Teachers Grades 7-8 For each student s report card, you must enter the following: A description (e.g., consistently demonstrates, usually demonstrates, rarely demonstrates/needs attention, or not applicable) for each Social Development/Work Habits component listed by subject area for the Learner Profile. A letter grade by term for each strand in Language Arts and Mathematics along with any comments related to Strengths/Needs/Suggestions for the student. For all other subject areas, a letter grade and comments related to Strengths/Needs/Suggestions are entered. Teachers Grade 9 For a student s report card, you must enter the following: A description (e.g., consistently demonstrates, usually demonstrates, rarely demonstrates/needs attention, or not applicable) for each Social Development/Work Habits component listed by subject area for the Learner Profile. Numerical grades by term for each subject along with any comments related to Strengths/Needs/Suggestions for the student. Teachers Grade 10-12 For a student s report card, you must enter the following: Numerical marks by term for each student in the course you teach. For each course, a description (e.g., consistently demonstrates, usually demonstrates, sometimes demonstrates, or rarely demonstrates) for each Work Habit for each student. Enter any applicable comments for each student by course. 1
Before you begin, be sure you have the correct reporting term for the report card being generated and you have selected the course that you are ready to mark. There are three methods to enter scores and comments; the Score Inspector, the Student View and Fill Scores, each are described below. As teachers create assignments (i.e., assessment events) and enter marks for these assessment events, the final grade is calculated according the finals grade setup. Should a teacher not use assessment events to calculate the final grade then the final grade is entered manually. To enter a final grade, right mouse click next to the first student in the final grades section and select Show Score Inspector or Double click to bring up the Score Inspector. You must click the box Manual Override. 2 TIP: You can move your cursor over the column to display the description horizontally for ease of reading.
You will use the Manual Override to edit a final grade, to enter a grade if you have not calculated final grades by using assessments events, and to enter a comment for the subject. The final grade, no matter how it is calculated, may be adjusted by the teacher before the grades are stored. 1. In the Gradebook, click Scoresheet. 2. Click the mode for Final Grades. A series of columns are displayed: Grades 7 and 8 have a column for each Social Development/Work Habit in the student s Learner Profile, and in English Language Arts or Mathematics, a column representing each strand associated with the course. Teachers enter a letter mark (A, B C, etc.) for each strand. The Comment is entered in the final grade section, but no final grade is entered for English Language Arts or Mathematics. Grade 9 has a column for each Social Development/Work Habit in the student s Learner Profile followed by any assessment events entered by the teacher. Grades 10-12 have Work Habits associated with each course, followed by any assessment events entered by the teacher. 1. From Classes, select the appropriate course Homeroom, English Language Arts, Mathematics or another subject area. Grades 7-9, for each component of the student s Learner Profile, assign the appropriate description (e.g., consistent, usually, sometime, rarely, or NA) which corresponds to the options available on the report card (e.g., consistently demonstrates, usually demonstrates, demonstrates with encouragement or prompts, rarely demonstrates/needs attention, not applicable). a. For grades 7-8, if you select English Language Arts or Mathematics, the strands are listed (e.g., Speaking and Listening). Enter the letter grade for each strand. Following the strands are the components of the student s Learner Profile. b. For Grade 9 English Language Arts and Mathematics have one final mark rather than marking each strand in these subject areas. c. Grades 10 to 12 have Work Habits associated with each course. A description (e.g., consistently demonstrates, usually demonstrates, sometimes demonstrates, or rarely demonstrates) is entered for each work habit by course. d. Enter a comment for the course in the Final Grades section, right mouse click and select Score Inspector, select the comment tab. These comments are printed on the report card in the Strengths/Needs/Suggestions or Comments area (depending on the grade level report card being printed). 3
3. Next to the student s name is the area to store Final Grades. Once all the marks and descriptions are entered, the last step is to assign a final mark for the student, and add the comments for the courses. (No final mark is entered for grades 7 and 8 ELA and Math). If you (the teacher) have used and scored assessment events all year, this final mark is automatically calculated. If not, then the final mark must be entered manually. 4. When all the comments and grades for all the students are entered in each course, click on the box that displays the term in progress. This must be done for every class as you complete it. 5. Right Mouse click (Windows) or Command click (MAC), and in the window Final Grade Completion Status check the box to indicate that all final grades are entered. Enter any comments (for Administration only) and click ok. Comments: See the notes on Comments at the end of this guide please. Comments entered by using the final grade Score Inspector appear cards in the Strengths/Needs/Suggestions area for each subject. Grades 10-12. Comments entered by using the final grade Score Inspector appear cards in the Comments section for each subject. How the Score Inspector Works The Score Inspector is a tool that allows easy navigation between students and columns. You can move from student to student by using the down arrows or move between columns using the left and right arrows. 4
Under the Comment Tab, right mouse click (Windows), or command + click (Mac). Select Show Comment Inspector; enter the comment for the first student in the comment section. Use the functionality of the Score Inspector to either move down to the next student to add a comment or to move sideways to next first column of the to add a value. The Outcome Comment Box changes to the Outcome Final Grade Box as you move to a grades inspector, as in the screen shot below. If you do not want to use the Score Inspector, follow these steps. 1. Under column containing the subject area and the letter c right mouse click (Windows), or command + click (Mac), select Show Comment Inspector. 2. Enter a comment for the student. 3. Click Close to save. 4. Move down to the next student to add a comment. You can continue to enter comments until each student in the class is done or move to the next column. 5. Under the Stand column right mouse click (Windows), or command + click (Mac) and enter a grade for the student. 6. Now you can either click on the next student or move to the next column for the same student. 7. To enter a final grade, right mouse click and select Show Score Inspector or Double click to bring up the Score Inspector. You must click the box Manual Override, only required to edit a 5
final grade or if you have not calculated final grades by using assessments events, or to enter the comment for the subject. 8. Enter a letter grade, click Close and repeat for the next student. NOTE: Use the Manual Override to edit a final grade, to enter a final grade, (if you have not calculated final grades by using assessments events), and to enter comment for the subject. Using the Student View Another method to enter marks and comments is to use the Student View. From the Scoresheet section, select Student View, the same information is entered but the window is one student at a time. Click on the buttons under the student s name to see assignments, terms and comments. At the bottom of the page right mouse click or command click to enter grades or values. 6
Fill Scores PowerSchool offers a quick fill routine that will allow teachers to select a grade or a comment for the first student and fill the same grade or comment down for all the students in the class. 1. Right mouse click or Command Click on the first student under the comment or grade column, select Fill Comments, if on the comment column, and select Fill Scores, if on the grade column. 2. Choose which comments or grades to fill. a. Students who currently have no comment b. All students 3. Enter the comment or grade and click OK. 4. For Assessment events, select the Assignment mode in the scoresheet tab and right mouse click and select Fill Scores. 5. Right mouse click or Command Click on the first student under the comment or grade column, select Fill Comments, if on the comment column, and select Fill Scores, if on the grade column. 6. Choose which comments or grades to fill. a. Students who currently have no comment b. All students 7. Enter the comment or grade and click OK. 7
8. To fill in grades for an assessment event: a. From the score sheet tab, click on Assignments b. Click on the Assignment mode c. Right mouse click on the assessment event you are scoring d. Select Fill Scores e. Click on the box to select the grade f. Click OK You may also select to fill in a comment related to the assessment event. Choose to fill in all which will overwrite what is there or fill in the blanks. 8
The count for the comments are: Grade Level Learner Profile Additional Comments ELA/FLA Math Other subjects Grades 7-9 400 400 800* 800 400 Grades 10-12 400 400 400 400 400 *Grade 7-9 Immersion report cards will have a comment count for ELA of 400. There is a counter indicating how many characters have been entered, but be careful, because the PowerTeacher will not prevent you from putting in more than 400, but the comments will be truncated. Some comments may contain smart pronouns, e.g <he/she> the counter counts this code as 8 characters used. However, only the He or She is printed, so in fact the counter is over by 6 or 5 characters. Another example would be for student s name, <first_name>, the smart pronoun is 12 characters and the counter counts 12 characters, but if the student s name is Bill, then the report card uses only 4 of the 12 characters and you have 4 remaining. But, if the student s name is 18 characters then you have actually used 6 more than the counter displays. Be aware of this before you select the smart pronoun for name too many times; try selecting <he/she> instead. Bottom line: be aware of the length of your comments because the counter is not a definitive number of actual characters that are printed on the report cards, rather it counts the number of characters entered in the comments section. 9
Additional Comments for grades 7-12 On the back of the report cards is a space for ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. Administration may enter comments for students from the Councellors Screen. Smart Pronouns for comments. 7-12 <He/She> <he/she> <His/Hers> <his/hers> <him/her> <Son/Daughter> <son/daughter> <first_name> <last_name> <lastfirst> <grade_level> <home_room> 1 0