A report card, or just report in British English – sometimes called a progress report or achievement report – communicates a student's performance academically. In most places, the report card is issued by the school to the student or the student's parents once to four times yearly. A typical report card uses a grading scale to determine the quality of a student's school work. Report cards are now frequently issued in automated form by computers and may also be mailed. Traditional school report cards contained a section for teachers to record individual comments about the student's work and behavior. Some automated card systems provide for teachers' including such comments, but others limit the report card to grades only.

The term "report card" is used to describe any systematic listing and evaluation of something for information. For example, many states in the United States have their education departments issue report cards on schools' performance. Political advocacy groups will often issue "report cards" on legislators, "grading" them based on their stances on issues.

In Serbia the role of report cards is widely fulfilled by svedočanstva ("testimonies"), in which all final (annual) grades throughout the entire level of education, as well as any negative or positive critique the student is given, and all of his other school institution-related accomplishments are kept.

In some elementary schools, students typically receive three to four report cards. The academic year is separated into three terms (Sept–Dec, Dec–Mar, Mar–June) and at the end of each term the student will get a report card. It is often followed by a break of some sort. For example; First term Christmas Holidays, second term March break and third term Summer Holidays. Some school districts may administer report cards on a quarterly basis, usually after each nine week term.

In some secondary schools, students receive two report cards, one at the end of each grading period. They also get mid-term report cards midway through the grading period. For example; a semester goes from September to January and January to June. This would not count for summer school. Some school districts may administer the report card on a trimester or quarterly schedule as well.

Additionally, in the United States, progress reports may be issued to track a student's performance in between report cards. They are typically issued at the midpoint of a grading period, (for example: 4½ weeks into a nine-week grading period, or three weeks into a six-week grading period) and contain virtually the same information as the report card. These reports allow students and their parents to see if school performance is slipping and if intervention is required to bring up the grade.

English secondary schools would traditionally issue a written report, no more regularly than once a year. This is changing, however, with many schools now publishing reports similar to a grade report. Pupils at key stage 3 are typically awarded a national curriculum level (up to 8th grade), while GCSE students will be awarded a grade (from A* to G, or U- from 9 to 1 with the new grading system). In 2010 the Government agency for ICT in education, BECTA, put in place a requirement for school report cards for all pupils in the comprehensive school system to have their reports made available to parents online (see also electronic grade book).

In Ontario, provincially standardized report cards are issued at the end of each term. In elementary schools (grades 1–8), two separate report cards are used: The Elementary Progress Report, used between October 20 and November 20 of the school year, and the Elementary Provincial Report Card, used at the end of Term 1 (sent home between January 20 and February 20 of the academic year) and at the end of Term 2 (sent home toward the end of June of the school year).