Define the columns of a transcript definition

Define the columns you want to appear on a transcript. The columns can be used in field sets, queries, and sort orders.

Example: You might include the Term 1 and Term 2 grades on the high school transcript. You might include the Trimester 1, 2 and 3 grades on the middle school transcript.

Note: The columns you define are also the columns that appear on the Grade Input page in the School and Staff views.

To define the columns of a transcript definition:

1. Log on to the District view.
2. Select Grades > Transcript Definitions. The Transcript Definitions page appears.
3. Select the checkbox next to the transcript definition you want to define columns for.
4. On the Transcript Definitions side-tab, click Columns. Any columns you already defined for the transcript appear.

5. 

5. Do one of the following:
• To edit an existing column, click its Name.
• To add a column, on the Options menu, click Add.

1. The page to define columns appears.

2. 

6. Use this table to enter information in the fields:

7. Field	Description
   Grade name	Type a name for the column. The name should contain the term and the information this column contains.
   Column header	Type a column header that is an abbreviation of the value you typed at the Grade name field. This appears on the transcript and grade entry pages.
   District Data Field Long Name	To select the field on the transcript table that contains the values for this column, begin typing the value and select the one you want. Or, click to select a value from a pick list. Example: FieldA001 might contain the Term 1 grade for both the middle school and high school transcript definitions. Note: If the Column type is a text comment, you can select a field that begins with FieldA, FieldB, FieldC or FieldD. Each of these fields allows a specific number of characters.
   Sequence number	Enter a number to determine where this column appears in the system in such areas as field sets, lists, and queries.
   Column audit type	Select On to include changes made to this column in the audit trail. Note: You must select Partial or All at the Transcript audit type field for this transcript definition. Otherwise, select Off, and this column is not included in the audit trail.
   Report type	Do one of the following: Select Progress if this column stores progress report information. Select Term if this column stores end-of-term information. Select Course if this column stores information about the course (not associated with any particular term).
   Collection Type	Do one of the following to determine when a column appears on a grade input page: Select End of grade term if you want the column to appear during the grade term you select at the Grade Term: Term ID field. Example: You might select this for a Term 1 Grade or Term 2 Grade column. Select End of course if you want the column to appear during the course’s last grade term. Example: You might select this for a Final Grade or Final Exam column. (Aspen determines the end of course according to the grade term cover map definition for the schedule term on the master schedule.) Select During course only if you want the column to appear during the grade term you select at the Grade Term: Term ID field only if it is not the course’s last grade term. Example: You might select this for a Semester 1 Average column that you only want to appear for full-year courses and not Semester 1 courses. Select Not collected if you never want the column to appear. Example: You might select this for a Semester 1 Average column that the administrator calculates only for GPA grade point average. Select Middle of the Course if you want the column to appear during the mid-point of the course. Example: You might select this for a Midterm Exam column. Note: Aspen determines the middle of the course based on the grade term cover map definition for the schedule term on the master schedule. This selection can only be used if the transcript definition has a grade term definition with an even number of grading terms per year. Note: Your school can determine to display a semester running average in the school's grade preferences. A semester running average calculates based on the assignment grades within each of the terms inside of it, not on the average for each term. Semester running averages appear in the School, Student and Family views, and in the Staff view on the Scores page if a teacher selects to see them in their user preferences. Aspen uses the column header Semester # (for example, Semester 1) for semester running average columns.
   Grade Term: Term ID	If you select End of grade term or During course only at the Collection Type field, click , and then select the grade term this column stores information for.
   Grade Scale: Name	Click , and then select the grade scale to link to this transcript column. The system confirms that any grade a teacher or office staff member enters for this column is a grade in this grade scale. Select a grade scale for any column that meets one of the following criteria: Participates in calculated averages Participates in numeric or letter grade conversion Participates in a GPA calculation Is used in a qualification list
   Update earned credits on change?	Select this checkbox if you want users to be able to update credits when making changes to this column on a student’s transcript. Note: For users to be able to update credits for this column, you must select Enable - Checked or Enable - Unchecked at the Credit mode field in the school’s grade preferences.
   Column type	The column type you select tells the system how to validate what is entered in this column for a student. Select one of the following to determine the column type: Final average: Select this option if the column contains the final grade in a course. Grade: Select this option if the column contains a grade, such as Term 1 grade, that is not calculated. Note: If you select this option, the override symbol will not appear in a teacher's gradebook when they manually adjust a student's grade in the district post column. Otherwise,Grade works in a similar way as Term average. Other average: Select this option if you want to define a custom formula to calculate the grade that this column contains. Then, import that formula at the Grade calculation field. Reference: Select this option if the column contains a reference code from the reference table you will define at the Reference Table: User name field. Example: You would select Reference for columns containing pre-defined comment values. Rubric: Select this option if you use a rubric a structured set of grading criteria. For example, an English rubric might contain a criterion for reading comprehension, grammar, and writing to enter grades in this column. The rubric must be attached to individual courses. Term average: Select this option if this column contains the term grade that the gradebook Online version of a paper book where teachers enter and track assignments, assignment grades, and term grades. If you are searching for this term, consider a more targeted search string like "Entering Grades." in the Staff view automatically calculates. Text comment: Select this option if this column contains free text, such as a free text comment a teacher enters. Date: Select this option if this column contains a date that the teacher enters. Class Absences: Select this option if the column contains the number of class absences, which Aspen collects from period attendance. Class Tardies: Select this option if the column contains the number of class tardies, which Aspen collects from period attendance.
   Date Type	If the Column type is set to Date, select the date type. Any Date lets you select Term or Progress as the Report Type, and allows the user to manually enter the date. If you select any of the other options from the drop-down, the Report Type must be set to Course.
   Reference Table: User name	If you selected Reference at the Column type field, click and select the reference table the system should reference for this column. Example: If the column is a conduct comment code, you might select Report Card Conduct.
   Bank name	Click to associate a comment bank to this column. Note: You must select Text comment at the Column type field.
   Text comment length	If you want to limit the number of characters users can type in a Text comment type column, type the number of characters. If you enter a value here, a character count and limit appear in the text comment box on the Scores page of the teacher's Gradebook. Aspen will not allow a teacher's comment to exceed this value. If you do not want to limit the number of characters, leave 0 in the field. Note: A school can override this value for specified courses. Example: The district sets a length of 250 characters for teachers' report card comments. However, they want to give English teachers an additional 50 characters. To allow a school to override the limit set here, add the Text comment length field to the schedule.csk.csk.detail template (District [Root Organization] view, Tools > Templates). Then, the school administrator can enter the character limit in the Text comment length field for the applicable courses (School view, Schedule > Courses > Details). Aspen observes the school's text comment length, if one is set. If not, then Aspen observes the district's comment length setting. If class sections with different Text comment length values are merged, Aspen uses the value set for the primary section.
   Entry mode	Select one of the following to determine the types of grades users can enter in this grade column: Both to allow users to enter both numeric and letter grades in this column. Numeric Only to allow numbers only. Letter Only to allow letter grades only. Note: Some letter grades, such as INC for incomplete, do not have an equivalent numeric value. These grades can be identified in grade scales with the No numeric equivalent checkbox. The system will permit letter grades with no numeric equivalent to be entered in Numeric Only columns.
   Grade calculation	If you selected Other average at the Column type field, click Upload to enter the formula used to calculate the grade in this column. Example: Your administrator might create the Semester 1 Average column to only calculate averages to run a mid-year GPA. If you selected Not Collected at the Collection Type field, teachers never see the column; the administrator uses the averages to determine GPAs. Otherwise, teachers use Update Post Columns on the Options menu to calculate the grades in the column. Note: If you calculate your final average using a calculation, select Final average at the Collection type field and import or edit the formula here. Formulas can include exceptions, you can assign different weights to specific terms or courses of the same schedule term, and you can define the number of decimal places displayed for the average column.

7. Click Save.