Tool Search: Grade Calc Options
Grade Calculation Options determine how In Progress Grades for Grading Tasks and Standards calculate in the Grade Book.
Before setting Grade Calculation Options, Grading Tasks and Standards must be assigned to the Course Master.
Grade Calc Options determine how grades are calculated for standards and tasks aligned to a course master.
Course Master Workflow
Expand to see how this tool fits into the workflow of managing Course Masters (step 8):
Fill and Filter Options
To apply a specific grading setup to multiple tasks or standards, select Fill Options. From there, filter using the Type, Term, and Task dropdown lists and then select the Calculation Type and other options to apply to all standards or tasks that fit the filter criteria. For example, in the image below, I'm setting the Term Grade task to calculate the same way in all terms.
Use the Fill and Filter options to apply grade calculation options to multiple standards or tasks.
Additionally, the filter options are available in the main Grade Calc Options screen to filter the individual standards and tasks displayed.
Grade Calculation Options for Standards
Establish calculation preferences for multiple standards using the Fill options or for each Term/Standard combination individually.
Select calculation options for standards
The following table describes the Types for Standards:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| No Calculation | Select this option to exclude the standard from calculation of students' In Progress proficiency estimate in the Grade Book. This option is pre-selected and cannot be modified when a standard is marked as Post-only on the Course Standards tool or the Course Masters Standards tab. No assignments or categories can be assigned to this standard. |
| In Progress Grade | Select this option to calculate an In Progress grade for this standard using a Grading Scale. Use this option if scoring for the standard is done with Points or Marks. Additional options appear when this option is selected:
|
| Proficiency Estimate (Rubrics) | Select this option if the standard is scored using a rubric. Rubrics are used to described quality of work, rather than a numerical score. Choose a Method to calculate grades:
In the grade book, hover over a student's proficiency estimate to see each of these values calculated. |
Assign Grade Calculation Options of Standards
- Select the desired Calculation Type for each Standard assigned to the Course Master, choosing to mass-assign the same calculation type using the Fill Down option or assigning the calculation type for each standard one at a time.
- If any standard needs to be a Composite standard, set those options.
- Click the Save icon when finished.
Grade Calculation Options for Grading Tasks
Establish calculation preferences for multiple tasks using the Fill options or for each Term/Task combination individually.
Select calculation options for tasks
The following table describes the Types for Grading Tasks:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| No Calculation | Select this option to exclude the task from calculation of students' In Progress grades in the Grade Book. |
| In Progress Grade | Select this option to calculate an In Progress grade for this task. Additional options appear when this option is selected:
|
Post-only Tasks
Categories and assignments cannot be aligned to tasks marked as Post-only on the Course > Grading Tasks or Course Masters > Grading Tasks tabs. However, calculation options can be set up for these tasks to allow a Grade to be calculated in the Posted column when a Percent is entered for a student.
Assign Grade Calculation Options for Grading Tasks
- Select the desired Calculation Type for each Grading Task assigned to the Course Master, choosing to mass-assign the same calculation type using the Fill Down option or assigning the calculation type for each standard one at a time.
- If any standard needs to be a Composite standard, set those options.
- Click the Save icon when finished.
Additional Options in Grade Calc Options
The following options are available for standards and tasks:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Composite | A composite task or standard is a parent task that is grade based on the child tasks that make it up. For example, a semester task may be a composite of two quarter tasks. See the Composite Grading article for more information. |
| Rollup | A parent standard or task can be calculated by "rolling up" child tasks. See the Rollup Grade Calculations article for more information. |
| Limit Assignments to Last ___ | This option limits the grade calculation to only include the most recent x number of assignments. For example, proficiency in a standard may be calculated as the mode of the most recent 5 assignments. |
| Cumulative Grading Starting in | This option allows teachers to set a starting term for calculating grading across multiple terms. See the Cumulative Grading article for more information. |
Composite Grading
For Grading Tasks that are calculated together with other Grading Tasks to have a composite grade (like a Semester Grade or End of Year Grade), mark the Composite checkbox. This displays a Child Task/Standard editor within the grading task window where the Grading Tasks and Standards can be set to properly calculate the composite grade.
In the example below, the Final Grade is marked as Composite and combines the student's Term 3 and Term 4 grades together. Each of the term grades are worth 50% of the Final grade.
Mark the Composite checkbox to display the Child Task/Standard dropdown lists.
Note the following:
- Grading Tasks and Standards need to be assigned to the Course Master.
- Active Terms need to be set properly before setting the composite grade.
- The Weight field value can be entered as a decimal or as a whole number, but the total Effective Percentage of all of the child tasks entered here cannot be more than 100%.
- A task/standard can only be selected once. Previously chosen tasks/Standards display in gray and cannot be chosen again.
- In the Progress Monitor, composite grading setup is represented visually by displaying child alignments nested under the parent, unless the section has more than 50 standard/task alignments.
Assign a Composite Calculation
- Locate the Grading Task or Standard to set as a Composite.
- Mark the Composite checkbox. The Child Task/Standard editor displays.
- Select the Grading Tasks that are to be used in the composite calculation.
- Enter the Weight value for each of the child tasks.
- If desired, mark the Lock Composites checkbox. When this is marked, teachers would not be able to modify the composite grading setup (add more child tasks or change entered weight values), even if they have the tool rights to modify composite grading information.
Rollup Grade Calculation
Rollup calculations allow users to grade a parent standard based on the scores a student has received for child standards, rather than having to manually estimate the grade. Alternately, child standards can be selected to rollup to a grading task, with the rubric scores converted to numeric values and then into items in the score group selected for the task.
These calculations display in the Grade Book and Post Grades tool. Rollup calculation preferences are set up on this tool or in the Grade Calc Options tool for Courses.
Standards can only be selected to contribute to a rollup calculation if they are graded using the same rubric. In the Progress Monitor, rollup grading setup is represented visually by displaying child alignments nested under the parent, unless the section has more than 50 standard/task alignments.
Rollup Grade Calculation
Setup Rollup Grade Calculation
- Mark the Rollup checkbox for the parent standard. The grade for this standard or task is calculated based on the child standards and Calculation Type.
- Select the Calculation Type to determine how grades in child tasks contribute to the rolled up grade. See the descriptions of each type in the table following.
- Select the Child Tasks/Standards to be included in the rollup calculation. Add rows for additional children as needed. Available standards are those entered as children of the parent standard in the Standards Bank.
- Click Save when finished.
Calculation Types
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Manual | Provides no rollup calculation. |
| Mean | Rollup calculation is the average of the grade for each child standard, based on the Rollup % Values entered on the Rubric. When the parent is a task, numeric rubric values are converted based on the selected Score Group. Rollup value, Minimum Value, and Mean Value should be populated for the rubric. |
| Weighted Mean | When this type is selected, a weight field displays for each child standard, with an Effective % value calculating as weights are entered. Rollup calculation is the average of the grade for each child standard, based on the Rollup % Values entered on the Rubric, weighted based on the values entered for each child. Similar to Composite Grading, weight values can be entered as percentages (such as 25%, 25%, and 50%) or as proportions (such as 1, 1, 2). Rollup value, Minimum Value, and Mean Value should be populated for the rubric. |
| Median | Rollup calculation displays as the grade at the middle of the grade distribution. For example, if the child standards have grades of U, U, P, P, HP, the median value is P. |
| Mode | Rollup calculation displays as the most common grade received across child standards. For example, if the child standards have grades of U, P, P, P, HP, the mode is P. If there is no mode in the entered scores, a rollup value is not reported. |
| Highest | Rollup calculation displays the highest grade achieved. |
Copy Grade Calculation Options to Another Course Master
The entire Course Master can be copied from one school to another using the Copy button on the Course Master Info tab.
Use the Copy icon to easily add Grade Calculation Options associated with one Course Master (called the Source Course Master) to one or more other Course Masters in the same Course Catalog (called Destination Course Masters). The Copy icon displays when proper tool rights are assigned.
When copying grading calc options from one course master to another:
- The Course Catalogs must be the same for the source course master and the destination course master.
- Grade calculation options only copy to courses/course masters that do not have any grade calc options set up. This means courses/course masters that already have grade calc options assigned are not searchable in the destination course master.
- When a Course Catalog is locked for grade calc options, the copy process pushes the grade calc options to destination courses.
Copy Grade Calc Options
- Select a specific grade calc option to copy or just click the Copy icon without selecting a grade calc option.
- Click the Copy icon.
- Select the Source Course Master from the dropdown list. This displays the currently selected course master. To change this selection, begin typing in the dropdown field.
- Select the Destination Course Master:
- All Course Masters: copies options to all course masters in the course catalog.
- Active Course Masters: copies options to all course masters in the course catalog that currently have the Active flag marked.
- Select Course Masters: copies options to the selected course masters. To select a master, type the Number or Name in the search field. Multiple masters can be selected. Click Clear to remove all masters from the list. Only Course Masters that do not already have Grade Calc Options established are available to be selected.
- Click the Copy button again to copy the grade calculation options to the destination course master.
When the copy is completed, an alert displays indicating the copy has been saved.
