I am a network tech for a small public school and I have been working
on getting a database together that takes all the students in the
school and links them to their recent test scores on the reading
assessment tests we use. Right now my database is very bland, it has a
table for the students with an ID number set as the primary key then 3
other tables with information such as test score for date A, test
score for date B, test score for date C and then some other tables for
what class they are in and what intervention has been done with them
to help their scores.

What I want to do is be able to create some type of interface where a
teacher or some member of the staff can set which fields they wish to
see and how they want the information organized. Like say a teacher
wants all the kids in grade 5 with their test A, and C scores but not
test B and then another teacher wants all three scores and another
wants just A.

How hard is this to create? Is this a good use for Access(the program
the school provides)? What are some good reference sites to learn how
to make these types of Databases?

I set the value of this question low but if anyone has a similar
database that I could plug information into I would be willing to pay
for it.

Hi wordodd,

An application of this sort can be easily developed within a week or
so. You need to use 'Forms & Reports' feature of the Access. I hope
you are using Access 97 or Access 2000 in which this feature is
available.

First you need to create a simple form with 'Check box' items for
TestA, TestB, TestC grades etc and other required field items. On the
same form, have a 'Button' with the label - 'Generate/View Reports'.
Then write VBA (Visual Basic for Access) code for this 'Button' for
the event 'when clicked' which will then generate a Report based on
the items selected in the form. Your reports can be generated based on
input from Multiple Tables, but you may have to use Advanced SQL
queries such as Union, Intersection, Outer Join, Inner Join, Self Join
etc. Of course, the complexity of the queries depends on how the
Tables are designed and what data you want in the reports.

Here are some references to start with:

Basic Tutorial for understanding Forms:
http://spreadsheets.about.com/cs/exceladvanced/a/vba1index.htm

Various example applications built using Access:
http://functionx.com/vbaccess/

Complete tutorial for Building Applications with Forms and Reports:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/bapp2000/html/acbatitle.asp

Other useful resources:
http://members.optushome.com.au/anandasim/accessvba.htm

Wish you good luck..!