Grading setup

Note: Before you run your grading calculations, enter grades and enter or import information about students' performance in past years, including courses and grades. Student historical grades are used in cumulative GPA calculations. For information about entering historical transcript information [>>]

Calculating grades [>>]

Calculating student credits [>>]

Calculating GPAs [>>]

Calculating class ranks [>>]

Calculating honor rolls [>>]

Note:After running calculations, you run report cards and progress reports [>>]

Elementary grading setup

[Applies to elementary schools only]

The listed steps illustrate the grading setup task flow for elementary schools.

Defining standard comments [>>]

Defining the format and meaning of grades [>>]

Setting up grading periods [>>]

Selecting common report card elements [>>]

Creating elementary report cards/progress reports [>>]

Note: If your district has enabled the calculation of final grade scores for elementary students, and you have the correct permissions, PowerSchool SMS displays a heading entitled Step 6: Perform calculations with a Calculate Elementary Grades link. Click the link to run the calculation. An Alert is sent when the calculation is complete.

After grading is set up for elementary schools, you can enter grades [>>] and run report cards and progress reports [>>].

Setting up grading to support data mapping

To map data or generate reports, be aware of the following grading constraints when setting up the grading structure for your school. If your grading data is not set up to support these constraints, data mapping might fail or data will not be reported or uploaded correctly.

Grading tables

Grading tables define the format and meaning of the grades that students receive on their report cards.

For information about grading tables, see About grading table types [>>].

Note: If subjects and courses are not associated with a Numeric or Letter Grade grading table, data mapping still completes.

Standard comments

A standard comment is a sentence or two that all teachers can re-use repeatedly when entering grades. For information about standard comments, see Defining standard comments [>>].

The maximum number of standard comments supported for each grading period depends on the grade item:

WRKHBT supports one comment

CTZSHP supports one comment

CMNT supports five comments

Comment codes for work habits and citizenship grade items cannot exceed four characters.

Note: For secondary schools, include comments for a course by assigning a standard comment grading table to the required grade items (WRKHBT, CTZSHP, CMNT).

Grade items (Secondary)

Grade items are ways that your school measure student performance. For information about grade items, see Defining grade items [>>].

Data mapping supports a maximum of 30 grade items each year. If you have four grading periods in a year, the default grade item for the course grade is used four times. You have 26 grade items remaining that you can assign to the course throughout the four grading periods. The additional grade items, together with the grade item for the course grade, must not exceed 30 for all grading periods combined.

Complete the following tasks to ensure your grade items are mapped:

Associate the default "Course" grade item with a Numeric grading table.

Create three grade items with the following Short Names:

WRKHBT

CTZSHP

CMNT

Associate these grade items with a Standard Comment type grading table. Additional grade items can be set up.

Note: If these grade items are not defined or if they're associated with a different type of grading table, data mapping still completes.

Measures (Elementary)

Measures are used to rate achievement or effort and are defined when creating the elementary report card template. For information about measures, see Defining elementary report cards and progress reports [>>].

For each subject, make sure the following Measures are defined:

Work Habit

Citizenship

Comment

Each measure must be associated with a Standard Comment type grading table.

Note: If these measures are not set up or the measures are not associated with a Standard Comment type grading table, data mapping still completes.

About assigned grades (Elementary)

For elementary schools, only assigned grades that are associated with generic subjects are mapped. Grades associated with subject elements are not mapped. For example, grades assigned to the Language Arts subject are mapped, but grades assigned to its subject elements, such as reading, spelling, and writing, are not mapped.

For information about subjects and subject elements, see Scheduling [>>] and for instructions about assigning grades, see Assigning grades [>>].

Permissions to set up grading and enter grades

To	You need this permission	Set to	Detail
Add grades	Grading > Add Grades	Yes	[>>]
Backfill grades	Grading>Backfill Grades	Yes	[>>]
Clear calculated grades *	Grading>Clear Calculated Grades With Class Drop	Yes	[>>]
Define standard comments	School Setup>Standard Comments	Delete	[>>]
Define grading tables	School Setup>Grading Tables	Delete	[>>]
Define grade items *	School Setup>Grade Items	Delete	[>>]
Define grading periods	School Setup>Grading Period Sets	Delete	[>>]
	School Setup>Define Report Card Periods	Yes	[>>]
	School Setup>Define Progress Report Periods	Yes	[>>]
Define course grading properties *	School Setup>Course Grade Items	Delete	[>>]
Define GPAs *	School Setup>GPA Definitions	Delete	[>>]
Define class rank definitions *	School Setup>Class Ranks	Delete	[>>]
Define honor roll definitions *	School Setup>Honor Rolls Definitions	Delete	[>>]
Define report cards and progress reports	School Setup>Report Card Setup	Delete	[>>]
Edit grades entered by teachers	Grading>Edit Grades from Other Teachers	Yes	[>>]
Enter or edit grades for any class (including grades entered during the specified grace period)	Grading>Enter Grades for All Classes	Yes	[>>]
Enter or edit past grades	Grading> Modify Grades for Completed Periods Note: To prevent teachers from entering and changing grades for past grading periods, set to "No". If teachers needs additional time, define a grace period [>>].	Yes	[>>]
Set up transcripts *	Transcript/Permanent Record>Transcript Grade Items	Delete	[>>]
Override a student's calculated class rank	*Grading>Override Student Ranks	Yes	[>>]
Override a student's calculated earned credits *	Grading>Override/Recalculate Earned Credits	Yes	[>>]
Run calculations for calculated grades, student credits, and GPAs *	Grading>Run Grade, Credit, and GPA Calculations	Yes	[>>]
Run calculations for class ranks *	Grading>Run Class Ranks	Yes	[>>]

Grading setup

Gradebook and Report Cards

Setting up grading to support data mapping

Permissions to set up grading and enter grades