Gradebook FAQs - Teacher edition
Grades & Assignments Grade Posting!!!!!
When changing display options, be sure & click Save before going Back to the main screen.
Q: Why does everything show up way to the right of the screen?
A: 
That’s
the default, but you can easily change it in the ‘Display Options’ tab:
Go into the gradebook for any class. Pass your mouse across the Display Options
area (but don’t click yet). Scroll down to Assignment Display. On the next
screen, change Date Sequence of Assignments to Ascending – Oldest to
Newest. This will put your assignments over on the left.
Q: How do I show only the current six-weeks instead of all those green T2 / T3 etc. (T1 = Term 1; ie Cycle 1)?
A: Again, pass the mouse over the Display Options and click on Grade Period display. Un-check the Terms you don’t need to see. The Current term can’t be unchecked.
Q: The student names are truncated after the first few characters, and I want to see their whole name in the gradebook.
A: Hover over Display Options, then change the Name Display one of the Full options rather thane the Short names.
Q: How do I add a few points to a student’s term average at the end of the six-weeks?
A: Click the T? Options display (on T1, etc., in the Main Screen). Select Enter Term Grade Adjustments. On the next screen, you can enter either the adjustment amount (add 1 point) or you can just put new grade in.
Q: How do I enter Comments?
A: Go to the comment area on
the main screen:
Click Post Comments for the term. On most campuses, you can enter up to 5 comments per student/class. The drop-down lists on the C1 / C2 … C5 are where the comments are selected. Click View Comment Codes to see the ‘legend’ that shows what the codes are.
Q: I have entered grades, but the T1 average is obviously wrong. It shows half the correct average, or some other odd number.
A: Check the weights you have assigned to your categories. The total of all percentages needs to be 100%. For example, if you have selected that Daily Work = 50% of the grade, but haven’t specified anything else, you T1 averages will be wrong.
Q: What do the asterisks mean?
A: * means the grade has not been recorded – the asterisk grades are NOT included in the student’s average.
Q: When do assignments show up ‘missing’ to the parents?
A: First, make sure you assign an accurate due date on the assignment. The default is the same day it was entered on the gradebook, which usually wouldn’t be correct. After that, there’s a 5-day ‘grace period’ before the assignment is marked ‘missing’ – this gives the teacher time to grade the assignment and enter it.
If it’s an assignment that takes awhile to grade, you may want to un-check the ‘Show on Family Access’ box until you’re ready to put the grades in.
Q: How do a make sure a student doesn’t get less than a 50 on the report card?
A: The teacher’s gradebook should always reflect the ACCURATE grade for classroom work. If the student has a 38 average, the gradebook should show a 38. When the grades are sent to the report card/permanent grades screens for the office, 50 will be what is posted.
Q: What’s the POSTING thing? When do we ‘POST’ and how???
A: Part of this is a terminology issue – to a teacher, posting grades may mean entering them into the gradebook. But to the Skyward system, posting means transferring the grades FROM the teachers gradebook TO the main office ‘grades’ repository (the ‘permanent record’). This permanent record is used for report cards and other reports the office runs. However- the parents see the entries in your gradebook as soon as they are made.
If your term grades look like this on the Main Screen of your gradebook:
Then you need to post. The * and the bold numbers are an indication that the term grades in your gradebook have not been posted (sent) to the grades/report card area of Skyward’s database.
How to Post
- Go to your gradebook, then select a class
- Click the Post Grades button (between Categories & Comments)
- On the next screen, click Post Grades for the appropriate term
When to post (using the POST Grades):
- Whenever your campus policy dictates (every Friday, etc.).
- When a student leaves the district – the office will need to finalize the student’s records.
- When the office needs to run accurate grade reports (failure reports, UIL eligibility, etc). The office reports pull information from the main Skyward grades screen, not directly from the gradebooks.
- It won’t hurt anything to post every time you enter grades. It takes very little extra effort, and ensures the office information is up to date.
- At the end of the six-weeks! When the office tells teachers to ‘have their grades in’ – that means click the POST GRADES button!
Q: How do I print progress repots for a student?
A: On the gradebook main screen, select Reports then Progress Reports.
- The Summary report lists all students for a class, so isn’t really useful for sending to parents.
- The Detail report is very detailed….. we know it’s ugly, but can’t really do anything about it right now. Making sure you un-check any unused Categories to keep them from appearing on progress reports. (Main Screen / Categories / Edit – uncheck any NOT used)
- The multi-class is used mainly by elementary teachers, who may have the same child for multiple classes.
Q: How do I give E / S / N / U grades for some classes?
A: On classes where E/S/N/U appears on the reports card rather than a number grade, the system should translate the number grades you’ve entered for assignments into ESNU when they are posted. Currently, only elementary handwriting classes are graded this way.
Q: How do we transfer students between classes?
A: This applies mainly for schedule changes at MMS & MHS.
Teachers should select the Show Dropped Students option under Display Options / Student Display / Dropped Students. Then the teacher should be able to view the records. If it was a section change (same class, different section) then the student will show a New button next to the name in the new teacher’s gradebook. By clicking on the yellow New button, a new window will appear that will allow importing of assignments (if the assignments were identical), or to view the student’s grades in the previous gradebook. At that point, it’s up to the teacher to determine how to handle the transfer. The new teacher can:
a) Do nothing, and the first scored assignment will set the student’s bar for cumulative grades
b) View how they were doing in the previous class, and create a special assignment for the student, based on total points
c) Import the assignments (only if the assignments are exactly the same). Usually this only works if the student moved between 2 sections of a class with the same teacher.
Q: How does the end of the 6-weeks work?
A: Most importantly, when the office requests that you have your grades in, make sure you post grades promptly (see above on Grade Posting). Other points of note:
- You can begin entering grades for the next six-weeks on the first day of the new grading period. There is no waiting for the cycle to ‘open’.
- You will not need to re-set your categories / weighting for each six weeks. It will keep the same weighting until you change it.
- When the six-weeks is over (generally on a Friday) there will be a few days when you can still ‘Post’ to the completed cycle (to correct proof sheets, etc.). During this time, you can also begin entering & grading assignments in the NEW six-weeks. Once the previous six-weeks has closed its posting, you can – and should – still make put the correct grades into your gradebook – but you’ll need to let the office know the new average so they can enter it manually.
An example:
This year, the 1st grade cycle will end Friday, 9/22/06. The office & teachers can review proof sheets and make corrections up to Wednesday, 9/27/06. Then the office will print report cards, and the posting period will be closed. If you need to make a change to a grade after 9/27, enter the new grade in your gradebook, and then let the office know the student’s new average.
You will be able to enter grades for 2nd cycle on the first day of that six-weeks.
(this is just an example for explanation purposes…it may not be exactly accurate)
Q: I can’t get the Tutorial to play properly.
A: Tutorials are located on the top
right corner of most screens. They can
walk you through details of how each section of the programs works. If it doesn’t
appear to play, try clicking the ‘Fast Fwd’ button rather than ‘Play.’ This will allow you to step through the
screens at your own pace.