itfaq

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====== Finalizing Grades for Q1 ======

===== Finish Adding ‘Assignments’ to Quarter 1 =====

Make sure that your Assignments have a Date Due that is within the Q1 grading period. Remember, it is whatever date that is in the Date Due field that determines what Reporting Term any particular Assignment will be counted in. For grading purposes, the quarter ends October 19th, 2016.

**----Note for Specialists:**  All 'specialist' grades come from the Final Grade for Q1. The Final Grade is calculated from assignments you enter as above. Please ignore the blue column. I'll try to remove this from future reporting periods.

===== Add an Effort Grade to the Q1 Final Grade (Homeroom Teachers) =====

On the Scoresheet, with the Q1 Reporting Term chosen, click on Final Grades. You will see a column called Reading Effort (or as appropriate). You can then add the appropriate Effort Grade (O, S+, etc…) in the correct row. Note: please ignore the ‘Citizenship Grade’.

===== Check your Grade Setup =====

It is important that you check your Grade Setup for the Q1 and a good idea to verify the Y1 Reporting Terms. This will ensure that your final grades will be calculated using the method that you want.  Under Grade Setup, click the arrow icon beside each of the listed Reporting Terms to check the method PT Gradebook is using to calculate the final grade.  For Q1, you might be using Total Points and/or Category Weights. For Y1 though, everyone should always choose Term Weights and be sure that the Reporting Terms Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 are weighted 25, 25, 25, and 25.

===== Check your Final Grade for each Reporting Term =====

Under the Scoresheet tab, check that the final grades for each Reporting Term are correct. To do this, change the Reporting Term in the pull down menu. You might even want to calculate one student’s Q2 grade by hand to see if you have your Grade Setup correct. When you confirm that the Q1 Reporting Terms are correct and complete, you can indicate this by clicking the Q1 in Progress button and checking the Final Grades Complete checkbox.

====== Run Report Cards ======

Once all grades are completed, Mr. Dimuzio will have the grades stored as per the morning memo. This will allow you to run the report cards report for your grade to check that they are correct.

===== A Note About How Grades Are Calculated =====

Regardless of your settings for an assignment, PowerSchool uses the point value when calculating grades. If you issue a letter grade for an assignment, PowerSchool will use the corresponding 'Percent' grade (grade out of 100) to calculate the Final grade. For example, you give two quizzes in the Quiz category, one quiz with a Points Possible of 50 and the other with a Points Possible or 100.  The student scores a C on the first and a B on the second.  The student will end up earning 75% (i.e. C) of 50 points and 85% (B) of 100 points, giving the student 122.5/150 (37.5 + 85 points of a total 50 + 100 points). If these were the only two assignments in Q1 Reporting Term, then the student would get 122.5/150 --> 81.7 --> B- for the quarter. The cutoff for a B is 80.0.  If the student were to have scored a B on the first and a C on the second, they would have gotten a C+ (78.3). The take away from this is that the Points Possible for each assignment in a category weight that assessment against other assignments in the same category OR if you use Total Points to calculate your final grades, then the Points Possible weight the assignments against all other assignments. The points matter!

Another thing to note about how grades are calculated: PowerSchool carries forward the 'Percent' grade and not the letter grade when calculating a Final Grade. In the above example, even though a B is the equivalent to a Percent grade of 83, the student's Y1 average would be calculated using 81.7 and not 83.

All of the above also holds true for the O, S+,S etc... grade scale. You can see what the "Cutoff" and "Percent" are for each letter grade in your gradebook under Grade Setup --> Grade Scales.

[[https://vimeo.com/65921206|"It was my understanding that there would be no math..."]]