Grade Assignments

Once students have started submitting their assignments, teachers can begin grading them.

See the Assessments Guide and Graded Discussions for more information on grading those assignment types.

Access Assignment Grading Page

From the Assignment Center:

  1. In Faculty, select My Day, Assignment Center.

  2. Select the assignment name.

From a class page: 

  1. In Faculty, select Classes, then pick a class.

  2. Selects Assignments, then the assignment name.

From Gradebook:

  1. In Faculty, select Classes, then pick a class.

  2. Select Launch gradebook.

  3. Select the down arrow below an assignment in the header row or select the comment cell for a student below the assignment.

  4. Then select Go to assignment.

Tip: For information on entering grades via the gradebook, see Working with Gradebook.

From the Calendar:

  1. In Faculty, select Calendar in the top level menu.

  2. Select the assignment name, then More Details.

Video: New Assignment Grading Experience

View or Edit Assignment Details

When the grading page opens, select See details next to the assignment name to view additional information. To edit the assignment settings, select More, then Edit assignment.

  • Class: the class associated with the assignment.

  • Assignment type: used to categorize assignments in the gradebook and for reporting.

  • Added to cumulative: indicates the assignment is included in cumulative grade calculations Grade Calculations use students' grades to generate Grade Point Averages, academic performance awards, and class rankings..

  • Extra credit: indicates the assignment is marked as extra credit.

  • See description: view the full assignment Description.

  • Formative: indicates if the assignment is marked as Formative (Mastery assignments only).

    Note: Formative assignments are only available for schools using Mastery.

  • Content-area skills: number of content-area skills (Mastery assignments only).

  • Transferable skills: number of transferable skills (Mastery assignments only).

  • Average grade: average grade for the assignment.

  • Max points: maximum points possible.

  • Factor: number of times the assignment is counted in cumulative grade calculations.

  • Assigned: date the assignment was assigned for the class.

  • Due: date the assignment is due.

  • Published: indicates if the assignment is published to students.

Select a Student

Use the dropdown in the upper right to select a student. Use the arrow buttons to move to the next or previous student in the list.

Icons

Icons may display next to a student's name to indicate their assignment submission or evaluation status.

- A teacher has entered a grade, comment, skill evaluation, indicator (e.g. Exempt, Missing) or attached a file for the student, but the entry has not been committed.

- The Missing indicator has been marked and committed.

Note: The Missing indicator takes priority over committed grades. If a student has both a committed grade and a committed Missing indicator, the Missing icon displays for the student until it is cleared and committed.

- A teacher has committed a grade, comment, skill evaluation, or file attachment for the student.

- The student has submitted text, file submission, or LTI upload.

Learning profiles

If a student has learning profiles, a link appears above Evaluation.

Note: Learning profiles are not accessible when impersonating.

Commit Evaluations to Gradebook

Before you begin grading, note that evaluations are not visible to students or parents until they are committed to your gradebook. Changes to committed evaluations are also not visible until the changes are committed.

For example, if you enter and commit a comment, then delete it, you must commit the deletion to remove the comment from student and parent view.

Note: Annotations on file submissions are immediately visible to students and parents without committing. For more information, see Assignment Annotations.

The number of committed evaluations display in the header next to the student dropdown. An assignment must have a committed grade, comment, skill rating, or file submission to be considered graded.

  • Select Commit all evaluations at the top to commit evaluations for the class at once.

Tip: To view students with uncommitted evaluations for the assignment, look at the student dropdown in the upper right. A blue exclamation mark icon next to a student's name indicates they have uncommitted evaluations.

Evaluate Assignments

"Marked as" Indicators

Below the student dropdown, you'll find "Marked as" indicators that you can add to a student's assignment. When committed, these indicators are visible to students and their parents.

Tip: Select More, then See key to view the icon descriptions.

Collected: Tracks received student work. Committing the Collected indicator updates the student's view of their assignment status to Completed.

Exempt: The assignment is not included in the student's cumulative grade calculation.

Incomplete: Student has not completed the assignment.

Missing: Student has not submitted the assignment. In the student's Assignment Center, the assignment displays under Missing or Overdue in calendar view and in Missing assignments in list view.

Late: Student submitted the assignment after the due date. Enter the number of days late in the space provided.

Tip: You can set your Preferences to automatically remove the Missing and/or Incomplete indicators when you commit a grade. For more, see Evaluation preferences.

Enter Assignment Grades and Comments

  • Under Evaluation, enter a numeric grade or select a grade from a dropdown.

    Note: You can only select letter grades if your gradebook is set up to use a Letter grade scale.

  • Decimal values are accepted

  • Values less than zero are not accepted

  • Enter feedback in the Comment box.

    Note: Comments and changes to committed comments are not visible until committed

  • Upload feedback files, such as external rubrics, under File by selecting Attach file.

Evaluate Assignments with File or Text Submissions

  • Files and text submitted by the selected student are listed on the right under Submission. Select a file to display it on the left.

  • To open a file in full page view, select the new tab icon .

  • Annotation tools are available for submitted files. For more information, see Annotate Assignments.

    • Text submissions are displayed on the left, but they cannot be annotated.

  • To allow a student to resubmit the assignment, select Allow resubmit.

  • To download a single file, select the download icon at the end of the file name. Or select More, Download all files to download the assignment submissions for all students in the current class.

    Tip: Use the Submitted column in the list view of the Assignment Center or class Assignments page to see which students have turned in online file or text submissions for an assignment. Select the Submitted number to open a flyout displaying submission details, and select a student name in the flyout to open the evaluation page.

Google Drive submissions

If your school utilizes Google Drive integration, Google Drive submissions are listed under Submission.

  • Select the name of a Google Drive file to view the file content on the left. You cannot annotate or edit the file in this view.

  • Select the new tab icon next to a Google Drive file to open the file in Google Drive where you can add comments, edit, or annotate the file.

If your assignment uses Mastery, Content-area and/or Transferable skills are displayed on the right.

  • Select an evaluation from the dropdown for each skill

  • Select a skill name for additional skill details.

  • Yellow warning icon indicates a skill without an evaluation.

  • Green checkmark indicates skill with an evaluation.

  • To add a comment for a skill, select Add comment under the skill, enter a Comment, then select Save.

Warning: Once you begin grading an assignment with a rubric, the rubric cannot be edited or removed from the assignment.

Select Evaluate with rubric to display rubric skills.

  • For point-based rubrics, select a proficiency level from the Evaluation dropdown below each skill.

  • For point range-based rubrics, select a proficiency level and point range from the Evaluation dropdown, then enter the Points earned within the selected range.

  • To add a comment for a skill, select Add comment, enter the Comment, then select Save.

  • Select a skill name for more details on each proficiency level. You can also select a proficiency level or enter Points and add Comments in this view. Select Apply to save your changes.

  • As you select proficiency levels or add points, the score at the top of the Evaluation panel is updated.

  • You do not need to fill out the entire rubric before committing. Rubric skills without evaluations will appear ungraded and treated as zero.

    Tip: A yellow warning icon indicates a skill does not have an evaluation, while a green checkmark indicates a completed evaluation.

To adjust a student's total points, select the edit icon next to their score at the top of the Evaluation panel. You can: 

Add to total: Add additional points to the overall score of the assignment. Use the available text box to award additional points.

Remove from total: Remove points from the total score of the assignment. Use the available text box to remove awarded points.

Mark score as zero: This will remove any scores and set total points earned to zero.

  • A preview displays the student's Total points as calculated and what the student's Total points will be with your adjustment.

  • To save your adjustment, select Apply.

  • To exit without making an adjustment, select Cancel or select Do not adjust total points, then select Apply.

Note: LTI tools are not accessible when impersonating.

When an LTI 1.3 tool is enabled on an assignment, select the LTI tool in the student dropdown.

Assignment grades passed from learning tools to Blackbaud Learning Management are automatically committed.

  • Select Refresh grades to refresh the LTI assignment information and student grades.

When using Turnitin for your assignment, the following information is displayed:

  • Title

  • Description

  • Max grade

  • Start date

  • Due date

  • Feedback release date (will be the same as the due date)

Use Bulk actions to add the same evaluation for multiple students.

Note: Bulk actions overwrite existing evaluations for the selected students.

  1. Select Bulk actions.

  2. Optional: To add a grade or indicators, select Add bulk evaluation, then enter or select a Grade and/or indicators you want to add for students.

  3. Optional: To add comments, select Add bulk comment then enter a Comment.

  4. Under Apply to, select the students you want to apply the evaluation to.

    Note: Review existing evaluations that will be overwritten upon saving in the Grade, Indicators, and Comments columns next to the selected students.

  5. Select Save.

To download file submissions for all students in the class, select More, then Download all files.

For a preview of the assignment from a student's perspective, select More, then See student preview. For more details, see Student Preview of Assignments for Teachers.

View a student's grade change history for the assignment by selecting See change history in the upper left. Changes are listed with the most recent first.

Change history includes:

  • Changed item

  • Changed from

  • Changed to

  • Changed by

  • Changed time

    Note: The format for Changed time is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM AM/PM

The following changes are recorded:

Change Change category
Total points Score
Skills rating Name of skill
Unchecked box becomes checked [Name of indicator] status
Checked box becomes unchecked [Name of indicator] status
Number of days late [Name of indicator] status
Rubric Rubric [Name of skill] rating
Assignment comment Comment
Skill comment [Name of skill] comment
Rubric comment Rubric [Name of skill] Comment

When you evaluate a graded discussion, you can opt to look at the Full discussion or an individual student's responses to the discussion.

When you are viewing the Full discussion, you can provide answers to individual student responses as well as provide your own response to the prompt using Respond to prompt. If you need to hide or delete a response for any reason, select the pencil icon for the student and then select Hide response or Delete response as needed.

Note: Hide response will hide the response from students. You will still be able to see it. If you hide a response with follow-up responses, the follow-up responses will also be hidden.

To provide a grade and/or comment for a student's response, you need to select their name from the roster. Once selected, you can see:

  • The student's original response with any replies.

  • Any replies they have made on posts from other students.

You can use Add response to add your response to the student's post. Use Add comment to add a comment and enter in a points total in the available Points text box.

For more information, see Graded Discussions.

With the exception of essay questions, assessment questions are graded automatically. Teachers must grade essay questions before students are able to view their assessment results. For more information on evaluating assessments, see Assessments Guide.