MR Comments Page

On this page:

Use this page to set up comments for mark reporting. There are two types of comments:

Standardized Comments

These are a standard set of comments from which teachers can choose the comment that applies for a student. Comments can be entered for report cards, progress reports, and standards and competencies reporting in eSchoolPlus and Teacher Access Center (TAC). You can set up shorter comments, such as Excellent and Satisfactory, or longer phrases, such as Completes assignments on time and A pleasure to have in class.

For standardized comments, the RC (Report Card), IPR (Progress Reports), and SC (Standards and Competencies) checkboxes may be selected, as appropriate.
Report cards and progress reports print the student's comment codes and can include comment descriptions in a comment key.

Use the Comment Types option to define the available comment fields for report cards, progress reports, and standards and competencies. For a comment type, you can specify a list of valid comments if only specific codes should be entered. For more information, refer to Comment Types Page.

Free Text Comment Phrases

For student competency report cards, you can add text comments that teachers can select from a phrase picker when entering free text comments for students. Note that the phrase picker is only available on TAC's Free Text Comment page. It is not available when entering free text comments in eSchoolPlus and it is not available when entering free text comments for courses.

For free text comment phrases, select the FT (Free Text) checkbox.

View comments

Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Setup > MR Comments.
- If a search page displays, select the building.
- If the detail page displays for a building other than the one you want, use Search to select another building.

Add comments

Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Setup > MR Comments.
- If a search page displays, select the building.
- If the detail page displays for a building other than the one you want, use Search to select another building.
Complete the fields on the blank row at the bottom.
Click Save.

Change comments

Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Setup > MR Comments.
- If a search page displays, select the building.
- If the detail page displays for a building other than the one you want, use Search to select another building.
Change values as needed.
Click Save.

Delete comments

You can only delete comments that have not been used for a student.

Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Setup > MR Comments.
- If a search page displays, select the building.
- If the detail page displays for a building other than the one you want, use Search to select another building.
Select the
(Delete) checkbox for each record to delete.
Click Save.

Add alternate language descriptions for comments

If you print alternate language report cards for student competencies, define alternate language descriptions for standardized comments that can be included in Standards and Competencies. Only comments where the SC checkbox is selected on the MR Comments page display on the Mark Reporting Comments - Alternate Language page.

Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Setup > MR Comments.
- If a search page displays, select the building.
- If the detail page displays for a building other than the one you want, use Search to select another building.
On the MR Comments page, click
(Additional options), and then select Alternate Language.
On the Mark Reporting Comments - Alternate Language page, select the appropriate language in the Alternate Language field.
In the Alternate Language Description field, enter the description of each comment in the selected language.
When you are done entering alternate language descriptions for that language, click Save.
If you are entering comment descriptions in multiple languages, repeat steps 3-5 for each language.
To return to the MR Comments page, click Back.

For information on how to set up and generate report cards in multiple languages, refer to Printing Alternate Language Report Cards.

Fields

Comments Panel

Field	Description
Code	Code identifying the comment. Character/5 The comment code is printed on the report cards and progress reports.
Description	Text of the comment. Character/255 For standardized comments, the description for comments can be printed as a comment key on report cards and progress reports to show the description of the comments assigned to the student. For free text comment phrases, the teacher will be able to select a phrase and have the description inserted into the comment text box on TAC's Free Text Comment page. Free text comment phrases support the following variables to personalize comments: #FIRSTNAME# #LASTNAME# #MIDDLENAME# #GENERATION# #MMM/FFF# (where MMM represents the text to use for a male and FFF represents the text to use for a female) The following examples illustrate how the variables are used: Use #FIRSTNAME# to display the student's first name in the comment. If the text is #FIRSTNAME# participates in class discussion and the name of the student being graded is Thomas, the comment will display on a report card as follows: Thomas participates in class discussion. Use #He/She# where you want the personal pronoun He or She to be used, depending on the student's gender. For example, if you set up the comment #He/She# is respectful of others' opinions and the student being graded is a female, the comment will display as follows: She is respectful of others' opinions. If the comment includes a variable, then only the FT checkbox can be selected in the Usage columns. Variables cannot be used in other comment fields in mark entry pages in either eSchoolPlus or TAC.
Usage	Series of checkboxes indicating where the comment can be used. You can select as many of these as needed for a particular comment, but you cannot select the RC, IPR, or SC checkboxes for comments that include a variable. RC (Report Cards) Checked if the comment is available for report cards. IPR (Progress Reports) Checked if the comment is available for progress reports. SC (Standards and Competencies) Checked if the comment is available for standards and competencies for student and course competency groups. FT (Free Text) Checked if the comment is available for a teacher to select as a phrase to include in the comment entered on TAC's Free Text Comment page. If the comment includes a variable, the variable will be converted to the appropriate value for the student. The ability to build a comment based on these comment phrases is supported for the student competency free text comments. It is not available for course free text comments.
(Delete)	To delete a record, select the row's Delete checkbox, then click Save. The checkbox only displays for records that are not in use.