Checking and approving columns
Before report cards go out, many schools want a leader to look at the key columns: the report grades, effort grades and written comments. MarkBook lets a teacher send a column for checking from inside the grid. A leader then approves it or sends it back with a reason. This happens before any report is made.
This is not the report approval workflow. That still exists separately and decides who may publish a finished report. See Review & Approval.
Setting it up
There are two switches: which columns need checking, and where the control sits.
1. Choose the columns
Where: Configuration → Assessment → Markbook Templates → Columns, then edit the column (for example Report Grade). The section is Checking & approval.
Who can change this
A manager, or a person whose role includes Value types.
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Needs checking before it reaches a report | Teachers send this column with Ready to check. Until it is approved, reports show a warning but are not blocked. |
| Who can approve | Any of: Head of Department, Year group coordinator, SLT. Any one is enough, and scope still applies: a head of department only sees their own subject. Approving is a different permission from editing, so a leader can approve a column they cannot edit. |
| How many signatures | One — whoever gets there first, or Two — HoD or coordinator, then SLT. |
| SLT approval alone is enough | In a two-signature column, an SLT signature finishes it without waiting for the first. |
| Allow sending with blanks | On: the column can be sent with students unmarked and everyone is told how many. Off: the button stays disabled until every student has a mark. |
| Reviewers can return it for corrections | Returning clears every signature and sends the column back to the teacher. |
| Read-only once a leader approves | Stops a mark changing after somebody signed for it. A leader can still reopen it. |
2. Choose where the control sits
Where: the template's Template settings tab, Where the check control appears. One choice per template, so a teacher learns where to look once.
| Option | The control is… |
|---|---|
| In the column header (default) | An icon in the header of each column. It is dim while marks are missing and becomes a live prompt when the column is complete. |
| A row under the period | A row of Check pills beneath the checkpoint name. |
| A row under the students | A row at the bottom of the grid. |
| Not used on this template | The template takes no part. No column is sent for checking, whatever the column settings say. Approvals already given are kept and come back if you switch it on again. |
The preview on the page shows where the control will land.
The life of a column
Draft ──Ready to check──► Ready to check ──Approve──► Approved
│
├─ (two signatures) ─► Half approved ──SLT──► Approved
│
└──Return──► Returned ──(teacher edits)──► Draft| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | The teacher is still working. Nothing has been sent. |
| Ready to check | Sent. Waiting on a head of department, coordinator or SLT. |
| Half approved | The first of two signatures is given. Waiting on SLT. |
| Approved | Signed off. Marks in the column are locked. |
| Returned | Sent back with a reason. The teacher corrects and sends again. |
One row per class and column. The unit is a column for a class (for example 9A Mathematics Report Grade), not a cell for a student.
What a teacher does
- Finish marking the column for the class and checkpoint.
- Select Ready to check (the label in the control).
- Wait. The status shows "Waiting to be checked".
Only that class's teacher can send the column. If students are unmarked and blanks are not allowed, the message reads "Fill in every student before sending this for checking." and the button stays off.
While a column is waiting or approved, its marks are read-only. The cell says either "This column is waiting to be checked — a leader must return it before marks can change." or "This column has been approved — a leader must reopen it before marks can change."
If a column comes back Returned, the reason is shown ("Returned: …"). Correct the marks, then send it again.
What a leader does
Open the control on the column (or the Dashboard card Waiting on your check, or the Report check page). Then:
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Approve | Gives your signature. In a two-signature column, a head of department or coordinator moves it to Half approved, and SLT finishes it. |
| Return | Asks for corrections. You must say what needs fixing. Every signature is cleared. |
| Reopen | Takes an approved column back so marks can change again. |
The same layer cannot sign twice, so a head of department cannot complete a two-signature column by clicking Approve again. A leader who is not in scope for the subject or class cannot decide.
Written comments
Comment columns are checked one student at a time, because somebody has to read each comment.
- The teacher writes the comments and sends them. An empty comment cannot be sent.
- The reviewer opens Review comments, reads the comment, and can edit it. Their edit is kept as a draft until they decide.
- The reviewer chooses Approve (HoD/KSC), Approve (SLT) or Return for corrections (with a reason). A word count and "N added, N removed" show how much they changed.
- If the reviewer approved after editing, the edited text is the one that prints. If they returned it, the edit goes back to the teacher as Suggested wording.
While a comment is waiting or approved the teacher cannot edit it. Under review, only an approved comment prints on a report.
Seeing what is waiting
- Dashboard → Waiting on your check shows the columns and comments sent for checking, with the class and period.
- Report check lists everything waiting on a signature, and your own work still out. "Who still has work out" lists, across the classes you lead, how many columns are not sent, waiting, returned or approved.
- The activity log records each send, approval, return and reopening.
Reports and families
- Reports warn, they do not block. A report that includes a column that was submitted but is not yet approved lists it as unapproved. A column nobody has sent has no approval row, and the report's missing-marks count already describes it.
- Families. If a column is set to show to families once a leader has signed it off, it stays hidden until approved. See Family Permissions.
Example
The Year 9 template marks RG (Report Grade) and Eff (Effort) as needing checking, with Two — HoD or coordinator, then SLT.
- Ms Pop finishes 9A Mathematics RG for Term 1A and selects Ready to check. The status becomes "Waiting to be checked". Her cells lock.
- Mr Dumitru, head of Mathematics, sees it on his Dashboard and selects Approve. The status becomes Half approved, "Waiting on SLT".
- The deputy head spots a wrong grade and selects Return: "9A Elena is a C, not an A." Signatures clear, the column goes back to Ms Pop and her cells unlock.
- Ms Pop corrects it and sends it again. Mr Dumitru and the deputy head each approve. The column is Approved and locked.
Edge cases
- A reviewer without scope. A head of department sees columns of their own subject only. SLT sees everything.
- Nobody holds the approver role. Nothing can be approved. Assign people on Users & Roles → Who leads what. See Leadership Roles.
- A column returned after one signature. The first signature is cleared as well.
- Turning approval off for a column. Existing approvals are kept. Reports stop warning about that column.