How Elementary Marks are Calculated

Explains how elementary report card marks are calculated from grade book assignment scores.

Updated April 12, 2024 to reflect interface changes coming in fall 2024.

Standards À La “Mode”

To calculate an overall score for a standard, the Synergy grade books looks at all of the individual scores for that standard across assignments. The score that occurs most frequently (the “mode” in math speak) is assigned as the overall score for that standard. The overall standard score is what will transfer to the report card.

Grade book with 5 assignments grouped under the L.2.4 standard. Under each assignment is a score ranging from 1 to 4. The last column is a summary score for the L.2.4 standard based on the individual scores on the standard across assignments.

Key to Screenshot Above

A - The L.2.4 standard has 5 assignments (5) associated with it.
B - The grade book is in standards mode, grouped by standard. This is the best view when determining how marks will flow to the report card.
C - These are the scores on L.2.4 across all assignments that have this standard attached.
D - These are the calculated scores for L.2.4 that will flow to the report card.
E - This icon indicates that the calculated overall mark (1) was manually overwritten by the teacher.

Calculation Examples

The first student received 3, 3, 3, 3, 1 so the mode is 3
The second student received 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 so the mode is 1
The third student received 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 so there is no mode. When there is no mode, the fallback is to use the most recent score. The "Half Chicken" assignment has the most recent due date so the student receives a 3.
The fourth student received 3, 3, 2, 3, 4 so the mode is 3
The last student received 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, but the teacher manually overrode the calculated 1 and gave the student a 2 on the standard. Deleting the 2 would restore the calculated mark.

Report Card

There is a separate article covering the process for transferring marks to the report card, but the calculated score you see in the Summary Score column for a standard is the score that will transfer to the report card. You always have the option of making manual adjustments before posting grades.