Recording A New Assignment
Grades for 60 assignments can be recorded for every student every term/quarter. Each assignment has its own date, title, weight, and category. If a final exam is used, only 59 assignments can be recorded in the last term of the school year.Select the Class
When the class is selected, all previous assignments entered for this class are displayed. This feature was included to help prevent recording the same assignment twice. The student names from the selected class are displayed on the data entry grid. The 20 Most Recent Assignments from all classes are included in the combo box. Clicking on the arrow on the right side of the combo box displays these assignments. Clicking on the arrow again will remove the listed assignments so you can enter the new assignment title, weight, and category. Clicking on one of the listed assignments will automatically enter the displayed date, title, weight, and category into the edit boxes. Secondary teachers entering the same assignment for different classes use this feature.Assignment Date
The Windows system date is displayed in the first edit box. You can change or erase this date. The date information you enter is not checked for validity and is not necessary to record an assignment. If you do not want the date to be automatically entered, mark the SetUp menu | Teacher Settings selection check box. If the wrong date is always entered when you start, Windows is sending the wrong date information to Gradebook Power.Assignment Title
The Assignment Title can be up to 17 characters long. If you discover the title was misspelled after saving this assignment, it can be revised with the Utility | Change Assignment menu selection.Assignment Points (Weight)
Any number of possible points (up to 999) for an assignment can be entered. The assignment weight is the same as the number of possible points on the assignment. If you discover the wrong number of possible points was entered after saving this assignment, it can be revised with the Utility menu | Change Assignment selection.Assignment Category
Enter the first letter of one of your four categories for the assignment. For example, enter the letter Q for Quiz or T for Test. If you discover the wrong category was entered, it can be changed with the Utility menu | Change Assignment menu selection. If you want to record an assignment, such as a pretest or an indication if a lab fee was paid, enter the at symbol @ as the category letter.Extra Credit
To make an assignment Extra Credit, enter 0 as the number of points possible. If you calculate your term (quarter) grade by using cumulative points, the extra credit assignment can be placed in any category. If you calculate your term (quarter) grade by using weight/categories, the extra credit assignment cannot be the only assignment placed in the category. Extra credit points can always be added to other assignments, for example, a test score of 110 out of 100 possible points.Click the Continue button
If the assignment title, weight, and category are valid, the first student name displayed on the data entry grid will be highlighted. Start entering numerical grades, letter grades, and special grades.Numerical Grades
If the entered number grade is greater than the number of points possible plus the safety factor, a message will be displayed when the entered grades are saved. The student could have earned a higher point total because extra credit points may have been included on the assignment.Letter Grade and Special Grade Buttons
Placing the mouse cursor over the letter or special grade, and clicking the left mouse button to make it active can enter letter Grades and Special Grades displayed on the buttons. The active grade or description is displayed in red. Then move the mouse to the edit box for the student, then click again. The active grade is placed in the edit box. This grade remains active so you can click the edit boxes for other students. To cancel the active code, move the mouse cursor above the Cancel button, and click the left mouse button. The word Cancel will be in red.Letter Grades
The letter grades are from the standard scale or your custom scale (SetUp | Teacher Settings). When the average, category, cumulative, semester, and final grades are calculated, letter grades are converted to numerical equivalents. The letter grade A+ is converted to the top percentage (usually 100%) on the SetUp | Teacher Settings menu. The bottom letter grade, typically an F is converted to 0%. Other percentages are found by taking the average of the bottom and top percentages in each letter grade range. For example, if the bottom B- is 80%, and the bottom B is 83.333%, the letter grade of B- is assigned the average 81.667%. Then the percentage is multiplied by the number of points possible (weight) entered for the assignment.Special Grades
AB = ABsentThis grade is ignored when computing the class average, and considered equal to 0 points earned on the assignment when an individual's grade is calculated. If numerical grades are entered with the number pad, AB can be entered by pressing the * asterisk (multiply) key. A complete explanation Incomplete and Absent Grades is at the end of this section. CH = CHeat or CM = CheckMark
The CHeat grade is considered equivalent to 0 when class and individual averages are calculated. The CM (CheckMark) is ignored in all computations. EX = EXcused
This grade is ignored when computing individual student and class averages. This grade is issued when making up an assignment might be impossible or impractical. This grade will not be included as a missing assignment. IN = INcomplete
This grade is considered equal to 0 points earned on the assignment when both the class and individual's grade is calculated. If numerical grades are entered with the number pad, IN can be entered by pressing the / forward slash (divide) key. A complete explanation Incomplete and Absent Grades is at the end of this section. NC = No Credit
This grade indicates the assignment was not turned in. This grade is considered equal to 0 points earned on the assignment when both the class and individual's grade is calculated. UN = UNexcused
This grade is considered equal to 0 points earned on the assignment when both the class and individual's grade is calculated. Space
This button is used to leave a student's grade blank. This grade is ignored when computing individual student and class averages. This grade will be included as a missing assignment.
Perfect Assignment Grades
Some teachers give assignments that all or nearly all students earn perfect scores. A perfect score will be entered for those students without a previously entered grade. By making the Perfect score active, the total possible points will be quickly entered for all students with a blank score. Then it becomes a simple task of editing the scores that were not perfect. The F4 Function key can also be pressed instead of clicking the Perfect Button. The Perfect button cannot be used for extra credit assignments (0 points possible).Grade Button
Click this button when a student is highlighted. The student's current term and semester grade will be displayed. Clicking the OK button removes this window so you can continue entering grades.Save Display
Click this button to save the entered grades. The title, weight, and category are also saved to the 20 most recent assignments.Record Next Assignment
Click this button to record another assignment for this class. The letter and special grades will be disabled. After entering a valid assignment title, weight, and category, you can enter the new assignment grades.Difference Between ABsent and INcomplete
This is a more thorough explanation about the difference between entering ABsent and INcomplete for student grades. Both cases assume the grade to be a zero until it is made up. It is counted as a 0 when the individual student average is calculated. For the class average, the grade AB (ABsent) is ignored in the computation, the grade IN (INcomplete) is counted as a zero. Consider an example of 4 students in a class given a test worth 100 points. Let us assume that 2 of the students had perfect scores of 100. The other 2 students were absent. The average of the test could be figured two ways.- Just from those students taking the test
- The average of all students in the class
Screen Shot
This screen shot size was reduced for Internet display purposes.