> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zionapp.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Academic terms

> Configure the academic calendar that anchors grading, Goal Check, and reporting to a single current term

Academic terms define the school year windows that Zion uses to group goals, scores, and reports. Every org has one term marked current at a time, and that term is what grading, Goal Check, and reporting anchor to. Only administrators manage academic terms.

## Why terms matter

A term is not just a label. Reports, Goal Check history, and grade summaries are all read against the org's current term. If no term is configured, features that depend on a term window have nothing to anchor to, so setting up at least one term is a prerequisite for reporting to make sense.

<Note>
  Only the administrator role can create, edit, delete, or set the current term. Supervisors, monitors, teaching staff, parents, and students do not have access to /academic-terms.
</Note>

## Term fields

| Field      | Rule                                            |
| ---------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Name       | 3 to 50 characters                              |
| Start date | Any valid date                                  |
| End date   | Must be after the start date                    |
| Current    | Exactly one term per org can be flagged current |

## Creating a term

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Academic Terms">
    Navigate to /academic-terms.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Create New Term">
    Enter a name and a start and end date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit">
    Zion rejects a term whose date range overlaps an existing term. Overlap is checked both in the app and at the database level, so it cannot be bypassed by a race condition.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Setting the current term

Only one term can be current at a time. Clicking Set as current on a term clears the current flag from every other term first, so the switch is atomic and there is never a moment with two current terms.

<Warning>
  If no term has been explicitly set as current, the app falls back to whichever term's date window contains today's date. Once you explicitly set a current term, that flag takes precedence over the date-window fallback.
</Warning>

## Editing and deleting terms

Administrators can edit a term's name or dates from /academic-terms, subject to the same overlap check used at creation.

Deleting a term is blocked if the term has goals or scores linked to it. This keeps historical goal and grade data from being orphaned. To remove a term that has data attached, address the linked goals or scores first.

## What a term drives

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Goal Check" icon="target" href="/features/goal-check/overview">
    Daily goals and progress are recorded against the current term.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Grading" icon="chart-line" href="/features/grading/overview">
    Score entry and grade summaries are scoped to the current term.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Report cards" icon="file-lines" href="/features/report-cards/overview">
    Report generation reads the current term to determine the reporting period.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Students" icon="users" href="/features/students/overview">
    PACE assignments and student records reference the academic calendar terms define.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>