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Standards-Based Grading is a system of reporting student proficiency as specific learning goals (i.e., standards). If a course uses standards-based grading, assignments are associated with one or more standards. The standards are grouped together into standard sets. An assignment may be associated with more than one standard, and may be associated with multiple standard sets.
With standards-based grading, a student’s score may reflect the average for the standard, which is calculated by adding all scores for all assignments associated with the standard, and dividing by the number of assignments. Or, the student’s score may be calculated using the Power Law computation. The higher of the two is displayed as the student’s standard score unless the instructor has entered an override score. If an override score is entered, it is always displayed as the student’s average.
The Power Law Computation is based on the idea that a student’s later scores should have more weight than his earliest scores, because later scores are more reflective of the student’s accumulated knowledge. See the Power Law Computation chapter at the end of this guide for more information.
This guide covers the steps used by instructors to set up and use Standards-Based Grading.
The following steps are covered in this guide:
❏ Set up the course.
• Designate a course as standards-based.
• Select the standards for each course.
❏ Enter scores throughout the cycle.
❏ View a student's scores as needed.
❏ Print IPRs as needed.
Designate a Course as Standards-Based
The Manage Courses page allows you to set course-wide information, such as whether a course uses category-based (i.e., regular) or standards-based grading. Data entered on this page affects only the selected course section. You must specify a course as standards-based before continuing.
Settings > Manage Courses
❏ In the Course Section field, select the course section for which you want to add data. You must select a course that has been set up to allow standards-based grading, as described in the TeacherPortal Administrator - Set Up Standards-Based Grading “How To” guide.
❏ In the Assessment Type field, select Standards-Based Grading.
❏ Click Save
NOTE: Categories are not used for standards-based courses, so it is not necessary to set up categories on Settings > Manage Categories before entering assignments.
The Manage Assignments page allows you to enter assignments for your active courses, including standards-based courses. Different fields are displayed according to the type of course selected.
Settings > Manage Assignments
❏ Select the semester, cycle, and course section, and click Retrieve Data.
Any assignments that have previously been entered for the semester-cycle-course section are displayed. Otherwise, the message “No Assignment Exists” is displayed.
❏ Click Add new assignment. A blank row is displayed.
❏ In the Assignment Name field, type a name for the assignment. The field can be up to 50 characters and is required.
❏ The Behavior Assign checkbox indicates an assignment that will be using a behavior standard.
❏ In the Edit Standards field, the number of standards currently associated for the assignment is displayed. A new assignment will have 0 standards.
The Edit Standards field is only displayed for standards-based courses; the Category field is displayed for category-based (i.e., regular) courses.
To add standards, click the # Standards link.
The Editing Standards for Assignment: Assignment Name dialog box is displayed.
Under Available Standards (left), all available standard sets and associated standards are displayed.
❏ Under Available Standards, click the standard to associate with the assignment.
Click Add ». The selected standard is moved to the Selected Standards (right) list under the appropriate standard set name.
❏ To remove a standard for an assignment, select the standard under Selected Standards, and then click « Del. The standard is moved back to the Available Standards list and is no longer associated with the assignment.
❏ Click OK to close the dialog box and retain the changes.
The Edit Standards field is updated to reflect the number of standards associated with the assignment.
❏ In the Date Assigned field, enter the date the assignment was assigned.
❏ In the Date Due field, enter the date the assignment is due.
❏ In the Notes field, click the
to add optional notes for the assignment. If entered, these notes are displayed in ParentPortal.
❏ Click Add new assignment to add another assignment. Continue adding assignments as needed.
❏ To delete an assignment, Click
under Delete.
❏ Type the four-digit PIN and click Save. An assignment cannot be saved unless it has at least one standard associated with it.
Grades for standards-based grading are entered on the Assignment Grades and Cycle Grades pages.
The standards-based Assignment Grades page allows you to enter standards-based scores for students by semester, cycle, and course section throughout the cycle. For each assignment, you enter scores for all associated standards, so an assignment will often have multiple scores. The scores are converted into a standard 100%-based (i.e., regular) grade for the course.
Grades > Assignment Grades
The standards-based Assignment Grades page is displayed if you select a course section that is using standards-based grading. The page is automatically displayed instead of the regular Assignment Grades page. If you change between a standards-based course section and a category-based (i.e., regular) course section, the appropriate page loads.
❏ Select the semester, cycle, and course section, and click Retrieve Data.
❏ By default, all assignments for all students are displayed. To view a specific set of information, make one or more of the following selections:
❏ In the Standard field, select a standard to view data for only one standard. Or, select All Standards to view all standards associated with each assignment.
If you filter by a standard, the following applies:
• If an assignment has multiple associated standards, only the selected standard is displayed under the assignment heading.
• If an assignment is not associated with the selected standard, the assignment is not displayed in the grid.
❏ In the Assignment field, select the assignment for which you want to enter scores. You can select one assignment or all assignments.
❏ In the Due Date field, enter a date if you want to view only assignments that are due on or after that date.
❏ In the Student field, select the student for whom you want to enter scores. You can select one student or all students.
The students and assignments are displayed according to your selections.
For each assignment, the associated standards are displayed as set up on Settings > Administer Assignments. Scores are entered for each standard, so an assignment may have multiple scores.
❏ Enter the scores in the fields provided.
❏ The Valid Standards Score Range field above the grid displays the range of valid scores for the course. Scores must be entered according to this range.
❏ When scores are entered or changed, the table cell turns grey to indicate that the score was changed but not yet saved. Once the scores are saved the cell is no longer grey.
❏ Only numeric scores can be entered. However, the following codes can be entered in place of a score:
• I - Incomplete
❏ The following codes can be entered as properties of the score entered:
• L - Late
• R - Re-do
HINT: Type and save the code first. Then add the score.
If you type one or more of these codes for a score, an icon is displayed when you click Save to indicate the properties associated with the score. The icon displays the code (I, L, or R).
NOTE: The code will be applied to all standards for the assignment, even though it is entered for one standard.
Code I can be updated with a numeric score as needed. However, you cannot remove codes L and R from the score field. Instead, you must open the Grade Properties dialog box from the Student Assignment Grades: Standards- Based page, update the properties, and save the changes.
❏ Scores can be mass entered, mass excluded, mass replaced, or mass deleted. For more information, view the online Help for this page.
❏ For more information about navigating the page, view the online Help for this page.
❏ The Behavior Grade field displays the overall behavior score for the course section followed by the conversion grade (e.g., 4.5/90, where 4.5 is the student’s total score, and 90 is the student’s converted grade). The converted grade is based on the table entered in Grade Reporting on Maintenance > TeacherPortal Options > District > Stds-Based Conv Tbl. If the student does not yet have a working cycle behavior average, the field is blank.
❏ The Current Avg. field displays the overall score for the course section followed by the conversion grade (e.g., 4.5/90, where 4.5 is the student’s total score, and 90 is the student’s converted grade). The converted grade is based on the table entered in Grade Reporting on Maintenance > TeacherPortal Options > District > Stds-Based Conv Tbl. If the student does not yet have a working cycle average, the field is blank.
The average is updated every time you access the page, click Calculate Averages, or save scores.

The score displayed is the highest score between the score average and the power law average. If an override score exists, the override score is always displayed instead.
❏ The Overall Averages (i.e., class average) number is displayed in the bottom of the grid. The overall average is updated every time you click Calculate Averages or Save Grades.
❏ You can click
to add a course note about the student. The Student Course Note dialog box opens allowing you to enter or update comments. For more information about adding student-specific course notes, view the online Help for this page.
❏ Type the four-digit PIN and click Save Grades.
WARNING: Be aware that you may have changed data that is not currently displayed on the page. All changes are saved, including those that are not visible on the page. For example, if you are currently viewing scores for one student, but you previously entered scores for other students, the scores for all students are saved, regardless of what is displayed on the page at the time you save the data.
❏ Click the Student Name link to view the student's detailed score information. The Student Assignment Grades: Standards-Based page opens. See the “View a Student's Scores” section for a detailed explanation.
Cycle Grades for a standards-based course are entered the same as for a category-based (i.e., regular) course. For more information, view the online Help topic for the Cycle Grade page.
Grades > Cycle Grades
❏ The Average column displays the current average, which is the same as the Current Avg field on Grades > Assignment Grades. Only the converted grade is displayed.
❏ The final scores and calculated average are cumulative for the semester. The final score displayed is the highest score of the following:
• The student’s current average for the standard, which is calculated by adding all scores for all assignments associated with the standard, and dividing by the number of assignments.
• The student’s score as calculated using the power law computation.
• If an override grade is entered, the override grade is always displayed.
❏ The final standard score reflects standard scores for all cycles in the semester, even though only one cycle is displayed at a time.
❏ The average does not include scores of zero, unless zero is a valid grade for the campus.
View a Student's Scores
The Student Assignment Grades: Standards-Based page allows you to view and enter a student’s scores in a particular course section for a semester-cycle.
A. Post grades from TeacherPortal to ASCENDER Grade Reporting.
Grade Reporting > Utilities > Grade Posting From ASCENDER TeacherPortal
This utility posts the working cycle average, citizenship grade, and report card comments from TeacherPortal, as well as the exam and semester grades when applicable, to the student grade-course record in ASCENDER. Students who were not enrolled in the course or campus on the grade reporting cycle end date are excluded.
Processes performed by the utility
NOTE: Numeric semester grades are not converted based on the highest or lowest grade allowed.
For secondary courses (i.e., credit level is not E):
For elementary courses:
NOTE:
NOTE: This utility can be run more than once; however, only grades that have not already been posted to ASCENDER Grade Reporting, and are marked as 'Ready to Post' are posted.
| Campus | The campus to which you are logged on is displayed. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade Posting for |
|
❏ Click Execute.
| View Error List | Click to view the error list if errors are encountered.
|
|---|---|
| View Fail List | Click to view the list of students with blank, failing, or incomplete grades, if applicable.
|
❏ Print both reports before exiting the page.
The Error Report will reflect only errors generated for a particular grade posting, as well as the details of any Override cycle grades entered by the instructor.
B. (If needed) Reset a teacher's posting status.
Grade Reporting > Utilities > Clear Grades, Comments, Credits, or Citizenship
This utility allows you to reset an instructor's course-section so that instructor can mark grades as 'Ready to Post' again, AFTER the course-section grades have been posted. Rarely will you reset the entire campus.
CAUTION: Use this utility carefully. If in doubt, contact your regional service center for assistance.

❏ Select to Clear by Course.
❏ Select to Clear Cycle Grades.
Remember to clear all fields that need to be re-posted from TeacherPortal. You can only clear one field at a time. For example, if you need to clear both cycle grades and comments, you must run the utility twice.
❏ Select Reset Teacher Gradebook 'Ready to Post' Flag.
❏ Specify the Course, Section, Sem, and Cyc.
❏ Click Execute.
For attendance to print on teacher class rolls, report cards, and IPRs, you must run the SGR1800, which computes attendance from the attendance application for the student grade-course records. The report should be run before printing report cards, IPRs, and SGR1000 - Blank, Failing and Incomplete Grades.
The following absence types are posted to the absence categories on the Grade Reporting reports.
D. Assign No Credit due to absences if needed.
Before running the Grade Computation and Credit Assignment utility which assigns credit to courses, you must update the credit field for any students who should not receive credit for a high school credit level course due to excessive absences.
When the Grade Computation and Credit Assignment utility is run, any student with Crdt/Credit set to NC will not receive credit for the course.
If the student makes up the absences at a later date, you can then remove the NC from the Crdt field and update that field with the credit earned.
There are two options for assigning NC (No Credit) to a course:
Option 1:
Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Student > Individual Maint > Grd Update

❏ Retrieve the student.
❏ Select Sem 1.
❏ In the Crdt (Credit) field for all applicable courses, type NC.
The period is automatically inserted between the two characters.
Option 2:
Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Student > Individual Maint > Grd/Crs Maint

❏ Retrieve the student.
❏ Select the Course, Section, and Semester.
❏ In the Credit field type NC.
The period is automatically inserted between the two characters.
NOTE:
TREx uses the Pass/Fail indicator to show credit removal. If a student has been denied credit due to excessive absences, when that student's transcript is sent through TREx, it does not pick up the asterisk from the transcript which indicates that credit was denied due to excessive absences.
Any students who lose credit due to excessive absences should have their Pass/Fail indicator updated manually at the time NC is entered.
Grade Reporting > Utilities > Auto Assign Grades and Citizenship
Only districts with courses that have an Auto Grd set in the district master schedule or Auto Citizenship grade set on the Posting tab should run this utility.
The utility assigns course or citizenship grades for all active students enrolled in courses with no withdrawal date. The same grade is assigned to every student taking the course.
NOTE: In TeacherPortal, auto grades are automatically displayed on the Grades > Cycle Grades page, even if the utility is not run. If the instructor marks grades as 'Ready to Post for a course-section, the auto grade will be imported when the Grade Posting from ASCENDER Gradebook utility is run. If these grades are not imported from the ASCENDER Gradebook utility because the instructor does not mark grades as 'Ready to Post', you must run the Auto Assign Grades and Citizenship utility to assign auto grades and/or auto citizenship for the course-section.
❏ Select to post Grades or Citizenship.
• If you select to post Grades, the Auto Grd field in the district master schedule is automatically used. The grade-course record for students enrolled in courses with an auto grade are updated, if the grade field is blank for the specified semester-cycle.
• If you select to post Citizenship, the Auto Citizenship and Citizenship Grade on Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Campus Control Options > Posting are used. If Auto Citizenship is selected and a valid Citizenship Grade exists, all blank citizenship grades for the selected semester-cycle are updated for all students.
❏ Select the Semester to be updated. The Cycle fields appear.
❏ Select the Cycle to be updated. The Execute button is enabled.
❏ Click Execute. The Print Report button is enabled once the utility is executed.
F. Compute grades and assign credit.
Different utilities are for secondary and elementary campuses.
• Secondary campuses: Grade Reporting > Utilities > Grade Computation and Credit Assignment
• Elementary campuses: Grade Reporting > Utilities > Grade Computation Elementary
Secondary campuses:
Grade Reporting > Utilities > Grade Computation and Credit Assignment
This utility calculates and assigns semester grades, final grades, and course credits for secondary grade levels.
❏ Under Options:
| Include Withdrawn Students |
Select to include withdrawn students in the process. The utility does not consider the withdrawal date, only if the student is withdrawn.
|
|---|---|
| Include Withdrawn Courses |
Select to include withdrawn courses in the process. |
❏ Select the process(es) to be performed:
| Compute Semester Average |
Select if you are not using TeacherPortal, or if you are calculating blank semester grades when Allow Recomputation is not selected on Maintenance > Tables > Campus Control Options > Computation. |
|---|---|
| Compute Final Grades |
Select to calculate final grades. If selected, the fields under Exclude Final Grade Computations are enabled. |
| Award Credits |
Select to award credits. |
| Award Credits Self Paced |
Select to award credits to self-paced courses. If selected, credits are assigned if the course has a semester grade. |
| Track |
(Required) Select a track number, or select A to calculate grades and assign credits for all tracks. |
| Reset Non-Graded Courses |
Select to clear any grades that have been entered or posted for a student in a non-graded course, or if a graded course is changed to a non-graded course and at least one grade exists for this course. If selected, and a course with grades assigned is changed to a non-graded course, the grades are deleted in ASCENDER only, not in TeacherPortal. |
| Semesters |
Select the semesters to be updated. You must select at least one semester. IMPORTANT! Select all semesters that should be updated; semesters are considered when awarding grades or credits. |
| Grade Levels |
Select one or more specific grade levels to be updated (e.g., 12th grade only). Or, click All Grade Levels to update all grade levels.
|
| Campus Control Information |
Settings from several Maintenance > Tables > Campus Control Options tabs are used when the utility is run. The settings are displayed for your reference. The Allow Partial Credit and Credit Sequence fields in the district master schedule are also considered in processing. |
|---|---|
| Exclude Final Grade Computations |
The section is enabled only if Compute Final Grades is selected. Select any options to be excluded from final grade computation. The options only apply to courses that were not taken for all semesters of the course. |
❏ Click Execute.
A progress bar displays the progress of the student IDs being processed.
If the following conditions exist, the process is stopped, and a message is displayed:
You must clear either Compute Semester Average or Allow Recomputation.
If the following conditions exist, the process is interrupted, and a message is displayed:
You are prompted to continue the process. Click Yes to recalculate all grades, or click No to stop the process.
Review, save, and/or print the report.
Review the report using the following buttons:
Click
to go to the first page of the report.
Click
to go back one page.
Click
to go forward one page.
Click
to go to the last page of the report.
The report can be viewed and saved in various file formats.
Click
to save and print the report in PDF format.
Click
to save and print the report in CSV format. (This option is not available for all reports.) When a report is exported to the CSV format, the report headers may not be included.
Click
to close the report window. Some reports may have a Close Report, Exit, or Cancel button instead.
NOTE: Warnings may indicate that semester records were bypassed for students who retook failed courses.
| Print Excl List | If students and courses were excluded from final grade computation, click to print the Exclusion list.Review, save, and/or print the report.
|
|---|---|
| Print Partial | If any course was not taken for all semesters of the course, but was included in final grade computation, print a list of students who only took part of the course. Review, save, and/or print the report.
|
Elementary campuses:
Grade Reporting > Utilities > Grade Computation Elementary
This utility calculates and assigns semester grades and final (year-to-date cumulative) grades for all elementary grade levels set up on the Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Elementary > Elem Grade. The process calculates alphabetic and numeric grades.
If there are blank semester grades or if a cumulative average must be calculated, run this utility.
| Campus Control Information |
Settings from the Maintenance > Tables > Campus Control Options tabs are used when the utilities (secondary and elementary) are run. The settings are displayed for your reference.
|
|---|---|
| Elementary Grade Level Table Information |
Settings from the Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Tables > Elementary > Elem Grade tab are used when the elementary utility is run. The settings are displayed for your reference. |
| Include WD Students |
Select to include withdrawn students in the process. |
|---|---|
| Include WD Courses |
Select to include withdrawn courses in the process. |
| Track |
(Required) Select a track number, or select A to calculate grades for all tracks. |
| Grade Lvl |
Select the grade level, or select AL to computer grades for all grade levels. |
| Reset Non-Grd Courses |
Select to clear any grades that have been entered or posted for a student in a non-graded course, or if a graded course is changed to a non-graded course and at least one grade exists for this course. |
| Semesters |
Select the semesters to be computed. If you select 2, both semesters 1 and 2 are computed. |
| Cycle |
Select the cycle to be updated.
• If a grade level is set to compute cumulative averages (i.e., Comp Cum Avg is selected for the grade level on Maintenance > Tables > Elementary > Elem Grade), the final grade is calculated as the average of the two semester grades.
If a grade level is set to compute both semester average and cumulative average the final grade is calculated as the average of the two semester grades. |
❏ Click Execute.
A progress bar displays the progress of the student IDs being processed.
If the following conditions exist, the process is stopped, and a message is displayed:
You must clear either Compute Sem Avg or Allow Recomputation.
If the following conditions exist, the process is interrupted, and a message is displayed:
You are prompted to continue the process. Click Yes to recalculate all grades, or click No to stop the process.
| Preview Errors | Click to view the error list if errors are encountered.
|
|---|
A. Print class rolls and get signed by teachers.
It is recommended that you distribute the class rolls to instructors as proof sheets for grade verification. If an instructor makes any changes, the instructor should initial or sign next to the grade change. All instructors should sign and date these forms, and the forms can be filed as the official grade sheets for the reporting period.
REMINDER: If an instructor updates an incomplete grade or changes a cycle grade for a student, the instructor should also provide a semester average if possible; otherwise, semester/final averages will need to be computed again.
The following reports can be used as a check-off list for instructors:
This report provides more details.
B. (If needed) Change verified grades.
Grades can be updated for students individually or as a group (same instructor-course) using information from the instructor's class rolls.
NOTE: If any grades are changed, the Sem and/or Final and Credit field must also be updated; otherwise, you will need to re-run the grade computation utilities (secondary or elementary).
REMINDER: When you update grades in ASCENDER Grade Reporting, the corrected grades will appear in the instructor’s TeacherPortal as an Override grade for that cycle.
Individual Students:
You can make grade corrections for an individual student on either of the following tabs.
Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Student > Individual Maint > Grd Update
Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Student > Individual Maint > Grd/Crs Maint

Group of Students:
Grade Reporting > Maintenance > Student > Group Maint > Post Grades

C. Print/save final verification for teacher to approve (if grades were changed).
Grade Reporting > Reports > Grade Reporting Reports > Instructors > SGR0900 - Class Rolls (Student Grade Information)
❏ If any grades were changed, it is recommended that you print/save the final version. Some districts may choose to print the final version and have it signed by the instructor.
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