QuickSchools Report Card Features

Azroy Kandan8 Comments

So what’s possible with the new QuickSchools report cards module? Here we discuss some of the Report Card features.

One of the main improvements is being able to see what your report card looks like as you’re editing it. The screenshot below shows the report card screen. You would simply click on the areas that you want to edit (most of these are pre-filled based on the Gradebook and Attendance modules), and then type in what you want.

Report Card Features

The report card above was configured using the Three Four Galore template. There are multiple templates to choose from, each with it’s unique set of configuration elements. Each template is designed to suit a particular kind of style / purpose. Find the one that’s best for you. Here are some other features not highlighted in the screenshot above:

  • Subjects can be hidden or sorted
  • You can have different templates / configurations for different grades within the same marking period
  • You can grade by student (as seen above) or by subject (where all students are listed together)
  • Parents do not see report cards until report cards are published/locked
  • After report cards are published/locked, you can still hide/withhold specific report cards from parents

If for some reason, after looking over all the various templates, and tinkering with the configuration elements, you still can’t get the report cards looking exactly like how you’d like it, come chat with us. Send us a sample report card, and we’ll see if we can do something for you.

QuickSchools Subject-Based Attendance

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Taking attendance in QuickSchools, whether it’s homeroom-based or subject-based, is pretty straight forward. Just click on the appropriate Attendance menu, and click “Start Taking Attendance”.

Start Taking Attendance

After that, a list of all your students will appear. From there, you can change the attendance record for a student, enter remarks, or if it’s not a school day and you want to remove the attendance record for all students, simply click on “Not a school day”.Read More »

Subject-Specific Criteria for QuickSchools Report Cards

Azroy Kandan11 Comments

Most Report Cards simply display marks and/or letter grades for each subject being evaluated. But some schools want to show evaluations based on additional criteria.

Alvin DeSilva's Report Card with Subject Specific Criteria
Alvin DeSilva's Report Card with Subject Specific Criteria

In the example above, we’ve created a report card for Alvin DeSilva using the “Three Four Galore” Report Card template. Alvin is taking English and Math. And under English, you’ll notice that he also received evaluations for Reading, Writing and Speaking. You can configure your own criteria for specific subjects, as this article describes.Read More »

What’s up with my Screen?

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Adobe Flash can be a little quirky at times. It’s a great front end tool, but can be susceptible to browser issues. If you come across problems with how things look like on your screen, you can try one of the following:

Reset your Zoom

Often times, you may have your browser zoom turned on and you wouldn’t even know it. One of the symptoms is that the screen is cut off to the side. A quick remedy to reset your zoom is to hold down the CTRL key and press 0 (the number zero). That will reset the zoom for you.

Reload the Module

In some cases, if you lose your internet connection momentarily, a screen may not have completely loaded, leaving it blank. A quick remedy for this is to reload the module by holding down the SHIFT key and then clicking on the menu item. This will reload the Flash files from the server again

Clear Your Browser Cache

If you’re still having problems despite the fixes above, or if your Live Chat window is missing, you should try clearing your browser cache. Clearing your cache forces the browser to reload web pages again, including the Live Chat widget. The steps to clear your browser cache will differ slightly based on the actual browser. Check out this link for the exact steps:

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser’s-Cache

Try another browser

If all else fails, try another browser. We highly recommend Google Chrome. Mozilla Firefox is a good alternative as well. And if that still doesn’t work, send us an email at support@quickschools.com, or chat with us, and we’ll do the best we can to assist.

We’re hopeful that a lot of these problems will go away once we upgrade to HTML5. Rest assured our engineers and our support staff will continue to strive to make your experience with QuickSchools a pleasant one.

Updated: June 26, 2013

Since moving to HTML5 (from Flash), most of these are no longer an issue, except for Clearing your Browser Cache, which is useful if your Live Chat window does not load properly.

Why worry?

Azroy Kandan3 Comments

Users are always very concerned about software that is delivered over the internet. But here’s why we say, “Don’t worry”:

Is the software secure?

Yes, we employ standard SSL Encryption, which is what banks use for their online portals. All passwords are encrypted, even in the database. We consistently monitor for external attacks, and employ standard protocols for network and server protection.

Will my data be safe?

We use database replication to keep a real-time backup of all accounts. Each account is also backed up nightly to a separate location. You can read more about it here.

Who owns the data?

The data is owned by the respective schools. We have no right to the data. You can request that your data be deleted at anytime. Data from expired / cancelled accounts are also deleted automatically after 60 days.

Will my data be shared with others?

No, your data will absolutely not be shared with others. All software maintenance and support is done in house, so your data will not be accessed by third party vendors.

What if I want to leave?

There are no cancellation fees. You can cancel at any time. You can also download an XML backup of your data before ending your subscription.

Is there a contract?

No, there is no contract. You can start or end your subscription at any time. We do require payment every month to keep your account active.

Will you charge me more later?

We have held the same price since our official launch in 2009. And we have no plans, immediate or long-term, to change our pricing. This is our way of staying competitive in the market place.

Is this a stable company?

Our company was established in 2003. We originally built custom solutions for large supply chains, which allowed us to develop and test our own software platform using J2EE as our core technology. We branched into education in 2007, and officially launched QuickSchools in August 2009 after receiving VC funding earlier that year. Since launching QuickSchools, we’ve removed ourselves from the custom software development market and are focused completely on the smaller school market. We’re now expanding aggressively into North America.

What makes QuickSchools different?

Azroy Kandan4 Comments

If I had to summarize what makes QuickSchools different, 2 things pop in mind:

Made for smaller schools

We’ve peeled away at the complexities that make larger systems difficult to use, and we’re left with a simple and easy-to-use school management system. With our focus on simplicity, we can ensure that everything works well.

Start with a basic version that works off the bat (even produce report cards within minutes of signing up), and slowly customize specific modules to fit your needs. Most schools don’t need a lot of configuration, and can start using the system right away. You can also start using certain modules first, and roll out the other modules later as you get more comfortable.

Even though we’re designed for K-12 schools, our subscribers include language schools, after school programs, small colleges, and vocational/training institutes. If you’re a small school, or if you like a simple system that’s easy-to-use, you have to try us out!

Exceptional Service / Support

You won’t know it until you try it. Our Live Chat support agents are amazing, and they’re available to all users, all the time. Don’t believe us? Come chat with us. We’ll help you get started. And if there’s a feature that you want that we don’t have, our Live Chat agents will send your feedback to our engineers for consideration into a future release. We prioritize new features and enhancements based on demand, and we don’t charge anything extra for it. It’s all part of your subscription.

We hope you’ll give us a try. To sign up for a free trial, select a plan from the Pricing Page at the link below:

http://www.quickschools.com/quickschools/pricing

Why choose an Online Service?

Azroy Kandan9 Comments

QuickSchools is offered as Software as a Service (also known as “SaaS”). There’s nothing to install, no servers to purchase or maintain, and you don’t have to keep IT personnel on staff. We take care of all that, so you can focus on your students and your school.

As a SaaS vendor, our value proposition is very different from traditional installed software. If you don’t already have a school administration system, or are thinking of changing from a traditional installed system, here are some advantages for using a SaaS-based school administration system such as QuickSchools:

Software that grows with your organization

If you’re going with traditional installed software, one of the first things you need to think about is the hardware: What kind of servers do you need, and how many? If you only have 50 students, does that justify buying a large server? And what happens as you grow? Will you need to buy better machines? With a SaaS-based solution, we take care of all that for you. You pay based on the number of students in your account, and we’ll grow the infrastructure as demand for our service grows.Read More »