject. To remove one, click the × button next to it. (You must have at least one subject — the × button disables if only one remains.)

What if I don't have grades yet?

Leave the Grade column blank. You can save the draft and come back later to fill it in. The PDF will still render with blank grade cells.

Can I use percentage grades instead of letters?

Yes. The Grade column accepts A, A-, 89%, 89.5%, or any numeric value. Each report card's grade type (letter, percentage, pass/fail, not graded) is set per-subject based on your enrollment settings. When you generate an EOY report, ArborSlate detects the format and auto-derives semester/annual grades in the same style.

What's the difference between EOY Summary and Spacious?

EOY Summary: one landscape page with subjects as rows and periods as columns — what most state evaluators ask for at year-end. Spacious: each period gets its own page, plus a final year-summary page — better for binders or portfolios. Both include overall unweighted GPA.

Is there a watermark on my PDF?

Family plan PDFs are clean (no watermark). Trial PDFs include a watermark to indicate the document was generated during evaluation. Once you upgrade to Family, future PDFs are watermark-free.

Who can see my report cards?

Report cards are stored in your family's account. You download and share the PDF directly — ArborSlate doesn't send it to anyone automatically. You control where it goes (evaluator, grandparent, your files).

Good to know

  • Report cards are a Family-plan feature (not available on non-Family plans). Family tier includes trial, Family Monthly, Family Annual, and Co-op.
  • You need at least one student and one school year created before you can make a report card. Set those up in Settings first.
  • Subjects auto-fill from *active* enrollments only — archived subjects won't appear. Check Gradebook if you expect a subject to show up.
  • In EOY reports, if a subject has grades in Q1 + Q2 but not Q3 + Q4, the Annual grade will be blank (not a mid-year average). Annual is year-final only.
  • Attendance and reading fields are optional — leave them blank if they don't apply to your report.
  • Period must be set on each report card. You can't create two report cards for the same student, school year, and period — ArborSlate will reuse the existing one.
  • Parent comments on a combined/EOY report are shared across all periods shown (on the Spacious layout, each period's section includes the same narrative; on EOY Summary, they appear at the end).
  • GPA on EOY reports is unweighted (4.0 scale) and only calculates from cells with numeric or letter grades — it ignores pass/fail and not-graded marks.

Plans

Report cards are gated to hasFamilyAccess (trial, Family Monthly, Family Annual, Co-op). Watermarking is controlled by hasTranscriptCleanPdf: Family Monthly, Family Annual, Transcript Pro, and Co-op get clean PDFs; Trial and expired plans get watermarked PDFs. Access is checked on page load and at PDF generation time.

Want answers tailored to your own students and state? Your Teacher's Aide knows your account — or start a free trial.