TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Field Definitions
• Collecting Name and Gender in Open Registration
• See Also

Overview

This article explains the difference between the various Student Name fields and how they are used throughout Genesis. These fields were put in place in response to New Jersey reporting requirements and guidelines recommended by the Department of Education. 

Related Articles

Gender

Student Demographics

Other Resources

Transgender Guidance

NJ.gov School Climate

NJ Smart Handbook

NJ Smart FAQ

Field Definitions

An outline of the name and gender fields and their uses.

Field Name	Notes	Seen on Parent Portal?	State Reported?	Report Card / Transcripts?
First Name	First name the student prefers to be called by. Shown on the parent portal and used in state reporting. Required by Genesis.	Y	Y	optional
First Name (birth/legal)	First name as seen on the student's birth certificate. Presented as the student's 'Legal Name' or 'First Name at Birth'. Not required when registering students.	N	N	optional
Last Name	Last Name or Surname shared by members of the family. There is only one possible field for Last Name, however multiple names can be entered here. Hyphens are allowed, but NJ Smart does not allow periods. Insert Unknown if student's last name shows "LNU" or "Unknown" on passport.	Y	Y	Y
Nick Name	The First Name the student prefers to be called for in-school purposes. This field can serve as the 'hidden' name if the student prefers not to have this name preference shown on any paper documentation or parent communication. Internally, you will see this name displayed in quotations (ex. shown above) within the student's information banner. There is a "Show Student Nickname in Student Information Bar" option via Setup>Districts>Basic Params. This field is purposely hidden from report cards and the parent portal, although it can be collected by parents during Open Registration. Nick Name can be displayed to teachers so the student appears with this name in Gradebook Rosters. The naming for the school can be set here: Gradebook > School Setup > Maintenance > Gradebook Maintenance Course Roster reports have the option to Show Nick Name or Show Gradebook Name	N	N	N
Pronunciation	Phonetic or articulation describing how the student's name is pronounced. Can be used for student's first name and/or last name. Can be collected during Parent open registration.	N	N	N
Gender	Student's gender preference. Used for state reporting and most of the built-in Genesis reports. Can be reported as: M = Male F = Female X = Non-Binary/Undesignated Additional gender preference codes can be added for the district via Setup > Codes by clicking into Gender Preference Codes. Any Gender code selected for a student other than M or F will be reported as X to NJ Smart. The A-45 medical document can show preferred gender or birth gender.	N	Y	Y
Birth Gender	Student's gender as shown on birth certificate. The A-45 medical document can show preferred gender or birth gender. This preference can be updated for the district via the Nurse > Setup > Maintenance/Options screen.	N	N	N
Pronoun	Used for internal purposes only. To add new pronouns to the district's list of choices, visit Setup > Codes and click into the Pronouns codes table to edit.	N	N	N
Gradebook Name	In addition to Student record name fields, there is also a Gradebook Name field available for teachers to use within the Gradebook itself. This is done via Gradebook>Rosters. Gradebook Name allows teachers to change the way they see student names in their Gradebook screens.  Using the field does not affect the student name anywhere else in the system.  The name is only visible in the teacher's Gradebook.

Collecting Name and Gender in Open Registration

It is possible to configure your district's open registration on the Registration > Open Reg. > Setup > Student screen to enable the following fields for parent entry:

• First Name
• Preferred Name
• Gender
• Preferred Gender

It is required for a student to be submitted with first name and gender completed, so the First Name and Gender fields should always be enabled for parent input.

See Also

Other helpful Genesis guides:

Gender

Student Demographics