To access Grade Averaging and Class Ranking: Access Grade ...



Table of Contents

District’s GPA Policy 1

Campus Control Options – Grade Averaging Information 2

Campus Control Options – Ranges and Conversions tab page 3

Grade Averaging – Table Maintenance 4

Course Type Table 4

Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value Table 5

Entering the Same Grade Average Table Type Code Multiple Times 6

Numeric Grade Averaging – Failing Grades, Blank, Incomplete (I), and No Grade (N/G) 6

Running both Numeric and Grade Point Grade Averaging 7

Grade Averaging Tables – Grade Point 7

Grade Point Grade Averaging–Failing Grades, Blank, Incomplete (I), and No Grade (N/G) 8

When High School Courses are Taken at Jr High AND the Grades are to be used in the High School’s Grade Averaging 8

Middle School Numeric Grade Average Table ‘J’ 9

High School Numeric Grade Average Table ‘J’ 9

Verifying the Numeric and Grade Point Tables 9

Code District Courses for Grade Averaging 11

Verify GA Coding in District Courses 12

Student’s GPA Override Codes 13

Verify Student’s GPA Override Codes 14

Grade Average and Class Ranking Utility Options 15

Select which Cycles or Semesters to Include in Grade Averaging 18

Grade Averaging and Class Ranking Early Computations 20

Early Computation for 2-Semester 6-Week Campus 20

Self-Paced Courses’ Grade Averaging for Regular and Early Computations 22

The Student’s Grade Averaging and Class Rank Record 23

Verifying Existing Student GPA Records 25

Print Grade Reporting Report SGR2070 Grd Avg Info – By Student 26

Use Report SGR1925 Student Course Information to Manually Calculate GPA 28

Run Cumulative Grd Avg and Class Ranking Utility 31

Cumulative Grade Average and Class Ranking Calculation 32

Clear Grade Average and Class Ranking Utility 33

District’s GPA Policy

TEA provides no guidelines to districts for ranking their students. A district’s GPA policy is determined by its local district policy. For this reason, setting up and running Grade Averaging and Class Ranking will vary greatly between districts. The district’s GPA policy should be outlined in the Campus Student Handbook or a similar publication.

Grade Averaging and Class Ranking is a very important computer process for the students. The high school student’s cumulative grade average and rank determines the valedictorian and the salutatorian for the campus. It also determines the students graduating in the top 10% of their high school class. Texas law provides that any high school student graduating in the top 10% of their high school class is automatically eligible for admission at any Texas public college or university.[1]

The overall GPA and Rank is not only important for the top 10% of the class, but also for those students that fall within the first quartile. Colleges and universities also award scholarships to students who fall within the first quartile depending on their overall GPA, class rank, and other factors.

When setting up for Grade Averaging and Class Ranking information, be sure to reference the campus’s GPA Policy in the Campus Student Handbook to ensure accuracy.

The following GPA information should be contained in the Campus Student Handbook:

• Type of GPA: Numeric or Grade Point

• Weighted courses and their assigned weight

• Courses excluded from GPA

• The low grade for average

• The number of decimal places

• Policy for correspondence courses, distant learning courses, and college courses

• Policy for middle school courses taken for high school credit

Accuracy is essential in calculating the students’ GPA that is why the “top” students’ GPA should be hand-calculated and compared against the computer calculated GPA.

Credit Level is part of the student’s grade average records and the grade averaging utilities. This allows the middle school campus to run a “special” current year grade averaging to create records that include only those courses taken for high school credit. The current year grade averaging utility will create an ‘H’ grade average row in the middle school student’s records. This also allows the high school campuses to include high school credit courses taken at the middle school campus in the student’s high school cumulative grade averaging and class rank. In order for this to happen, several things must be in-place. Each of the following is discussed in detail in this document:

• Every course in the district Master Schedule must have the Credit Level field set.

• All existing student GPA records must have appropriate Credit Level information.

• Jr. Highs must establish Numeric Operators or GP tables which use the same values as the high school for any high school level course taken at the Jr. High.

• Middle Schools must run the same type of GPA (numeric or GP) as the high school for those high school courses taken at the Jr. High level.

Campus Control Options – Grade Averaging Information

To access the Campus Control information, select: Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Campus Control Options > H Roll & Gr Avg tab. The following screen is displayed:

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The following describes the Grade Averaging Information fields:

• Grds Used for Grade Avg: Select which type of grades to use for grade averaging and class ranking calculation. The options are C for Cycle Grades, S for Semester Grades and F for Final Grades. (High school campuses usually run Grade Averaging based on semester averages. Middle School campuses usually run Grade Averaging for the 8th grade to identify the top 10 students.) Base Grade Averaging on cycle grades ONLY if there are NO semester exams!!!

• Low Grade for Average: This field specifies the lowest grade a student can receive to be used in the Grade Averaging calculations. If a student’s grade is lower than the “Low Grade for Average”, which is set to 50 for this campus, then the Grade Averaging utility will use 50 as the student’s grade. (Campuses usually set this field to 50 or 00.)

• Grade Average 4 point Scale: Select if you also want a 4-point scale to be calculated when the Grade Average utility is run. Select from options: 0 – Don’t print, 1 – Print and exclude zero weight courses, or 2 – Print and include zero weight courses. This is a non-weighted 4 point average and is often referred to as the College Grade Point Average. The student’s grades are converted from the Campus Control Options on the Ranges and Conversions tab page. The following screen displays the Grade Conversion Information:

Campus Control Options – Ranges and Conversions tab page

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The following table shows the points awarded for each grade range assigned to the alphabetical grades:

|Grade Ranges |Points Awarded |

|A: 100 - 090 |4.0 |

|B: 089 – 080 |3.0 |

|C: 079 – 075 |2.0 |

|D: 074 - 070 |1.0 |

|F: 069 – 000 |0.0 |

The following table shows the grade conversions for a student’s 4 Point Average using semester 1 grades:

|Semester 1 Grades |Points Awarded |

|92 |4.0 |

|89 |3.0 |

|77 |2.0 |

|74 |1.0 |

|65 |0.0 |

|95 |4.0 |

|80 |3.0 |

|# Courses |Total Points |

|7 |17 |

This student’s 4 Point Average is calculated as follows:

Student’s Total Grade Points / Number of Courses = 17/7 = 2.42857

• Number of Decimal Points: The number of decimal places to the right of the decimal point used for the computed grade averages. The decimal places can be set from 1 to 5.

• Include Withdrawn Students in Average: Click the check box if you want to include withdrawn students in grade averaging. Normally, withdrawn students are not included in grade averaging.

• Include Withdrawn Students in Rank: Click the check box if you want to include withdrawn students in the grade average rank. You can select to include withdrawn students in the grade averaging without including them in ranking. Withdrawn students are not normally included in the grade average rank.

• Include Withdrawn Courses in Rank: The options are: A – Include, G – Include if there is a grade and N – Don’t Include. Withdrawn courses are not normally included in grade averaging.

Note: Withdrawn self-paced courses with a semester grade will be included in grade averaging regardless of how this option is set as long as it is an eligible course (i.e. has a GA Weight other than zero).

Grade Averaging – Table Maintenance

Course Type Table

To access the Course Type table, select: Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Course Type. The following screen is displayed:

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A campus has the option of using 0-9 and A-Z grade averaging table codes. The Course Type table is used to identify the table codes used for grade averaging and provide a description of the type of coursework for each table. To change the default table name, User Defined, highlight and enter the new description.

Don’t forget to save [pic] your changes.

The following is an example of table code descriptions: 2=Dual Credit Coursework, 4=Advanced Coursework and B=Modified Coursework. This table is used to define the grade averaging table codes for numeric or grade point.

The Course Type table is optional. If completed, the table’s descriptions are displayed in the drop down for the Grade Average (GA Table) field, in the District Course screen, and in the student’s GPA Override field; which is documented later in this training guide.

Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value Table

To access the Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value Table, select: Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Grade Reporting Tables > Num Grade Avg Operator/Value tab. The following screen is displayed:

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The Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value Table is used for processing when on the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking utility screen, the option Process Numeric Point Grade Averaging is selected.

The Grade Averaging Tables to be used are defined in the district course records in the field, GA Table. Any table codes for courses in the GA Table field of the District Master Schedule must be entered in the Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value table. This table specifies the weighted value that is applied by the Grade Average Type code to the student grades used for grade averaging. Choose +Add to create a record and the Trashcan icon is used to delete a record. The following defines the table fields for this table:

• Type Code: The Type Code is the GA Table code specified in the courses in the District Master Schedule. The Type Code in this table specifies what weight, if any, will be applied to the student’s grade when running numeric grade averaging. In the Type Code field, select one of the table types that is defined in the courses GA Table field. The Type Code drop-down list will display the description for the table code added in the Course Type table.

Note: IF there is course with a GA Table code, but no weight is to be applied to the course, then the Table Type code must be entered in this table with an operator of + (add) and a value of zero (0). This will include the course in grade averaging and it will use the student’s grades at face value (i.e. “as-is”).

• Operator: You may select from four different operators: (+) add, (-) subtract, (%+) percent add, or (%-) percent subtract. The following page shows the calculation for the percentage operators. When using the + or – Operator the program uses whatever is placed in the Value field as a Whole Number. If the +% or -% Operator is used, the program uses whatever is placed in the Value field as a Percent (up to 2 digits).

|Type |Operator |Value |Grade |Calculation |Weighted Grade |

|2 |%+ |10 |85 |(85 x .10 = 8.5) (85 +8.5) = |93.5 |

|B |%- |5 |85 |(85 x .05 = 4.25) (85 – 4.25) = |80.75 |

Note: The percentage operator’s calculation may produce a decimal place in the weighted grade, which is NOT rounded up or down. The value in the decimal place is used in calculating the student’s current year GPA.

• Value: Enter the value to be applied for this table type and the operator selected. The value is the amount that will be applied to the student’s grades for grade averaging. The value entered must be numeric ( NO decimal places allowed here for addition or subtraction operators. Use the Grade Averaging Tables if that’s the school policy.

• Low Grade: In this field specify what the lowest grade is assigned to students that will have the value applied to the grade. Enter the lowest grade that can be weighted.

• High Grade: In this field specify what the highest grade is assigned to students that will have the value applied to the grade. Enter the highest grade that can be weighted.

Entering the Same Grade Average Table Type Code Multiple Times

Some districts’ GPA policy provides that different ranges of grades for a course will have different weights applied to them. The Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value table allows for this policy. The following is an example of using the same table code for different ranges of grades:

|Type |Operator |Value |Low Grade |High Grade |

|H |+ |10 |090 |100 |

|H |+ |5 |075 |089 |

In the example above, students taking courses with the GA Table code of H would receive 10 points added to their grade if their original grade is between 90 and 100. If their grade is between 89 and 75, they would only receive 5 points added to their grade. A grade below 75 would receive no points added to the grade.

Numeric Grade Averaging – Failing Grades, Blank, Incomplete (I), and No Grade (N/G)

Failing Grades are processed differently when running numeric grade averaging versus running grade point grade averaging. Numeric grade averaging will use the grade at face value if it falls outside the high or low grade range. If the Low Grade on the Numeric table is set to 070 and the student’s grade is 65 ( then the student will not receive the weighted value for the course, but the student’s grade of 65 will be used in calculating the GPA. If the Low Grade for Average on the campus control is set to 50 ( and the student’s grade is lower, the grade will be adjusted to 50 for calculation purposes.

Non-traditional grades of blank, I (incomplete), and N/G (no grade) will be adjusted to zero for grade averaging, and the course is counted in the student’s total number of courses if the course GA Weight is not set to zero (0). For this reason it is VERY IMPORTANT to print the Blank, Incomplete, Failure (SGR1000) report based on the type of grade(s) which will be used for averaging (cycle, semester, or final).

Running both Numeric and Grade Point Grade Averaging

Some districts may want to use numeric grade averaging with no weights applied so they can have a true numeric average of the student’s grades and use grade point grade averaging to weight the courses and to rank the students. The Numeric Grade Average Operator table would have to have all the GA Table codes entered that the campus is using with the Operator of + and the Value as zero (0). The Grade Point tables would then be used to weight the grades and used to rank the students.

Note: If you are running both Numeric and Grade Point Grade Averaging, the one that is used to rank the students must be run last. The student’s rank is stored in one table (see Maintenance( Student ( Individual Maint ( Grade Avg tab), and each time grade averaging is run, it overwrites the student’s rank that is stored for the current year. That is the reason why it is very important for the grade averaging used to rank the students be run last.

Grade Averaging Tables – Grade Point

To access the Grade Average Tables, select: Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Grade Reporting Tables > Grade Average Table tab. The following screen is displayed:

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The Grade Average Tables are used for processing when on the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking utility screen, the option, Process Grade Point Grade Averaging, is selected.

The Grade Averaging Tables to be used are defined in the district course records in the field “GA Table”. Any table codes for courses in the GA Table field in the District Master Schedule must be entered in the Grade Averaging tables. To add a table, use the Table Type drop-down and select the GA Table code. Choose either +Add or +Add 10 to enter the numeric grade under the Grade column and enter Grade Points or numeric values with up to two (2) decimal places under the Points column. Continue until all Table Types have been updated. The Trashcan icon is used to delete a record.

Note: Enter every numeric grade from the high grade to the lowest grade for the table. If, for example, you begin adding grades from 100 to 70, and you miss entering grade 96 ( then when grade averaging is run, the students would receive a zero for any grade of 96 instead of the grade points they should receive.

The Grade Average tables are different from the Numeric Operator table as you may enter numeric values in the Points column. For example, a grade of 90 could be adjusted to 100 or 100.5. You may not use grade points for some tables and numeric for others. You cannot mix numeric and grade points in the Grade Average tables. For this reason it is VERY IMPORTANT to print the Blank, Incomplete, Failure (SGR1000) report based on the type of grade(s) which will be used for averaging (cycle, semester, or final).

Grade Point Grade Averaging–Failing Grades, Blank, Incomplete (I), and No Grade (N/G)

Failing Grades are processed differently when running grade point grade averaging versus running numeric grade averaging. Grade point grade averaging will adjust a grade to zero if it falls below the lowest grade in the Grade Average table. For example, if the lowest grade on the Grade Average table is set to 70 and the student’s grade is 65, then the student’s grade will be adjusted to zero for grade averaging.

If the Low Grade for Average on the campus control is set to 50 and the student’s grade is lower, the grade will be adjusted to 50. However, if the lowest grade in the Grade Average table is higher than 50, then the grade will still be adjusted to zero for grade averaging.

Non-traditional grades of blank, I (incomplete), and N/G (no grade) will be adjusted to zero for grade averaging and the course is to be included in the GPA [GA Weight is NOT set as zero (0)].

High School Courses are Taken at Jr High

For AAR purposes: The Jr. High course MUST be set up with a separate course number AND it should have a code of J in the Spc Cons (Special Course Consideration) field so the course will show as taken before the student was in high school on the AAR. Also, set the Credit Level = H.

If a district’s grade averaging policy does not include in its high school’s cumulative grade averaging, courses taken for high school credit at the middle school, then this step is not necessary for those middle school campuses. Otherwise, there are two options:

Option 1: Temporarily set the Jr. High course # with the same GA Table code as the high school course # when you are running the special Grade Averaging for those courses. The high school cumulative grade averaging, courses taken at the middle school for high school credit need a common grade average table code for both the middle school and the high school campuses. The GA Table code is updated in the District Course so both campuses will need to use the same table code. NOTE: When using this option the user must remember to change back the code.

Option 2: Each Campus will have a Grade Averaging Table of J and each will define that table (whether numeric or grade point). The middle school can make this a weighted course, since these students are taking a higher level course and the high school can make it a non-weighted course for the high school students. The following example shows this when both campuses run Numeric Grade Averaging. However, the high school could set up table J with Grade Points if that’s what they do.

Access Grade Reporting, select Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Grade Reporting Tables > Num Grade Avg Operator/Value tab table is displayed. The following are samples of how the middle school and high school campuses can update the grade averaging table of ‘J’:

Middle School Numeric Grade Average Table ‘J’

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This middle school campus is using an operator of plus 10 percent for the high school credit courses taken at the middle school.

High School Numeric Grade Average Table ‘J’

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This high school campus is using an operator of plus zero for their ‘J’ courses.

Note: The type of grade averaging tables used for both campuses does not have to be the same. Not using the same type of grade averaging tables is only an issue when running current year grade averaging for Credit Level ‘H’ courses taken at the middle school. This will be covered later in the document.

Verifying the Numeric and Grade Point Tables

Grade Averaging and Class Ranking is only as accurate as the grade averaging tables entered. It is very important to verify that the entries in the tables are correct. To review the tables, access Registration ( Reports ( Registration Reports and print report SRG0100 (Campus Information). The following is a sample of the printed tables:

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Grade Averaging Table

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Code District Courses for Grade Averaging

To access the district courses, select: Grade Reporting ( Maintenance ( Master Schedule ( District Schedule. The following screen is displayed:

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The following describes the district course grade averaging fields:

• Graded Crs: A non-graded course will not be included in grade averaging calculations.

• GA Wgt: This field indicates how many times the grade for each course will be counted for grade averaging. For example, if the same course meets multiple periods, then you may want to adjust the grade average weight to the number of periods the course meets. If a student has 7 one-period classes, his course factor is 7, but if a student has a class that meets three periods and you code the grade average weight as 1, then this student would have a course factor of 4. If you code the course that meets three periods with a grade average weight of 3, then both students have the same course factor, 7. The default value is 1.

The grade average weight is also used to exclude courses from grade averaging. If a course has a 0 (zero) weight then it is excluded from grade averaging. Many campuses exclude PE, Office Aide, etc. from grade averaging.

• GA Table: This field specifies which Numeric and/or Grade Point table will be used to adjust the student’s grade for grade averaging. This course is coded with an R so it will use the R numeric or grade point table to adjust the student’s grade. Be sure to code all courses included in grade averaging with the correct GA Table code. The default value is R.

• Credit Lvl: Make sure the Credit Level for all District Courses is correct. It is important that all the district courses are updated with the Credit Level of the course ( especially if there is a “combined” secondary campus (ex: grades 7-12) or any grades from the middle school years will be used as part of the high school GPA. The courses offered at an elementary campus should be updated with an ‘E’, the courses offered at a middle school campus or a junior high school campus should be updated with an ‘M’, and the courses taken for high school credit should be updated with an ‘H’. IF a course is offered for high school credit at the middle school campus or the junior high school campus the Credit Level will be an ‘H’.

• HRoll Code: Normally, this field should be blank. ONLY select if you want to exclude a student if they are taking a course that excludes them from the Honor Roll. If the student is taking any courses in which the HRoll Cd = N (in the District Course table), then the student will be completely excluded from the grade averaging and class ranking process. If the student is taking any courses in which the HRoll Cd = E, (in the District Course table), then those courses will be excluded, but the student will still be eligible for the grade averaging and class ranking process. You will see an option about this in the Current Year Grade Averaging utility.

Verify GA Coding in District Courses

Print the District Master List (CY), SGR0050 to verify that the courses are coded correctly for grade averaging. The following is a sample of the report which may be run by Credit Level.

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It is important to verify that the district courses are coded accurately in order for grade averaging to run correctly according to the district’s GPA Policy.

Student’s GPA Override Codes

To access the GPA Override fields for a student, select: Grade Reporting ( Maintenance ( Student ( Individual Maintenance ( Grd/Crs Maint tab. The following screen is displayed:

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The GPA Override field specifies which grade average table will be used for this student, course, and semester. This code is normally used to specify the student exceptions to the GA Table field in the district courses. Since the GPA Override field indicates exceptions, it is not used as frequently. IF the student has a two semester course, then you will probably want to code all semesters with the same GPA Override code.

NOTE: If the & symbol is selected from the drop-down list, it will exclude that particular grade from grade averaging. An example of this is if the student is auditing a course or taking it for better mastery and the last time he/she takes the course will not be part of the Grade Averaging process.

The Grade Averaging utility runs in this priority ( the program checks the student’s GPA Override field first and if it contains a code, it will use the grade average table for this course/student. If the GPA Override field is blank, then it checks the GA Table field in the district course for the grade averaging table to use.

Verify Student’s GPA Override Codes

Print report, SGR2600 Student Grd/Crs Override Proof List to verify that the student’s GPA Override codes are correct. To access this report, select: Grade Reporting ( Reports ( Grade Reporting Reports. The following is a sample of this report:

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Verify the students that require GPA Override table codes are coded correctly.

Grade Average and Class Ranking Utility (Current Year)

The high school campuses will run their current year Grade Averaging and Class Ranking which is based on current year grades ONLY. A Credit Level of ‘H’ will be written to the student’s current year grade average row. (See Maintenance > Student > Individual Maint, Grade Avg tab afterwards.)

The middle school or junior high school campuses will run Grade Averaging and Class Rank which is based on current year grades ONLY. When the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking is written to the student’s record, a Credit Level of ‘M’ will be written to the student’s current year grade average row. ONLY perform a 2nd run with H.S. Credit Lvl Courses for Middle School IF you are wanting to create a record for the student to be part of his/her Grade Average when they become high school students. If it is chosen ( an “H” GA record will be created for the high school level courses the student is taking at Jr. High. The information included in the H type record will not only be credit(s) earned, but also the weighted grade that will count towards the student’s High school GA.

To access the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking utility, select: Grade Reporting > Utilities > Grade Averaging and Class Ranking. The following screen is displayed:

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The following describes the options and information on the utility screen:

• School Year is displayed at the top of the screen. The Grade Averaging and Class Ranking utility stores the students grade averaging data by year. If the school year displayed is not correct, you could overwrite last year’s grade averaging information. To set the correct school year, access Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > District Control Table.

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• Campus Control Information: The grade averaging campus control information is displayed so you can verify the information before running this utility.

• H.S. Credit Lvl Courses for Middle School (for Jr. Highs ONLY!!!): In order for the middle school or junior high campuses to include all courses taken at their campuses, leave this option set to No. When this option is set to No, Grade Averaging and Class Ranking will include all courses taken at the middle school with Credit Levels of ‘M’ or ‘H’ that are eligible for Grade Averaging (GA Weight is not 0). When the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking includes all the courses taken at the middle school, the Credit Level of ‘M’ will be written to the student’s grade average information row for that year. The only time this option is set to Y is IF any grades from courses taken at the Jr. High level are to be counted for GA once the student reaches the high school level. The program will look for any course assigned to your students that has a Credit Level of H and use just those grades to create an H-type GA record.

• Types of Grade Averaging: The following types of grade averaging, process the student’s grade average and class rank for the current year only. The student’s cumulative GA and rank is documented later in this training guide.

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• Process Grade Point Grade Averaging: If you select this option, then grade averaging processes using the Grade Averaging Tables, which you access in Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Grade Reporting Tables > Grade Averaging Table tab.

• Process Numeric Type Grade Averaging: If you select this option, then grade averaging processes using the Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value Table, which you access in Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Grade Reporting Tables > Numeric Grade Average Operator/Value tab.

NOTE to Jr. Highs: IF you answered Y (yes) to the H.S. Credit Level Courses for Middle School option ( you MUST choose the same type of GA method as the high school uses!!!

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• Grade Levels: Select the grade levels to be included in the processing for Grade Averaging and Class Ranking. If you want to select all grade levels on the campus, click the All Grade Levels button, if you want to select multiple grade levels, hold down the Ctrl key as you click the grade levels, or select only one grade level. NOTE to “Combined” Secondary Campuses (grade 7-12): The only time you can use the All Grade Levels button is IF you are using the same type of Grade Averaging (numeric or grade point) for all grade levels. This is a required field.

• Track: Select the Attendance Track to process. This is a required field.

• Report Sort Order (for the 3rd report): This is an optional field. The default sort order is grade level. The grade averaging utility produces the following four reports:

1) shows the options you selected on the screen and the campus control information

2) lists the student’s grade average by grade level in class rank order

3) lists the student’s grade average information, which can be specified here. The options are: Alphabetical, Control Number (last teacher assigned), or by Grade Level.

4) an error report, if any errors are encountered

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• Print Credit: Select to include the student’s course credits awarded for the current year on the report by checking the box. NOTE: IF you don’t specify this option ( credit information will NOT be included on the GA record that is created for each student. High schools should always do this!!! Jr. Highs will do this ONLY IF they are creating GA records for High School courses taken at the Jr. High level which will be included in the students’ High School GA.

• Verify Course Entry Dates: Select if you want the utility to verify the course entry date before including the course for the student in grade averaging. The entry date on each grade/course record will be evaluated. If the date on the student record is after the end of the cycle or semester selected, then the grade will not be included in the average and ranking. (Normally, this is left unchecked.)

• Exclude a student from ranking if the student is taking a course that excludes him/her from the Honor Roll: Select if you want to exclude a student if they are taking a course that excludes them from the Honor Roll. If the student is taking any courses in which the HRoll Cd = N (in the District Course table), then the student will be completely excluded from the grade averaging and class ranking process. If the student is taking any courses in which the HRoll Cd = E, (in the District Course table), then those courses will be excluded, but the student will still be eligible for the grade averaging and class ranking process.

• Normal Max: Enter a two-digit number in this field, which will be used to flag students with excessive courses. If the course factor is greater than the Normal Max value, an asterisk (*) prints next to the student’s course factor. (optional)

• If Graduated Withdrawn Students are to be included, enter the WD Code. Select if the graduated withdrawn students should be included in grade averaging. This field overrides the Incl Wdrawn Stu in Avg/Rank values in the Campus Control screen. Select the withdrawal code from the drop-down list to include graduated withdrawn students in grade averaging and class ranking. This option may be set to include seniors that graduated at mid-term.

Selecting which Cycles or Semesters to Include in Grade Averaging

You can specify which type of grades you will be using in the Campus Control Options on the H Roll & Gr Avg tab page. If in the field, Grades Used for Grd Avg, you selected Cycle grades, then the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking screen will display as follows:

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Note: Some of the Middle/Junior High campuses use all the cycle grades to determine the top 10 students for the school year. Remember, this option would NOT include Semester Exam grades!!!

Select which semester/cycle grades you want included in Grade Averaging and Class Ranking. (High school campuses do not normally use cycle grades for processing grade averaging.)

If in the field, Grades Used for Grd Avg, you selected Semester grades, then the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking screen for two-semester or four-semester campuses will display as follows:

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Select which semester grades to include for Grade Averaging and Class Ranking. You may not select semester 2 without selecting semester 1. If you select a semester without selecting the preceding semesters for that school year, then you receive a message stating: “You must select all previous semesters”. NOTE: Jr. Highs that are running the “special” GA for High School only courses taken at Middle School level MUST choose both Sem 1 & Sem 2!!!

When you click[pic], you will receive a message verifying if the school year is correct. If it is, click OK. When Grade Averaging and Class Ranking has completed processing, the Print button becomes active, click the Print button to print the report. By printing the report, the students’ grade averaging data will be stored in the student’s records. If you close without printing, you will receive a message asking if you want to save changes. Click Yes to save or No to not save the data.

Some high schools will run grade averaging and class ranking at mid-term for semester 1 grades including the seniors, and run grade averaging again at the end of the school year for semester 1 and semester 2 grades excluding the seniors. High school seniors are the exception when running grade averaging for semester 2. The next section explains how seniors are ranked for the second semester of a two semester school.

Note: Campuses should remember to run grade averaging and class ranking at the end of semester 1. They run early computations for the seniors, but many times they forget at the end of the year to run grade averaging and class ranking again for semesters 1 and 2 for grades 9–11. Ensure before running Move to Grade Reporting that all grade averaging and class ranking have been run AND verified for the current school year.

Grade Averaging and Class Ranking Early Computations

Most high school campuses perform Grade Averaging and Class Ranking Early Computations for the seniors to determine the valedictorian and salutatorian before the school year ends. The following shows the different ways that early computation can be run for the different kinds of grade reporting and the differences in calculating Grade Averaging Early Computation from regular Grade Averaging.

Early Computation for 2-Semester 6-Week Campus

The following displays the two different options for early computation for this type of campus:

Option 1:

[pic]

This campus selected to use the semester 1 average and to use the semester 2, cycle 1 grade as the semester 2 averages to calculate the seniors’ grade averaging. Option 1 is selected by 2-semester 9-week schools for the seniors’ early computations.

Option 2:

[pic]

This campus selected to use the semester 1 average and to use semester 2, cycle 1 and cycle 2 grades as the semester 2 averages. Option 2 is usually selected by 2-semester 6-week campuses to calculate the seniors’ early computations. This option requires an additional calculation to obtain substitute semester 2 averages.

The following table shows examples of the calculation to obtain the semester 2 averages for seniors when using early computations for grade averaging:

|Sem 2 Cy 1 |Sem 2 Cy 2 |Calculation |Substitute Sem 2 Average |

|89 |96 |89+96=185/2=92.5 |93*** |

|N/G = 0 |89 |0+89=89/2=44.5 |45 |

The second row of data in the table above is not likely, but if this situation did occur, this is how the program would process. Grades of blank, I (Incomplete), and N/G (No Grade) are converted to zero for grade averaging whenever they are encountered.

***Note: If the division for the substitute semester average has a decimal place, then it is rounded up or down since semester averages are whole numbers.

Self-Paced Courses’ Grade Averaging for Regular and Early Computations

There are four matrices that the program uses in determining whether to include self-paced courses in grade averaging or to not include them. The following lists the matrices:

1) The student’s self-paced course has a withdraw date and a semester average – Included

2) The student’s self-paced course has no withdraw date and a semester average – Included

3) The student’s self-paced course has a withdraw date and no semester average – Excluded

4) The student’s self-paced course has no withdraw date and no semester average – Excluded

When running early computations with self-paced courses, any of the self-paced courses that meet the criteria for matrix 1 and 2 at the time of running early computations are included.

The Student’s Grade Averaging and Class Rank Record

To access the student’s grade average and class rank record, select: Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Student > Individual Maint > Grd Avg tab. The following screen is displayed:

[pic]

The following describes the grade averaging data stored for the students:

• Credit Level: As you run the Current Year GA utility this field will automatically be filled in with either an M (Middle School) or H (High School) to indicate whether the information is the total “weighted” values for courses that have a credit level of M or H. This information MUST be filled in correctly IF you are going to run Cumulative Grade Averaging/Ranking for a campus. IF you need to verify this ( see the Create Grade Reporting Reports area of this document. NOTE: It is possible for an 8th grade student to have both an M record and an H record for the same year IF a 2nd set of GA calculations has been performed for his/her High School courses taken at the Jr. High level.

• Year: The student’s grade average and class rank is stored by the ending school year. The students will have a row for each year that they are included in the utility, grade averaging and class rank.

• Numeric Average (Nbr Crs & Total Points): The numeric average is created when on the grade averaging and class rank utility screen Process Numeric Point is selected. This section lists the number of courses (grades), the total weighted numeric points, and the calculated numeric average.

• Grd Pt Average (Nbr Crs & Total Points): The grade point average is created when on the grade averaging and class rank utility screen Process Grade Point is selected. This section lists the number of courses (grades), the total Grade Points, and the calculated grade point average. This section may contain numeric values if you built the grade average tables with numeric values instead of grade points.

• 4 Point(Nbr Crs & Total Points) : The program automatically calculates the College 4-point average if on the campus control screen 4-Point Scale is selected. This section lists the number of courses, the total points, and the calculated 4 point average.

• Credits: The number of credits the student has earned for each school year is stored in this column ONLY if the Print Credits option is chosen during the GA process.

• Rank GPA: This lists the student’s GPA that was used for the student’s class rank.

• Nbr of Stu: This lists the number of student’s in this student’s grade level when grade averaging and class ranking was run each year.

• Rank: This is the student’s rank out of the number of students included in grade averaging for the student’s grade level. If a student has a rank of 1, then that student has the highest GPA for his grade level. The “N” (Numeric) or the “G” (Grade Point) displayed at the end of the row next to the student’s rank indicates if the student was ranked based on running numeric or grade point grade averaging. NOTE: IF any of this information is manually changed on this screen ( the program removes the N or G to indicate the information is no longer what was calculated during the GA utility. Also, if a row of information is added manually there will be no N or G. This last might be done to enter Credit ONLY info for High School Courses taken at Jr. High. 2nd NOTE: Whenever a manual record is entered or a change is made to an existing record the program keeps an “audit trail” of the UserID and Date/Time the change was made.

The following fields are stored at the bottom of the student’s grade average screen:

• Cum GPA: This value is stored when cumulative grade averaging is run. The cumulative GPA is calculated based on the values from the current year and prior years for a student and is dependent on the number of years included. The student’s cumulative GPA may be printed on the Multi Year AAR.

• Cum Rank: This value is stored when cumulative grade averaging is run. The student’s cumulative rank is based on where the student’s cumulative average falls compared to the other student’s averages in the student’s grade level.

• Number of Students Ranked: This value is stored when cumulative grade averaging is run. The number of students ranked is based on the number of students in this student’s grade level at the time cumulative grade averaging is run.

• Date Ranking: This is the date that the cumulative grade averaging utility was run.

• Quartile: Any of the three values that divide the items of a frequency distribution into four classes with each containing one fourth of the total population. The calculation that is used to determine a student’s quartile is as follows:

Student’s Cumulative Rank / Total Students in Grade Level

The following explains how the grade level population is divided into 4 quartiles:

Quartile 1 = 0 – .25

Quartile 2 = .25 – .50

Quartile 3 = .50 – .75

Quartile 4 = .75 – 1.00

Examples of calculating student’s quartile:

Student’s Cumulative Rank / Total Student’s in Grade Level

135 / 541 = 0.249354 = Quartile 1

139 / 541 = 0.256931 = Quartile 2

272 / 541 = 0.502772 = Quartile 3

408 / 541 = 0.754158 = Quartile 4

Student’s that fall within the first quartile usually qualify for College Scholarships.

Reports to Review and Calculate an Individual Student’s Grade Averaging

The following lists a student’s information taken from the Grade Averaging and Class Ranking report:

Total

Stu Name ID Grd Ctrl# DOB Sex 4 Point Credit Nbr Points Avg Rank

Warren, Leslie 000030 12 004 09/23/87 Female 3.4285 7.0 14 1311.800 93.7 4 of 12

Verifying Existing Student GA Records

To verify existing student GA records, you may print SGR2060 (Grade Averaging & Class Ranking – Info Only No Update) which when run with the year removed will show all GA records. This report, however, does NOT show the Credit Level information on the records. Nor, if you have entered Prior Year records where the GA record was Auto Calculated, will it tell you if any are missing.

To create a report to verify any Credit Level codes for student GPA records or any missing records, you must access Grade Reporting > Reports > Create Grade Reporting Report. The following screen will appear:

[pic]

[pic]

Fill in the Grade Average Table check boxes shown on this screen. Choose to print these reports in Landscape mode , but you may need to create more than one report if not all the info shows on one report (create one each for the numeric GPA fields, Grade Point GPA fields, and the College 4-point fields). You may also wish to check the “Active Code” option so you can use Data Filter (Active = 1) once the report is generated to a CSV (Excel type) file to keep out withdrawn (inactive) students from the report. Remember, you may also use Data Sort in Excel to list the students alphabetically within Grade and then by year.

If you find any records with a missing Credit Level, Region III will provide an SQL file to apply to your database to correct the problem. It will require that you enter the grade level of the students, the year of the grade average rows to be updated, and the Credit Level to be written to the rows. If any of your students were retained in middle school, you may have to update their additional grade average row(s) with the credit level manually if you want those additional rows included in Cumulative Grade Averaging.

Print Grade Reporting Report SGR2070 Grd Avg Info – By Student

This report will show you how the student’s current year GA is calculated. You may print this report for one student, a grade level, or a campus. In the report parameters, you specify if it is N (Numeric) or G (Grade Point) and you must also specify which semesters were included.

Access Grade Reporting, select Reports > SGR2070 Grd Avg Info - By Student (Info Only) and the following report parameter screen is displayed:

[pic]

Note: If you are running grade averaging early computation using the 4th and 5th six week grades, you would enter the parameters for this report as: Sem 1=Y, Sem 2=N, Sem 2 Cy 1=Y, and Sem 2 Cy 2=Y; the other semester/cycle parameters would be set to N.

The last parameter on this screen is ‘Process only H.S. Credit Lvl Crs for Middle School? (Y/N)’. When you set this parameter to ‘Y’, then only those courses with a credit level of ‘H’ are included in the report calculations. This is especially important for all-in-one campuses (ex: KG to 12 or 07 to 12)

The following is an example of the report SGR2070 when including only Credit Level courses of ‘H’ taken at the middle school.

[pic]

This report shows how the grade averaging and class ranking was calculated for the ‘H’ Credit Level courses taken at the middle school campus.

The following report shows how the student’s GA information was calculated if the last parameter is set to No:

[pic]

The Weighted Value, the GA Weight, and the Grade Average values on this report match the student’s grade averaging and class ranking report values listed on page 23. This report can be used to verify the GA calculations for each course that the student is enrolled. The campus may want to print this report at the end of the year to put in each student’s permanent record folder.

Use Report SGR1925 Student Course Information to Manually Calculate GA

Access Grade Reporting, select Reports > SGR1925 Student Course Information and the following report parameter screen is displayed:

[pic]

The last parameter on this screen is ‘Process only H.S. Credit Lvl Courses? (Y/N)’ is to be used by Jr. Highs only. When this parameter is set to Y, then the report will only include the ‘H’ Credit Level Courses taken by this student. You can also use this report to manually balance the student’s grade averaging and class ranking for ‘H’ Credit Level courses taken at the middle school campus.

We stated earlier that accuracy is essential in calculating the students’ GA that is why the ‘top’ students’ GA should be hand-calculated and compared against the computer calculated GA. One of the best reports to use for manually calculating a student’s GA is SGR1925 Student Course Information. The following is a sample of this report:

[pic]

The following lists the fields by column on this report that may affect how the student’s GPA is calculated:

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4_______

Course Semester: 0021/2 Crs WD: GA Wgt: 1

Cyc1: 079 GPA Override: 4 GA Table: H

Cyc2: 075 Self Paced: N Grade Crs: Y Exam/Sem Pattern: 1

Sem: 077

Final: 077

The following explains the fields and why they are important in calculating a student’s GPA:

• Column 1: Depending on which grades you selected to use in grade averaging and if you are running early grade averaging computations, you will use different student grades for calculations. It is also important to know the semester for the course, in case you are processing early computation since you normally use cycle grades for early computations.

• Column 2: The course withdraw date is important if you are not including withdrawn courses. You will know to exclude the grade from that course in manual GA calculations. The withdraw date is also important for self-paced courses to know if the course meets the matrices to include or exclude the withdrawn self-paced course. The GPA Override is important for each course to know if the grade averaging table is different from the course GA Table for this student. The Self Paced field lets you know that you need to check the matrices for the self-paced course to know if it should be included or excluded from calculating the student’s GPA.

• Column 3: The GA Weight lets you know how many times the course was counted in GA calculations or if the course is excluded from grade averaging. If the GA Weight is a 2, then the course and grade are counted twice for grade averaging. If the GA Weight is zero, then the course is excluded from grade averaging. The GA Table is the grade averaging table that will be used for calculating the weighted value, unless the GPA Override contains a different grade averaging table code. Graded Course specifies if the course is graded or not. A non-graded course is not included in GPA calculations.

• Column 4: The Exam Semester Pattern is important for 4 semester schools if it is set to a 2. If you use semester averages to calculate the student’s GA and if the Exam Semester Pattern is set to 2, then the students only receive semester averages semesters 2 and 4, unless they are one semester courses which can have semester averages each of the 4 semesters.

The following shows how to manually calculate this student’s GPA from the information listed on the previous page:

Grade Averaging parameters: Use semester grades for semester 1 and semester 2. The course listed is a one semester course so this course is not listed twice on this report. There is not a semester 1 grade.

Sem 2: 077 GA Weight: 1 GA Table: H GPA Override: 4

Calculation: Numeric Table 4, operator and value: + 5(Table H set to add 5 points), 077 + 5 = 82

For this course the student’s weighted value for GPA = 082 and the Course Count = 1.

Grade Averaging parameters for early computations: Use semester 1 grade “as-is”, use semester 2 cyc 1 and cyc 2 grades averaged together. This is a one semester course taken second semester so there is not a semester 1 grade.

Sem 2 Cy1: 079 Sem 2 Cy2: 075 GA Weight: 1 GA Table: H GPA Override: 4

Calculation: 079+ 075 = 154/2 = 77, 77 + 5(Table H set to add 5 points) = 82

For this course the student’s weighted value for GA = 82 and the Course Count = 1. Even though this student does have a semester 2 average for the purposes of this document, when a campus runs early grade averaging computations, the students will not have semester averages assigned for the second or last semester of the course.

Run Cumulative Grd Avg and Class Ranking Utility

The Cumulative Grade Averaging includes the student’s grade average rows by credit level. The advantage to this is that any students that will have more than the standard number of grade average rows for their campus will be included in their cumulative grade average because those rows will have the credit level for that campus. Examples of students who would have more than the average # of GA records: Retainees and those who took High School Level courses at the Middle School level.

To access the Cumulative Grade Average and Class Ranking utility, select: Grade Reporting > Utilities > Cumulative Grade Averaging and Class Ranking. The following screen is displayed:

[pic]

The Cumulative Grade Averaging and Class Ranking utility runs by credit level.

• School Year: The current school year is displayed so you will know which year you are processing. The school year is displayed from the District Control table in grade reporting.

• Campus Control Information: This information is displayed on the screen for your verification.

• Credit Level: Please see the above paragraph. As of right now ( E (elementary) does not work.

• Process Grade Point Grade Averaging: If for grade averaging and class ranking in the current year you used grade point grade averaging to rank the students, then you would select this option. The values for the prior years and current year grade average information are stored in the Student’s Grade Average tab page in the Grade Point Average column. For more information, see The Student’s Grade Averaging and Class Rank Record section of this document.

• Process Numeric Point Grade Averaging: If for grade averaging and class ranking in the current year you used numeric grade averaging to rank the students, then you would select this option. The values for the prior years and current year grade average information are stored in the Student’s Grade Average tab page in the Numeric Average column. For more information, see The Student’s Grade Averaging and Class Rank Record section of this document.

• Grades: Select the grade levels to include in the cumulative grade averaging. Usually campuses run cumulative grade averaging for the seniors once they have run early grade average computations for the current year to determine valedictorian and salutatorian. Since grade averaging and class ranking is run at the end of the year for the grade levels other than seniors, most campuses will run cumulative grade averaging and class ranking again for grades 09–11. IF yours is a “combined” secondary campus (grades 7-12) DO NOT select the All Grade Levels button UNLESS you are running the same type of Cumulative GA (either Numeric or Grade Point) for all students at that campus. The All Grade Levels button may, however, be chosen where there are individual secondary campuses and “Early Computation” information is to be overwritten.

• Report Sort Order: The Cumulative Grade Average and Class Ranking utility prints two reports: (1) the first report prints the options selected to run this utility, grade levels and years, and the Campus Control Information; (2) the second report prints a listing of the students. You may select the order in which the student listing prints. The options are: Alpha, Grade Level, or Control Number (teacher #).

• Print Credit: The default for this field is checked to print. Normally campuses print the student’s total credits for the years included in cumulative grade averaging.

• Print Detail: The default for this field is checked to print. We recommend printing the detail as it lists the prior years’ grade averaging information so you can see the values used to calculate the student’s cumulative grade averaging. IF you uncheck this field, then only the student’s total cumulative grade averaging information prints.

• If Graduated WD Std are to be included, enter the WD code: If a value is entered in this field, it will override the Campus Control Options, H Roll & Gr Avg tab page to Incl Wdrawn Stu in Avg/Rank. Click the drop-down field to select the withdrawal code if you want to include graduated students. The Campus Handbook’s grade averaging policy should cover whether to include graduated students or not.

To run the Cumulative Grade Average and Class Ranking utility, click the [pic] button.

Cumulative Grade Average and Class Ranking Calculation

The program adds the values of each selected year and divides this by the sum of the course factors for those same years.

The following is a sample of the student’s information for cumulative GPA from the printed report:

Student ID Grd Cnt Sex Birthdate

Allen, Justin 001480 12 031 F Jun 29, 1987

Crdt Year Credit Crs Total Value 4-Pt Avg Average Class Quar-

Lvl Factor Position tile

H 01-02 8.0 16 1358.0000 3.1666 84.8750

H 02-03 9.0 17 1523.0000 3.4873 89.5882

H 03-04 7.5 14 1102.0000 2.2142 78.7142

H 04-05 7.0 14 1074.0000 2.1666 76.7142

Total: 31.5 61 5057.0000 2.7586 82.9016 33 of 95 2

The student’s cumulative rank is based on where the student’s cumulative average falls compared to the other students’ cumulative averages in the student’s grade level.

Clear Grade Average and Class Ranking Utility

This utility will clear the student’s grade average row(s) so consider carefully before using this option. The menu-level security should be set so that only a few selected staff members have access to run this option. Make a backup of the database before running this utility. In fact, we would recommend that this procedure, if it is done at all, be performed right before Move to Grade Reporting (MTGR) in August. The utility is not campus-specific; it deletes the grade averaging records from the current school year for the grade level and credit level selected. Therefore, if two campuses exist with the same grade level (e.g., two middle schools), the utility deletes all current year grade averaging records for both grade levels at both campuses.

Access Grade Reporting, select Utilities > Clear Grade Averaging and Class Ranking and the following screen is displayed:

[pic]

Enter the selected Grade Level, select the School Year, select the Credit Level, and click Execute. It is not recommended to select multiple grade levels and school years to delete the students’ grade average rows.

To delete students’ grade average rows with the Credit Level blank, select the grade level and the school year and do not select a Credit Level.

Note: You may want to use this utility to delete student rows that do not contain a credit level. You may also want to use this utility if a middle school runs the grade averaging for Credit Level ‘H’ only courses and its policy does not include those courses taken at middle school. Then you may use this utility to delete the middle school students’ grade average row for Credit Level ‘H’. A few districts will also use this utility to delete out the Credit Level M records since they calculate GA for their Jr. High students, but don’t want the permanent GA records to be retained.

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[1] TEA District Correspondence, Letter To the Superintendent Addressed, May 18, 2001

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