keeping/viewing/sorting repeated data from year to year

[stuartwyss]

I'm trying to design a database in FMPro5 to help track student records. We have about 600 students. Every year, each student is given 3 quick reading tests, in the Fall, Winter, and Spring, and various numbers are collected (Words per minute, comprehension %, and a few others). Every year, I would like to be able to add new reading results, while maintaining the previous years. Then, I would want to be able to sort and show...

-a current class list sorted by teacher, showing all his/her kids and their current reading scores

-an individual child and current and previous scores

Right now I have a database with all the students in it, along with things like teacher, birthday, address, that sort of stuff. I'm not sure how to proceed.

In addition, during the year, and every September, the currently enrolled students could change, as families move in and out of our attendance area.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thank you to previous users for their help in earlier posts I made about a different subject.

[LiveOak]

The general answer to this question is not to put all the data in one "flat file" database. This make it hard to extract data and to reassign students. How about a structure with files for Students, Teachers, Classes and Test Scores. Using this related approach, test scores can be displayed by Student, Teacher, or Class. This is a classic example in which Students would be assigned to a class using a "Join" file in which a record is a studentID/ClassID. Test scores are stored in a file in which each score can be linked to the student/teacher/class in which the score originated.

-bd