Overview:
The Parent Letter is a personalized letter from the teacher to give families a clear summary of what skills their child excels in and those that may need improvement. This makes it easy for teachers to provide detailed information and share consistent updates throughout the school year. It includes each student's test results (correct items, incorrect items, and the grade, if Grade Scales were set up). This article explains how to use the Parent Letter Report in order to generate personalized letters for parents and guardians.
Table of Contents
Running the Parent Letter:
1. Select Reports from the column on the left of the application, then click Parent Letter.
2. Select your desired class or student from the Select Students Bar on the left (see Image 1).
Please Note: If All Students are selected, the Correct, Incorrect and Skipped counts are for all students.
3. Use the Subject Tab dropdown located at the top of the screen (see Image 1) to select the Subject Tab containing the tests that you wish to include on your Parent Letter Report.
4. Once a Subject Tab is selected, all tests on that tab will be displayed. To exclude a test on a Parent Letter, uncheck the box to the left of the test name (see Image 1). You can also choose to sort tests in Test Order or Alphabetical.
5. Configure your Settings by going to the right side of the screen (see Image 2) and clicking on the checkbox for any settings that you would like to include.
Your options are:
- Include Skipped Questions
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- Questions that were skipped and/or not given during testing are separated from the incorrect answers, however, are still counted as incorrect. To not include the "Skipped Questions", uncheck the box.
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- For a Single Score test, N/A will display for "Incorrect" and "Skipped" as there is only one question on this test type.
- Show Summary
- Show Session Date
- Show Notes
6. Choose whether or not you would like to include grades on your Parent Letter. Additionally, if you have grade scales set up, you have the option to choose which grade scale you would like to have published on your Parent Letter.
7. Under the Letter Template section (see Image 2), you are given the options to:
- Include the Parent Message
- Include Student Action Plan
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- Turn on the AI powered Student Action Plan to instantly customize each student's letter with personalized commentary including 3 quick at-home activity ideas and recommendations to families about how to help them continue their learning at home.
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- Please note: Suggestions will be different for every student based on their own individual data.
- View & edit the Parent Letter template
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- You can select which template you want to use for your Parent Letter report by clicking on the Template dropdown.
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- You can click the ... button to add new templates or edit existing ones
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- Every new template you create will appear in this dropdown after it is saved.
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- Check the AI Translate to Student's Languages box below the template dropdown to automatically translate your default Parent Letter Template into the primary language of your students.
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- Checking this option opens your student list, allowing you to access and edit each student’s Student Profile (see Image 3).
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8. Lastly, under the Output section (see Image 2) you have the option to run the report in color or in black & white.
9. Once you are finished configuring your Parent Letter Report, click on the blue Report button located at the top right corner of the screen (see image 2) to go to the Parent Letter Preview screen.
Please Note: To avoid students memorizing the items in test order, correct and incorrect items will be shown in alphabetical order.
10. A list of all your students now appears on the left (see image4). You will have to toggle between students one by one to view their individual Parent Letters, instead of seeing them all at once like it was in the Classic Version.
11. Click on the Download button at the top right of the Preview Screen (see Image 4) to download your Parent Letter Report in either PDF or Word format. You can also choose to download a Zip file containing individualized files for each student in the class in either format.
(Image 1)
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(Image 4)
Choose Session Option Details:
Test session/marking period dates are globally applied to all tests with a checkbox to the left of the test name but can be customized for each test.
Follow these steps to select a Test Session directly from the Reports page:
1. Click on the 
button to expand all the test boxes or click on the 
of the individual test you would like to expand.
2. Select your desired test session from the Session dropdown. You are also given the option to specify the number of incorrect answers to include.
- The number of incorrect items to print can be "All" or only a certain number. Deselect "All" and enter the desired number to print.
Please Note: If the report is run without making a selection, the report will be generated using the last test session as of the day the report is run.
3. If you wish to reset your Test Session to the most recent date and the default number of incorrect items, click on the refresh button indicated by the two circular arrows.
4. When you are finished selecting the test session and the number of incorrect items to show, click the checkmark on the right of the test box in order to save it.
5. If the Show Session Date option is selected (see Image 2), it will show the exact test session date that was chosen.
6. After configuring your desired settings, click Report in the upper right corner of the page (see Image 2). This opens a preview which you can then download the Parent Letter from (see Image 4).
7. To download as Word.doc or PDF to print and/or email to parents, click Download (see Image 4), then click the left arrow for PDF or Word. Select either “One PDF File” / “One Word File” (a single file that contains all students) or “ZIP” (a zipped folder that contains individual files for each student).
Modifying Parent Letter Templates (message to parents):
Multiple Parent Letter Templates can be created and edited by an individual teacher within their account. We recommend creating multiple templates for time of year, holiday seasons, high performers vs lower performers, etc.
Please Note: The default template will be in English. If you want to change this, you can either configure it or create a brand-new template from scratch.
Please follow these steps to customize the Parent Message Templates:
- Log into the New Teacher Homepage of ESGI.
- Click on Reports from the column located on the left side of the screen.
- Select Parent Letter at the top of the popout menu.
- Click on the ... button of the Templates option towards the bottom right side of the screen (see Image 2).
- Click the + Add Template button located at the top left corner of the Parent Letter Report side popout (see Image 5).
Please Note: All your saved Templates will appear in the list on the left side of the Parent Letter Reports side popout, compared to being a dropdown like how it was in the Classic Version.
6. Customize the Title and change the Parent Message body to whatever you would like.
7. When you are finished customizing the message, click the blue Select & Save button at the top right corner of the Parent Letter Report side popout (see Image 5).
8. You can now run the Parent Letter Report with the selected Parent Message / Template or select a different template for your Parent Letter report from the Templates dropdown (see Image 2).
(Image 5)
AI Translate to Student's Languages
In the New Teacher Homepage, you’re given the option to automatically translate letters into 23 languages so every family can engage in their child’s progress.
Follow these steps to use the AI Translate to Students Languages tool:
1. Log into the New Teacher Homepage of ESGI.
2. Click on Reports from the column located on the left side of the screen.
3. Select Parent Letter at the top of the popout menu.
4. Configure your Parent Letter settings (see Image 1 and Image 2).
5. Check the box that says Translate to Student’s Languages located at the bottom of the Letter Template on the right side of the screen (see Image 2).
Please Note: The language listed below the AI Translate to Student's Languages tool is the same language that the report will print in for the specific student.
6. Doing so will automatically load your class list. Clicking the edit pencil allows you to open student profile and change the primary language under additional details.
7. Click on the blue Report button located at the top right corner of the screen (see Image 2) to go to the Parent Letter Preview screen.
8. The language of each student’s Parent Letter will appear to the left of their name (see Image 4).
9. Select a student with a different language Parent Letter to view the translation.
Please Note: You can check the Preview in original template language checkbox located at the top of the Parent Letter Preview screen to see how the original template appeared before it was translated.
10. To download the translated Parent Letter as a Word.doc or PDF click Download (see Image 4), then select either “One PDF File” / “One Word File” (a single file that contains all students) or “ZIP” (a zipped folder that contains individual files for each student).
Printing the Parent Letter:
Follow these steps to print out the Parent Letter:
1. Select Parent Letter at the top of the popout menu.
2. Configure your Parent Letter settings. You have the option to run the report in color or in black & white under the Output section (see Image 2).
3. Once you are finished configuring your Parent Letter Report, click on the blue Report button located at the top right corner of the screen (see Image 2) to go to the Parent Letter Preview screen.
4. Click on the Download button at the top right of the Preview Screen (see Image 4) to download your Parent Letter Report in either PDF or Word format. You can also choose to download a Zip file containing individualized files for each student in the class in either format.
5. Open the PDF file or the Word file and click on either the Printer button (PDF) or click File then Print (Word). Alternatively, you can print either file by using the keyboard command CTRL + P.
Including all tests in one Parent Letter:
The tests that appear on a Parent Letter (and all other reports) depend on the Subject Tab the tests are on. To print the Parent Letter with all tests, create a subject tab with all the tests that you want to appear together on the Parent Letter. Tests can appear in more than one Subject Tab, and the same data is reported on each if the exact same test is used.
Fixing the Test Title Repeating under Correct and Incorrect:
If the Question Name appears as the answer to the question on the Parent Letter under the “Correct” and “Incorrect” headings, then the author used the Test Title for the Question Name of each question when creating the test. This field should be the name of the question and can be edited only by the test author. The Edit/Modify a Test Support Page provides step-by-step instructions.
The Question Name is usually the answer to the question (the sight word, the pattern, etc.), but it can be the question itself. When the answer is the sight word, the letter, the sound, etc., the Parent Letter is easy to understand. If the Question Name is the question itself (i.e., "What word is this"), then it will be difficult for the parent to understand. With addition and subtraction, the Question Name should be the equation, such as 2 + 5, instead of just 7.
It is important to keep this short since they will print on the Parent Letter. Longer names make the report difficult to read.
Modifying the Parent Message in a District Admin account:
Please visit our Parent Letter (District Admin Accounts) support page for more information on how to use the Parent Letter Report in a District Admin Account in order to modify the Parent Message, as well as to add or change the school logo.