Grade Book
This is a help guide will take you through all the steps of the Grade Book feature of the website. Grade Book helps you calculate and post grades online. Students, parents and administrators will see grades as soon as they are posted if you select that option. This is a great way to give students the immediate feedback on their progress and inform parents of their child’s achievements.
Main Features of Grade Book:
• Post grades for all your classes
• Choice to make grades visible to students and parents
• View status of assignments – completed, graded, and incomplete, etc.
• Set up grade book according to school grading scale
• Modify categories and grading scale
• Paginate grade book or display entire grade book
• Grade Book Summary displays grades by marking period and final average.
• Print Grade Book
• Duplicate your Grade Book from year to year
• Choice to make grades visible to students and parents
• View status of assignments – completed, graded, and incomplete, etc.
• Set up grade book according to school grading scale
• Modify categories and grading scale
• Paginate grade book or display entire grade book
• Grade Book Summary displays grades by marking period and final average.
• Print Grade Book
• Duplicate your Grade Book from year to year
Grade Book Setup
The Grade Book has two views: Grade Book and Grade Book Profile.
You can easily switch between the two views. When you are in the Profile view, you can select the Grade Book view on the upper right side of the screen, and when you are in the Grade Book view you can switch to the Profile view to setup, add to, or modify your Grade Book Profile by clicking on the Grade Book Profile button in the upper right side of the screen.
First, you must set up your Grade Book Profile before you can add grades.
• Click on the Academics Link on the left side of your Homepage
• Click on Grade Book
• Click on Grade Book Profile (upper right of screen)
• Click on Grade Scale Setup
• Click on Add. A new window will appear. Here you can add/update a grading scale. Enter the Title of Grade field (Homework, Class Assignment, Unit Test, etc.) Enter Description of Grade (Optional). Enter Grade, Description, and Minimum Score fields. NOTE: Start with the minimum score and work your way up! For a Letter grade scale, start with F = 60 for example. You can choose from letter, percentage, numerical grades, or other. For example:
LETTER:
• Grade: E
• Description: Excellent
• Minimum Score %: 100
• Grade Image: Excellent Sticker
% GRADE:
• Grade: 80%
• Description: Scored 40/50
• Min. Score%: 10
• Grade Image: Great Sticker
You can add or delete additional grading scales as needed. There is no limit. You can add as many grading scales as you want, but a class and category can be associated with only one grading scale at a time.
To Save or Delete Changes to Grade Book: • Click on Save to save any changes you have made to the Grade Book Setup. The Reset Button will revert to the last saved changes you made. NOTE: The Reset and Save buttons appear at both the top and bottom of the page. You can perform the functions from either place.
• To delete a grade setup, select the grading scale you want to delete, a check will appear in the box next to the title. Click on the Delete button. A window will ask you if you are sure you want to delete the grading scale. Select Yes if you want to permanently delete this grading scale.
Adding Your Own Categories to the Grade Book Profile: You can add your own categories such as Homework, Project, Team Work, etc. to the Grade Book Profile:
• To add your own categories Attendance, Behavior etc., click on Add Category
• Fill in the Category field (Ex. Homework)
• Fill in the Abbreviation fields ( Ex. HW)
• Use the dropdown menu to select the Grading Scale – (Effort, Letter, Letter Plus, Numerical, or Pass/Fail)
• Select the class/classes you want this category added to
To Save or Reset Changes Made to Grade Book
• Select Save to save any new changes you have made
• Select Reset to go back to the last saved changes
To Modify the Grade Book Profile:
If you want to make changes to the Grade Book Profile you can do that through Modify Grade Book Profile. Click on the Modify Grade Book Profile link located on the upper right side of the screen. Use the dropdown menu to find the class you want to modify. The first windows on the page display classes in alphabetical order. For each class you select, you can view the Profile you have currently set up. Class, Grading Scale, Display Order, etc. are shown in this window.
To change any of the selections in your profile: Click on Modify Profile: There are several windows on this page.
In the first window You must select the Grading Method. They are:
• Points Based Grading – Assign a number of points to an assignment
• Points Based Weighted Average – Assign a number of points based on the importance or “weight” of an assignment
• Marks Based Simple Average – Marks based on the simple average of all assignment
• Marks Based Weighted Average – Marks based on the importance or “weight” of the assignment and then averaged.
• Select the Final Grade Grading Scale by using the dropdown menu: Effort, Letter, Letter Plus, Numerical, Pass/Fail
• Select the Grade Book Display Order: Assignments: Choose from Ascending – Latest to most recent , or Descending, Most recent to latest by date
• Select Students in Ascending Order of Last Name: A-Z, or Descending Order of Last Name
• Select Repeat Student Names After # Assignments. This will eliminate the need to scroll between assignments and names. You can select to have names repeated after 3, 5, 10, 20 assignments, or choice not to repeat names.
• Show Assignment Paging: Select to choose display 10, 20, or 30, or all assignments per page
• Show Category Percentage: Choose Yes or No to display category percentage
• Calculate and Show Final Grade and Category Percentages: Grade Book performance will be improved by setting this option to "No" which won't calculate and show final grade and category percentages on each
The second window on this page displays:
• Assignment Category
• Abbreviation
• Category Grading Scale
• Total Percentage of grade for the class in the window above. Here you have the option of renaming a category, changing abbreviations for assignments, and selecting the Category of Grading Scale. The Total Weight of the Assignment is also displayed and can be updated.
To Modify a Grade Scale:
In the Grade Book Profile screen, find the class and grade scale you want to modify. You must first select the Category of Grading Scale to be modified.
• Click on the Modify Grading Scale button on the right side of the screen. Grading Scale Add/Update window will appear.
• Make any changes to Title, Grade, Score, or Images by clicking in the appropriate fields. NOTE: * Indicates a required field. You must have information in these fields. You can change the information or keep the current.
• Click Save to save any changes you have made to the Grade Scale
• Click Reset to return to the last saved changes that were made to the Grade Scale
To Add Default Images or Your Own Image to the Grade Book
You can create or have your students create an image for the Grade Book Stickers. You must be in the Grade Book Profile Screen to do this. Go to your Homepage and click on the Grade Book Profile link on the right side of the page. This will bring you to the Grade Book Profile. In the Grade Book Profile Screen, select the Modify Grading Scale button on the right side of the screen. Grading Scale Add/Update window will appear.
• Select the Grading Scale you want to add an image to
• Click on Add Image
To Add Your Own Image:
• You must be in the Grading Scale Add/ Update Screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
• Click on Add Image
• Click Browse to locate each Image on your computer. Be sure to click Upload when you are done ( Please select image files with jpg, gif, bmp, jpeg format)
• Locate the file on your computer and click on Open
• Click on Upload to have the image uploaded to the Grade Book Image File. The new image will appear as a choice of images to add to your Grade Book.
Grade Book View
To Add Grades to Your Grade Book:
Once you have set up your Grade Book Profile, you are ready to add grades to your Grade Book. In your Homepage screen, click on the Academics links on the right side of the screen. Click on My Grade Book. You will see a list of classes or subjects that you teach. Click on the underlined class or subject name to open the grade book. The Grade Book will open in a new window. A window will appear displaying your Grade Book. It will list the marking period, Academic Year, Classes you are teaching, and status of last updated grades in a particular class.
• Use the dropdown next to Class to select the class you want to add grades. A list of classes you are currently teaching will appear.
• Use the dropdown Category to select the category of grades to add (Class Participation, Class Work, Finals, Homework, Projects, Quiz, Unit Test, or All categories). For example, if you choose Homework, all homework assignments for the marking period will appear.
• Click on Add Assignment. Assignment window will appear. It will display current date. Use the dropdown menu to choose the Assignment Type you want to enter. There is a space for you to add details and comments about the assignment. You have the choice of including or not including the grades in the Grade Book. You can assign extra credits to the grades and decided how many points to give for the extra credit. If you do not wish to give extra credit, do not select that box.
• To select the Homework due date, use the dropdown menu to select the day, month and year.
• To post the Homework due date, use the dropdown menu to select the day, month and year and select the Post box under the date.
Note: You can add up to 3 attachments for this assignment. Click on the Attachment button. You can upload text and images files up to 5MB. You cannot upload system and application files.
• Select desired file using the Browse button.
• Click on Open
• Click on the Upload button. You can choose to duplicate this assignment for another class by selecting the Duplicate button. When you select Duplicate, a list of your classes will appear. Select the appropriate classes. You can also choose to have this assignment recur by clicking the Recur button. When you select the Recur button, you will be able to select how to have this assignment recur, daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also select the date to end recurring. Grade Book will spell check the assignment for you. Select Spell Check at the bottom of the page to perform this function.
• Click Save Assignment to save notes and details about assignment
• Click Save & Grade to save assignment and go to the grading mode
• Reset will reset the page to the latest saved changes
Note: You can get a summary of your Grade Book by Marking Periods. An estimated yearly average will be automatically calculated as marking periods are completed.
• Click on the Academics Link on the left side of your Homepage.
• Click on Grade Book
• Select the class you want to view click Grade Book Summary
• To Print the Grade Book Summary, click on Print Summary at the bottom of the page.
To View a Marking Period in Grade Book
• Click on the Academics Link on the left side of your Homepage.
• Click on Grade Book
• Select the class you want to view
• At the upper right of the screen Marking Period will be displayed. The currently displayed marking period and year will appear in red. To change the marking period view, click on the number of the marking period you want to view.
To Print Grade Book
• Click on the Academics Link on the left side of your Homepage.
• Click on Grade Book
• Select the class you want to print
Note: The print button is displayed at both the top and bottom of the page. They both perform the same function.
• Click on the Print button. A window will appear. You can print one or all categories by using the dropdown menu. Select the category to print or ALL to print all categories.
• You can print all or a range of dates. Select All to print all assignments and grades. Select Range to print assignments and grades from/to a specific time period. When you select Range a window will appear for you to select the range of dates. Use the dropdown menu to select dates. Note: In the print window, you have the option of printing your Grade Book in PDF, EXCEL or HTML format.
The highlighted blue line under the name of the class displays the Category of grade (Ex. Homework), Grading Method tells how you chose to grade this particular assignment, and Marking Period (Period and Year highlighted in Red) The information underneath the highlighted blue line displays the number of students, number of assignments, and class average. To the right are the operation buttons such as Close, Reset, Grade Book Summary, Add Assignment, and Print.
By clicking on the Red Notes you will find the legend for the color coding of assignments. To the right of that is displayed Currently Showing Assignments. You can opt to view the Grade Book by Page #1, Page #2, etc., or All by clicking on Page #1, Page #2, etc., or All. Names of students are listed in the rows of the first column under Students. Final Grade column displays the type of grading scale you have selected in your Grade Book Setup. By selecting the Recalculate Final Grade button in this column Grade Book recalculates category averages and final grades of all students. It also recalculates the class average. Category Percentage displays the weight in percentage of the assignments.
The bottom of the screen also displays the operation buttons such as Close, Reset, Grade Book Summary, Add Assignment, and Print. These buttons appear at the top and bottom of the screen. They perform the same functions by clicking on the buttons at the top or bottom of the screen.
Important:
The Grade Book has an inactive run time feature. After 20 minutes of inactivity you will be prompted to Save your Grade book because it is about to close. It is important that you frequently save your work so as not to lose important data.
To Copy Last Year’s Grade Book:
There is no need to duplicate your Grade Book year after year. SOIN has a duplicate Grade Book feature. To duplicate last year’s Grade Book, go to your Homepage.
• Click on Academics link
• Click Grade Book. Copy Last Year’s GB will appear at the top of the screen. Click on it to copy the Grade Book.