Grading - Faculty Perspective

There are two main areas where faculty enter grades:

  • Gradebooks are where you enter assignment grades throughout a term. For example, you would enter grades for quizzes, tests, projects, and homework assignments in the gradebook. To access a gradebook, go to Faculty, select Classes, choose a class, then select Launch gradebook. For more information on entering assignment grades, see Working with Gradebook.

  • Grading is where you enter or calculate Grade report grades at the end of a term, during a date range your Grading manager sets for the relevant grade plan. In Faculty, you can access Grading by selecting Classes, choosing a class, then selecting Grading. You can also select My Day > Schedule & Performance and choose a Grade Plan from the Grading tile on the right side of the page. For more information on Grade report grade entry, continue below.

Faculty members can enter Grading report grades for their students during grading periods configured by a Grading manager. Grading can be accessed from an individual course section or from a faculty member's My Day page. Every school's grading setup is different, so some of these steps may not apply to grading for your school.

Note: Grading takes place during time periods set by a school's grading manager. Please contact your school's Grading manager regarding issues involving Grade Plans.

Note: The old grade entry experience is available on the Grading tab on class pages. The new grade entry experience is available on the New grading tab on class pages.

Grade Report Grade Entry for Faculty

  1. Select Faculty from the persona menu in the upper left. If you do not have the persona menu available, skip to the next step.

  2. Select Classes, then select the name of the course.

  3. Select Grading.

  4. Optional: Use Calculate to either use a pre-established Grading formula or use the available fields to create your own.

    Note: If you feel you should see a Grading formula but do not see it, please contact your school's Grading manager so they can check the grading setup for your school.

  5. Enter grades for students or update grades if needed after they are calculated.

    Tip: If a student has an incomplete grade, mark the box for Inc. This will translate to an I on their grade report.

  6. Optional: If comments have been enabled for this class, select + Add in a comments column, enter your comments, then Save and close.

  7. Mark the box for Review when grades are ready to be reviewed by a Grading manager.

  1. Select Faculty from the persona menu in the top left.

    Tip: If you do not have the persona menu available, skip to the next step.

  2. Go to My Day and select Schedule & Performance. Under Grading, select a Grade Plan.

  3. Select the course name.

  4. Optional: Use Calculate to use a Grading formula to generate students' grades.

    Note: If you feel you should see a Grading formula, please contact your school's Grading manager so they can check the grading setup for your school.

  5. Enter grades for students or update grades if needed after they are calculated.

    Tip: If a student has an incomplete grade, mark the box for Inc. This will translate to an I on their grade report.

  6. Optional: If comments have been enabled for this class, select + Add in a comments column, enter your comments, then Save and close.

  7. Mark the box for Review when grades are ready to be reviewed by a Grading manager.

Once you have entered grade report grades for a class, your school might require additional approval. A Reviewer or Grading manager will need to complete this part of the process.

Note: Every school's grading setup is different, so some of this information may not apply to grading at your school.

Faculty enter two main types of grades, assignment grades and grade report grades.

  • Assignment grades for quizzes, tests, projects, homework, etc., are entered in gradebooks throughout a term. For more on information on entering assignment grades, see Working with Gradebook.

  • Grade report grades are entered during grading periods called grade plans that are set up by the Grading manager at your school. Grade plans are typically at the end of a term, but may also be scheduled throughout a term to report on student progress. Faculty enter grade report grades, comments, and assessment skill grades in New Grading, which is accessible from a class page or from My Day.

From a class page:

  1. In Faculty, select Classes.

  2. Choose a class.

  3. Select New Grading.

From My Day: 

  1. In Faculty, select My Day, then Schedule & Performance.

  2. In the Grading tile on the right side of the page, select a grade plan. Standard grade plans are indicated by an (S) and Assessment grade plans are indicated by an (A).

    Tip: When grading from My Day, use the tabs across the top of the page to switch between classes. Use the Grade plan dropdown to access classes associated with other active grade plans.

Standard vs. Assessment grades

Your school may use Standard and/or Assessment grades for grade reports. Standard grades include grades and comments for exams, effort, midterm, term, or final grades and they can be used to calculate GPAs and academic performance. Assessment grades are typically used to evaluate students on skills, such as "Comes to class prepared", "Counts by fours", or "Participates in class discussions".

When entering standard grades and comments, faculty can switch between grid view grid view icon and the narrative view list view icon using the icons in the upper right.

Note: Don't see the grid and narrative view icons? Assessment grade plans only display in narrative view.

Grid view

  • Displays a row for each student with columns for grades and comments.

  • Best suited for entering grades for multiple students at once.

  • Select Show previous grades to add grade and comment columns for previous grade plans to the grid. Select the comment icon to view comments from previous grade plans.

  • To view a student's gradebook, select the down arrow at the end of the student name field, then select See student's gradebook.

  • LP displays for students with learning profiles. To open a student's learning profile, select LP , then See [learning profile name].

  • If your school uses grade review, a Review column displays on the left. Mark Review for a student once their grades are finalized and ready for a reviewer.

  • You can add bulk comments from grid view only.

  • You can calculate standard grades from grid view only. Calculated grades display in both views.

Narrative view

  • Displays one student at a time. Switch between students by selecting a different student from the list on the left or by selecting Next student or Previous student.

  • You may prefer narrative view when entering longer narrative comments.

  • Details for the selected student display on the right, including their attendance history, calculated cumulative grade, previous grades, and averages for each Assignment type, if applicable. Use the marking period dropdown under Gradebook history to view additional marking periods. Select the calculated cumulative or an Assignment type average to open the student's gradebook for a detailed view.

  • If a student has a learning profile, LP displays next to their name along with a link to their learning profile.

  • If your school uses grade review, mark Ready for review for a student to indicate their grades are finalized and ready for a reviewer. In the student list, a green check displays for students marked ready so you can quickly identify the students you still need to complete.

  1. In Faculty:

    Select Classes, choose your class, then select New Grading.

    OR

    Select My Day, then Schedule & Performance. Then choose a Standard grade plan (indicated by an (S)) from the Grading tile on the right side of the page.

  2. Select the grid view icon grid view icon in the upper right.

  3. Optional: Select Calculate grades to compute grades using a formula. See Calculate standard grades for more information.

  4. Enter or select grades in the Adjusted grade column. Your school's setup determines if you can enter numeric grades or select grades from a dropdown. If you calculated grades in step 3, you can edit the results in the Adjusted grade column.

    Tip: If a student has an incomplete grade, select Mark as incomplete. This results in an "I" on the student's grade report and transcript.

  5. Optional: If comments are enabled for the course, select Add in the comment column, enter your comments, then select Save. Comments are auto-saved as you type.

    You can also add the same comment for multiple students in a class or across multiple class sections by selecting Add bulk comment. Select the students the comment applies to, expanding additional class sections and selecting more students as needed, enter the comment, then select Save.

    Warning: When adding a bulk comment, a comment icon displays next to a student's name if they have an existing comment for the grade plan. If you apply a bulk comment to a student with an existing comment, the bulk comment will overwrite the existing comment.

  6. Optional: If your school uses grade review, a Review column displays on the left. Select Review for a student when their grades are ready to be reviewed by a Grading manager or Reviewer.

  1. In Faculty:

    Select Classes, choose your class, then select New Grading.

    OR

    Select My Day > Schedule & Performance. Then choose a Standard grade plan (indicated by an (S)) from the Grading tile on the right side of the page.

  2. Select the narrative view icon list view icon in the upper right.

  3. Select a student from the list on the left.

  4. Optional: Select Calculate to compute grades using a formula. For more information, see Calculate standard grades.

  5. Enter grades or update calculated grades under Adjusted grade. Your school's setup determines if you can enter numeric grades or select grades from a dropdown.

    Note: Standard grades can only be calculated in grid view,

    Tip: If a student has an incomplete grade, select Mark as incomplete. This results in an "I" on the student'sgrade report and transcript.

  6. Optional: If comments are enabled for the class, enter your comments in the text box and select Save. Comments are auto-saved as you type.

  7. Optional: If your school uses grade review, Ready for review displays above the grade fields. Mark this option when grades and comments are ready for a Grading manager or Reviewer to review.

Depending on your school's setup, you may only have the option to calculate standard grades using a formula set up by your administrator or you can create your own calculation.

Warning: If calculated grades are not translating to the expected letter grade, contact your Grading manager to ensure that the Grade translation includes adequate decimal places for the Minimum and Maximum values.

  1. In grid view, select Calculate grades.

  2. Select the students you want to calculate this grade for, then select Next.

    Tip: An "M" next to a student's name indicates the student's grade is missing - they do not have an existing grade. Students without an "M" next to their name already have a grade present.

  3. Under Formula, choose the calculation for the grade plan, then select Next. If only one admin-defined calculation is available, it is selected for you.

    Note: If you feel you should see an admin-defined calculation that is not available for selection, please contact your Grading manager so they can check the grading setup for your school.

  4. Review the Calculation and Sample calculation displayed for one of the selected students.

  5. Select Finish to run the calculation for the selected students.

  6. The grades are recorded in the Calculated grade column.

  1. In grid view, select Calculate grades.

  2. Select the students you want to calculate this grade for, then select Next.

    Tip: An "M" next to a student's name indicates the student's grade is missing - they do not have an existing grade. Students without an "M" next to their name already have a grade present.

  3. Under Decimals, select the number of decimal places for your results.

  4. Select Round if results should be rounded up.

    Note: Decimals and Round work together to determine how your calculated grades are expressed. If Round is enabled, the calculation results are rounded up according to the Decimals setting. If Round is not enabled, the calculation results are rounded down to the nearest value according to the Decimals setting.
    For example, if Decimals is set to 0 and Round is ON, calculated results with a decimal value of .5 or higher are rounded up to the next whole number (76.5 becomes 77). Calculated results with a decimal value lower than .5 are rounded down to the whole number (ex. 76.4 becomes 76). If Decimals is set to 0 and Round is OFF, calculation results always round down to the nearest whole number.
    The same principles apply if Decimals is set to 1 or higher and Round is ON - the calculated grade will round up to the nearest decimal value.

  5. Under Grade value, select Add.

  6. Choose from the available Grade plan grades, Marking period grades (gradebook cumulative grades), and Marking period assignments that you want to use to create your calculation. Only previous and current grade plans and marking periods are available for selection. If using assignments, only graded assignments are available to include in the calculation.

    Tip: To add a specific assignment grade to the calculation, first choose a marking period under Marking period assignments in the Grade value dropdown. Then select the assignment in the Assignments column.

  7. Repeat steps 6 and 7 to add all of the Grade value items you want to use in your calculation.

  8. Set the Percentage for each Grade value item to indicate how much it accounts for the total grade. Then select Next.

  9. Review the Calculation and Sample calculation displayed for one of the selected students.

  10. Select Finish to run the calculation for the selected students. The calculation results are recorded in the Calculated grade column. Any updates to the calculated grade can be made in the Adjusted grade column.

Assessment grade plans are used to evaluate students on skills, such as "Counts by fours," "Shares with others," and "Contributes to class discussions."

Note: To accommodate grade entry for multiple skills at once, Assessment grade plans only display in narrative view.

Additionally, if your school uses Competency Based Education (CBE) to evaluate students on mastery skills, including Content-area skills or Transferable skills, you can use assessment skill calculations to pull mastery skill ratings from your gradebook into assessment skills grades so they may be included on report cards.

  1. In Faculty:

    Select Classes, choose your class, then select New Grading.

    OR

    Select My Day, then Schedule & Performance. Then choose an Assessment grade plan (indicated by an (A)) from the Grading tile on the right side of the page.

  2. Optional: To display assessment skill grades for previous grade plans, select Show previous grades.

  3. Select a student from the list on the left.

  4. For each skill, select or enter a skill grade. Your school's setup determines if you can enter numeric grades or select grades from a dropdown.

  5. If comments are enabled for a skill, select Add, enter your comment, then select Save.

Use Bulk edit to enter the same assessment skill grades or comments for multiple students at once.

Warning: In the bulk editor, the checkbox for a skill is marked automatically when you enter a grade or comment and it must remain marked in order for the grade or comment to save.
Additionally, marking the checkbox for a skill and saving a blank grade or comment will delete any existing grade or comment already entered for the skill.

  1. In Faculty:

    Select Classes, choose your class, then select the New Gradingtab.

    OR

    Select My Day, then Schedule & Performance. Then choose an Assessment grade plan (indicated by an (A)) from the Grading tile on the right side of the page.

  2. Optional: To display assessment skill grades for previous grade plans, select Show previous grades.

  3. Select Bulk edit.

  4. Select the students to apply the grades or comments to.

  5. For at least one skill, select or enter a grade or enter a comment.

    Warning: If a selected student has an existing grade or comment, applying a bulk grade or comment will overwrite their existing evaluation.

  6. Select Save or Save and close when finished.

If your school uses Competency Based Education (CBE), you may enter mastery skill ratings in your gradebook. Unlike assessment skills, mastery skills and ratings cannot be included on report cards. However, if your Grading manager has mapped assessment skills to corresponding mastery skill equivalents, you can pull mastery skill ratings from your gradebook into assessment skill grades that may be included on report cards.

For example, you can set up a simple calculation where 100% of a mastery skill rating is inserted into the corresponding assessment skill grade. Or create a calculation where an assessment skill grade is comprised of 50% of a Quarter 1 mastery skill rating and 50% of a Quarter 2 mastery skill rating.

If an assessment skill is mapped to a mastery skill that is a parent skill

  1. In Faculty:

    Select Classes, choose your class, then select the New Gradingtab.

    OR

    Select My Day, then Schedule & Performance. Then choose an Assessment grade plan (indicated by an (A)) from the Grading tile on the right side of the page.

  2. Select a student from the list on the left.

    Note: You will be able to select additional students in the calculation.

  3. Select Calculate for the assessment skill.

    Note: Calculate only displays for assessment skills that are mapped to a mastery skill equivalent.

  4. In the Calculate modal, select the students you want to run the calculation for. Then select Next.

  5. The Assessment skill displays on the left with the corresponding mastery skill equivalent on the right.

  6. Under Decimals, select the number of decimal places for your results.

  7. Select Round if results should be rounded up.

    Note: Decimals and Round work together to determine how your calculated grades are expressed. If Round is enabled, the calculation results are rounded up according to the Decimals setting. If Round is not enabled, the calculation results are rounded down to the nearest value according to the Decimals setting.
    For example, if Decimals is set to 0 and Round is ON, calculated results with a decimal value of .5 or higher are rounded up to the next whole number (76.5 becomes 77). Calculated results with a decimal value lower than .5 are rounded down to the whole number (ex. 76.4 becomes 76). If Decimals is set to 0 and Round is OFF, calculation results always round down to the nearest whole number.
    The same principles apply if Decimals is set to 1 or higher and Round is ON - the calculated grade will round up to the nearest decimal value.

  8. Under Grade value, select Add.

  9. Choose the available marking period skill values or cumulative skill values that you want to use to create your calculation. Only previous and current marking periods are available for selection. Selecting a marking period skill value gives an average of the skills within that marking period. Selecting Cumulative gives a year-to-date value for the skill.

  10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add any additional Grade value items you want to use in your calculation.

  11. Set the Percentage for each Grade value item to indicate how much it accounts for the total grade. Then select Next.

  12. Review the Calculation and Sample calculation displayed for the first selected student in the list.

  13. Select Finish to run the calculation for the selected students. The calculation results are recorded under Calculated Any updates to the calculated result can be made in the Adjusted grade column.

Once you have entered grade report grades for a class, your school may require grade review or approval. A Reviewer or Grading Manager will need to complete this part of the process. Once a Reviewer or Grading Manager marks a student's grades as "Reviewed", the grade, comment, and skill entry fields are disabled for that student and they are excluded from grade calculations, as well as the bulk comment and bulk skill entry tools. For more information on reviewing grades, see Review Grade Report Grades

Note: Unreviewed grades will still appear on grade reports.

Schools may enable Grading for group types other than Academics, such as Activities, Advisories, Athletics, and Dorms. If your school has enabled Grading for these group types, access it by selecting My Day > Schedule & Performance, then select a grade plan from the Grading tile on the right side of the page. From Faculty, you can also select Groups, select a group, then select the New Grading tab.