| Description |
AScore is a FileMaker Pro database with accompanying forms, reports and procedures
designed and developed to aid in the administration of yearly Art Visions testing for Spartanburg
County District Six Schools. |
| Structure |
It has one main menu, four interconnected data files, a personal notes file and
several utility folders. The layout is: |
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 |
| Files and Folders |
| Menu |
This is the main menu file, containing procedures
which access the other files in various ways. |
| Year |
Contains all yearly data, with one record per year, containing
scoring constants and weights, cutoff values, district information, and testing
dates. |
| School |
Contains all school information, one record per school,
containing school abbreviation and full name. |
| Teacher |
Contains art teacher information, one record per teacher,
containing last name (as key), full name, initials and scanned signature for letters.
Also contains the Art Coordinator and the Superintendent info. |
| Student |
This is the main data file of student records, one record
per student, containing school, teacher, grade, scores, address, and Visions program
indicators. |
| Notes |
This file contains a record for each interactive layout
on which teachers and administration can make personal notes to themselves. |
| Help |
This is a a folder containing HTML help pages. Each interactive
layout in the database contains a help button which points to one of these pages.
The help pages themselves are also interlinked and may refer to other subordinate
pages in the folder. There are other subordinate folders within the Help folder
which support the AScore help system and are essential to its operation. Note:
On some systems with some default browsers, the browser program may have to be
launched and active before the Help button will bring up the pages. |
| Export |
Folder containing both imported and exported files involved in the
inter-transfer of data between the teachers and the DBA. |
|
| Design Concept |
The files in the database are related based on the idea that for any given year,
a set of schools contain teachers assigned to students. A teacher may be assigned to multiple
schools. However, a student can be assigned to only one teacher in the year. Students are
further qualified by grade level: a student in the 4th grade at Fairforest Elementary can
have exactly the same name as one in the 3rd grade at the same school. This condition is handled
by the database. And last, the constants and values on a yearly data record apply to all the
students and teachers in all the schools in that year. The collection of students chosen for
a specific year, school and teacher, or other more specific criteria, is called the found
set of students. |
| Database Navigation |
Layouts, in general, are accessed via the square green buttons throughout
the database. The buttons have no verbiage on them telling what they do. Instead, the
database takes the "menu" approach, with descriptions to the left of each button.
Navigating backwards, for example, from the students layout to the main menu, involves
clicking the menu button. The close button on the main menu shuts down the
database. The window close button also accomplishes backwards navigation. Window close
on the main menu shuts down the database just like the close button does.
A word of warning: do not access
the various parts of the database by restoring the minimized
file windows which live at the bottom of the screen.
If you do so and attempt to change data, you will corrupt your
database. This is because the buttons and pulldowns in the main
menu window make selections within the overall collection of
student records. The entire database will contain data from prior
years. If you do not use the main
menu to select the right data to work on, you will corrupt your
database.
Navigating through fields on a layout
may be accomplished using the Tab key to go forward and the Shift-Tab
keys to go backward. This includes the triple fields on the
various
student score entry layouts.
There are also self-explanatory record level navigation buttons on all interactive layouts: |
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| Shortcut Keystrokes and Special Buttons |
Consistently throughout the database, all layouts have common elements, along
with consistent shortcut keystrokes. They are [Mac and (Windows)]:
| Button |
FileMaker Menu |
Keystroke |
Description |
| Menu |
Menu |
CMD (CTRL) - 1 |
Go back to the main menu |
| Students |
Students |
CMD (CTRL) - 2 |
Go to the current found-set of student records |
| Reports |
Reports |
CMD (CTRL) - 3 |
Go to the menu for worksheets, reports, letters, labels and envelopes |
| Forms |
Forms |
CMD (CTRL) - 4 |
Go to the menu for general forms and form letters |
| Scores |
Scores |
CMD (CTRL) - 5 |
Go to the menu for student score entry |
| [none] |
Print |
CMD (CTRL) - 6 |
Print. Brings up a print dialog, available on Forms and Reports |
| [none] |
Setup |
CMD (CTRL) - 7 |
Print Setup |
| Quit |
Quit |
CMD (CTRL) - 8 |
Quit AScore. This will close all files and quit the program and is available on
the Menu and the Student layouts. |
| Help |
Help Contents |
[none] |
Get help on that particular layout, or show the Help Contents page
|
| [none] |
About AScore |
[none] |
About AScore, contacts, support and phone numbers |
| Notes |
[none] |
[none] |
Edit personal notes about that particular layout |
The shortcuts and their keystrokes are also found in the Go To menu item of the FileMaker
Menu Bar. |
| Go To Menu |
 |
| |
Some layouts do not have all menu items. All layouts have the menu -1 item in the
FileMaker Go To menu. In general, if the menu item is present, then the keystrokes will always
be available, even when their associated button is not present. This latter condition will
be true on screens which show document previews to be printed, such as letters or worksheets.
Using the keystrokes will always navigate around the database. |
| Printing |
All printing must be done via the print item in the Go To Filemaker menu (CMD
or CTRL 5). Before documents can be printed, however, the setup must be run to set
up the printer and document layout. We did this because we could not anticipate the variety
of available printing environments. It would be a good idea to perform setup before
going to any of the forms, reports or envelopes. In general, all documents except envelopes
are expected to be put onto US Letter (8.5 x 11) portrait. Envelopes are set up for standard
Comm 10 (4 x 9.5) landscape. |
| Document Numbering |
All printable documents are numbered with a VFnn number for easier identification
It's usually found in the lower right corner. Some documents are also known for the color
of paper they are usually printed on: e.g., The Pink Sheet. |
| Database Administrator |
The person, otherwise known as the DBA, who is responsible for the following:
- Managing the master copy of the database.
- Generating exported copies of essential items from the database on portable
media (CDROM or diskette) and distributing them to the teachers.
- Merging data from received copies of teachers score files back into the
master copy of AScore.
- Verifying and controlling data integrity.
- Creating and setting up new yearly data records.
- Adding and managing teacher records. This includes inserting teacher signature
graphics into the teacher records.
- Mass printing of forms, worksheets, letters, reports, labels et al for
analysis, distribution or mailing.
- Entering score data from final screening into AScore.
- Archiving past years' copies of the AScore.
|
|
| Art Teacher |
The person who is and will be in charge of teaching the Art Visions classes. Responsibilities
are:
- Managing a private copy of the database containing all records for assigned
students at assigned schools.
- Informing parents and teachers of nomination times.
- Collecting nominations and sending out nomination forms.
- Giving school secretary a list of students who have permission to test.
- Compiling a folder containing the pink sheet (signed), a purple sheet
and a white sheet, and keeping the folder current.
- Informing parents when the screening will happen.
- Importing initial data from CD or diskette prepared by the DBA into AScore.
- Administering specific and final screening tests, collecting and recording
the scores, recording nomination info.
- Reporting the specific and final screening scores via data export to the
DBA to be merged into the master copy.
- Scheduling final screening appointments and mailing decision letters.
- Sending out preparation letters for final screening.
- Sending out final decision letters.
- Importing final data from the DBA (includes final cutoff scores).
- Conferring with parents.
|
|
| Art Coordinator |
The person who coordinates and administrates the elementary art program in general, and the
Art Visions program in particular. The Art Coordinator is also a art teacher. |
| Document Exchange |
During the course of working with the data (see Steps),
records will be exchanged between the central copy of the database, managed by the AScore
DBA, and the teachers' copies. This will be accomplished by creating files on various media
such as CDROMS or floppy disks. There are 6points during the Steps that such data exchange
takes place. Use the following diagram to refer to the step for info (cursor is active over
item). |
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