Hello everyone. I'm a teacher in an international school trying to find a solution to a small problem.

We assess our students every 2 weeks and they are given a level (1-7)

At the moment we store the level in an excel spreadsheet. As you ar probably aware this provides access problems etc.

What I propose to produce is a database which can be updated by teachers via a login. The students/teachers can then hopefully view their progress using colourful charts etc via the internet using their own login.

I am willing to invest a lot of time to produce this but have no idea where to start or what software to use/ purchase.

can anyone send me in the right direction?

if you are using an internet or intranet then it sounds like a web system may be the answer
you could use something like PHP (for the front end/interface) and MySQL for the backend (datastorage)
if your institution is registered with Microsoft you may also be able to get its range of prodcuts also free of charge.

I'd suggest a web approach as it means people viewing the content don't need any special programs or software. Id be tempted to keep the data entry as a separate task / application, so it reduces the risk of your results being compromised. Again its not a problem, however adequately securing a web hosted application is not something for the newbie to consider at the same time as you are learning about everything else.

however this sort of thing isn't for the faint hearted, learning the skills to develop a web site can be a steep learning curve without access to adequate training, but its dooable. the question is, I suppose are you up for the challenge, do you have enough time and energy to make a go of it.

based on that you need several bits to work together
a webserver, with a connection to an adequate db back end (actually if you use, say PHP, I think you could do away with the back end, at least whilst learning and read happily from flat files uplaodsed tothe server)
a way of getting the content tot he user, any of the scripting languages PHP, ASP and so on could do that)
the time to read, understand and develop the application