1. Setting the scene. Benton School. The catchment area. The staff. The Record of Achievement process --2. Fitting it all in: It's a question of time. Timetables and constraints. Timing of the process. Integration -- 3. Battering down and middling out: Pupil-teacher discussions. The negotiation room. Managing the negotiation. Experiencing negotiation. Status and position. Descriptor language. Descriptor numbers. Informal negotiation -- 4. Challenging the teachers. Teaching styles -- 5. Hitting the target. Partnership. The social context of goals. Does it make any difference? -- 6. What's the use? Care or surveillance? Reporting to parents. Parents' responses. Reports for employers. Pupils as users. Ownership -- 7. Conclusion. An overview. Negotiation. Cross-curricular recording. Power and control. Summative records. Rhetoric and reality. Reviewing the process -- Appendix 1 Descriptor sheets -- Appendix 2 Parents' page and pupil page relating to activities out of school