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Parent Letter

Overview:

The Parent Letter is a personalized letter from the teacher to inform each student’s parents of their known and unknown skills. It includes each student's test results (correct items, incorrect items, and the grade, if Grade Scales were set up). To avoid students memorizing the items in test order, correct and incorrect items will be shown in alphabetical order. If an item was not tested, it will be optional to include it on the Parent Letter. Question and Summary Notes (teacher observations during testing) can also be included. The Parent Letter can be printed in English or Spanish and saved as a Word.doc or PDF. The Spanish translation is available as a template, but the Parent Letter can be written by the teacher in any language and then saved as a template. It can also be printed in color. All tests from a particular tab can be included, and there is also the option to omit certain tests from the Parent Letter. The test session date will be included by default, but an option is available to not include it on the Parent Letter.  

Table of Contents:

Parent Letter Settings 

1. Select Reports from the column on the left of the application, then click Parent Letter on the right.

2. Select your desired class or student along with your desired tests, settings, and grades. You also are given the option to include the parent message, as well as View & Edit the Letter Template (you can also select the student language.) Additionally, you have the option to run the report in color or in black & white. 

  • If All Students are selected, the Correct, Incorrect and Skipped counts are for all students. 
  • 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. 
  • For ar Single Score test, N/A will display for "Incorrect" and "Skipped" as there is only one question on this test type. 
  • The number of incorrect items to print can be "All" or only a certain number. Deselect "All" and enter the desired number to print. 
  • Once a Subject Tab is selected, all tests on that tab will display. To not include a test on a Parent Letter, uncheck the box. You can choose to sort tests in Test Order or Alphabetical. 

Choose Session Option Details:

Sessions are selected on the Reports page directly as well.

1. Select your test session from the dropdown 

2. If the report is run without making a selection, the report will generate using the last test session as of the day the report is run. 

    3. If the option to show the test session date is selected, it will show the exact test session date that has been selected. 
     
    4. The 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.

    5. After configuring your desired settings, hit Run Report in the upper right corner of the page. This opens a preview which you can then download from.

    6. Sample Parent Letter with options:

    7. To download as Word.doc or PDF to print and/or email to parents, click “Download”, 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):

    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.

    (Incorrect Question Name)

    Test_Title_as_Question_Name.jpg

    (Correct Question Name)

    Question_Name_-_corrected.jpg

    Printing Parent Letter in Spanish:

    The Parent Letter in English has been translated into Spanish and both are available as default templates. Parent Letters are generated in Spanish if the “primary language” of a specific student is set to Spanish when the student is added to the Class List.  

    To edit the student's language: 

    1. Select the student in the class list and click on the profile icon to display the language setting:

    2. Select "Spanish" from the drop-down menu then click "Save"

    **NOTE:  If your district imports, your students and their primary languages are automatically added to your class list and the ability to edit is disabled. Please contact your district office if you need to request a change of Primary Language for a student. 

    3. The entire Parent Letter will print in Spanish, excluding the teacher's name and the test titles:

    Modifying the Parent Letter Template (message to parents):

    The text on each Parent Letter Template can be edited but must be manually edited in each language. ESGI does not automatically translate. The Parent Letter Template can be edited by an individual teacher within their account.  

    1. When configuring the letter, there is a section called Letter Template in the right panel where you can select to include the parent message and make edits using the View & Edit Letter Template button. 

    2. When you select that button, a preview of the template will appear.

    3. Then, choose the pencil/edit icon to be taken to the edit mode where you can configure your Parent Letter any way that you'd like:

    4. When you are finished, click "Save"

    Modifying the Parent Message in a District Admin account:

    A District Admin can create a universal message for all teachers to use, as well as add a logo to the Parent Letter. To do this:

    1. Log into your District Admin account and click on the Settings Cog, and then on Customize Parent Letter

    2. This will take you to the Parent Letter Settings screen. From here you can modify the Parent Letter message as well as add or change your school logo.

    To modify the Parent Letter Message:

    1. Click on the Message body and then modify the Parent Letter. Do not edit the symbols or text within the < and >; they are needed to populate the Parent Letters. You can drag and drop the orange optional titles to auto-populate information. 

    2. Click the Publish to District box to have this message print in all Parent Letters. Doing this will cause the "Current State:" bar to say "Published" in green text

    3. Click Save Changes in the top right corner when done.

    To Add or Change the School Logo that appears on all Parent Letters:

    1. Click the School Logo box and use the local file directory to upload your desired logo.

    2. Logos will be immediately published upon upload completion.

    3. Click Save Changes in the top right corner when done.

    Sending the Parent Letter in another language:

    1. Our Parent Letter Translations Support Page provides English translations to Tagalog, Mandarin, Vietnamese, German and Russian. Do not edit the symbols or text within the < and >, as they are needed to populate the Parent Letters. Editing the font is optional. 

    2. To send a parent letter in one of these languages, go into edit mode, then copy and paste your desired language into the message body

    3. After you have pasted your language of choice into the body, click "Save" close edit mode, and run the report.