Grade Book
Applies to both the elementary and secondary grade books.
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Setting a Custom Grade Scale
How to set your own grade-scale to allow the grade book to auto calculate a letter grade, based on your own grading scale and not the traditional 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, etc... The following directions shows how to set a custom grade-scale to allow the grade book to auto calculate a letter grade, based on the your own grading scale and not the traditional 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, etc... You can still manually override each student’s calculated grade when posting to the report card. IMPORTANT! TTSD no longer uses the F mark. F has been replaced with "NG" in GenesisGrading. If you have an old custom grade scale that includes the discontinued F mark, you will need to create and apply a new scale based of the current GenesisGrading. Please follow the instructions on this page. Copy GenesisGrading to Set up your Custom Grading Scale 1. Go to the Grade Book → Grade Book Setup screen and click the Report Card Score Types button 2. Locate "GenesisGrading" report card score type and click "Duplicate." (It's VERY important that you select the GenesisGrading score type and no others when duplicating.) 3. Scroll to the bottom of the list to find "GenesisGrading (Copy)" and click on the title. Rename your grading scale and save. 4. Click the edit icon for each letter grade you want to change and enter the appropriate range for your grade scale that will calculate a letter grade for the report card...A, B, C, D, etc.. with the high score and low score covering the range between marks, down to the “one-hundredth” (ie 85.00 - 89.99). In the example below, this is a grade scale that will take a 83% and make it a “C” 5. Click the green save button. If you get "overlap" error messages when saving, make sure the lowest sequence number goes with the highest score, the highest sequence number goes with the lowest score and the rest are properly arranged in between. 6. Click Back Use Your Custom Grade Scale 1. Open the "Final Grade Config" screen. Path Grade Book → Final Grade Config 2. On the "Final Grade Defaults" tab, select the grading scale you created above for all grading periods. Click the "Save Defaults" and "Save & Apply to All Students" buttons. Note: by default, this grade scale will only apply to your current class. You can also apply this scale to your other sections by checking the boxes at the bottom of the screen. Setting up Canvas If you want the letter grades in your Canvas grade book to match Synergy you will need to set up a "grading scheme" in your canvas course that reflects the % ranges you set up above. The article below has instructions. Canvas: Grading Schemes
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Printing a Blank Grade Book
Shows how to print a blank grade book with student names on the left and an empty grid of rows and columns. 1. Log in to Synergy/TeacherVUE. 2. Click on the "Grade Book" menu at the top of the screen and select the "Grade Book Main" menu item. 3. Click on the "Reports" button in top right corner. 4. Click on the pulldown menu where it says "Detailed Progress Report." 5. Change it to "Blank Grade Book." 6. Select your class/classes. 7. Decide if you want it in a PDF or in Excel (drop box that says "Output Report as PDF") 8. Click the "Run Report" button at the bottom of the screen. 9. You will get a report similar to the one below.
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Students are not Sorting Properly
What to do when students in the Synergy grade book are no longer sorted alphabetically or in the way you expect. Updated April 10, 2024 to reflect interface changes coming in fall 2024. In the main grade book window, by default, students are sorted alphabetically by their last names. Sometimes you may notice that students are no longer in alpha order. There may be two reasons for this. 1. You clicked the column name which triggered a sort. One click sorts the column in ascending order, a second click for sorts in descending order. 2. If the first step doesn't fix the issue, you may need to open up the "Filters & Options" area and change the "sort students by" pulldown menu back to "last name." a. Click the "Options" button. b. In Students tab, check that the "name sorting" pulldown menu is set the way you want.
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Changing How Assignments and Standards are Presented
How to change the presentation of assignments and (for elementary teachers) standards in the Synergy grade book. Updated April 10, 2024 to reflect interface changes coming in fall 2024. Assignment Grouping Click the button with the icon at the top of your grade book. The name of the button with change based on your currently selected view.... Here's what "View by Week" looks like. If you only wanted to view "Week 05..." You can click the circle to hide the other weeks. A second click would bring them back. This applies to other views as well. Note: We are not currently leveraging "Units" so this view does not apply.... Standards Grouping Click the button with the icon at the top of your grade book. The name of the button with change based on your currently selected view.... Here is what "View By Standard" looks like. You can click the circle to hide other standards. A second click brings them back. Here's what "View by Assignment" looks like. Note: TTSD standards are all on one level so the "View by Parent Standard" option does not apply...
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Assigning Modified Marks (AM, BM, CM etc) To Individual Students
This article will show you how to automatically calculate modified grades for individual students in your class. This is helpful for students who are on an IEP. Note: The "TTSD Modified Grades" score type mentioned below still use the traditional 90%, 80%, 70% scale, but will result in modified marks (AM, BM, CM etc) that are ready to post to the report card. These modified marks will also display in on the StudentVUE and ParentVUE grade book screen. Open the "Final Grade Config" screen. On the Final Grade Config screen, "Final Score Config" tab, locate the students(s) that you want to assign modified marks to and select "TTSD Modified Grades" for all grading periods for that student using the pulldown menus. 5. Click the "Save" button. That's it!
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Assigning a Modified Pass/Fail Grade Scale to Individual Students
How to apply a modified pass/fail grade scale to individual students in your class. This article will show you how to apply a modified grade scale to individual students in your class. This is helpful for students who are on an IEP. Note: The modified marks (PM & FM) are already available when editing grades for posting to the report card so the steps below are not required unless you want the modified mark to show up on progress reports and Parent/StudentVUE. 1. Go to Grade Book → Grade Book Setup and then click on the "Report Card Score Types" button in the button bar. 2. On the "Report Card Score Types" screen, locate the the "GenesisGrading" score type and duplicate it. It is very important that you select the GenesisGrading score type and no others when copying. You will be asked to confirm after clicking the "Duplicate" link 3. When the page reloads, scroll to the bottom of the page to find "GenesisGrading (Copy)" and click on the title. 4. Give your duplicated grade scale a new name that makes sense, "Modified Pass/Fail" for example and click the "save" link. 5. Click on the "x" icon to delete all of the rows except "PM" and "FM." Save your changes. 6. Click the "Edit" button and enter the desired range for the PM and FM grades. There can be no gaps in this scale so the high score for "FM" must be within a hundredth of the low score for "PM.". In the example below, the "High Score" value (59.99) for the "FM" grade is within a hundredth of the "Low Score" value (60.00) for the "PM" grade. Make sure you copy the SEQ values as shown or you will get errors. Click the green "Save" button when done. The low and high scores in the picture below are not intended as recommended values but are simply there to illustrate the process. Please use your own values. 7. Open the "Final Grade Config" screen. 8. On the Final Grade Config screen, "Final Grade Setup" tab, locate the students(s) that you want to assign your modified grade scale to and select the modified scale you created for all grading periods using the pulldown menus. 9. Click the "Save" button.
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Using Analysis Bands
Analysis Bands let you quickly identify how students did on assignments by color coding their scores in your main grade book window. This article show you how to set up your own analysis bands or use the district provided one. Updated April 12, 2024 to reflect interface changes coming in fall 2024. Why Turn On Analysis Bands? Analysis bands give you a quick visual representation of how your students are doing on their assignments or, for elementary students, standards. Rather than having to look at individual scores, you can see how students generally did by checking the colors on your grade book screen. This lets you quickly identify areas of struggle. The examples below are from an elementary standards based grade book, but analysis bands can be applied to both assignments and standards. Grade Book With Analysis Bands OFF Grade Book With Analysis Bands ON With analysis bands on, you also get a nice breakdown in the header of how many student are in each band. Turning on Analysis Bands 1. Click the "Options" button 2. In the "other" tab, toggle analysis bands on, and make a selection from the "class analysis band" pulldown menu. To view the cut points for each band, click the "manage my bands" button. Setting Up Your Own Analysis Bands 1. Open "options" and select the "other" tab as described above. 2. Click "manage my bands" button. 3. Click the blue + button in the lower right corner. 4. This will give you two choices: Cutpoint quick-entry gives you a window where you can enter up to 10 different cut points with names of your choice. Starter Template is a simple band setup with "Low," "Medium," and "High"cut points predefined for you. You can edit both the names and the ranges after the band is created. 5. For Cutpoint quick-entry, enter the low and high value for the first range you want to define. The cut points can be a percentage (0- 100) or rubric score (0-4, 1-8, etc.). Entering a high value on the first range will automatically populate the low value for the next range. 6. Selecting Starter Template will create the default low, medium and high ranges and take you to the screen below where you can edit your band. Editing Your Analysis Bands 1. Click the icon for the band you want to edit. You can only edit bands you have created. 2. Give your band a name and use the sliders to adjust the ranges. You can also manually enter the numeric values. 3. Clicking on the range name lets you rename it and also provides options for choosing the color to represent that range, splitting it, or deleting it. 4. Save your changes when complete. Video Instructions
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Setting Up Cumulative Grading for Synergy Native Assignments - High School
This article pertains to high school only. Note: Synergy assignments that are synced from Canvas (via grade passback) are already set up for cumulative grading and you can stop reading now! The directions below only apply to "Synergy Native" assignments... Cumulative Grading = Scores earned during Q1 are added to those earned in Q2/S1. The final grade reflects the total points earned in both terms divided by the total points possible. If used, assignment weighting will impact this calculation. Checklist for Cumulative Grading 1. If you set up a custom grade scale, apply that scale to all grading periods: This will ensure that your grades are calculated correctly. Under the "Grade Book" menu, select the "Final Grade Config" menu option. In the new window that opens, select the "Final Grade Defaults" tab. Select your custom grade scale for all grading periods and click the "Save & Apply To All Students" button. 2. Make sure your Q1 assignments also count toward Q2/S1 grade: Each Q1 assignment should also be included in the Q2/S1 grading period. Go to the "Assignments" screen. (Grade Book→ Assignments) Check the "Show All Periods" checkbox and set the Page Size menu to "50." If you have more than 50 assignments you will need to page through them when checking your terms. Select the "Grading Periods" tab and make sure that your assignments from Quarter 1 are also included in the semester grading period. Assignments below the green line took place in Quarter 2/Semester 1 3. Click the green "Save Grading Periods" button when done.
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Start of Year Grade Book Setup - Elementary
How to set up your grade book and enable standards mode at the start of the school year. Elementary Grade Book Articles Start of Year Setup (you are here) Working With A Standards Based Grade Book Transferring Grade Book Marks to the Elementary Report Card Contents Grade Book Setup Import Class Standards Video Based Instructions at the Bottom! Grade Book Setup 1. Open Grade Book Setup 2. On the "Grade Book Settings" tab, set the "Grading Period Default For New Assignments" to the assignment due date. 3. Click on "Class Settings" 4. Note that standards mode is currently off. Click the 'Edit" button to turn it on. 5. Toggle "Standards Mode" to "On" for all of your classes. 6. 7. The class settings screen should look like this when you are done. 8. On your main grade book screen you will now have options for how you view standards information: View by Assignment- Shows the assignment, and then each standard that has been attached to that assignment. This view is best for day-today score entry View by Standard- Shows the standard and then all of the assignments that have that standard attached. This view is best when it's time to submit report card marks as it lets you see the overall mark for each standard that will flow to the report card. 9. Click the "Options" button near the top right corner, and go to the "Grading" tab in the window that pops up. The settings pictured below are a good starting point, but definitely experiment to fine tune your grade book view to one that works for you. Import Class Standards IMPORTANT: Do not import your course aligned standards until the status message below indicates they are ready to import. "Not ready to import" indicates the standards have not been updated for the new school year yet. Fall 2024 Status: Not ready to import. There are two methods for bringing in class standards. Either way, this is a once a year process. Homeroom, reading, music and PE teachers will be able to click a link to import all their class standards. ELD classes will be able to click a link to import all their class standards, but since ELD courses are not grade specific they will receive all grade level ELD standards when importing. 1. Load the "Set Up Class Standards" screen 2. Clicking the "load standards from course alignment" link on the left will bring in your report card standards with the report card calculation method set to "mode." This article explains how the calculation works. If, as a grade level team or as a school, you decide to use a different calculation method, you should make this change (on the "grade book setup" standards tab) before loading course aligned standards. 3. Your course aligned standards will appear on the right. Save is automatic on this screen so you are done. Report card (aka "Course Aligned") standards imported into class. Video Based Instructions Watch on YouTube to view fullscreen
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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. 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.