Writing Reports

Writing reports doesn't have to be a daunting task. Follow these simple steps to select your students and draft your reports. Once drafted, reports go through a review before finally being published.

Note: Depending on your school settings you may see different language and templates to what is in these screenshots. The process to follow is still the same.

 

WRITING REPORTS FOR YOUR STUDENTS

1. Navigate to the Reporting hub on the left of your screen

   

2. Locate the class or group you are writing reports for by searching or browsing in the groups menu. Click on your class or group.

   

3. This takes you to the reporting dashboard for the class or group which provides a clear overview of your progress, showing for each active template:

• How many reports are still to be written
• How many reports are in progress
• How many reports are ready for review (and ready for principal or leadership comment)
• How many reports are ready to publish

• How many reports are published

  

4. Under the Active Reports section, you will see different templates depending on your jurisdiction or school requirements. Select the appropriate template and click the Write Reports button.

   

5. You are able to create drafts for individuals, multiple students, or the whole class.
   • To select an individual student: Click the checkbox beside the student's name.
   • To select more than one student: Click multiple boxes for the specific students you wish to include.

   • To select the whole class: Click the Select all box at the top of the list.

     Once you have made your selection, click the button at the bottom (e.g., Create draft for 1 student or Create draft for 21 students) to enter the editor.

     

6. The first time you access the report editor, you will be given some information about how Hero will help you by creating a draft narrative. Read and click I understand to continue. 

   

 

DRAFT YOUR REPORTS

When writing reports you will work through specific curriculum subjects, a general comment, or any other sections your school has made available. Text based sections, such as the narrative and general comment sections, do not have a word limit, however keeping comments succinct will ensure they fit nicely on the PDF version of the final report for printing.

Work down each section of the report, confirming this is complete for each student. Reports will not be ready to review until each section is complete for a student.

Note: When first opening a curriculum subject tab, if the student is currently working on goals/content, the system automatically pulls current goals/content from the "triangulation area" into the Next Steps section.

Using Sliders and Grades

7. Use the sliders to indicate a progress descriptor for that strand of this subject.

   • Auto-calculation: On the left you need to move the sliders for specific strands (e.g., Reading Comprehension or Vocabulary). As you do this the system will automatically calculate an Overall Teacher Judgment (OTJ/CTJ) at the bottom. An OTJ previously entered will also show here.

     The pop up boxes will show you a description from the rubric of what each progress descriptor indicates for each strand. Click this for more information in the rubric.

     Note: To allow for this link, the pop up box will be active whenever your cursor is hovering over it. To get it to disappear, move your cursor off the judgements area. We recommend starting at the top and working your way down when moving these sliders.

     

• Manual Override: You can manually change the OTJ/CTJ if needed.

  Note: Once you manually override the OTJ/CTJ, it will stop auto-calculating. Any further movement of the individual strand sliders will no longer update the overall grade.

  

8. A green tick will indicate that this section is complete

   

9. Indicate an overall effort descriptor, move the slider to indicate the student’s level of engagement and application. 

   

10. Create the narrative

    Autopopulation and Personalisation: As you move the slides on the left, the narrative boxes to the right of the sliders will auto-populate if they are empty.

    

    Using Evidence to Build Teacher Comment Narrative: If you have posts or work samples for a student, these will appear in a yellow tab with a number indicating how many pieces of evidence are available.

• View Posts/Evidence: Click on the arrow to reveal the posts.

  

• Add to Narrative: Click the + ADD TO NARRATIVE button to instantly pull text from that evidence into the teacher comment.

  

Using Goals to Build Next Steps Narrative: if the student has current goals in a subject included in the triangulation, these will auto-populate in the next steps narrative. 

• Add to narrative: Add non-current goals to this by clicking + Add content

  

• Select the subject

  

• Select the goals you would like to include in the narrative then click Add # goals

  

Personalise: You can edit directly within any part of the narrative at any time to add specific observations or further context.

• Use the Reuse button to copy the narrative to other students. This will automatically change the name and any pronouns in the text.

  

11. Capturing Off-Year Curriculum Data (Optional)

    If a student is performing significantly above or below their current year level, you can accurately reflect for school data collection:

• Reporting Year Level (Left Side): This slider ensures the report meets standard Ministry of Education (MOE) requirements for the student’s actual year level. This is what is visible on the students report.
• "Best-Fit" Year Level (Right Side): Use this separate slider to capture the student’s actual working level. This data is for internal school tracking, target setting, and data analysis. It does not change the information visible to parents on the final report.

12. As you complete each subject for each student click Mark complete. This button will only become active when all content areas have been edited.

    

13. Repeat steps 6-11 for each student to complete this section for all students. It will show as completed

    

14. Move to the next section and repeat steps 6-12 for each section.

    

15. Add a General/Teacher Comment (optional)

    Your report template may have a section simply for a comment. This is where you can summarise the student's overall progress. Click in the narrative box to begin drafting.

    

    If you have posts on a triangulated page for this section, These will appear in a yellow tab with a number indicating how many pieces of evidence are available.

• View Posts/Evidence: Click to reveal the posts.

  

• Add to Narrative: Click the + ADD TO NARRATIVE button to instantly pull text from that evidence into the teacher comment.

  

  Use the Reuse button to copy the narrative to other students. This will automatically change the name and any pronouns in the text.

  

  As you complete the comment for each student, click Mark complete

  

16. Repeat step 15 for all students. All sections will show as complete

    

17. Once you have completed the reports for your students, click on the EXIT button in the top right-hand corner to return to your class or group Reporting Dashboard.

Once reports are complete, they move to the review phase. See the help article Reviewing Reports for this process.