In-depth lessons in database systems.

Instead of spending hours writing up student report cards, a FileMaker Pro computer document is making life a lot easier for teachers in the Greenwich (Conn.) School District school. Bill Ronk, fourth-grade teacher and technology fan at Riverside Elementary School, created a FileMaker Pro document a few years ago so the K-5 teachers in his school could throw out the three-page "carbon-copy report card" and use an easier computer version.

"You could move through students two times or three times as fast," Ronk says. And when there is a team of teachers who work together for groups of students, they could all look together on a computer monitor, call up the student's report card and grade each student together, he says.

"Certainly the idea of having groups of teachers collectively talk about a student is always a good thing," Ronk says. "And also having a central location ... it makes it more accessible."

Ronk says he used a FileMaker manual, but a book is necessary if teachers and administrators are starting "from scratch." He followed the school's distinct format with the same formula and created the document with the idea that some teachers are not familiar with computers and need to be led step-by-step on the computer. The report cards include E for excellent, VG for very good, and S for satisfactory.

Some of the books to help administrators create such documents include FileMaker Pro books and others. While FileMaker 7 software is available, FileMaker 6 books are the latest books published to help readers use the software. These several books give readers an idea of how books can help the process along.