PowerTeacher Gradebook Setup Instructions Pelahatchie AC Grades 9-12 When you launch the PowerTeacher Gradebook from the PowerTeacher Portal, the gradebook launches as a program on your computer. If you are on an Apple computer you will get the following message: Click the Allow button to contine to the PowerTeacher Gradebook. If you are on a Windows machine, you will get this message: Click the Run button to continue to the PowerTeacher Gradebook.
Setting Up Gradebook for the Beginning of the School Year *This must be done before you start entering grades or your grade totals will be incorrect. There are three parts to setting up your gradebook at the beginning of the school year. Assignment Categories Calculate Grades Custom Grade Scales With your gradebook open, click on the Grade Setup tab at the top of the screen. Assignment Categories PowerTeacher comes with 4 assigned category types by default: Homework Projects Tests Quizzes To view or modify any of these categories, double click the category name in the category panel:
Anytime you create a new assignment in the category, these defaults will be applied. They can be changed in the creation of the assignment. To create additional categories click the + sign. To delete categories, click the - sign.
It is suggested that all teachers grades 9-12 (with the exception of language arts teachers) create two grading categories. One for formative and one for summative. The semester exam for grades 9-12 will be covered later. The following are examples of assignments that would be in the formative category: Homework assignments Process Grades Projects Pop quizzes Writings Daily classwork Products Tests would be placed in the summative category. The final category pane will look like this: Use the directions below for setting your categories. Click on the + sign in the Categories pane and create a category titled Formative. Use these settings as an example: Click the OK button when your settings are complete.
Click on the + sign in the Categories pane and create a category titled Summative. Use these settings as an example: Click the OK button when your settings are complete.
Calculate Grades Click on Q1 Click on Term Weights Grades 9-12 will enter 40 for R1, 40 for R2, and 20 for E1. Repeat the above steps for Q2
Custom Category Weights Custom category weights are what allow to you say that each grading category is a certain percentage of the overall grade for each nine week grading period. If custom weights are not set, each assignment will count equally in the gradebook. The following are the percentages that formative and summative categories should have for each term for grades 6-12: All Terms: Summative = 60% Formative = 40% Click on the Grade Setup Tab Click on R1 Click on Category weights Click add category
For R1, enter the weight of 40 for Formative and the weight of 60 for Summative. Click Save when finished Repeat this step for R2, R3, and R4. For semester courses you will only see the Q category they are in and the R categories. To setup the Q term: Click on Term Weights Enter 40 for the first R term, 40 for the second R term, and 20 for the E term. Click Save when done
For semester classes, enter the following information in for each of the R terms: Click on the first R category Click on Category Weights Click on add category and add your Formative with a weight of 40 and Summative with a weight of 60 categories. Click Save when finished. Repeat the above procedure for each of your Q terms. Explanation of Exams for 6-8 and 9-12: Grades 6-8 will report semester exam in the J1 and J2 terms. Grades 9-12 will report semester exams in E1, E2, E3, and E4 terms. Pay CLOSE attention to the dates that the terms start and end when creating the assignment in the gradebook for the exam. The date of the assignment must fall within those terms dates to calculate correctly. **The dates do not necessarily fall along with the RCSD calendar. We have to change dates due to the differences in 4x4 and A/B for 6-8 and 9-12.