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HS Reporting & Grading

High School Guide to Entering Report Card Data on PowerSchool

Part 1: Entering a Course Description

Part 2: Entering Grades and Comments

Introduction to “overall grades”

Entering Overall Standard, A+ Overall Grade and Narrative Comments

Previewing Report Cards for Proofreading

Completing report cards for students who have already left AISJ

High School Guide to Entering Report Card Data on PowerSchool

Updated for: Semester 2 2021-22

Log into PowerSchool at https://powerschool.aisj-jhb.com/teachers and then click on the PowerTeacher Pro link either in the left menu bar or underneath one of your classes in the Current Classes window.

Part 1: Entering a Course Description

1. For the selected class click on Settings > Class Descriptions:

2. Enter the course description in the Class Description space (max. 1000 characters with spaces) and click on Save:

NOTE: Please only use paragraphed text, no line or paragraph breaks, and no bullet points.

NOTE: If you type your comments in a Google Doc, make sure to click on the Paste from Word button first, and then paste the text by either right clicking (two-finger tapping) and choosing Paste from the menu, or by pressing command ⌘ + V on the keyboard:

To make sure that the course description is of the correct font size, highlight all of the text by either clicking into the text and then choosing Edit > Select all from the menu, or by pressing command ⌘ + A on the keyboard, and then changing the font size to 12:

Part 2: Entering Grades and Comments

Introduction to “overall grades”

We use assessment reporting standards. PowerTeacherPro tracks and calculates progress on each of these standards. This is called the Overall Standard Grade. PowerSchool is configured to automatically average the standard grades over all your assignments. This Overall Standard Grade should also be reviewed as it is highly likely that it does not best represent a student’s current level on that standard.

At key points of the year (mid-semester and semester) we give a grade to indicate holistic progress over that period of time. This is called the A+ Overall Grade.

PowerTeacherPro cannot calculate a grade to put in the A+ Overall Grade column based on the data from the standards. This requires our professional judgement. In order to populate this A+ Overall Grade, we must do it manually taking into account all the relevant standards grade data.

The purpose of this guide is so you can see what information is available and how to access it in supporting you making a professional judgment on your A+ Overall Grade and the Overall Standard Grade.

Entering Overall Standard, A+ Overall Grade and Narrative Comments

1. First get an overall picture of how a student is progressing. Click on A+ Grading and then under Grades select Standards:

2. Here you will see the Overall Standard Grade for each student and each standard. This has been automatically averaged by PowerTeacher Pro. You need to review these grades as it is highly likely that they do not best represent a student’s current level on that standard.

3. Once you have reviewed the data you can edit the grade. To edit the Overall Standard Grade click on the grade and change it in the panel that appears on the right:

4. To delve a little deeper, you can use the student level view. Click on Students > Standards Progress, and you can then select which student you wish to focus on:

5. Here you will see the overview page of that student’s performance in relation to each standard:

6. You can zoom in to see progression relative to each standard by clicking on the number in the Assignments column. This will then show you graphically, performance trends over time and the calculated mean:

7. You can go even deeper by clicking on the Show Metrics icon (see above), which will show you alternative calculations e.g. Most Recent 3 assessments:

8. There is no right or wrong way to arrive at your professional judgment, but it should be consistent with the collected data and therefore, justifiable.

9. When you have gone through your chosen process, now enter the A+ Overall Grade based on your professional judgment. You can either do it here in the Standards view, or click on Grading and then go to Scoresheet:

10. For the selected student, on the left of the screen, enter the A+ Overall Grade and type - or paste - the narrative comment. Once completed press Save:

NOTE: Your comments can be a maximum of 2000 characters, including spaces. Please do not use line breaks, as they will mess up the formatting of the reports.

NOTE: If you don't see the A+ Overall Grade column in the Scoresheet, or it the column heading reads something else, check your display settings for the class. Go to Settings > Display Settings:

Under the Show Traditional Grades settings, click on Select Values, and make sure Percent is not selected. This shows the A+ column heading, and also hides the percentage value:

12. The Overall Standard Grades, the A+ Overall Grade and narrative comment will then appear for parents and students on the report card.

Previewing Report Cards for Proofreading

To proofread report cards as an Eagle Forum Teacher, please follow the steps below to preview the report cards, and proofread them for missing data and comment accuracy.

1. Click on the index card icon next to your Eagle Forum class to go to the Student Information page for that class:

2. At the very bottom of the page, below the student names, click on the Report Card Preview link:

3. You must change the Report Card Template field to High School Report Card:

4. Make sure you have the School Year and the Current Reporting Term set correctly, and then you can click on the Generate Student Report Card button:

NOTE: The report card preview will load in a new window, and your browser may block this as a pop-up. If it happens, you need to allow pop-ups for Powerschool. In the URL field in Chrome, click on the little pop-up icon, and then choose 'Always allow pop-ups from powerschool.aisj-jhb.com':

5. In the window that opens, Powerschool will generate the report card preview. This takes a moment, so just be patient with it:

6. High school report cards for that class will load up in alphabetical order, and you can simply scroll down to read them:

7. Scroll down to check the data and to proofread the comments:

Completing report cards for students who have already left AISJ

Please follow the instruction below to add the grades/comments for students who have already left your class and are inactive on PowerSchool.

1. Log into PowerTeacher Pro and select the class that you would like to enter the grades and comments for:

2. Click on Grading and then Standards:

3. When viewing the Standards page for the class, you will see the currently active students. To see students who have already left, click on the gear icon > Show Dropped Students:

4. Click into the table to enter standards grades, semester grade, and comment:

5. When you click into the semester grade box in the table, you will open the grade and comment entry box on the right of the screen (1).

You can click in the grade field to enter a grade, and in the bottom comment field to enter your semester comment.

You can click on the comment button (2) to enter a larger window to enter your comment in.

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