Do you have any tips for entering information into ERs?

The default print margins for SpEd Forms are 0.5 inch. This is because most of the state due process forms do not fit on a page with large margins. You can change the print margins by selecting Page Setup from the File Menu (browser specific directions). If you do change the print margins for the Evaluation Report, don't forget to change them back when you print an IEP.

If you paste text in from another document or Word Processing program make sure all of the special formatting has been omitted. Most of these Word Processing programs can save the document in “plain text” format or you can use a simple program like Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac, under “Format” select “Make Plain Text”). Use the tips listed below to add formatting back into the document.

1. Type up whole paragraphs of text and then go back and highlight the areas you want to enhance (bold, italic, underline), otherwise it can become difficult to stop or undo these specific enhancements as you type. The alignment or indent buttons effect the whole paragraph where the cursor is located (not limited to the highlighted text).
2. When adding tables from scratch, put some thought into how many rows and columns you will need (you cannot alter the table after it has been created). In most browsers you can click on the outer perimeter of the table and then hit the delete button to delete it.
3. Tests and/or Criteria are imported at the point where the cursor is located (not at the bottom of the page as in Text Mode).

Use spaces rather than tabs to create columns within the report. Tabs are used to navigate between fields and cannot be typed into a report. We have used a special fixed-width font to make spaces hold so teachers can print in columns. If you are not sure how to create columns using spaces take a look at one of the test templates available in SpEd Forms. These test templates include columns and tables created using spaces rather than tabs.

• Use the Enter or Return key to move to another line. Do not use the space bar to advance to the next line because the browser will treat the group of spaces/underscores as one character and force the right margin off the page when you print.
• Before you add more spaces/underscores to a line, make sure there are not existing spaces on this line. You can check this by using the arrow key to move right or by clicking to the right of the existing text (if the cursor jumps to where you click, spaces exist there).
• If you choose a SpEd Forms template, click the mouse into the predefined spaces to enter measures.