Create Grade Calculations & Rank

GPAs can be displayed on grade reports and transcripts , and can be used to calculate academic performance and class rankings. There are three formulas that come standard, but most schools create their own formula which can be customized. Formulas can be used to create weighted GPAs.

Note: Each year, you must update your grade average calculations to include the new grade plans added for the school year.

To get started:

  1. From the persona menu (upper left corner), select Academics.

  2. Select Grades, then choose Grading setup.

  3. Select Calculations.

Tip: For a tutorial on setting up grading at your school, see The Guide to Grading Setup.

  1. Under Academic performance, select + Add academic performance calculation.

  2. Enter the following information:

    • Sort Order
      Order in which the academic performance type will appear in drop-down menus. Smaller numbers will appear higher in menus.

    • Category Description
      Label for the academic performance (for example, Honor Roll)

    • Number of Subcategories
      Number of subcategories that exist within the academic performance category

    Note: For example, if Honor Roll is broken out into 3 levels (High Honors, Honor Roll, and Honorable Mention), there are 3 subcategories.

  3. Select Next.

  4. Enter the following:

    • Subcategory Description
      Label for the subcategory (for example, High Honors)

    • Abbr.
      Abbreviation (for example, HH)

    • Priority
      The subcategory with the lowest priority has the highest standards, so any student who falls into the subcategory with the lowest priority will no longer be eligible for subcategories with higher priorities

  5. Select Add Subcategory to add more subcategories if needed.

  6. Select Save & Exit.

  7. Back under Academic performance, select the arrow icon next to the category you just created to reveal the subcategories.

  8. For each subcategory, select the pencil icon to edit details. Fill out the following under General Information:

    • Choose a Grade Average formula from the drop-down.

      Note: The first three options are hard-coded grade averages. The additional formulas are created by the grading manager.

    • Enter the Criteria for the academic performance.

      • The first option allows you to filter by one criterion, such as grade averages greater than or equal to a 3.9

      • The second option allows you to set a range, such as grade averages between a 3.5 and 3.8

    Note: If you do not consider grade averages when determining academic performance, you can skip this step and move on to the next one.

    • Select Save.

  9. If the academic performance has additional parameters, like if a student must have a grade average above a 3.70 with no grade lower than a B+ to make High Honors, select Grades in the left-hand column.

    • Select Edit next to the term for which academic performance is being generated.

    • Choose a Grade and enter its parameters.

      Note: For example, the Grade might be Q1, and the parameter might be > B+ in the example above.

    • Select Save.

  10. Select Save & Exit when you are finished making changes.

  1. Under Academic performance, select the edit icon next to the calculation.

  2. Make any necessary changes.

  3. Select Save & Close.

  1. Under Grade averages, select + Add grade average calculation. 

  2. Under 1. Formula, enter the following:

    • Name
      Name for the grade average formula

    • Status
      Select whether the Grade Average Calculation is Active (available) or Inactive (unavailable).

    • Formula
      Choose the parameters for the grade average formula:

      • In the first box, select how the grades will be included

      • In the second box, select what to multiply the grades by

      • In the last box, select what to divide the grades by

        Note: If your school uses weighted grade averages, the Formula is where you apply weights. Options for including weight will appear in both the numerator and the denominator.

    • Round result using a decimal precision of
      Enable if the GPA should round up, and specify how many decimal places the rounding should extend to.

    • Include incomplete grades as 0 in calculation
      Enable to include incomplete grades as a 0 in the grade average

    • Include grades entered as zeroes
      Enable to include weights for weighted courses even if a student fails the class

      Note: This option will only be available if you selected an option that includes weights in the Formula.

    • Apply Univ. of California Rules
      Enable to include the University of California grade settings

    • Add GPA points to the result
      Enable to include GPA points after the GPA is calculated or at the end of the academic year or at the end of the calculation.

    • Add extra point value of
      Enable to include extra points added to courses after the GPA is calculated for the year.

    • Ignore Include in grade average designation
      Enable to include grades that are not marked Include in grade averages in Manage Grades - Enter Grades by Student.

      Tip: Use the Include in grade average column or filter in the Grade Report Grades List to review the designation on student grades.

  3. Select Next to transition to 2. School & years.

  4. Select + Add another year.

    • Included years
      Edit the school year and term to include grades in the formula

    • School levels
      Choose which school levels (ex. Upper School, Middle School) are included in the formula

    • Include transfer grades
      Check to include transfer grades in the formula

  5. Optional: Select +Add another year to include additional school years and school levels in the calculation

  6. Select Next to transition to 3. Grade plans

  7. Select the down arrow to expand the year, school, and term grade plans

  8. Specify grade plans for Multi-term courses or Single term courses

  9. Optional: Include term transfer grades

  10. Select Next to transition to 4. Types

  11. Select between Term GPA, Year to date GPA, and Cumulative GPA to determine which GPA calculations should be accounted for. If Cumulative GPA is selected, determine which grade levels should contribute to the overall calculation.

    Note: For more information about setting up cumulative GPAs for transcripts, see Cumulative GPAs for Transcripts.

  12. Select Next to transition to 5. Excluded courses

  13. Start typing a course name and select it from the list to exclude it from the calculation. This is useful when accounting for homeroom and study hall sessions.

  14. When you are finished, select Save & Close.

  1. Under Grade averages, select the edit icon next to the calculation.

  2. Make any necessary changes.

  3. Select Save & Close.

  1. Under Rank, select + Add rank calculation.

  2. Enter a Name for the rank calculation.

  3. Choose the Grade average calculation to use.

  4. Choose a Value to use: Cumulative, Year to date, or Term.

  5. To exclude withdrawn students from the calculation, select Exclude Past Students.

  6. Select Save & Close.

  1. Under Rank, select the edit icon next to the calculation.

  2. Make any necessary changes.

  3. Select Save & Close.

Colleges can record quality points to be included on transcripts. A student's total quality points for a course are calculated by multiplying the credits earned by the GPA equivalent of the grade the student earned.

  1. Under Quality Points, select Edit.

  2. Set the following:

    • Grade plan grade to use: For more information, see Grade Plan Grades.

    • GPA equivalent to use: Choose one of the GPA equivalents from the associated Grade translation. For more information, see Create a Grade Translation .

    • Decimal precision: A decimal precision of 2 means the calculation will include two digits after the decimal.

  3. Select Save.

To include quality points in a transcript template, on the Design form, add a Courses/Groups grid and then edit a Column to include Quality points. For more information, see Transcript Builder.

Here are some important definitions to know during grading setup:

  • Grade Translations are grades (such as A, B, C, D, or F) and the criteria associated with them for use in GPA calculations.

  • Grade Categories determine how Grade Translations appear on report cards. They are linked to courses through Grade Plans. You should create a Grade Category for each Grade Translation table.

  • Grade Plans are the periods during an academic year when grades are recorded. They are time-sensitive buckets that teachers drop grades into. Grade plans are added to Grade Plan Groups.

  • Grade Plan Grades are what you allow teachers to record during a Grade Plan, whether they are comments or standard grades. If Grade Plans are buckets, then Grade Plan Grades are the contents of those buckets.

  • Grade Plan Groups are used to link courses with Grade Plans. There are two types of Grade Plan Groups: Standard or Assessment.

  • Grade Calculations use students' grades to generate Grade Point Averages, academic performance awards, and class rankings.

  • Transcript Categories determine how courses are grouped together on a transcript.