Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

Overview

Topic I. Set Your Aspen Gradebook Preferences II. Define and View Class Details

A. Viewing Class details B. Changing Averaging Modes C. Linking Sections D. Dropping Lowest scores III. Create Special Codes A. Creating Special Codes B. Editing Special Codes C. Deleting Special Codes D. Entering Special Codes E. Removing Special Codes IV. Create Categories for Your Classes A. Creating Categories B. Editing Categories C. Deleting Categories V. Create Assignments for Your Classes A. Creating a Graded Assignment B. Creating an Ungraded Assignment VI. Enter Scores into Assignments A. Entering Scores B. Tips for Entering Scores VII. Using the Help Menu

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Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

I. Set Your Aspen Gradebook Preferences

Use the Gradebook Preferences to determine the default settings for your assignments, how the Score page displays, and how averages are calculated.

WARNING: While most of these settings are optional, you must select the Enable gradebook features to be able to use the Gradebook to capture scores for homework, quizzes, tests, etc.

1. In the Settings bar, click Set Preferences.

2. Click the Gradebook tab.

3. Select the Shade alternate lines checkbox to shade every other row of your Grade Input page.

4. Select the Track administrator updates checkbox to see an exclamation point next to any changes made by an administrator in the Grade Post Columns for the Progress Report or Report Card.

5. Select the Tab direction to specify the direction your cursor moves when you press the Tab key on your keyboard: Across the row or Down the column.

6. You can ignore the Show studies checkbox.

7. Select the Enable gradebook features checkbox to use the Scores page to enter scores for assignments.

WARNING: You must select this checkbox to use the Gradebook for homework, classwork, quizzes, exams, etc.

8. Select the Assignment column order from the drop-down list to indicate the sort order of your assignments.

9. Select the Show points in headers checkbox to display the number of total points in the column header of an assignment.

10. Select the Show category names in headers checkbox to display the names of the assignment categories in the assignment headers.

11. Select the Publish assignment statistics checkbox if you want to display the low, median, and high assignment scores to parents.

12. Select the Show student alerts checkbox to display alert icons next to student names. Alert icons include Legal, IEP, 504, and Other.

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Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

13. Select the Show course selection recommendation checkbox to display the Recommendation columns used for making course recommendations for next year. You can make recommendations during a defined date range, but the columns will continue to appear even after the date range has expired. Clear this checkbox to remove these columns from the Scores page.

14. Select the Anchor averages checkbox to left-align average columns on the Scores page. This will place the averages next to the students' names, and the assignments will appear to the right. A calculator icon displays in the Average column header and the student's average is displayed in blue.

15. In the Default weighting drop-down list, select the default method for calculating averages.

To indicate to the system how you calculate averages, do one of the following:

? Select Categories only if you want to weight categories only in your gradebook. For example, assume you create three categories: Homework, Tests, and Quizzes. All homework assignments are worth the same amount, as are all tests and quizzes. To determine student term averages, Homework is worth 25% of the grade, Tests are worth 50% of the final grade, and Quizzes are worth 25% of the final grade.

? Select Category and assignments if you want to weight both categories and assignments within those categories. For example, a student's homework average is worth 25% of the term grade, but each homework within the category is weighted differently. For example, you weight reading homework assignments 1, and intensive writing homework assignments 3.

? Select Total points if you calculate averages by dividing the total points a student earns by the total number of points possible. For example, a student receives a 100, 90, and 80 for grades. The student's average is 270/300=90.

? Select Category total points if you want to use total points for individual assignments within categories that you weight. For example, assume you have a Homework category. The homework average counts as 25% of the student's final grade. Within the Homework category, you grade each individual assignment using points (HW 1 is worth 10 points, HW 2 is worth 20 points).

Note: This value becomes the default average mode for the teacher. Teachers can then assign a different average mode to different course sections in the gradebook.

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Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

16. In the Decimals field, type the number of decimal places you want Aspen to use for calculated grades. 17. In the Grade scale for averages field, click the lookup icon and select Standard A-E (Teacher Gradebook). This defines the grading scale that displays for gradebook averages based on the SHS grading policy.

WARNING: You must use the Standard A-E (Teacher Gradebook) grading scale for the grades to feed the Progress Report and Report Card correctly. 18. Click OK.

II. Define and View Class Details

A. Viewing Class Details

In the gradebook, you can view details such as room, day schedule, and term for each of your current classes. 1. Log on to the Staff view. 2. Click the Gradebook tab, and select the checkbox next to the class. 3. Click the Details side-tab. The details for that class appear.

Note: On the Options menu, click Change History to view a list of changes made to the section.

B. To Change Averaging Mode:

1. To apply a different averaging mode than the default you have defined in your user preferences, use the Average mode drop-down to select the mode for this course section.

Note: If you co-teach this section, you cannot select Gradebook default at the Average mode field. The average mode you select appears for the other teachers who share the class.

C. To Link Section to Another Section:

Note: Linking sections lets you create categories and assignments for one section, and automatically add them to other sections linked to it.

1. To link this course section to another section, click Select. A pick list containing a list of any other sections the teacher is responsible for appears. (see below)

Note: To unlink a course, click Select, and deselect the checkbox next to the course. Click OK.

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Setting Up and Using Aspen Gradebook

2. Select the sections you want to link, and click OK. The sections appear on the page.

D. To Drop Lowest Scores:

1. In the Drop mode box, select one of the following to determine if you want to drop the lowest scores for this class: Select Do not drop scores if you do not want the system to drop any scores for this class. Select Drop lowest overall score if you want the system to drop the lowest score(s) for a term. The following options appear:

2. For each term, the number of scores appears in the Available column. Type the number of scores you want to drop for that term in the # to drop column. Select Drop lowest score by category if you want to determine how many scores to drop each term by assignment category. For example, you might drop the two lowest homework scores each term. To do so, type the number in the # to drop column for each category, for each term:

Note: On the Scores page, the system indicates dropped scores with because they fit the criteria you determined in the Drop mode box:

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