The GES report card, explained line by line

A report card is the one piece of paper a school produces that every parent reads to the end. It is also the one most parents do not fully understand. Here is every line, in order, using one pupil: Ama, Basic 4, Term 1.

The header

School name, crest, motto. Then the pupil's name, class, the term and the academic year, the number of days school was open and the number of days the pupil attended. Ama: 62 of 64 days. Two absences. The attendance line matters more than most parents think, because a child who misses one day in ten is missing a tenth of what was taught.

Class score

Across the term the teacher gives small tests, exercises and assignments. Their marks are added up and scaled to a number out of a fixed share of the total, most often 30. So a pupil who scored 25, 18 and 27 out of 30 on three class tests does not get 70; the three are averaged to 23.3 and then written as 23 out of 30. This is the part of the mark that rewards steady work over the term.

Exam score

The end-of-term exam, scaled to the other share, most often 70. Ama scored 56 out of 80 in the Mathematics exam; scaled to 70 that is 49.

The split is the school's choice within GES guidance. Some schools use 40/60, some 50/50 for the lower classes. The report card should say which; if it does not, ask.

Total

Class score plus exam score, out of 100. Ama, Mathematics: 23 + 49 = 72.

Grade

The total is turned into a grade on the school's scale. The scale most Ghanaian basic schools use runs from A1 (excellent, 80 to 100) down through B2, B3, C4, C5, C6, D7, E8 to F9 (fail, below 40). 72 is a B3: "Good". The letter is the same across subjects, so a parent can compare Mathematics and English at a glance.

Position

Where the pupil's total ranks among the class in that subject, and, at the bottom, overall. Ama: 7th of 38 in Mathematics, 5th overall. Some schools have stopped printing positions for younger classes, and some parents ask for them to stay. Either is fine. What a position does not tell you is how far apart 5th and 6th are; a total does.

Remarks

Two lines. The class teacher's remark is about the child: "Works carefully; should ask more questions in class." The head teacher's remark is about the term: "A good term. Promoted." Read the teacher's line twice; it is the only sentence on the card written about your child alone.

Signatures and stamp

The class teacher's, the head's, and the school stamp. A card without the stamp is a draft.

What to do with it

Look at the class score first. A high exam score with a low class score means the child can perform on the day but is not working through the term. The reverse means steady work that falls apart under pressure, which is easier to fix. Then look at attendance. Then the remark. The grade and the position come last; they are the summary, not the story.

In SchoolSpec the card is computed from the marks the teacher entered, on the school's own split and grade scale, printed under the school's crest with the right signatures, and sent to parents in the app the day the head releases it.