Building a Framework

A framework is your curriculum as a tree. You build it once. Teachers then judge pupils against it on the marking grid.

You find frameworks in Configuration → Assessment → Learning outcomes. To create or change one you need the permission Rubrics and standards. See Roles & Permissions.

Create a framework

1. Open Configuration → Assessment → Learning outcomes.
2. Type a name in New framework name…. Example: "EYFS Prime Areas".
3. Press Create.
4. The framework opens as a short guide with five steps. Use Next and Back, or click a step.

Step 1: Basic details

Field	What it does
Name	The name teachers see in the picker.
Short name	A short label for lists.
Colour	The colour of the framework in the grid.
Description	Notes for staff.
What the top level is called	Subject, Area, Domain or Strand. Only used while no markbook template is linked. A linked template decides the word.
Progress visible to parents	If on, families see the judgements recorded against this framework.
When families see it	As soon as it is recorded, or Only once published. The second keeps work in progress private.
Visible for	Limit the framework to some form groups in the outcomes grid. Empty means every form group.

Step 2: Coverage

Coverage says where the framework applies. There are two ways.

Linked to markbook templates

Choose one or more templates in Markbook templates. Then:

• The subjects on those templates become the top level of the tree. You cannot edit them here.
• The template decides the school year, the reporting periods and the classes. The framework sets none of its own.
• A framework can be linked to several templates. Write "EYFS Prime Areas" once and use it for Nursery, Reception and Year 1. If you edit an outcome, it changes for all three.
• If you unlink a template, its subjects are archived with everything written under them. Nothing is lost. Link the template again and they come back.
• With nothing selected, the framework owns no subjects (it does not mean "all templates").

Because reports read their subjects from the same templates, outcomes reach report cards and the parent view with no extra setup.

Not linked to a template

If you link no template, the framework owns its own top level. Choose where it applies:

1. Press Add school year and choose the years.
2. For each year, tick the reporting periods it is assessed in. You must tick at least one. A year with no periods cannot be saved ("Choose reporting periods for 2026–2027").
3. For each year, choose the form groups. Empty means all classes.

A new year arrives with its own periods ticked and with the groups of your most recent year. Check the groups, because a new school year often renames them ("Year 7 K" becomes "Year 8 K").

When a judgement is recorded

When a judgement is recorded has two choices:

Choice	Effect
Once per school year	One judgement per outcome per pupil for the whole year. Change it when the child moves on. Most imported curricula work this way.
Per reporting period	A separate judgement in each period, so you can read progress term by term. Teachers must pick a period before they can mark.

If judgements already exist and you change this, MarkBook asks what to do. You can keep them on the whole school year (they stay recorded and stop appearing on the grid) or Move them into a reporting period. A move cannot be undone. You must type MOVE to confirm. If a pupil already has a judgement in the target period, that one is left where it is.

Step 3: Structure

Field	What it does
Depth	How many levels the tree has: for example subject, subcategory and outcome is three.
Assessment scale	The default scale for every outcome. An outcome can use its own scale. An outcome with none inherits from its nearest parent that has one.
Evaluation criteria	Which levels of the scale an outcome accepts. See below.
Automatically give parents a level of their own	The roll-up. See Category Roll-up.

If you lower the depth, MarkBook warns you: for example "Going from 4 levels to 3 moves 12 learning outcomes up to their subject, and archives 3 subcategories." This cannot be undone. Raising the depth only adds a level and moves nothing. An imported curriculum keeps the depth its publisher chose.

Narrow the levels an outcome accepts

By default every outcome accepts the whole scale. You can narrow it. Example: for one outcome you pick only Emerging, Expected and Exceeding from a scale that also has Not yet assessed. The marking grid then offers only those three. If your choice shares no level with the scale, MarkBook uses the whole scale instead of an empty list.

Step 4: Standards

Turn on Align to published standards to add a Mapped standards panel to every outcome. You can limit it to some frameworks. See Standards Library.

Step 5: Options

Levels / age ranges lets you define age bands, for example "30–50 months". Tag an outcome with any number of bands, or none. Teachers can filter the tree by band. Rule: with no band picked, every outcome shows. With a band picked, only outcomes tagged with it show.

Build the tree

Open the framework to see its tree.

• Add {subject} adds a new top-level item. The name changes with the noun you chose. MarkBook creates a real subject on every linked template, so the outcomes under it reach reports. You give a name, a short code (up to 5 characters), a category and a colour.
• Add subcategory adds a category under a subject.
• Add learning outcome adds an outcome. Fill Code (for example PSED.MR.1), Statement, Description (guidance for teachers) and Can be assessed.
• Edit, Archive and Move (Change category) act on one row.
• Show archived brings back archived rows.

Authoring starts at level 2. You cannot add a parentless item. This keeps every outcome under a subject, so it reaches reports. Old items without a subject appear in a band named Not on any subject, with Make this a subject to fix them.

Archive, delete, move

• An outcome that has been judged is archived, never deleted. It stays on reports it already appears on.
• An outcome that nobody has judged can be deleted. MarkBook asks you to type DELETE.
• Moving an outcome keeps its judgements. They are reported under the new category from then on.

Import a framework

Use the import to load hundreds of outcomes at once. Press Import on the framework. Download template gives a file with the current outcomes. One row per outcome:

Top level category	Subcategory	Outcome code	Outcome	Description	Display order	Status
Communication and Language	Listening and attention	CL.LA.1	Listens to stories with increasing attention	Looks at the book and responds	1	active
Communication and Language	Listening and attention	CL.LA.2	Follows a two-part instruction		2	active
Communication and Language	Speaking	CL.SP.1	Uses full sentences of four to six words		3	active

The category columns repeat down the file, and the import builds the tree. Matching is by Outcome code where there is one, so importing the same file again updates the outcomes instead of duplicating them. MarkBook shows what would happen before it writes anything.

TIP

Give every outcome a code. Without codes, a second import creates duplicates.

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