The Teacher Gradebook allows for several custom configurations. In this document, we will cover all the gradebook settings at your disposal.

Preferences

Go to My Information and select Preferences. Gradebook configuration options vary depending on how sections are scheduled and what the district has enabled.

Configure Gradebooks Separately for Each Section: If this box is checked, Gradebook Settings > Configuration will need to be revisited for each individual section that is taught. For example, teachers who intend to use weighted categories for some classes and not for others would select this option.
Combine Sections for Gradebook: When checked, allows the gradebook to be combined either by Period or Custom Groups (regardless of the course). This option should only be used if the assignments will be the same for those courses for the entirety of the school year. By default, the gradebook will display in the traditional period-by-period fashion.

Warning: Only configure these options if necessary. These options should not be changed once the gradebook is in use. This preference will not display if the district has disabled this option and requires teachers to contact the district to request combining. This preference DOES NOT combine the gradebook for attendance. Grades would still be posted separately for each section.

Combine Sections By Period. This option allows combining multiple sections of the same course in to one period in the gradebook. Only one section would need to be selected when adding assignments. Grades would still be posted separately.
Combine Sections By Custom Groups allows the teacher to combine any of their scheduled sections into one gradebook, regardless of period or course number.

Click Add Group to create a group.
Move the appropriate ungrouped Sections into the new group.
Rename the group, by clicking Group #__.
If the group needs to be deleted, click the Red X.
If a group is empty, but needs to be deleted, click Remove Empty Groups.
To start over or reset the groups, select Remove All Groups.

Click Save.

Alert: Combining sections using either option will not list students according to their actual scheduled section or period. An alphabetized list will be displayed instead.

Info: Teachers with multiple courses in the same period will see another option to Combine sections for taking attendance. This will ONLY display if a period contains 2 or more sections of DIFFERENT courses and will NOT impact the gradebook.

Choosing a Section

If Configure gradebooks separately for each section was not checked in Preferences, the teacher will only set up the configuration once and selections will be applied to all gradebooks, in this case you can skip this section and continue to the section labeled Gradebook Settings.

If Configure gradebooks separately for each section was checked in Preferences, the teacher will need to set the settings for each gradebook in each section that is taught.

Before configuring the gradebook, be sure to select the correct section from the section drop-down at the top right of Focus.

Gradebook Settings

Go to the Grades menu and select Gradebook. Then click Settings in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Each tab at the bottom of the page will be addressed individually. When changes are made, the Close button will change to Apply, which will blink from blue to red until clicked.

Warning: Clicking out of Settings into the Gradebook without clicking Apply after changes have been made, will automatically close the Settings pop-out and any changes to the selections will NOT save.

View Options

Teachers are provided with a variety of options that add features to the gradebook.

Select the View Options tab from the bottom of the Settings pop-out (selected by default).

General

a. Include Inactive Students - Displays students who have been withdrawn from the section along with their previous grades.

b. Alert Icons – Displays Icons next to the student’s name. Icons are defined by the district MIS staff and vary from districts to district. Many districts use icons to indicate students with specific program eligibilities such as ESE, 504, etc., medical conditions or custody issues.

c. Grading Legend – Displays the Grading Scale assigned to the section. If the District uses Custom Grades, they will also display. Hover to view the legend once enabled.

Optional Columns

d. Grade Level - Displays the grade level for each student.

e. Semester Average - If this option is turned on, a column titled Est Sem Avg is added. The column displays the average of the student’s posted grade for the first quarter in the semester and the running gradebook grade for the second quarter in the semester. This option does not take into account any exam that may be completed for a course.

f. Student Number - Displays a text field for the teacher to enter a custom ID number that can be printed on reports or used as a class identifier for the student.

g. Gradebook Group - When enabled, this displays the Gradebook Groups created on the Groups tab under Settings.

Grading Cells

h. Points – Displays the Point value the student earned if a grade has been entered for the student.

i. Percentage – Displays the Percentage value the student earned if a grade has been entered for the student.

j. Letter - Displays the Letter grade the student earned if a grade has been entered for the student.

Assignment Column Headings

k. Due Date - Displays the Due Date in the column header of the gradebook.

l. Assigned Date - Displays the Assigned Date in the column header.

m. Points & Questions - Displays the Point value and number of Questions for the assignment in the column header.

n. Assignment Icon - Displays a picture/icon associated with assignment in the column header. This is added from the Assignment detail box, which will be covered further on in this document.

Click Apply if any changes were made.

Configuration

Configuration options apply to how assignments display and provide several time-saving options when creating assignments.

Select the Configuration tab from the bottom of the Settings pop-out.

a. Default Assignment Points - When defined, the value will automatically populate the Points box when adding a new assignment. This can always be edited for specific assignments as they are created.

b. Default Due Date – When creating a new assignment, select whether the due date should default to the current day or the next day. This can always be edited for specific assignments as they are created.

Warning: If the marking period ends tonight, and assignments are created with Assigned dates in the current marking period but a due date an upcoming marking period, those assignments will not be counted towards this marking period’s grade.

c. Gradebook Method – (may be disabled for teachers by the school or district)

d. New Assignment Method- Select how assignments are duplicated in the gradebook.

- - Linked Sections- Select this option if you would like to have the ability to LINK an assignment to other sections you teach. ** Linking sections will copy automatically student grades from original assignment to linked assignment.
  - Copy- Select this option is you would like the ability to copy the assignment only to other sections. ** Using Copy assignment will NOT copy student grades from original assignment to linked assignment.
  - Select Each Time- Select this option is you would like the ability to choose each time you create an assigned if it will be linked (copy student grades) or copied (assignment only, no grades).

e. Assignment Sorting – Select how the assignments are ordered in the gradebook.

f. Automatically save all changes to student grades - If selected, all student grades will be saved after entry.

g. Weight grades by assignment category – Check this to weight grades by category. The combined percentage of the categories must equal 100%. The assignment categories will be setup from the Category tab on the left side of the Gradebook.

Alert: If the Preference Configure Gradebooks Separately for Each Section was chosen, when Weight Grades by Assignment Category is selected, the created categories and assigned weights will only apply to the section currently displayed in the course drop-down.

h. Add all assignments to each section of your course by default – If the teacher has the same course all day, this selection will add the assignment to each section of the same course by default on the Add assignment screen in the gradebook.

i. Hide Assigned and Due Dates on student portal – When enabled, students will not see the assigned date nor the due date for assignments in the Student Portal.

j. Show All Assignments in Student Portal – When enabled, students can see all gradebook assignments in the Student Portal regardless of publish date, including those where the publish date is left blank.

h. Show gradebook average to three decimal places on student detail - When enabled, “Current Grade in Class” will display as the average rounded by gradebook setting and the average rounded to three decimal places in parentheses, such as “93% A (92.500%)" in the student view of the Gradebook.

i. Display Assignment Class Average on Grades (Assignment) Screen to Parents/Students - When enabled, a "Class Average" column will display to the left of the Comments Column on the Grades (Assignment) screen, showing the class average for the assignment to display for parents and students via the applicable portals.

Click Apply if any changes were made.

Custom Grades

To create custom grades, enter the grade code under the far-left Grade column, a title for the customized grade in the Display Name column, and choose the type of grade.

Groups

Groups can be enabled for each section and the gradebook can be filtered to only show individual groups. The screenshot below shows how Groups are defined.

Select the Groups tab from the bottom of the Settings pop-out.
Enter the Name of the group.
Click Enter on the keyboard.
Continue to enter all the group names.
Click Apply in the upper right corner.

Examples for this are as follows:

Warning: Within Gradebook Settings > View Options, the teacher must enable Gradebook Group in order to assign students to groups.

Assigning Students to Groups

There are two options for assigning students to groups. A student may be assigned to multiple groups.

A. Click the drop-down next to each student and select the appropriate group(s).

B. Click Randomize in the Groups column. This is the easiest way to assign groups.

Info: If the student’s group is changed, this will not affect the student’s grade. Grades are attached to the student and not the groups. If the names of the groups are changed, the students will still be attached to the assigned groups.

Grade Colors

The grades associated with the Grading Scale attached to the section will display viewing this option. Each grade title (A, B, C ,etc) can be assigned a color. This might help teachers and student to identify patterns or help to highlight failing or missing grades.

Select the Grade Colors tab from the bottom of the Settings pop-out.

Select different colors for the letter grades.

Click Apply.