Grading - Faculty Perspective

Faculty members 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 Individual Gradebook Setup and Working with Gradebook.
Grade report grades are typically entered 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 Grading, which is accessible from the Grading tab on a class page or from My Day.

For more information on grade report grade entry, continue below.

Faculty members can enter grade report grades for their students during grading periods called Grade Plans. Your Grading Manager defines the start and end dates of your school's Grade Plans.

Enter grade report grades as a faculty member

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

From a class page:

In Faculty, select Classes.
Choose a class.
Select Grading.

From My Day:

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

The type of grades you are entering determine your next steps.

Standard vs. Assessment grades

Your school may use Standard and/or Assessment grades for grade reports. Standard grades may include grades and comments for exams, effort, midterm, term, or final term 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".

Standard grades

Grid view vs. narrative view

When entering standard grades and comments, faculty can switch between grid view and the narrative view 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 is displayed 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 is displayed for students marked ready so you can quickly identify the students you still need to complete.

Enter standard grades and comments in grid view

In Faculty:

Select Classes, choose your class, then select 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.
Select the grid view icon in the upper right.
Optional: Select Calculate grades to compute grades using a formula. See Calculate standard grades for more information.
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.
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.
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.

Enter standard grades and comments in narrative view

In Faculty:

Select Classes, choose your class, then select 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.
Select the narrative view icon in the upper right.
Select a student from the list on the left.
Optional: Select Calculate to compute grades using a formula. For more information, see Calculate standard grades.
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's grade report and transcript.
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.
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.

Calculate standard grades

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.

Admin-defined calculation

In grid view, select Calculate grades.
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.
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.
Review the Calculation and Sample calculation displayed for one of the selected students.
Select Finish to run the calculation for the selected students.
The grades are recorded in the Calculated grade column.

Create your own calculation

In grid view, select Calculate grades.
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.
Under Decimals, select the number of decimal places for your results.
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.
Under Grade value, select Add.
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.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 to add all the Grade value items you want to use in your calculation.
Set the Percentage for each Grade value item to indicate how much it accounts for the total grade. Then select Next.
Review the Calculation and Sample calculation displayed for one of the selected students.
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 skill grades

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.

Enter assessment skill ratings and comments in bulk

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.

In Faculty:

Select Classes, choose your class, then select the Grading tab.

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.
Optional: To display assessment skill grades for previous grade plans, select Show previous grades.
Select Bulk edit.
Select the students to apply the grades or comments to.
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.
Select Save or Save and close when finished.

Calculate assessment skill grades

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

In Faculty:

Select Classes, choose your class, then select the Grading tab.

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.
Select a student from the list on the left.

Note: You will be able to select additional students in the calculation.
Select Calculate for the assessment skill.

Note: Calculate only displays for assessment skills that are mapped to a mastery skill equivalent.
In the Calculate modal, select the students you want to run the calculation for. Then select Next.
The Assessment skill displays on the left with the corresponding mastery skill equivalent on the right.
Under Decimals, select the number of decimal places for your results.
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.
Under Grade value, select Add.
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.
Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add any additional Grade value items you want to use in your calculation.
Set the Percentage for each Grade value item to indicate how much it accounts for the total grade. Then select Next.
Review the Calculation and Sample calculation displayed for the first selected student in the list.
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.