Semester Reports Administration Guide

Semester Reports Administration Guide

Overview

The Semester Reports module allows administrators to set up reporting cycles, teachers to write their reports and review their colleagues' reports, and the completed reports to be published to students and parents.

The subjects, classes, and appropriate teachers for the reports are taken straight out of the information already in Compass. 

This Admin Guide article will detail functionality required for Reporting Administrators.  As the Reporting Administrator you will need to create and configure the reporting cycle, and set up the grading criteria for the subjects. 

The Semester Reports article details reporting functionality for general staff.


Permissions

There are two permissions that pertain to administering Semester Reports:

ReportsAdmin - This allows the user to create/edit/delete Semester Report cycles. This also allows the user to edit the School-Wide Comment Bank. 

ReportsPower - This allows the user to enter results for classes they are not associated with, when using the Semester Reports module

If you do not have the required permission please speak with your IT Manager who can assist you with this.
For more information on permissions within Compass please see the Knowledge Base article titled 'Permissions'.

Teachers do not require a reporting permission to enter results; they will have access to enter results to classes they are associated with.

Fundamentals of Compass Reports

Each section of a student's report is based on the subjects they are enrolled in. For example, in the image below the student is enrolled in a subject called Home Group Year 10 and the school used this subject to include attendance data and work habits on effort and behaviour and a Teacher comment.
     



Accessing Reporting Cycles

Under the Teaching and Learning menu (pencil icon) select 'Semester Reports'. This will take you to the Reporting Cycles page where you will see all existing cycles for your school.
     

You can see at a glance the type and access for each cycle.

     

There are two types of reports, 'Writer' and 'Publisher'.

Writer - The reports in the cycle were created and written in Compass using the Reports Writer module.
Publisher - The reports in the cycle were uploaded as pdf files into Compass using the Reports Publisher module.

Please Note: This article details information in relation to using the Report Writer module.  For information on the Report Publisher module, please refer to the 'Reporting Publisher' article from our Knowledge Base.
Access indicates which users can access the reports within the cycle.


Yes No
Staff AccessStaff can download a pdf version of the student's report for that cycle from the student's profile page.Staff cannot access student reports for this cycle.
Student AccessStudents can download their own report for this cycle from their profile page within their Compass student portal.Students cannot access their report for this cycle.
Parent AccessParents can download their child's (or children's) report for this cycle from within their Compass parent portal.Parents cannot access their child's (or children's) report for this cycle.

Click the three dots for a cycle to open a menu of options.
     


Upload ReportsClick this to upload pdf files of student reports.  Please note, for 'Writer' type cycles, this is only for students who are not having their report written in Compass i.e. modified reports.  For details on how to do this, please read the 'Uploading PDFs to Report Writer Cycles' section in the 'Reporting Publisher' article from our Knowledge Base.
Edit report cycleClick to edit the cycle name.
*Enter ResultsClick to go to the Result Entry screen for the cycle.
*Launch ReviewerClick to review entered results for the cycle.
DeleteClick to delete the cycle.  Please proceed with extreme caution as deleting a cycle will delete all results and information pertaining to the cycle.  Deleted cycles cannot be retrieved.

*These are the only icons general staff will see when accessing the Reporting Cycles page.  Only staff with the ReportsAdmin permission will have access to all icons.

Staff with the ReportsAdmin permission can click the title of a cycle to go into that cycle and configure the settings.


Creating a Reporting Cycle

For details on creating a new Reporting cycle, please refer to the 'Administering a Semester Report Cycle' article from our Knowledge Base.


Cycle Settings

Please refer to the 'Cycle Settings' article from our Knowledge Base for all the details on the available settings.

Reports Management - Report Elements Tab

Within the Semester Reports module, there is a wide range of possible Report Elements that you can select for use when creating Reports.  

Example: Below is an image of the Report Elements tab within a created Semester Report cycle.  You can see the list of possible Report Elements that can be selected for this cycle.  You will see in green the Report Elements that have been selected.
     
Schools generally have a preference of Report Elements they regularly use out of the many available options and to assist with consistency and efficiency, the list of available Report Elements within a cycle can be adjusted to only include your school's preferred Report Elements.

To do so, go to 'Semester Reports' under the Teaching and Learning menu (pencil icon).  This will take you to the Reports Management page.  Click to the 'Report Elements' tab.

     

You will see an 'Included' section and an 'Excluded' section.  Any Report Elements listed under 'Included' will be listed in Report cycles available for selection.  Any Report Elements listed under 'Excluded' will not show in the list of possible Report Elements available for selection within a cycle.

If you no longer use a specific Report Element in your reports, you can remove it from being listed within cycles by putting it in the 'Excluded' section.  To do so, locate the element in the 'Included' section and click it.  You will see the item relocate to the 'Excluded' section.

If you want to make a different Report Element available within cycles, locate the Element in the 'Excluded' section and click it.  You will see the Element move to the 'Included' list.

     

Please Note: If you exclude a Report Element that is in use in existing Report cycles those cycles will continue to access the Report Element. Any future Report cycles that are created will not see the excluded Report Element listed for selection.
 

Importing Previous Results

If you want to import Previous Results into your Semester cycle, you have the following options:

  1. Import Previous Results from your previous Semester cycles in Compass
  2. Import Previous Results from XML file
 

Import Previous Victorian Curriculum or AUSvels Results from Previous Semester Cycles

Importing previous results will import results for each student enrolled in this cycle and display them in the Previous Results column for Victorian Curriculum or AUSvels strands.  This is done by taking the highest valid result for each strand from previous reporting cycles (Compass will look for the highest valid result within the last 24 months).

When progression is displayed on a student's report it will indicate how many months previously the result was recorded.

To import the Previous Results:
  1. Under the Teaching and Learning menu (pencil icon) select 'Semester Reports'. This will take you to the Reporting Cycles page.
  2. Click into your current Semester cycle
  3. Click the  'Imports' option and select 'Previous Curriculum Results from Previous Cycles'. 
  4. On the pop-up, click 'Import'
     


Import Previous Results from XML File

Schools can choose to import their Previous Results from the XML file exported from CASES.  To do this, please refer to the Exporting Previous Results from CASES article.

Once the XML file is imported, the data will populate the Previous Results column.  Any strands with no data contained in the file will have a blank cell in the Previous Results column for the student.

Previous Result Settings

Please refer to the Reports Content Tab section of the 'Cycle Settings' article from our Knowledge base for details on the available Previous Results settings in student reports.


Reviewing Results

Within Compass, staff can review results that have been entered.   To access the Reviewer, return to the main Semester Reports page which is available under the Teaching and Learning menu (pencil icon), and click the three dots for the applicable cycle to open the menu.  Next click 'Launch Reviewer'.

     

You have the option of viewing results sorted either by staff, student or subject. Sorting the list by students will display them broken down by Year Level, and then within each year by Form/Home Group. Within the Form/Home Group list they are sorted alphabetically by surname.

Additionally, staff with the permission ReportsAdmin can also make any required edits when viewing results 'By Student'. 
If staff with this permission sort by students they will be able to see the information entered for each student and they will see an 'Edit' button across the top of the screen.

     

To edit results, click 'Edit' and this will open the edit screen in which you can make any required adjustments. Edits will be auto-saved so once you have completed the edits for a particular student, click the red 'X' in the top right and corner to close that student's results screen.

    

Sorting by staff lists all staff members in alphabetical order by code. The classes for which each staff member writes reports is then available by clicking the triangle next to the folder icon by their name. 

You can add an overall comment for the class in the section located at the bottom of the screen. You can also add a comment for a specific student.

You can write comments or notes on the teacher's current reports, but you do not have the ability to alter the reports in any way from the Reviewer screen. All other staff members will also be able to see these comments.

     

When a comment is added for a student it will show the date/time it was added and the staff member who made it.  There can be multiple comments per student from multiple staff.

     

Once you have completed your review, click the 'Mark as reviewed and save comments' button at the bottom right. You must click this button for your comment to be saved to the system.  If comments were added for this class, a flag icon will show in the left hand section for the class to indicate that the class teacher has comments to review.

     

When results have not been reviewed they will be displayed with the page icon in the left-hand section. If the results have been reviewed by another teacher and no comments were added, they will display with a green tick to the left of the class code.

     

When comments are added for review, when saved, it will trigger a dashboard notification alert for the class teacher to advise that they have comment content to review.

     

When class teachers click the notification it will take them into the applicable cycle reviewer screen.  The 'Staff' tab will be loaded in the left hand section.  They will then need to click their name from the list to expand their classes and any listed with the flag icon will have comments for their review. can then review the comments added. 

If they need to adjust the results entered for a student they will need to do this via the 'Results Entry' screen.

     

To complete the report review process, the class teacher will need to resolve any comments that other staff have added to their class.  They can resolve a comment by clicking the speech bubble icon for that comment.

     

If they had multiple comments to resolve, they can click the 'Bulk resolve comments' option at the top.

     

When all comments have been resolved for the class, it will show with the green tick to indicate a completed review.

     

Icon Legend:
Not yet touched (no comments, proof reading not marked as done etc).
Unresolved comments and not all proof reading complete.
Proof reading complete but not all comments resolved/actioned by teacher.
Proof reading complete and all comments resolved by teacher.


Attendance

If you include the Attendance reporting Element you will then get to configure what Attendance Import Bounds (the date range for included attendance data) should be used if any of your teachers import the attendance data for their class. Please keep in mind two things - 

 
1. Only certain attendance elements allow for data to be imported, this will be indicated next to the applicable attendance options in the subject configuration screen. If you use an option that is not imported, then your teachers will have to manually enter the attendance value in their class results entry screen.

2. Compass will import the attendance data as it was at the moment the teacher or Reporting Administrator chose to click the Import button. For this reason many schools set Explicit Dates for the Attendance Import Bounds, and set the Finish to be prior to the end of the year, and have teachers import the data after this date. With this method it is recommended to explain the dates used on the Introduction page of your reports.

For attendance types that can be imported, the data can be imported per class by the teacher entering results for the class OR in bulk for all applicable classes by the Reporting Administrator.

Bulk Import - Reporting Administrator
In the reporting cycle, click 'Cycle Settings' and go to the 'Report Content' tab.  Scroll down to the Attendance section (please note the attendance information displayed on the tab may vary depending on the type of Attendance element selected on the 'Report Elements' tab).

         

Set the Start and Finish dates for which you want the Attendance data to reference in the reports.  Click 'Import Attendance Data'.  The information for each student will import into the cycle and display in the subject location you have configured and in the results entry screen for applicable classes.

Per Class Import - By Teacher
When the teacher is in the results entry screen for their class, at the designated point in your school's reporting cycle that they are required to import attendance data, they will need to click 'Import' and in the pop-up, select 'Import School Attendance Data'.

     

They then click the 'Import' button on the pop-up and the data will then populate the applicable column.

     

Please Note: Imported Attendance data within a reporting cycle is static; it will not automatically update if additional attendance data is added for students elsewhere in Compass.  Should you wish to update the existing imported attendance data for a reporting cycle, you will need to re-import the Attendance data


Previewing Individual Reports

You can download individual reports by clicking the Download Report icon on the student's row on the 'Enrolments' tab within the reporting cycle. The icon is highlighted in the image below.

     

This allows you to preview your reports as they're being setup, and is helpful during the setup process to decide if you like the settings you've selected. Keep in mind you will need to set a subject to Completed in order to see how the header and the elements you've setup will look on the finished report.

For staff who do not have the ReportsAdmin permission to be able to preview reports, you will need to have published the reporting cycle to 'Staff'.  This will allow staff to go to a student's profile page, click to their 'Reports' tab and access the latest version of the report for the cycle.

To publish to staff, go into the applicable reporting cycle and click 'Cycle Settings'
On the 'Settings' tab, tick 'Staff' under the 'Published Report Access' section.  Click 'Save'.

     

Please Note: We do not recommend publishing to students and parents until the cycle is complete to ensure that they are not accessing partial or unreviewed reports.
 

Ordering the Subject Display in Reports

You can set the order in which subjects display in student reports.

To do so, click into the cycle and click the 'Order on PDF' column for the subject to allocate a number.

     

 

Editing Enrolment Information

From the Enrolments tab you can edit on a per-student basis the details of their enrolment data, but only for this specific reporting cycle.

To edit a student's enrolment information for the cycle click the pencil icon next to their name on the 'Enrolments' tab. This will open a popup window.

     

Here you can edit the student's Gender, Year Level, Form Group, House, Campus, and Automatic Generation setting (please see the 'Generation Status' section further below in this article for details on this setting). 

Generation Status

On the 'Enrolments' tab in a reporting cycle, each student will have a 'Generation Status' for their report within the cycle.

     

The column will either show a status of 'Live' or it will show a date and time.

Live (Auto Generation Enabled)
This means that auto-generation is enabled whereby anytime the student's report is downloaded, Compass will check through all the entered results for the student and then download the collated report for the user.  This is the default status when a cycle is created and we recommend leaving it as this while reports are being written but not yet published to parents and students.  This means that while staff are entering results, the report can be downloaded to preview and it will show all entered results up to that moment.

Date and Time (Auto Generation Disabled)
This means that auto-generation is disabled and anytime the student's report is downloaded, the version will be as of that date and time.  This status allows you to optimize the download time as Compass will download the version on file at that date/time rather than have to check through all the possible data for the student within the cycle before collating the file for download.

This status is intended for use in either of the following scenarios:

1. When all the results have been entered and results entry has been closed off to staff - Essentially the final version of the report for students is generated and then auto-generation is disabled leaving the current report on file for each student ready for the fastest download experience for the user (parent, student etc).

2. When a student has a modified report uploaded for the cycle -  If you have students that get extremely modified reports that you would prefer to write using an alternative method (for example Microsoft Word or similar) you can disable their Automatic Generation and upload a pdf of their full report once it is completed using the steps outlined in 'Uploading PDFs to Report Writer Cycles' section of the Knowledge Base article titled 'Report Publisher'. 

Please keep in mind this method only works if the student's entire report would be written in an external program. If the student would have some subjects for their report written in Compass and some written in another program then you cannot import the PDF to the writer cycle, as the Compass report would simply write over it. If you do have this issue please speak with a member of the Compass Support Team, who can assist you in discussing the best methods based on your requirements.

To edit the Auto Generation status, select the applicable students you need to edit and then click 'Selected Enrolments'.  Click the applicable option to enable/disable the auto generation for the selected students.

     

View/Edit Results as the Reporting Administrator

If you need to view/edit results as the Reporting Administrator, in the reporting cycle, click 'Enter Results'.

     

Select the applicable class teacher and then select the applicable class.

     

The details for this class will load and you can view/edit.

     


Editing Results after the Classes have been set as Read-only
If you have set all the classes in a reporting cycle to 'Read-only' to prevent staff from editing results and you need to make an edit (or allow a teacher to make an edit), you will need to set the affected class (or classes) back to 'Open'.

To do so, in the cycle, click into the applicable subject.

     

Scroll down to the Classes section and you will see the classes set as 'Read-only'.  Click 'Open' for the applicable class that requires the result edits.  Then click 'Save and Close'.

     

The teacher will then be able to access the Results Entry screen for the class to make the edit.
If you, as the Reporting Administrator,  are making the edit, you can click 'Results Entry' in the cycle to access the class.

Once the edits are completed, you will need to set the class back to 'Read-only'.  You can do this individually by clicking into the Subject and scrolling to the Classes section.  Set the applicable class to 'Read-only' and click 'Save and Close'.

Alternatively, if you have made edits across multiple classes, you can bulk update all 'Open' classes back to 'Read-only' by selecting all the subjects and clicking 'Bulk Actions'. Choose 'Update status of ALL classes in completed subjects'.

     

In the pop-up set 'Class Types' as 'Open'.  Set 'Change to' as 'Read-Only' and then click 'Update'.

     

This will update any open classes to read-only preventing any further edits to results.

If you had set the student reports to have auto-generation disabled, you will then need to regenerate the reports to ensure the version downloaded includes the latest edits.

To do this, click to the 'Enrolments' tab.
If the edits only affected a few students, locate the students in the list and select them (if the edits affect quite a lot of the students, select all).
Click 'Selected Enrolments' and choose 'Regenerate Reports'.
     
     

This will trigger the selected reports to update to the latest version and the date/time stamp in the 'Generation Status' column will be updated to reflect this.
     

Comments in Reports

Whether you choose Closed Comments or Open Comments determines how the comments will be displayed on the published reports. Closed Comments display as bullet points, and Open Comments display in paragraph form (regardless of whether or not the teacher used comments from a Comment Bank when writing the comments).

How closed comments display while writing reports:

Teachers must select the comment from the School-Wide Comment Bank, they are unable to freely type into the Comment box. Closed comments will display on the report in the order they are added.

How closed comments display on the published report:


Closed comments will always display as bullet points and prefer to display as half the width of the page to optimise the use of space. 

How open comments display while writing reports:            

How open comments display on the published report:


Cycle Exports

Within a cycle you can click 'Exports' to access a range of data.

     

Outstanding/Missing ResultsDownloads a .csv file which you can open in any spreadsheet application. This lists the teacher, the subjects, their classes, the number of outstanding results they have yet to complete, and the teacher's email address. The Results field is calculated as the total number of blank responses they have in Open reporting cycles.
Outstanding/Missing Results (Detailed)Downloads a .csv file which you can open in any spreadsheet application. This lists the subject, class, student name, student code, year level, form group, house, assessment type and assessment item that is still outstanding.
Report View Count StatisticsA .csv file that lists the student name, student code, reporting cycle, and view count of the report file as logged by the student, parent, and staff members.
AusVELS ExportDownloads an .xml file of the AusVELS results for this cycle in the correct format to be imported back into CASES21.
Results DistributionThis export allows you to analyse student performance data.
Victorian Curriculum CASES21 (PRS212)For information on exporting your Semester results to import into CASES21 please refer to our Knowledge Base article 'Importing Semester Results into CASES21'
All ResultsThis exports all the reports that have been entered for the cycle as a .csv file. This data can be analysed in a myriad of ways using your spreadsheet applications table functions. The file contains student name, student code, class name, teacher name, assessment type, assessment description, and the results or comments the teacher recorded.
Report PDFs (UngroupedDownloads a .zip file containing the PDF files of every report, with the files titled as StudentID.pdf.
Report PDFs (By Form)Downloads a .zip file containing the PDF files of every report, with the files titled as StudentID.pdf, in folders based on their form group.
Inconsistent Victorian Curriculum ReportUse this export to review any inconsistent Victorian Curriculum results.
Result StatisticsAllows you to export result statistics for student cohorts.
Learning Tasks GPA ExportThis will export a CSV of all your Learning Task GPA results included in the current reporting cycle.



Exporting Semester Results

For information on exporting your Semester results to import into CASES21 please refer to our Knowledge Base article 'Importing Semester Results into CASES21'

Aggregation Logic of Victorian Curriculum

Results and previous results are aggregated by getting the mean value of the results. If the mean value does not match a possible result Compass will round up to the next result. For example scores of 4.0 and 4.5 would average out to be 4.5.

The Expected Level is not averaged, Compass will always use the highest Expected Level. Continuing with the above example: If the student's expected levels were 3.5 & 4.5 for one mode/strand their Expected Level would be 4.5.

Again continuing with this example, if a student's aggregated score was 4.5 and the highest expected level they were given was a 4.5, this would result in them receiving a rating of "C", as they are at the expected level.

For further information about reporting on Victorian Curriculum please see the documentation available from the VCAA.

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