Set Up Assignments in GradeSpeed Use the Assignments icon to enter and edit assignments in the grade book. If you have created assignments already, you will be taken to an assignment list. If no Categories have been defined yet, you will automatically be taken to the Categories page before any assignments can be created. Creating New To create a new assignment: 1. Click the Assignment icon on the main grade book page. 2. Click (Note: This step not needed if it is the very first 1
assignment.) 3. Enter the Assignment name and the Spanish Name for assignment, if desired. 4. Use the ellipses next to the Assigned date fields to select the appropriate date using the calendar that appears or you can also enter the date using your keyboard. 5. If necessary, change the Points Possible field to reflect the maximum number of points a student could potentially earn for the assignment. This is especially important if the Total Points Logic, or raw score, method is used. 6. Use Multiplier to indicate the number of times you want this assignment to calculate in the student s average. 7. Set the assignment Type using the drop-down list. The Extra Credit options can be used to create an assignment that will add raw points to a students cycle average (Applied to Average) or to the average of the specific category that the assignment is place in (Applied to Category). 8. Select the appropriate Category from the drop-down list. 9. The Reporting Category helps you control how grades are displayed on a student s report card. This feature is covered in the Advanced Teacher Training manual and only for districts using custom report cards. 10. Use the Default Grade if you expect all or most students to earn the same grade on an assignment. This default assignment grade will automatically appear for each student in all of the courses in this group when you return to the main gradebook page. If ParentConnection is implemented, however, you may wish to reserve this feature for current day assignments only as the default grades will automatically appear for future assignments that actually have not been graded yet. As an alternative, use the Auto-Fill option described in Editing an Assignment. 11. Click. Continue to add assignments, and then click to review the list. You must click the Add button after you create each 2
assignment (including the last one you create) before clicking the Finished button. The Add button saves the assignment you created, posts it on the home screen, and refreshes the page giving you a new blank assignment maintenance screen. Editing an Assignment Editing an assignment is, for the most part, just like creating one. There are a couple of notable differences. There are two ways to access an assignment for editing. To edit an assignment: 1. Choose one of the following two methods: Option 1: Accessing from the Gradebook Toolbar Click the Assignments icon on the toolbar. Click Edit next to the desired assignment on this assignment list page. Option 2: Accessing from the Main Gradebook Page Click the desired assignment title in the main gradebook page. You can then click Edit next to the assignment title on the Grades by Assignment page. 2. Using either of these methods, you will see the Assignment Maintenance page to make changes to any of the assignment information. 3. In addition to using Default Grade that automatically enters in a grade for all students in courses in the same group, you can go back and enter an Auto-Fill grade that the system will replace blank, non-blank, or all grade cells for the 3
current assignment, for the current course only, if the assignment had previously been created. To Auto-Fill student grades, click the link near the bottom of the Assignment Maintenance page. 1. You will then see the drop-down list options to replace Blank, Non-Blank or All grades. Choose one of the options. Then, enter the grade value that should replace the grades you have selected. For example, you might choose to replace all Blank grades with Msg to denote a missing assignment. In this situation, any students who currently have a blank grade for the current assignment will receive Msg for that assignment and it will be calculated as a 0 in the student s average. Entering Grades for Assignments Once you have created several assignments, you are ready to begin entering grades for students. 3. Navigate the gradebook using the arrow keys or the mouse to select a cell, and enter a grade using the keyboard. 4
To enter a grade as missing, enter m in the grade cell. Missing Grades will be calculated as a zero. To enter a grade as excused, enter e in the grade cell. This will be calculated as a blank grade, and will not be counted against the student s average. To enter a grade as incomplete, enter i in the grade cell. This will also be calculated as a blank grade, and will not be counted against the student s average. Code Type of assignment Calculated as M Missing (Msg) 0 (zero) E Excused (Exc) Blank grade I Incomplete (Inc) Blank grade 5