Your School Already has a Report System?

The Paper Chase

If your school has an inadequate or paper-based system you will appreciate what a nightmare it can be, chasing bits of paper with reports getting lost or damaged. One report may pass through several hands - plenty of scope for mishap, frustration and stress.

Existing Computer-Based System

Alternatively your school may have developed a bespoke computer system. With such systems a common problem is lack of scalability: what copes well with a handfull of teachers may become unworkable when servicing many simultaneous users.

Maybe the in-house system has been developed and maintained by a member of staff. When that person leaves, detailed knowledge of how to operate and administer the system often leaves with them.

So:

Does your current system use Microsoft Access?

Things To Consider

Features for Teachers

The following points for comparison highlight some useful features of CAIRO from the users' point of view:

How quickly can you get to your data?

CAIRO organises its menus such that, in most cases, you are just three clicks away from your data.


Is the data logically organised into teaching sets and tutor groups?

Data is loaded into CAIRO at the start of the academic year so that it knows about the members of staff and classes they teach, for what subject and the pupils present in each class.


Can you quickly preview data from previous reporting periods and academic years?

CAIRO supports various ways of quickly accessing current and previous data for review. The Grades History button displays list of grades for the current pupil showing the full history of grades for the current subject, in descending date order (the most recent at th top of the list).


Can tutors review current grades and subject reports whilst entering tutor reports?

Yes. CAIRO automatically displays the subject reports for the current pupil in a scrollable side-panel whilst the tutor is entering the tutor report. A drop-down menu allows selection of a previous reporting period if necessary, thus giving a quick overview of current and past reports.


Can teachers work at home?

The Work-At-Home feature (available via a VPN - virtual private network) allows teachers to run the full version of CAIRO on their home PC or laptop and to edit/prepare data remotely, in the usual way. All features available at school are available at home.


Does your system restrict input of grades to only those that are permitted, faulting incorrect input or spelling errors?

CAIRO does this by default - only correct grades are allowed, eliminating the possibility of typing a grade that does not have meaning.


Can you create text templates comprising oft-used phrases? *

Teachers can create their own banks of statements that can be inserted into reports where necessary or prudent.


Can you categorise your phrases into logical groups?

With CAIRO you can group your statements. Usually this is done under headings such as "Good", "Average" and "Poor". Grouping statements in this way saves time by providing a smaller pool of items from which to select.


Can you assign specific phrases to function-keys for quick input? *

CAIRO allows you to assign the most oft-used statements to function keys. Thus a single key-press can insert a block of text, saving even more time.


Does the system allow automatic pronoun substitutions to adapt your phases according to the sex of the pupil currently being reported? *

When you create your insertion texts, you can use special composite pronouns such as He/She and himself/herself. These get substituted for the appropriate pronouns based on the sex of the current pupil. Thus it is possible to create generic blocks of insertion text that contain symbols that change when the text is inserted, giving all of the correct pronouns.


Does the system allow special words that are substituted when a phrase is inserted (i.e. the first name of the current pupil)? *

CAIRO gives you a number of special words that get substituted when the insertion text is copied into the report text. The most common use of this is to assign the special text #Firstname# to Function Key 1. Thereafter, pressing F1 inserts the first name of the current pupil into the report. This can be very useful where students have names with difficult pronunciation and/or spelling.


Does your system have a built-in spelling checker?

CAIRO has a spelling checker that is independent of any office software that has been installed. It operates in a familiar way, highlighting unknown words with a wiggly red underline. By default it uses a UK dictionary.


Does your system have a built-in Thesaurus?

CAIRO has Roget's Thesaurus available for any of the report text panels.


Can your system override the font name and font size for all reports to enforce consistency?

CAIRO allows the administrator to determine the fornt name and fonta size for all report text. This can be changed if required after which, all reports print with the new settings.


Can your administrator restrict the amount of text typed into the reports? *

CAIRO allows a character count to be assigned to individual text panels in reports. As text is typed into such a panel, a status bar shows the number of characters so far and the maximum permitted. A progress bar shows how much space there is left, and the background colour of the text box cahnges as you approach the limit.


Can your administrator restrict editing of reports to only those teachers who should have access? *

Reports that have contributions from several teachers (typically Tutor Reports) can have panels that are locked unless you are the teacher assigned to the role associated with the panel. For example, the head teacher can only type into the headteacher's comment box.


Items marked * are optional - they can be disabled by the CAIRO administrator.