POWERTEACHER GRADEBOOK MARKING PERIODS 1-3 GRADING FOR THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM TEACHER

POWERTEACHER GRADEBOOK MARKING PERIODS 1-3 GRADING FOR THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM TEACHER

Table of Contents GRADING DIRECTIONS FOR ELEMENTARY Marking Periods 1-3... 4 Manual Export ITS SMS OFFICE... 5 Manual Export Timeline... 5 Accessing The Gradebook... 6 Classroom Teacher Link From SMS... 6 Gradebook From the PWCS Intranet... 6 From the Internet Explorer Browser Favorites... 6 The Gradebook Launcher Window... 7 Review Marking Period Tasks In Preparation for Grading... 8 Using Final Grades Mode... 9 Student View Mode... 10 Scoring and Grade Scales... 11 Changing a Score on a Subject - Override... 13 Overriding the Final Score on a Subject Fill Function... 14 Entering Skill Values... 15 Entering Skill Values Kindergarten Mastery... 16 Students Who Have Lost Mastery:... 17 Standard Comments Units of Study... 17 Narrative Comments... 18 Entering The General Comment... 18 Marking Class Grades Complete... 20 Viewing Completed Class Grades in SMS... 21 To Identify Missing Grades or Print the Elementary Report Card... 22 Common Errors to Avoid... 23 To Clear a Comment in SMS (Make it Blank)... 23 Assignments Not Graded... 24 PWCS SIS Office Page 2 of 24 September 30, 2015

The Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) Student Information System (PowerSchool SMS) contains confidential data that must be properly safeguarded. The responsibility for protecting student information accompanies any need to access, use, or release this information. PWCS Regulation 295-Acceptable Use Policies and Internet Safety Policy govern all use and access to electronic student records. Any personally identifiable information, whether it pertains to staff or to students, is considered to be confidential. PowerSchool SMS users must protect the security and integrity of all confidential information at all times. These records shall be managed in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), The Virginia Public Records Act, and the Code of Virginia. In addition to PWC Regulations, the following are additional guidelines that must be followed for student information stored in PowerSchool SMS: The Information Technology Services SIS team has provided a standard security setup for the Student Information program that limits access to certain pages and fields based on a user s responsibilities. Below are some important reminders when accessing confidential student records and information: At no time should you divulge your passwords or allow others to use your password to your signed on workstation. Staff must exercise caution in the disposal of printouts and shred all personally identifiable information. This includes partial printouts that may result from printer paper jams or from trial runs of reports. All users must log off PowerSchool SMS and/or PowerTeacher Gradebook before leaving their workstations. Upon your return, type your User ID and password to reenter the program. Permissions are assigned to users based on their roles and training received. These roles are setup to distribute only needed access for users. Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) does not discriminate in employment or in its educational programs and activities against qualified individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability. PWCS provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following individual will handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies, including Section 504 and Title IX: Associate Superintendent for Human Resources Prince William County Public Schools, P.O. Box 389, Manassas, VA 20108 PWCS SIS Office Page 3 of 24 September 30, 2015

GRADING DIRECTIONS FOR ELEMENTARY Marking Periods 1-3 The following instructions will assist the Elementary School teacher in entering the Marking Period grades for their classes and skill assessments and marking them as complete and ready for export to PowerSchool SMS for the printing of the Report Card. This document is intended to be used for Marking Periods 1-3 Grade Reporting for the 2015-2016 School Year. A separate guide will be distributed for Marking Period 4 and Final Grading. Pictures, instructions and date references in this document may be for Marking Period 1. These should be inferred to represent the dates and data for all subsequent marking periods. Teachers in Grades 3-5 are reminded to complete the Grading Setup from Appendix F prior to finalizing grades for Marking Period 1. Appendix F is posted on the SMS Intranet Web Site. GRADING KEY The following scores are used to grade the Elementary Marking Period: Letter Grades Modified Curriculum Subjective Grades Modified Subjective A *A S+ *S+ B+ *B+ S *S B *B S- *S- C+ *C+ N *N C *C NG NG D+ *D+ D *D F *F NG NG CN, *CN, NS and *NS are not used for Marking Period grading. The NG score is used when the teacher has not met with the student and has insufficient means to evaluate the student, as in the case of the Homeroom Teacher of a student who has just enrolled in the school and has not been in class for more than 50% of the grading Period. The Elementary Report Card contains narrative comments for all subject areas. Comments should not be added to the averaged grade displayed in the Final Marking Period grades area. All comments pertaining to a particular subject or area of difficulty should be entered into the subject s narrative comment or in the General Comment, as these are the comments that will print on the Report Card. Comments attached to assignments, averaged grades or Areas of Difficulty WILL NOT PRINT on the Elementary Report Card. ESOL and Special Education teachers without homerooms or classes do not have access to subject narrative comments or the General Comment. If they wish to provide comments about the student s progress in a particular subject, those comments need to be given to the teacher (homeroom or subject) to be incorporated into the homeroom/subject teacher s comment. PWCS SIS Office Page 4 of 24 September 30, 2015

Manual Export ITS SMS OFFICE The Manual Export is run from the PowerTeacher Administrator Program by the SMS Office. This export takes the final grades from the PowerTeacher gradebook and prepares them for import into PowerSchool SMS: The process is as follows: Teachers complete grading in the gradebook The SMS Office exports from the school gradebooks as scheduled in the timeline. o Processing may take upwards to 45-60 minutes The grading information is then imported into SMS The SMS Administrator and ITC are advised that the export is complete. Teachers may review the imported grades in SMS Example: When a Teacher has grades finalized prior to 8:00 AM and the 8:00 AM Manual Export is successfully completed, the teacher should be able to check grades in SMS 45-60 minutes later. Once the Export has been processed and imported into SMS, the grades may be checked via the Missing Grades Report, the Grades Verification Report, or by creating the pdf file of the Report Cards. Teachers may log into SMS and check their class and student grades. Manual Export Timeline The School Calendar contains information as to the data processing schedule for Interims and Report Cards. The dates are determined by the Administration, and are subject to change in the event of snow days and other unplanned school closings. The 2015-16 Annual School Calendar is located on the PWCS.edu web site under Calendars. The SMS Office will distribute a Timeline of Manual Exports to the SMS Administrator, ITC and Principal prior to each grading period. This timeline will define when the Manual Export that moves grades from the gradebook to SMS will be conducted. The timeline will be published on the SMS Intranet Website. Teachers may enter grade reporting information into the Gradebook at any time. It is not necessary to wait until the end of the marking period or for the first manual export of the marking period to enter information. Entries may include notes as to student progress, entering mastery values as they are taught, or marking areas of difficulty experienced by a student during the course of the marking period. Teachers may assign the Units of Study ahead of time. If a teacher has an exemplary student, text in the general comment could be entered for this student ahead of time. PWCS SIS Office Page 5 of 24 September 30, 2015

Accessing The Gradebook The PowerSchool Gradebook may be accessed by a variety of methods. Classroom Teacher Link From SMS The Classroom Teacher can create a link from SMS to the Gradebook. 1. On the My Classes Home page, click on the Actions menu 2. Select Customize Home Page 3. The first list mover contains Reports. Scroll down to the Quick Links list mover. 4. In the Quick Links, from the Available Quick Links list, click PowerTeacher Gradebook 5. Click Add, Click OK 6. On the Home page, click the newly added quick link (PowerTeacher Gradebook) to navigate to the PowerTeacher Gradebook Login window Gradebook From the PWCS Intranet 1. Open a web browser window. 2. Type the following URL: https://myportal.pwcs.edu 3. Login to the Portal single Sign In with your Windows Login ID and Windows login Password. 4. Click on the Drop Down list on the left hand side of the Intranet portal home page. 5. From the list, select and highlight the PTG-Gradebook. 6. Click on the GO button. 7. This open the PowerTeacher Gradebook Launcher. From the Internet Explorer Browser Favorites 1. Open an IE web browser window. 2. From Favorites, select PWCS Gradebook 3. This will open the PowerTeacher Gradebook Launcher. PWCS SIS Office Page 6 of 24 September 30, 2015

The Gradebook Launcher Window Once the PowerTeacher Gradebook Launcher Window is open: 1. Scroll down to the section titled New Gradebook Launch Method. 2. Click on the checkbox to Launch the Gradebook using Java Web Start. 3. Then click on Launch Gradebook. 4. The Java application will begin installation. 5. A prompt will display to run the PowerTeacher Library application. 6. Click Run. 7. The PowerTeacher Gradebook login window will open. On the login page that appears, 1. From the School menu, select your school name 2. Enter your username (it is the same as your PowerSchool SMS username) 3. Enter your password (it is the same as your PowerSchool SMS password), then click Sign In PWCS SIS Office Page 7 of 24 September 30, 2015

Review Marking Period Tasks In Preparation for Grading 1. Open the PowerTeacher Gradebook. Under the Classes, select the appropriate school and school year. For example, CLES 20XX-20XX, where the 20XX represents the current school year. 2. Select the first Class to be finalized for Marking Period (#) Grade Reporting. 3. On the Scoresheet Tab, change the Reporting Term to Marking Period (#) (where # represents the current Marking Period). 4. The assignments shown will be assignments that have a Due Date inside the date range of the selected Marking Period. These are the only assignments that will contribute to the Letter Grade average shown next to the student name in the Final Grade column. Teachers in K-2 will see an asterisk (*) or an NG instead of letter values. 2 3 4 5. Verify that the assignments shown are the assignments expected. If an assignment has been scored, and does not appear in the listed assignments, go to the Assignments Tab, locate the assignment, and correct the Due Date of the assignment as needed. 6. Review the assignment score columns for missing, incorrect or omitted scores. Enter or correct all entries as needed. 7. Assignments that will NOT be collected or scored AND have a Date Due that is within the current Marking Period should have those dates changed to fall within the following Marking Period. PWCS SIS Office Page 8 of 24 September 30, 2015

Using Final Grades Mode In Final Grades Mode, the gradebook displays the Final Grades columns to the right of the student roster. Score entries may be made directly into the intersecting cells by typing or rightclicking for score options. The teacher may also use the Comment Inspector or various Fill functions to enter comments and scores. 1. Change the Scoresheet Mode to Final Grades Mode. 2. The Marking Period Grade Reporting columns are displayed to the right of the roster. The calculated or displayed grades in PowerTeacher MUST reflect the grading scale for reporting, i.e., Letter grades of A, B+, B, etc. for grades 3 through 5 core subjects, and Letter values of S+, S, S-, N for subjective elements. Students on a modified curriculum would receive report card values that include the asterisk, i.e., *A or an *S+. 3. The Skills to be assessed during the Marking Period display to the right of the Roster in alternating green and blue columns. Click on the arrow at the top of the column or hover over the column heading to view the description of the skill (Standard ID) and the grade scale associated with the score entry (XXXX Area of Difficulty X). 4. The assignments contributing to the Marking Period grades are shown to the right of the reporting columns. They are grouped according to their Category, and display point values. The Category Header will have a number next to the label. This number is the number of individual assignments that contribute to the grades for the category. 3 1 2 4 PWCS SIS Office Page 9 of 24 September 30, 2015

Student View Mode In Student View Mode for the Marking Period, the teacher sees detailed information about the student s earned scores. 1. To view all terms, turn on the Terms button located directly below the student s name in the display window. 2. To view the Assignments contributing to the Marking Period Score, turn on the Assignments button located directly below the student s name in the display window. 3. To the right of the term display are the objectives/skills that will be marked on the Marking Period Report card. 4. At the bottom of the Student View is an orange/pink Final Score display box. This box may be edited to report a Final Score that is different from the earned score for the Marking Period Report Card. For a student in grades 3, 4 or 5, this would be an override of the calculated letter grade with a new numeric and letter value. When a letter grade is a subjective value, an asterisk (*) or an NG displays in the Final Grades column and MUST be over-ridden with the appropriate S+, S subjective letter grade. 5. To the right of the Final Score will be entry boxes for marking the sub-objectives with a value. Over the course of the year, a teacher would be able to review the grades and marked areas of difficulty for a student from this view to determine trends and retention of skills. 20XX-20XX 1 3 2 4 5 PWCS SIS Office Page 10 of 24 September 30, 2015

Scoring and Grade Scales To determine whether or not a score value must be entered as an override grade into the Marking Period Final Grades column or is entered into a sub-column, change to Final Grades Mode for the Marking Period being scored and review the grading columns to the right. Hover over or click on a column heading to view the score description and associated grading table. If the FIRST grading column has a Grade Scale of XXXX Meets Objectives & Interim, then it is NOT scored in the Marking period Final Grade column, but in the first grading column, as shown here: If the FIRST grading column has a Grade Scale description of XXXX Area of Difficulty X, then the student s grade in this particular subject/class is to be scored with the appropriate letter grade in the Marking period Final Grade column as shown here. For Third through Fifth grade classes, calculated letter grade averages are displayed. PWCS SIS Office Page 11 of 24 September 30, 2015

If the FIRST grading column has a Grade Scale description of XXXX Area of Difficulty X, and is a class/subject that is graded subjectively, an asterisk (*) or an NG will display as the calculated score. The student s grade in this subject/class is to be scored with the appropriate letter grade in the Marking period Final Grade column, replacing the asterisk or NG value shown in the example. Changing the asterisk(*) or NG to a letter grade is accomplished by right clicking the Marking Period Final Grade column and choosing Fill Scores or the Score Inspector. PWCS SIS Office Page 12 of 24 September 30, 2015

Changing a Score on a Subject - Override For Grades 3 through 5, course grades are entered and calculated as letter values. In the event that the course grade must be overridden for a particular student, right click the course grade cell for that student and choose show Score Inspector. 1. Place a checkmark in the Manual Override checkbox. 2. Type the Percent value of the new score. The Percent value assigned must be based on the 4 point scale percentage value 3. of the assigned letter grade. 4. Type the letter Grade value of the new score. 5. DO NOT enter a Comment in the Comment box to describe the reason for the score change. The subject narrative comment should be used instead. 6. Click Close. The student s score has been overridden with the new score(s). Do not enter a comment here. Use the subject s narrative comment to explain the reason for a grade override. Repeat these steps to change the Final Score value of the Marking Period grade for any student previously marked, or as needed at any time during the grading process. Scores that have been overridden will appear bolded, italicized, and with a red exclamation marker. Comments on score overrides should not appear here as they will not print on the report card; override comments should be entered into the subject s narrative comment. PWCS SIS Office Page 13 of 24 September 30, 2015

Overriding the Final Score on a Subject Fill Function When the Final Score column for a subject does not display the appropriate letter value, but displays the generic asterisk (*) or NG, this column must be overridden with the correct letter grade. When all but a few students in the class are earning the same letter grade, the Fill Override may be used to quickly enter the desired letter grade. On the Scoresheet, change to Final Grades Mode 1. Right Click on the first grade showing in the (Marking Period #) Final Grade column. 2. From the right click menu, select Fill Scores. 3. The Fill Final Scores popup window opens. 4. Select Replace All. 5. Select the checkbox in front of Manual Override and ALSO the checkbox after Manual Override. 6. Select the checkbox in front of Grade. 7. Enter the desired value (S+, S or S-) to be applied to all students in the class. 8. Click on OK. 9. The score will display in the Marking Period Final Grade column. It will appear BOLD and Italicized and a small red exclamation marker will display to the right side of the column, indicating that the original value has been overridden. PWCS SIS Office Page 14 of 24 September 30, 2015

Entering Skill Values To enter the Marking Period skill assessment values, change to the Subject in the Classes list. Be sure that you have selected the current Marking Period as the reporting term and Final Grades Mode. The example shown below is the Mathematics class for Grade 4 with calculated Letter Grades. When viewing the Marking Period for classes in Final Grades Mode, the sub-objective(s) appear to the right of the Marking Period final grade column. The sub-objective columns are generally a darker green or blue in color and have an arrow at the top corner to differentiate them from the Marking Period assignments. For each student in the gradebook, mark only those elements that are an Area of Difficulty for the student. Right click the cell and select grades to view the available scores. For Marking Period grading, use ONLY the X or the *X to mark. Students who have an area of difficulty marked should have a subject narrative comment entry explaining the reason for the mark. Marking Keys: Blank Item has not been taught or student does not have difficulty with X An Area of Difficulty *X An Area of Difficulty; Modified Curriculum When scoring the Alphabet To have it circle the appropriate letter B for Both Uppercase and Lowercase letters, L for Lowercase letters and U for Uppercase/Capital Letters When scoring Mastery of items such as Letter Sounds, Colors, Coins, etc. M An Element that has been mastered will create a circle on the report card CN, *CN, NS and *NS are not used for Marking Period grading. PWCS SIS Office Page 15 of 24 September 30, 2015

Entering Skill Values Kindergarten Mastery Student Mastery may be marked by the teacher at any time during the Marking Period. To enter mastery, select the Marking Period to be scored and change to Final Grades Mode. The items to be marked are viewed in columns to the right. To mark an item as mastered, type an M directly into the cell or right click the intersecting cell and from the popup menu, choose Grades, M. If all students have mastered an item, the Fill Scores function may be applied to give all students the M value. Items that were mastered in Marking Period 1 will be copied into Marking Period 2 in the gradebook and then to subsequent quarters. Teachers only have to mark ADDITIONAL mastered items for subsequent Marking Periods. 1. Select a Mastery subject (the example below is Letter sounds) 2. CHANGE TO STUDENT VIEW. 3. Select the first student with additional mastery. 4. In the Final Score bar (Orange/Pink bar at bottom of screen) enter an M for each additional item that has been mastered. It is not necessary to mark items that were already marked in the previous Marking Period(s). 5. Note that an override marker (the red exclamation mark) will appear in the cell with the mastery marker. This indicates that the teacher is overriding a blank cell. 6. When all additional items are marked, click Save. 7. SAVE the Gradebook to save all mastery. PWCS SIS Office Page 16 of 24 September 30, 2015

Students Who Have Lost Mastery: In the event that a student has lost mastery of a previously recorded mastered skill, the teacher must remove the mastery score that was copied from the previous Marking Period into the current Marking Period in the gradebook PRIOR to the first import of the current Marking Period scores. If the loss of mastery is not cleared in the gradebook prior to the first import, the teacher will have to advise the SMS Administrator so that the score is removed from SMS. A blank score in the gradebook WILL NOT remove an existing value from SMS. Standard Comments Units of Study Science and Social Studies have a Units of Study comment. This comment is located at the far right of the scored elements, next to the Narrative comment. Right click the Units of Study title and choose Fill Comments. To view the Grade level of the Comment, hover over the intersecting marker next to the word Category in the Standard Comment window, then click and drag the title bar to extend it to allow you to see the numeric grade level in the comment title. Highlight the desired comment and choose Insert Selected to have the comment added to the text box below. Up to 5 comments may be added from the Comment Bank. Click OK to save the comment. The comment will be added to all students. Click Save to save your grading changes. PWCS SIS Office Page 17 of 24 September 30, 2015

Narrative Comments The Standard/Narrative Comment for each class is found at the far right of the scored elements for a class. Comments are required for each grading period in which a student has an N or S-, an asterisk (*) score for a modified curriculum or any standard that has been marked with an X as an area of difficulty. Right click the comment cell for a student and choose Show Comment Inspector to enter text for the narrative comment. Close and SAVE between each narrative comment. Copying text into the narrative comment from a text editor such as Word or Note-pad is not recommended. Narrative Comments have a 1000 character limit. Comments that exceed this limit WILL NOT PRINT. ESOL and Special Education teachers without Homerooms or classes do not have access to subject narrative comments or the General Comment. If they wish to provide comments about the student s progress in a particular subject, those comments need to be given to the teacher (homeroom or subject) to be incorporated into the homeroom/subject teacher s comment. Entering The General Comment The General Comment is found in the Classes list. Change to Final Grades Mode to see the column for this narrative comment. The General Comment may be entered for all students using the FILL COMMENTS function, or entered student by student using the Comment Inspector. General Comments may be edited at any time for personalization. The General Comment is a narrative comment that has a 1000 character limit. General Comments that exceed this limit WILL NOT PRINT on the report card. PWCS SIS Office Page 18 of 24 September 30, 2015

To enter the same General Comment text on all students in the class, use the Fill Comments option. Fill comments should not include any personal details, i.e., a student s name. Teachers should SAVE the grade book after entering a Fill Comment. Once the comment has been saved, it may be edited for personalization, i.e., adding the student s name to the text. 1. Right Click on the Comment column title and select Fill Comments. 2. Select whether or not the comment is to be entered for Students with no comment or the Replace all, entering this comment on all students in the roster. 3. In the Comment text box, enter the text of the general comment. Fill comments should not contain personalization, such as the name of a student. Do not use special characters or emoticons in comment text. The General Comment is limited to 1000 characters. 4. Click OK. 5. SAVE the Gradebook to save all comments. 6. To enter or EDIT the General Comment for a single student, use the Comment Inspector. 7. Right click on the intersecting cell of the student roster and the Comment column. 8. Choose Show Comment Inspector. 9. The Comment Inspector displays the student s name at the top of the window. Move to the next student by selecting the arrows next to the student name in the window. 10. The text of the General Comment is entered in the comment text box. 11. If a General Comment has already been entered through the Fill function, the text of that comment may be edited or personalized for an individual student here. Do not copy from word or any other text editor. 12. Save your comment changes by clicking on Close. 13. Save the Gradebook to save all comment changes. In the event that a teacher submits a grade entry or a comment when the grade or comment should be BLANK, the SMS Administrator or ITC must correct the error by removing the entry in SMS. A Blank score or comment in the gradebook does not overwrite an already submitted score or comment in SMS. PWCS SIS Office Page 19 of 24 September 30, 2015

Marking Class Grades Complete GRADES ARE IMPORTED FOR THE ENTIRE SCHOOL AT ONE TIME. GRADES FOR ALL CLASSES IN THE POWERTEACHER GRADEBOOK WILL IMPORT TO POWERSCHOOL SMS. MARKING THE CLASS AS COMPLETE IS NOT A REQUIRED STEP. Marking Final Grades as Complete is a visual marker that a teacher may use during the gradebook review process to assist the teacher in recognizing which classes have been reviewed for completeness and accuracy and which are still in need of review. This is not a required step. 1. Mark Final Grades Complete by selecting the Marking Period (#) in Progress button above the roster. 2. The Final Grades Completion Status box will open. 3. Put a check in the Final Grades Complete checkbox. 4. An optional comment may be added to alert the office that your grades are complete. 5. Click OK. 6. Save your changes. 7. Go to the next class, and Repeat all grading steps. PWCS SIS Office Page 20 of 24 September 30, 2015

Viewing Completed Class Grades in SMS Once grades have been imported into PowerSchool SMS, they may be viewed by the teacher from the Grades column on the My Classes Home page. Log in to SMS. From the My Classes Home Page, select the Grading column icon for the class. The imported PowerTeacher grades will appear in a class roster format. Verify the grades by comparing them to the grades from PowerTeacher. The grades roster may be printed by selecting the printer icon at the upper right corner of the roster grid. Comments will not print, but they can be viewed by hovering over the comment envelope. Be sure to select the correct grading period when viewing grades. To view all columns, select the No. of Grade columns above the grid. Grades from PowerTeacher Gradebook will appear in these columns when grades are imported into SMS. Select Marking Period (#) to view the class grades. To view grades for a single student, select the link for the student s name. PWCS SIS Office Page 21 of 24 September 30, 2015

To Identify Missing Grades or Print the Elementary Report Card PowerTeacher Grading Directions The most accurate way for a teacher to identify students with missing or incorrect grades is to run a Report Card from SMS to a PDF file and review the file, comparing it to the PowerTeacher gradebook. 1. From the Home Page and the blue Menu Bar, Select My Reports, All Reports 2. Scroll down to Elementary Grading Reports 3. Click to select either PWCS Elementary Report Card Grade 1-5 or PWCS Elementary Report Card KG 4. Select the Grading Period: Marking Per (#) (where # is the current Marking Period) 5. Select the grade level to be printed: ALL (It will only print the teacher s class) 6. Select Active Students Only 7. Choose a sort option: Homeroom Teacher /Student Name is recommended 8. Select the Student Comments to be printed: Current Marking Period Only 9. Click Run to create the PDF file. 10. Review the PDF file for accuracy. 11. This report may be run numerous times for review purposes. 12. When grades have been verified as complete, the PDF report may be printed for distribution to the students. PWCS SIS Office Page 22 of 24 September 30, 2015

Common Errors to Avoid Please do not enter any comments on Final Grade items as these comments will not print and may cause issues with the submission of the scores to SMS. Comments entered on the Final Score column will not print on the Report Card. ALL Comments should be entered in the Narrative Comment that is viewed in Final Grades Mode for a subject, or in the General Comment. To Clear a Comment in SMS (Make it Blank) In the event that a teacher enters a comment in error on a student and the comment is exported into SMS, deleting the comment in the gradebook (making it a blank) will NOT remove the comment from SMS. To create a blank comment that will correctly override an existing comment in SMS: 1. Locate the comment in the PowerTeacher gradebook. 2. Delete the text of the comment using the Comment Inspector and selecting CLEAR. 3. Save the Gradebook. 4. Select the student as if to enter a new comment. 5. Enter a single character (a period is recommended) as the NEW comment. 6. Save the Gradebook. When the next export is conducted, the blank comment will override the previously saved comment in SMS. Narrative Comments have a 1000 character limit. Narrative comments that exceed this limit WILL NOT PRINT on the report card. The character count is at the bottom of the window and will display a message when exceeded. PWCS SIS Office Page 23 of 24 September 30, 2015

Final Grades that are entered into the wrong column of the PowerTeacher Gradebook will not export/import into SMS. When in Final Grades mode for the current marking period (or interim), review the column headings to the right of the student roster to determine if the score is to be entered directly to the right of the student roster or in a column further to the right that is labeled as a grade item. Example: Science versus Handwriting Science scored in the Final Grade column Handwriting scored in the column to the right. Assignments Not Graded Assignments that will NOT be collected or scored AND have a Date Due that is within the current Marking Period should have those dates changed to fall within the following Marking Period. Change this date: This will ensure that the grades reported for the Marking Period and printed on the Report Card will not have to be changed once this assignment is graded and included in the average. PWCS SIS Office Page 24 of 24 September 30, 2015