Modifying a Gradebook

1. General Options

• Changing General Information

2. School Year Options

• Changing the Date Range of a Grading Period
• Changing the Days in the School Week

3. Grading Options

• Adjusting Grade Scales
• Creating a Custom Grade Scale
• Editing the Name of a Custom Grade Scale
• Deleting a Grade Scale
• Rounding Scores
• Viewing Final Grades
• Viewing Students
• Color-coding High and Low Grades

4. Category Options

• Adding a New Assignment Category
• Removing a Category
• Changing the Weights of Categories

5. Attendance Options

• Modifying an Attendance Policy
  

Many of the options you chose during the setup of your gradebook can be modified once your gradebook is in use. To access these options, select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.

1. General Options

Changing General Information
To change the Gradebook Name, Teacher Name, Subject, and Grade displayed on your gradebook:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. The General tab should be displayed, and you will see the current information in the Gradebook Name, Teacher Name, Subject, and Grade fields. Click in any of these fields to modify this information.
3. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

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2. School Year Options

Changing the Date Range of a Grading Period
To change the start and end dates of the grading periods in your school year:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the School Year tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. The start and end dates of each grading period in your gradebook are displayed. Select and modify the dates that you wish to change.
4. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

NOTE: You cannot add or remove grading periods from the school year once you have set up the gradebook.

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Changing the Days in the School Week
To change the days in your school week:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the School Year tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. To change the days in the school week, check or uncheck the boxes appropriately (a checked box indicates that class meets on this day).
4. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

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3. Grading Options

Adjusting Grade Scales
To adjust scores required to attain a letter grade:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Select the grade scale you wish to modify from the drop-down menu to the left ("Standard A – F" will be selected by default).
4. Click in the Percent column in the row next to the grade you wish to modify, then edit that number appropriately. Remember that the percent score you enter is the minimum score required to attain the respective letter grade.
5. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

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Creating a Custom Grade Scale
To add a new grade scale to your gradebook:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Choose EDIT CUSTOM SCALE… from the drop-down menu to the left.
4. In the Custom Grade Scale window that appears, click the NEW… button.
5. Enter a name for the new grade scale in the window displayed and click OK.
6. Your new grade scale is now selected in the Grade Scale table. You can now enter grades and their corresponding percent values in the table displayed. Remember that the percent score you enter is the minimum score required to attain the respective letter grade.

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Editing the Name of a Custom Grade Scale
To edit the name of a custom grade scale in your gradebook:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Choose EDIT CUSTOM SCALE… from the drop-down menu to the left.
4. In the Custom Grade Scale window that appears, select the custom grade scale whose name you want to edit, then click the EDIT… button (no grade scales will be available to select if you have not created any custom grade scales).
5. The name of your grade scale appears in an editable text field. Edit the name appropriately, then click OK.

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Deleting a Grade Scale
To delete a grade scale from your gradebook:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Choose EDIT CUSTOM SCALE… from the pull-down menu to the left.
4. In the Custom Grade Scale window that appears, select the custom grade scale that you want to delete, then click the DELETE… button (no grade scales will be available to select if you have not created any custom grade scales).

NOTE: You will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the grade scale. If any of the assignments in your gradebook are scored with a grade from this grade scale, you will not be able to delete the grade scale until you have reassigned those grades to numeric scores or another grade scale.

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Rounding Scores
You may choose to round final grades to the nearest whole percent, tenth of a percent, or hundredth of a percent:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the Grades tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. In the "Round Scores to the Nearest" section of the screen, choose PERCENT, TENTH OF A PERCENT, or HUNDREDTH OF A PERCENT.
4. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.
   

NOTE: You will only see the final grade displayed as a percent if you have chosen "Percent" or "Grade and Percent" from the "The View Final Grade As" section of this screen.

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Viewing Final Grades
You may choose to view final grades as a grade, a percent, or a grade and percent:

1. Click on GRADEBOOK tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. In the "View Final Grade as" section of the screen, choose GRADE AND PERCENT, GRADE, or PERCENT. If you choose GRADE AND PERCENT or GRADE, you can select which grade scale you want to use to view the final grade from the drop-down menu.
4. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

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Viewing Students
You may choose to view the students in your gradebook by their name or ID:

1. Click on Gradebook tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. In the "View Students by" section of the screen, choose NAME or ID.
4. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

NOTE: When you choose to view by Name, the Display Options selected in the Groups section of the program are active. You can modify how the names appear in the gradebook by changing the Display Options in the Groups section.

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Color-coding High and Low Grades
You may choose to color-code the highest and lowest scores of the assignments and final grades in your gradebook:

1. Click on GRADEBOOK tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the GRADES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Check the box next to the "Display Highest Grade…" section of the screen.
4. Choose a display color for the highest and lowest grades by selecting a color from the respective pull down menus.
5. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

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4. Category Options

Adding a New Assignment Category
You may choose to change the way in which your gradebook calculates the final grade by adding a new category of assignments to the gradebook:

1. Click on GRADEBOOK tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the CATEGORIES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Click on an empty cell in the Category column and either select a category from the drop-down menu, or type the name of the category into the cell.
4. Enter the weight (percentage) of this category toward the final grade in the Weight column. You will need to modify the weights of other categories so that the sum of the weights equals 100.
5. If you would like the program to ignore each student’s lowest score for an assignment in this category, check the box in the "Drop Low Score" column in the row for this category.
6. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.
   

NOTE: If you have chosen to "Drop Low Score" for a category, the lowest score will be ignored only if at least two assignments in that category have been scored for a given student.

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Removing a Category
You may choose to change the way in which your gradebook calculates the final grade by removing the weight of a category of assignments from the gradebook:

1. Click on GRADEBOOK tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the CATEGORIES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Select the category to remove by clicking anywhere on its row.
4. Click the CLEAR ROW button, or assign the category a weight of "O."
5. Reallocate weight to other categories so that the sum of the category weights equals 100.
6. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

NOTE: You cannot completely remove a category if there are assignments associated with it. You may wish to assign the category a weight of
"0" instead of modifying all of the assignments associated with this category.

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Changing the Weights of Categories
You may choose to change the way in which your gradebook calculates the final grade by redistributing the weights of the assignment categories:

1. Click on GRADEBOOK tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click on the CATEGORIES tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. Click in the Weight column of the category’s weight you wish to modify. Enter the new weight.
4. You will need to redistribute the weight in other categories so that the sum of your weights totals 100. Follow the directions in Step 3 to do this.
5. Click the DONE button to save your changes. Click CANCEL to exit without saving.

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5. Attendance Options

Modifying an Attendance Policy
You may choose to factor students’ attendance into the calculation of their final grade.

1. Click on the GRADEBOOK tab, then select OPTIONS… from the Gradebook menu.
2. Click the ATTENDANCE tab in the Gradebook Options window.
3. You can modify the percent deducted for absences and tardies and/or the number of absences and tardies permitted before a penalty is incurred. Click in the appropriate field to edit these parameters. By entering "0" or leaving these fields blank, attendance will not be counted against the final grade.

NOTE: The deduction from the final grade is measured in percentage points, not as a percent of that grade. For example, if an attendance policy deducts 2% for every two unexcused absences, then a final grade of "88" would become "86" if the student had two unexcused absences.

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