Glossary

Several of these words are used loosely in schools, which is why the product is specific about them. Each entry says what the word means here and what it is often confused with.

Academic year

The container everything else hangs from: named by the school, divided into terms, created once and never reused.

Term

A division of the year. A basic school has three; a college has two semesters; a school may state its own. Not the same as a class: a term is a period, a class is a group of students.

Class

A group of students taught together, such as JSS 1A. Belongs to a year. Not a subject, and not a grade level, though the names often coincide.

Subject

What is taught, such as Mathematics. Belongs to a year, so a subject added this year does not appear in last year's term.

Placement

The record that a student was in a particular class for a particular year, dated. A student who moves classes has two placements, not one edited record.

Assessment

One thing marked: a class test, an assignment, an examination. Not a result.

Mark

The number recorded for a student, a subject and an assessment. Not a result.

Result

What the marks and the grading policy produce: calculated, ranked within a scope, and published as a snapshot. Not a mark, and not typed by anyone.

Snapshot

A published result set, frozen at the moment it was issued. A later correction produces a new version, so a snapshot is what a school issued rather than what it would issue now.

Correction

A recorded change to a mark: previous value, new value, who asked, why, and who approved. Not an edit, because an edit has no history.