Report Card Format for Schools: What to Include and How to Lay It Out

Check the board's format first

Before designing anything, find out what your board or state expects. CBSE, ICSE and state boards often have preferred ways of showing scholastic and co-scholastic areas, grading scales and remarks. Some schools must follow a format given by the education department.

Ask your board or local office for the current format, and do not rely on last year's copy from another school. Then add only what you need on top of it.

Keep a short note of what changed from last year. If the grading scale was revised or a new subject was added, the template must change before any marks are entered.

The header: identify the school and the student

The top of the card should show the school name, address, board affiliation details, session, and the exam name such as Term 1, Half Yearly or Annual. Add the school logo, but keep it small.

Under that, show the student's full name, class and section, roll number, admission number, date of birth, and parent names. Add the attendance figure in the same block. A photo is optional but helps parents feel the card is about their child.

• School name, logo and affiliation details
• Session and exam name
• Student name, class and section
• Roll number and admission number
• Date of birth
• Father's and mother's names
• Attendance: days present out of working days

Lay out the marks table so it can be read at a glance

Use one table with subjects down the left side. Columns can include unit test, notebook, subject enrichment, half yearly, annual, total, grade. Do not add columns you never fill. An empty column makes parents wonder what is missing.

Show maximum marks in a header row. For example, a Class 7 Maths row may read: Unit Test 18 out of 20, Half Yearly 72 out of 80, Total 90 out of 100, Grade A1. Keep the numbers right-aligned so the eye can run down the column.

For classes with internal assessment, show the split clearly. A parent who sees only a total of 88 may not know that 20 marks came from projects. Splitting the columns takes little space and answers many questions before they are asked. Here is a worked example for Class 6 Science. Periodic test 9 out of 10, notebook 4 out of 5, half yearly 38 out of 50, annual 70 out of 80. If the school adds these as 9 plus 4 plus 38 plus 70, the total is 121 out of 145. Printing both numbers avoids the question of why it is not out of 100.

Add grades and the grading key

If you give grades, print the key somewhere on the card: for instance, 91 to 100 is A1, 81 to 90 is A2 and so on. Parents should never need to ask what a B means. Take the actual ranges from your board or school policy.

Show the total, percentage and rank only if your school policy allows it. Many schools now avoid ranks for primary classes. Decide this at the management level, and apply it to everyone.

Mention in a note at the bottom how the final result is worked out, for example best of two unit tests plus half yearly plus annual. A single line saves many calls to the office.

Co-scholastic areas and personal qualities

Give space to art, music, sports, discipline, and work habits. A simple grade of A, B or C with one line of remark is enough. For younger classes, words like Excellent, Good and Needs Support are friendlier than letters.

Remarks should be specific. Writing Good is not helpful. Writing Reads fluently, needs to practise multiplication tables is useful. Train teachers to write one strength and one suggestion in about 15 words.

Teachers who write forty remarks at once tend to repeat themselves. Keep a bank of about 20 sample remarks, from encouraging to concerned, and let teachers adapt them to the child. The tone should always be kind and honest.

Remarks, signatures and the next date

At the bottom, include the class teacher's remark, the result such as Promoted to Class 8, the date of reopening, and the date of the next parent meeting. Add boxes for class teacher, principal and parent signature.

A parent signature line is useful. It tells you the card reached home and lets you follow up when it does not come back.

Leave a small space for the parent's reply or concern. It gives quieter parents a way to speak without scheduling a meeting.

Page design tips

Keep the card to one page, A4 or A5 folded. Use one clean font at 9 to 11 points, light borders and little colour. If it will be photocopied or printed in black and white, check that shaded cells are still readable.

Print one sample for a Class 1 student and one for a Class 10 student, because they carry different content. Show both to a teacher and a parent before you print for the whole school.

Use the same layout for all sections of a class, so that parents comparing cards at the school gate find nothing odd. Check how it looks on a phone if you also send a PDF copy to families. Mistakes to avoid in the design are listed below. Most of them are easy to fix if noticed before the template goes to print.

• Too many columns, some always empty
• Printing a grading key that differs from the policy
• Showing absent students with a zero
• Vague remarks such as Good
• Tiny fonts that do not photocopy well
• Changing the layout between sections of the same class

Proofreading checklist before printing

Errors on report cards damage trust quickly. Do a proper check of a sample of cards in every class, and a full check of cards for students whose marks changed after entry.

Spend one hour on this checking and save days of correction later.

• Name spelling matches the admission record
• Class, section and roll number are correct
• Total equals the sum of the parts
• Percentage is calculated on the correct maximum
• Grade matches the marks and the key
• Absent or exempt students are marked clearly, not as zero
• Attendance days are correct for the session

Where software can help

Typing marks twice, once in a register and once on cards, is where most errors begin. Cometstep offers exam setup, marks entry with grades, and report cards in board formats and admit cards, so marks entered once flow into the card.