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Teacher Guide to ASCENDER TeacherPortal

Click here to generate a PDF of this guide.

Access TeacherPortal

Create an ASCENDER TeacherPortal account.

❏ From the Login page, click Create Account. The User Information page is displayed.

To exit without saving any changes, click Return to Login.

User Information:

Staff ID	Type your staff ID number.
Last Name	Type your last name
First Initial	Type the first letter of your first name.

❏ Click Next.

If you entered the data correctly, the Basic Information step opens.

Basic Information:

User Name	Type a unique user name that will identify you when you log on to the system, such as a combination of letters from your first and last name. • Your user name must be 6-25 alphanumeric characters and must be unique within the district. • Your user name is not case-sensitive. • If you type a name that is already used, available alternatives are suggested.
Password	Type a password that you will use when you log on to TeacherPortal. • The password must be 8-46 characters using three of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters • Your password is case sensitive.
Password Verification	Retype the password exactly as you typed it above. This step confirms that you typed your password as you intended.
PIN	Type a four-digit numeric personal identification number (PIN) that you will use when you post data in TeacherPortal. Avoid using 1234, 4321, or all the same number, as these are common and easily guessed.

❏ Click Next.

If you entered all required data correctly, the Security Question step opens.

Security Question:

Question	Select three questions to which you will provide an answer. The questions are asked in the event that you forget your password. You must select three different questions. You cannot repeat any questions/answers.
Answer	Type the answer to each question. If you forget your password, you will be required to answer the question correctly in order to recover your account. Be sure to select questions for which you will easily remember your answer. Answers are case sensitive.

License Agreement

Review and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA) for ASCENDER. This agreement must be accepted in order to proceed.

❏ Select Accept.

❏ Click Next.

If you entered all required data, the Complete page opens.

❏ Click Finish.

The Announcements page opens.

Log on to TeacherPortal.

To access TeacherPortal, you must log on. If you are a new user and do not have a user name, you must create a user name.

Returning teachers must re-register each year before logging on, as all TeacherPortal non-administrative user accounts are deleted at the end of each school year. Administrative user accounts are retained.

WARNING: If you have three unsuccessful attempts to log on (invalid user name/password combinations), the system locks out your account. If your account is locked out, please contact your campus administrator to have your account reset.

If the district has disabled TeacherPortal, the message “TeacherPortal is Unavailable” is displayed.

User Name	Type your user name. Your user name is not case-sensitive.
Password	Type your password. The typed text is hidden. Your password is case sensitive.

❏ Click Login.

The Announcements page is displayed.

For security purposes, your password will expire periodically. If your password is expired, you are redirected to the Password Expired page before the Announcements page is displayed. Follow the instructions provided in the online Help for the Password Expired page.

Reset your password.

Login Page > Reset Password

The Reset Password page allows you to reset a forgotten password or change your password. To reset your password, you must know your staff ID, user ID, and the correct answer to one of your password hint questions; otherwise, you must contact your campus administrator to have your account reset.

❏ From the Login page, click Reset Password.

The Reset Password page opens.

❏ To exit the Reset Password function without saving any changes, click Return to Login.

Reset Password

Staff ID	Type your six-digit district-assigned staff ID number.
User Name	Type the user name you created when you registered for TeacherPortal.

❏ Click Next.

If you entered the data correctly, the Security Question step opens.

Security Question:

Answer	One of your hint questions is displayed, as established in your User Profile. Type the answer to your hint question exactly as it appears in your profile.

❏ Click Next.

If you entered the data correctly, the Create New Password step opens.

Create New Password:

Password	Type a new password. You cannot reuse your last password. • The password must be 8-46 characters using three of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters • Your password is case sensitive.
Confirm Password	Retype the password exactly as you typed it above. This step confirms that you typed your password as you intended.

❏ Click Finish.

Navigate TeacherPortal.

Teacher Guide to ASCENDER TeacherPortal

Click here to generate a PDF of this guide.

TeacherPortal Setup

Beginning of the school year:

The following tasks should be done at the beginning of the year and not modified during the year.

(Optional) Create course groups.

Settings > Manage Course Groups

Course Grouping Flow Chart

This page allows you to group courses by semester, which allows you to enter grades, manage categories and assignments, and copy categories and assignments for multiple sections at the same time (e.g., if you teach multiple section of Algebra I) without having to switch from section to section.

IMPORTANT: You must group your courses at the beginning of the semester before any categories are added.

Once you have grouped the courses, all categories and assignments for the courses will match. The courses will be displayed as grouped on the following pages:

Grades > Assignment Grades
Grades > IPR Comments
Grades > Print IPR
Reports > Class Roster
Settings > Manage Assignments
Settings > Manage Categories

The following courses cannot be added to a group:

A standards-based or elementary skills-based course. Only category-based (i.e., regular) courses can be grouped.
A course that does not exist in the selected semester.
A course that has already been added to another group, either for the current teacher or a prior teacher. The message “Exists in another group” will be displayed next to the course in the Ineligible Courses list.
A course that has any categories already set up. The message “Already has categories” will be displayed next to the course in the Ineligible Courses list.
A course that has any students who are in another course already added to the group.
A self-paced course.

The following restrictions also apply:

A course cannot be added to a group if the group has any categories already set up.
If the course-section is part of a group, and the teacher for a course changes during the year, the new teacher will not be able to add the course to a group. The message “Exists in another group” will be displayed next to the course in the Ineligible Courses list.

This can be resolved.

You must be the class role 01 teacher (i.e., Teacher of Record) for the course in order to add the course to your group. Class role 02 and 03 teachers for the course cannot add the course to a group.

If the class role 01 teacher becomes unavailable (e.g., long-term leave)...

❏ Specify the semester:

Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.

❏ Click Retrieve.

❏ Under Available Course Groups (left grid):

Existing groups are listed. Otherwise, the message “No data available in table” is displayed.

Add a group:

Name	To add a group, type a unique name for the group.

❏ Click Add Group.

The new group name is displayed under Available Course Groups (left grid).

❏ Click to add courses to the group.

❏ Under Course Group Detail (right grid):

Group	The selected group name is displayed. The default message, “Please select or create a course group” is displayed.
Grouped Courses	All the courses currently added to the selected group are listed. If no courses are added, the message “No data available in table” is displayed.
Available Courses	Any courses that can be added to the group are listed. Click for each course you want to add to the group. The course is moved to the Grouped Courses list.
Ineligible Courses	Any courses that cannot be added to the group (due to reasons described above on this page) are listed. An explanation of the course's ineligibility is displayed next to the course.
	Click to delete a course from the group. When deleting a course from a group during a semester (when a course-section has categories assigned), take caution. You are not prompted to confirm that you want to delete the course-section from the group. Once you delete a course-section with categories and click Save, the action cannot be undone.

❏ Click Save.

Edit a group:

❏ Under Available Course Groups (left grid):

Course Count	The number of courses currently added to the group is displayed.
	Click to view the group details. The details for the group are displayed on the right under Course Group Detail, and you can add or remove courses from the group.
	Click to delete a group. You are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the group. Click OK. A group can only be deleted if Course Count is 0.

Create assignment categories.

Settings > Manage Categories

This page allows you to establish categories that describe the types of assignments you will use in the selected semester and course-section.

An initial set of categories, defined by the campus, is set at the beginning of the year. If you have an assignment that falls under a category that is not included in the list, you can create a new category, if allowed by the campus. The category you create is added to the master list and will be available for all teachers to use. The list of categories will continue to grow as you and the other teachers add categories.

For your selected categories, you must specify the type of weighting to use for calculating averages (percent-based, point-based, or multiplier-based). You can also assign your own category colors to enable color-coding of assignments on the Assignment Grades page.

From this page, you can also copy categories from one course to other course-sections.

This page is disabled for standards-based courses, because categories are not used for these courses.

This page should not be used for course-sections that are skills-based courses, because categories are not used for these courses.

About grouped course-sections and teacher changes:

❏ Specify a course-section:

Semester	Select the semester to set up categories for.
Course-Section	Select the course-section to set up categories for.

❏ Click Retrieve.

The available categories are listed under Available Categories, and your current category list for the selected course-section is displayed under Selected Categories.

❏ Under Weighting Type:

Select the weighting type to use for the categories. You must use the same weighting type for all cycles in a semester.

Percentage	If selected, you must assign percentages to each category. The percentages must total 100%.
Point	Point values are determined when the assignment is created. They are not entered on the Manage Categories page. Point values for each category accumulate as assignments are added. When using point-based weighting, the categories are only used for grouping similar assignments. The calculation is based on the total points, not weighting.
Multiplier	If selected, you must provide a multiplier number (between 1-9) for each category. For multipliers greater than one, the individual assignment grades are counted multiple times.

See the Calculate Averages guide for an explanation of calculating averages for each weighting type.

NOTE:

The category weight for current cycle can be changed for the current cycle, as long as grades have not been posted.

You cannot change the weighting type for the second semester of a two-semester course. The weighting type must be the same for all semesters of a course.

If you post an override cycle grade for a student even if there are no categories for the course, the weighting type is automatically set to percentage.

Each weighting type is only displayed if the campus allows the weighting type (or if the teacher has already started using the weighting type before the restriction was put in place). Any weighting types not allowed by the campus are not displayed. If you are using a weighting type that the campus decides to disallow partway through the current year, the following applies:

• You can continue to use the weighting type until the end of the current year. After the current year, that weighting type will no longer be available.

• If you select another weighting type during the current year, you will not be able to reselect the disallowed weighting type.

If a category is specific to a particular weighting type (as specified at the campus level), the category is only displayed on this page if the appropriate weighting type is selected.

❏ Under Available Categories (left side):

The available categories are listed in alphabetical order.

If a category weight is locked (by campus admin), a lock icon is displayed next to the category name. The weight specified by the campus must be used and cannot be changed.

❏ Click Add Category Type to add a new category to the list of available categories.

The Add Category section is displayed below the available categories.

NOTE: If the campus disallows teachers from adding categories, the Add Category Type button is disabled; you must use the categories established by the campus.

Add Category

Category Name	Type the name of the new category. You cannot type a name that is already included in the list of available categories. Type carefully to avoid spelling errors. Category names are case-insensitive (e.g., if “quiz” already appears in the list, you cannot add “Quiz”).
PIN	Type your four-digit PIN.

❏ Click Save.

The new category is displayed in the list of available categories in alphabetical order. You can then add it to your Selected Categories list.

IMPORTANT: Once a category is added to the list of available categories, it cannot be deleted from the list. If you add a category by mistake, you must contact your campus administrator to have it removed at the campus level. The category cannot be removed if it has assignments associated with it.

❏ To add one of the Available Categories to the Selected Categories list, do one of the following:

Click-and-hold the category and drag it to the Selected Categories list.
Click for the category.
Double-click the category.

The category is added to the bottom of the Selected Categories list. If there is a default or locked weight, that weight is copied to all open cycles.

❏ Under Selected Categories (right side):

All selected categories for the specified course-section are displayed for all cycles in the semester.

The table changes according to your selection in the Weighting Type field. For each cycle, the column heading is % Weight, Points, or Multiplier according to your selection.

Cycle #	If a cycle is closed, the column heading for the cycle displays (closed), and the data cannot be changed.
% Weight	If the Weighting Type is Percentage, type the percentage for each category. The percentages must total 100% for the cycle. If you select a category created at the campus level, and the campus entered a weight for that category, the weight is displayed in the % Weight field for the category. You can change the weight, unless the campus locked the weight for the category. If the weight is locked, the weight is displayed in the field and cannot be changed.
Points	If the Weighting Type is Point, you cannot enter the total point values in the Points field. The field automatically displays the sum of the total points entered for all assignments for the category. For example, on the Administer Assignments page, if you enter five quizzes in the Quiz category, each with total points set to 100, the field displays 500.
Multiplier	If the Weighting Type is Multiplier, type a value between 1-9.
# Drop	For each cycle, type the number of items to be dropped during a cycle. For example, you may want to drop the student's three lowest grades from the homework category. The student's category average will always reflect the dropped grades. If you do not want to drop any grades from the category, type 0. Only non-excluded grades are dropped. If you exclude an assignment for a student on the Assignment Grades page, the assignment is not counted as one of the grades that will be dropped. Note that you can specify on the Manage Assignments page if you do not want to drop a specific assignment within the category. WARNING: If all assignments in the category do not have the same total points value (as entered on the Manage Assignments page), the calculations for dropping a specified number of assignments for the category may result in an average that is different than expected. If the total points value varies, the grade with the lowest number of points may not necessarily be the lowest grade.
Color	Click the icon to select a color for the category. A window opens allowing you to select a color. Click a color to select it. The selected color is used to color-code assignments on the Assignment Grades page. By default, no color is assigned to the category. The color can be changed any time.
	Click to remove a category from your Selected Categories list. NOTE: You cannot delete a category that has assignments associated with it during any cycle. To delete a category, you must first delete all grades and assignments for the semester, including grades for withdrawn students. All grades must be deleted before you can delete assignments.

Copy values from one cycle to another:

After you enter the weighting type value and number of assignments to drop for cycle 1, you can click to copy the values to cycles 2 and 3.

Save data:

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save.

NOTE: If the cycle is closed, you cannot save any changes; the button is disabled. If applicable, the button says All Cycles Closed.

Copy categories from one course-section to another:

Once you save the categories for a course, you can copy the categories to another course-section.

❏ From the Manage Categories page, use the Semester and Course-Section fields to select the course-section from which to copy categories.

❏ Click Copy categories to other course-sections.

The Copy Categories page opens.

Your active courses are listed.

From	The course, period, and section from which you are copying categories is displayed.
Course	Click a course title to view the existing categories for the course. A window opens which displays the categories for the course. Click OK to close the window.
Copy	Select one or more courses to copy the categories to. NOTE: You cannot copy to courses that have categories with assignments; the check box for the course is disabled.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Copy.

NOTE: If you attempt to copy categories to a course that already has categories (but no assignments), a warning message is displayed stating that you will override any categories that exist for the other course(s).

Click Continue if appropriate.

❏ Click Return to Categories to return to the Manage Categories page.

During the school year:

The following tasks should be done at the beginning of the year but can be modified during the year.

Create seating charts.

Settings > Manage Seating Charts

This page allows you to create and maintain seating charts for all of your classes. The seating chart lists the student name, gender, and ID. The seats are color coded by gender.

Student seats can be rearranged at any time.

You must create a new seating chart for each semester of a course. If the course is more than one semester, you can copy the seating chart to subsequent semesters.

IMPORTANT: It is recommended that you set the Combine Courses in Attendance field on your Update Profile page the way you want it for the semester before creating the seating chart.

About combining and uncombining courses

If you change the setting of the Combine Courses in Attendance field, the data will be preserved as much as possible; however, you must then verify that your seating charts are correct for all periods, make the necessary changes, and then save the seating charts again.

If you change the Combine Courses in Attendance field during the semester, the following applies:

If Combine Courses in Attendance was not originally selected and you have only one course per period, you created a seating chart, and then you selected Combine Courses in Attendance, the seating chart is not affected; however, you must re-save the seating charts for all periods.
If Combine Courses in Attendance was not originally selected and you have some periods with multiple courses (each with its own seating chart), you created a seating chart, and then you selected Combine Courses in Attendance, the following occurs when you retrieve one of the periods on the Seating Chart Setup page:
- Only the seating chart for the first course in the list is preserved.
- The remaining students are displayed under Unassigned Students.
- If the first course in the list has no students enrolled, no seating chart is preserved. You must recreate the chart.
If Combine Courses in Attendance was originally selected and you have only one course per period, you created a seating chart, and then you cleared Combine Courses in Attendance, the seating chart is not affected, you must re-save the seating charts for all periods.
If Combine Courses in Attendance was originally selected and you have some periods with multiple courses, you created a seating chart for students from multiple courses, and then you cleared Combine Courses in Attendance, the following occurs when you retrieve a period/course on the Seating Chart Setup page:
- Only the chart dimensions of the seating chart for the first period/course you attempt to edit is preserved.
- Only seats for students enrolled in the course are preserved.
- The remaining students are displayed under Unassigned Students.
- You must recreate the chart for the other courses that were previously combined in the period.

If a student transfers to the class, he is listed under Unassigned Students.

If a student drops the course, his seat is blank.

Date	Type a date in the MMDDYYYY format, or click to select a date from the calendar. The date is used to verify current enrollment in the class. NOTE: If you are setting up a seating chart before the first day of school, enter the date of the first class.
Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.
Period	Select the period-course to create a seating chart for. By default, the field displays the first period for which you have not posted attendance. NOTE: If Combine Courses in Attendance is selected on your Settings > Update Profile page, the courses are combined by period.

If a seating chart already exists for the period, the seating chart is displayed.

Layout Options

Select a layout for the seating chart:

Alphabetical by row - Students are placed in alphabetical order by last name starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing horizontally, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are at the back of the room.

Alphabetical by column - Students are placed in alphabetical order by last name starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing vertically toward the back of the room, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are on the right side of the room.

Numerical by row - Students are placed in numerical order by student ID starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing horizontally, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are at the back of the room.

Numerical by column - Students are placed in numerical order by student ID starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing vertically toward the back of the room, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are on the right side of the room.

Random - Students are placed in random order. If there are more seats than students, the empty seats are at the back of the room. Every time you click Preview Layout, the random order changes; you can try multiple random layouts until you find one that works best.

Blank - A blank seating chart is displayed, and all students are listed either beside or below the chart (depending on the size of the chart). You can drag students from the Unassigned Students list to the seating chart.

If you previously saved a seating chart and return to this page, the student seats are arranged according to your last saved layout; however, the Layout Options field is always set to Random by default. Even if you selected an alphabetical or numerical arrangement, you may have manually moved students; therefore, the program assumes the students may have been moved.

Rows
Columns

Type the number of rows (horizontal) and columns (vertical) for the seating chart. You can have up to 11 rows and 11 columns.

❏ Click Preview Layout.

The seating chart is displayed according to the criteria entered.

REMINDER: When you click Preview Layout, the changes are not saved. You must type your PIN and click Save Seating Chart to save the changes.

Unassigned Students	If there are more students enrolled in the class than seats available, the extra students are listed either beside or below the seating chart (depending on the size of the chart).
Show Pictures	Select to display student photos in the seating chart. Photos are only available if they have been added by the district.

Each seat lists the student's name, gender, and student ID.
You can click the student ID to view the student's profile.
The seats are color-coded by gender. Seats for females are shaded pink, and seats for males are shaded blue.

❏ You can manually arrange students as needed by dragging a student to a new location.

If a student is dragged to a new location that is currently occupied, the two students switch seats.
If the student is dragged to an unoccupied location, his original location becomes unoccupied.
You can drag students to and from the Unassigned Students list. If a student is dragged to a new location that is currently occupied, the two students switch places. The student from the list now has a seat, and the student who had a seat is now in the list.
To re-sort the students using one of the layout options, select an option from the Layout Options field, and then click Preview Layout. The students are sorted according to the new layout.

Save changes:

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save Seating Chart.

Print the seating chart:

❏ Click Print.

The Seating Charts Report Selection page opens allowing you to make selections for running the report.

Generate seating chart report.

Reports > Seating Charts

This report prints a teacher's seating charts for all periods or one period. For each period, the seating chart is displayed followed by a list of students who are not assigned to seats. The seating chart lists the student name, gender, and ID.

If printed for all periods, each period prints on a separate page.

NOTE: If that field has been changed, and the seating charts have not been re-saved on Settings > Manage Charts since the setting was changed, a warning message is displayed when the report is generated indicating that the reports will not be accurate until the Manage Seating Charts page has been re-saved. You must review the seating chart for each period on the Manage Seating Charts page, make any necessary changes, and then re-save each chart.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester

The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.

Period

Select the period-course(s) to print the seating chart for, or select ALL CLASSES to print seating charts for all periods.

If Combine Courses in Attendance is selected on your Settings > Update Profile page, the courses are combined by period.

width

Select the width setting for the report.

Fixed Seat Width	Select to print a report in which all seats are the same width. This setting works for small and average-size classes. For larger classes, some seats may not print on the page.
Auto-Adjusted Seat Width	Select to print a report in which each column is adjusted to the student name. Each column is only wide enough to accommodate the longest name in the column; therefore, some columns are wider than others. This setting is a better option for larger classes.

For either width setting, you can adjust the orientation when you print. Select Landscape to increase the number of students that fit on the page.

Show Pictures

Select to display student photos in the seating chart. Photos are only available if they have been added by the district.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Arrange student order.

There are two steps for arranging the order of students in your classes. First, specify the default order for new students on the Update Profile page. Then, use the Arrange Student Order page to arrange current students.

Settings > Update Profile

Current Password

For added protection of this information, you must type your current password to update data on the Update Profile, even though you have already logged on to TeacherPortal.

IMPORTANT: If you have three unsuccessful attempts to access the page (invalid password), you will be logged out of your account. If this occurs, contact your campus administrator to have your account reset. To exit without saving any changes, click Home or any other menu item to go to another page.

Student Order

Select where you want new students to be listed on the following pages and reports:

• Assignment Grades
• Cycle Grades
• IPR Comments
• Print IPR
• Assignment Grades Report
• Class Roster Report

Alpha (default) order - All students are listed in alphabetical order, regardless of the custom sort order established on the Arrange Student Order page.

Add new students to the top of the list - Any new students who have enrolled in the course-section since you last saved a custom sort order are displayed at the top of the list. If you have not set up a custom sort order, new students are displayed in alphabetical order.

Add new students to the bottom of the list - Any new students who have enrolled in the course-section since you last saved a custom sort order are displayed at the bottom of the list. If you have not set up a custom sort order, new students are displayed in alphabetical order.

The setting is the same for all of your classes.

This field works in conjunction with Settings > Arrange Student Order and is only available to users who are logged on as teachers. The field is not available to administrative users.

IMPORTANT:

The setting of the Student Order field is only valid if you have created a custom student order on Settings > Arrange Student Order. If you are not using a custom student order, select Alpha (default) order.

NOTE:

If you select the option to list new students at the top or bottom of the list, but you have not set up a custom sort order for all course-sections, only classes that have a custom sort order are affected. For all other course-sections, all students are listed in alphabetical order.

The Student Order field allows you to toggle between displaying students in alphabetical order and your custom sort order. If you have created a custom sort order, you can temporarily change this field so your students are displayed in alphabetical order. When you change the field again to add new students to the top or bottom of the list, your custom sort order is retained.

❏ Click Next.

If you did not select Update Hint Questions, the Success page is displayed.

❏ Click Finish.

You are redirected to the Announcements page.

Settings > Arrange Student Order

This page allows you to determine the order in which your students are listed on the following pages:

Grades > Assignment Grades
Grades > Cycle Grades
Grades > IPR Comments
Grades > Print IPR
Reports > Assignment Grades (listed as a sorting option)
Reports > Class Roster

The order is set by semester. You must re-do the order each semester.

You must be logged on as a teacher to use this page. The page is not displayed for administrative users.

IMPORTANT: Before using this page, you must set a preference for new students in the Student Order field on Settings > Update Profile. The field must be set to add students to the top of the list or bottom of the list. Otherwise, the order established on this page is not utilized on the other pages throughout TeacherPortal.

Once the Student Order is set on Settings > Update Profile:

❏ Specify the course-section:

Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.
Course-Section	Select the course-section you want to arrange students for.

❏ Click Retrieve.

All students in the selected course-section are listed, including withdrawn students.

If you have not previously arranged students in this course-section, the students are listed in alphabetical order.
If you have previously arranged the students, the students are listed in the last saved order.
To the right of the student list, a message indicates your current setting on the Settings > Update Profile page regarding the placement of new students. A link to the page is provided, allowing you to easily change your setting.
You can click the student ID to view the student profile.

❏ Rearrange students using drag-and-drop. Click and hold the student ID, and drag the student to the new position.

Save changes:

When you are satisfied with the arrangement, you must save your changes.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save Arrangement.

If your changes were saved successfully, the page reloads, and a message is displayed indicating that the student list order was saved.

Combine courses in attendance.

Settings > Update Profile

Current Password

For added protection of this information, you must type your current password to update data on the Update Profile, even though you have already logged on to TeacherPortal.

IMPORTANT: If you have three unsuccessful attempts to access the page (invalid password), you will be logged out of your account. If this occurs, contact your campus administrator to have your account reset. To exit without saving any changes, click Home or any other menu item to go to another page.

Combine Courses in Attendance

Select if you want to combine classes for attendance reporting.

If you have multiple course-sections that meet during the same period, this option allows you to record attendance for all sections at one time. If you plan to create a seating chart on Settings > Manage Seating Charts, it is highly recommended that you set this field the way you want it for the semester before creating the seating chart.

If you do not want to combine courses for attendance reporting (e.g., PK courses that meet morning and afternoon), do not select the field.

❏ Click Next.

If you did not select Update Hint Questions, the Success page is displayed.

❏ Click Finish.

You are redirected to the Announcements page.

Set a default due date for assignments.

Settings > Update Profile

Current Password

For added protection of this information, you must type your current password to update data on the Update Profile, even though you have already logged on to TeacherPortal.

IMPORTANT: If you have three unsuccessful attempts to access the page (invalid password), you will be logged out of your account. If this occurs, contact your campus administrator to have your account reset. To exit without saving any changes, click Home or any other menu item to go to another page.

Default Assignment Due Date

Indicate if you want a default date to be displayed in the Date Due field on Settings > Manage Assignments.

You can select no default date, the current date, or up to five days in the future.

Example: If you selected Current Date +2, and the current date is May 20, the Date Due field on Settings > Manage Assignments will display May 22 by default. If May 22 occurs on the weekend, the Date Due field will display the date of the following Monday.

❏ Click Next.

If you did not select Update Hint Questions, the Success page is displayed.

❏ Click Finish.

You are redirected to the Announcements page.

Add or update course notes.

Settings > Manage Courses

This page allows you to set course-wide information. Data entered on this page affects only the selected course-section.

❏ Specify the course-section:

Course-Section	Select the course-section you want to enter data for. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses.

❏ Click Retrieve.

Course Note

(Optional) Type comments and notes about this course, such as reminders, announcements, and other course-related information. These comments are viewable to parents in ParentPortal.

Only the teacher can add/modify a course note. An administrator cannot add or update a note on behalf of a teacher.

NOTE: A course note must be added for each course individually, including courses that are part of a course group. If the note applies to all courses in the group, it must be added for each course in the group.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save.

Add teacher notes such as conference periods and contact information.

Settings > Update Profile

Current Password

For added protection of this information, you must type your current password to update data on the Update Profile, even though you have already logged on to TeacherPortal.

IMPORTANT: If you have three unsuccessful attempts to access the page (invalid password), you will be logged out of your account. If this occurs, contact your campus administrator to have your account reset. To exit without saving any changes, click Home or any other menu item to go to another page.

Notes

Use the field to provide additional notes to parents in ParentPortal, such as conference periods or any other general information they may need.

❏ Click Next.

If you did not select Update Hint Questions, the Success page is displayed.

❏ Click Finish.

You are redirected to the Announcements page.

Create rubrics for grading assignments (if enabled for campus).

The rubric feature is only available if enabled by the campus.

To use a rubric for grading an assignment, you must first create the rubric, and then associated the rubric with a particular assignment.

Settings > Set Up Rubrics

This page allows you to create rubric charts that can be used for grading assignments. A rubric chart is a set of criteria (i.e., skills) used for assessing a student's work or performance and includes levels of potential achievement (i.e., scores) for each criterion.

Once a rubric is created, you can associate the rubric chart with an assignment on Settings > Manage Assignments. Then, the rubric will be available for the assignment on Grades > Assignment Grades.

Your existing rubric charts (i.e., rubric charts created by you) are listed. Otherwise, the message “No rubrics found” is displayed.

Add a rubric chart:

In the field next to the Add Rubric button, type a unique name for the new rubric chart, then click Add Rubric.

The new rubric chart is added to the Available Rubrics list.

Available Rubrics	Click for the new rubric chart. The rubric opens on the right side under Editing Rubric: {Rubric Name}, where {Rubric Name} is the name you entered.

❏ Under Editing Rubric: {Rubric Name}:

A grid is displayed allowing you to enter criteria (i.e., skills) and scores for each criterion.

❏ Add Skills:

To add skills to the rubric chart, type the first skill name, up to 50 characters, and click Add Skill. The skill is added to the grid, and a blank field is displayed allowing you to add another skill.

Continue adding skills as needed.

❏ Add Scores:

Each rubric chart must have at least one column under Scores.

Establish a set of score names. For example, you could create the following set of five score names: Not Attempted, Below Average, Average, Above Average, and Exceeds Expectations.

To add a score, type the first score name (e.g., Not Attempted), up to 50 characters, and then click Add Score. The score is added to the grid, and a blank field is displayed allowing you to add another score.

Continue adding scores as needed.

❏ Enter Low/High Points:

For each score, use the Low Points and High Points fields to establish a range of possible points within each score. Or, you can assign a single point value for each score.

The fields can have up to three digits.

Example 1 (with score ranges):

Within each score, you can establish a range of possible points:

The Not Attempted score may have Low Points and High Points both set to 0, because 0 points would be awarded if the student did not attempt the skill.

The Below Average score may have Low Points set to 1, and High Points set to 10, so a student who performed below average on the skill can earn between 1 and 10 points.

The Average score may have Low Points set to 11, and High Points set to 20, so a student who had average performance on the skill can earn between 11 and 20 points.

The Above Average score may have Low Points set to 21, and High Points set to 30, so a student who had above average performance on the skill can earn between 21 and 30 points. The highest score a student could receive would be 30.

The Exceeds Expectations score may have Low Points set to 31, and High Points set to 40, so a student who had above average performance on the skill can earn between 31 and 40 points. The highest score a student could receive would be 40.

In this example, if 10 skills were scored, the student could earn a maximum of 400 points for the assignment.

Example 2 (without score ranges):

To assign a specific number of points to each score, type the number of possible points in the Low Points field and leave the High Points field blank. When you save, the High Points field will automatically be set to the value in the Low Points field.

The Not Attempted score may have Low Points set to 0, because 0 points would be awarded if the student did not attempt the skill. Leave High Points set to 0 or blank.

The Below Average score may have Low Points set to 1, because 1 point would be awarded if the student had below average performance for the skill. Leave High Points set to 0 or blank.

The Average score may have Low Points set to 2, because 2 points would be awarded if the student had average performance for the skill. Leave High Points set to 0 or blank.

The Above Average score may have Low Points set to 3, because 3 points would be awarded if the student had above average performance for the skill. Leave High Points set to 0 or blank. The highest score a student could receive would be 3.

The Exceeds Expectations score may have Low Points set to 4, because 4 points would be awarded if the student had above average performance for the skill. Leave High Points set to 0 or blank. The highest score a student could receive would be 4.

In this example, if 10 skills were scored, the student could earn a maximum of 40 points for the assignment.

❏ Enter a score note:

(Optional) For each skill, type a note about the score as it relates to the specific skill, up to 255 characters. The note is used to further clarify the requirements for awarding points for the skill.

See Notes on Special Characters and Copy/Paste From Other Documents.

TIP: You can expand the size of the fields by dragging the bottom-right corner of the field to the desired size. When you save the note, the field will return to its original size.

Scores must be entered in ascending order from left to right.

Scores cannot be out of sequence; however gaps can exist.

❏ Click Save.

Total Points	The highest possible number of points a student can earn for this assignment is calculated and displayed in the bottom-right corner. The number changes every time you save changes that affect the total possible points for the rubric chart.

❏ To save a copy of the displayed rubric chart with another name (e.g., to use the rubric chart as a template for another rubric chart), type the new name in the field next to the Save As button, then click Save As.

The new rubric chart is added to the Available Rubrics list. The new rubric chart can be modified as needed.

Edit a rubric chart:

❏ Under Available Rubrics (left), click for the rubric chart you want to change.

The rubric chart opens under Editing Rubric (right). Modify the chart as needed, and then click Save.

NOTE:
If you attempt to edit a rubric chart that is in use, a message is displayed indicating the number of assignments using the rubric chart; however, you are not prevented from modifying some parts of the rubric chart:

The skills cannot be changed.
You cannot add a skill; the Add Skill button is not displayed.
You must keep at least one column under Scores.
The score note field can be modified.
You can add scores, but you must maintain the same Total Points.

Delete a rubric chart:

❏ Under Available Rubrics (left), click to delete an existing rubric chart.

❏ You are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the rubric chart. Click OK.

NOTE: You cannot delete a rubric chart that is in use (i.e., associated with any assignment).

Associate a rubric with an assignment:

Settings > Manage Assignments

❏ Click Add new assignment to add a new assignment.

A blank row is added to the grid. Enter the assignment name and other details.

❏ In the Rubric column:

You can assign an existing rubric chart to the assignment, which allows you to grade the assignment using a rubric chart. The rubric charts are created on Settings > Rubric Setup.

• If a rubric chart is not currently associated with the assignment, the icon (three black squares) is displayed.

• If a rubric chart is currently associated with the assignment, the icon (four multicolored squares) is displayed.

❏ Click the icon to associate a rubric chart with the assignment or to change the associated rubric chart.

The rubric chart window opens.

Under Available Rubrics, any rubric charts you have created that have at least one skill and one score are listed.

Available Rubrics	Click for the rubric chart you want to use. If the rubric is selected, the box becomes yellow . You can only change the rubric chart assigned to an assignment if no grades exist for the rubric chart.

❏ Click Assign Selected Rubric.

The window closes.

IMPORTANT: The Total Points field for the assignment changes to display the maximum possible points for the rubric chart (maximum possible points x skill count) and is read-only.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save.

The icon changes to multicolored squares to indicate that a rubric is associated with the assignment.

Use a rubric to grade an assignment:

Grades > Assignment Grades

Once a rubric chart has been associated with the assignment, you can use the rubric for determining the student’s assignment grade.

❏ Select the semester, cycle, course section, and any other applicable criteria, and then click Retrieve.

The assignment grades table displays all students currently enrolled in the course-section and the assignments according to your selections.

If a rubric chart has been associated with the assignment, the multicolored squares icon is displayed next to the grade field allowing you to grade the assignment using a rubric chart.

❏ Click to open the rubric in a window.

The window opens allowing you to type a score for each skill.

❏ In the Scores field, type the number of points earned by the student for each skill.

For your reference, the Max Points per Skill field displays the highest number of points for a skill, as indicated on the Rubric Setup page; however, you are not prevented from entering a score above this number.

❏. When all scores have been entered, click Update Assignment Grade.

The grade (i.e., the sum of all scores entered) is calculated and displayed in the grade field.

❏ Type your PIN and click Save.

NOTES:

You can type a grade directly into the grade field even if a rubric chart is assigned to the assignment.
When entering a score for a skill, you are not limited to the range specified in the rubric chart. For example, if the score range is 0-5, you are not prevented from typing 0 or 6.
If the grade for the assignment should be zero, you must type 0 for one of the skill scores in the rubric chart.
If you type a score for some skills but not all skills in the rubric chart, the sum of the scores entered is calculated and displayed in the grade field.

Generate rubric report (if enabled for campus).

There are two ways to access the rubric printing options:

From the Manage Rubric Charts page, click Print.
From the Reports menu, select Rubrics.

Print the rubric chart:

❏ Click Print to print a report of the displayed rubric chart.

The Rubric Report Selection page opens allowing you to make selections for printing the report.

This report prints a rubric chart which has been set up on Settings > Manage Rubric Charts. You can print only the rubric chart (i.e., blank), or you can print the rubric chart with student grades for a particular assignment.

❏ Specify report options:

Rubric Name

Select the rubric chart you want to print. Only rubric charts that have skills and scores already set up are listed.

Title

(Optional) Type a title for the report, up to 50 characters. If blank, the rubric chart name is used as the title.

Print with grades

Select to print the report with student grades. This field is only displayed if the selected rubric chart has already been used to grade an assignment.

If selected, an additional field is displayed allowing you to select a course-section. Only course-sections that have a rubric chart set up are listed.

course-section

Once you select a course-section, another field is displayed allowing you to select the assignment that was graded with a rubric chart.

assignment

Once you select an assignment, a list of students in the course-section is displayed, along with their grade for the assignment.

This Student	Select for the students you want to print the rubric for. You can select Check all at the top of the column to select all students in the course-section.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Use Student Group Manager.

Manage Student Groups

Settings > Manage Student Groups

This page allows you to create and maintain groups of students for reporting purposes. The student groups can be campus-wide and are not limited to a particular course-section. Special group reports are available to provide data for the student groups.

Teachers are given access by administrators to create student groups as follows:

No access: (Teacher cannot create student groups.) If you do not have access, the Student Group Manager page is not listed in the menu.
Course-wide access: (Teacher can create student groups that include only students enrolled in your courses.)
Campus-wide access: (Teacher can create student groups that include any students at the campus.) If you do not have this access, an administrative user (impersonating you as the teacher) can create groups for you. Groups can only be created for teachers who have a TeacherPortal account.

Users can run group reports for their own groups, regardless of who created the group.

Create a group:

Group Manager (left grid)

Your existing groups are listed. Otherwise, the message “No Student Groups were found” is displayed.

Group Reports (right grid)

The available student group reports are listed; they are linked to the reports in the Reports > Student Group Reports menu. Some of the group reports mirror other reports available in the Reports menu.

If no groups exist, the message “No Student Groups Exist” is displayed in place of any reports.

Group Manager (left grid)

To add a new group, type a unique group name in the field next to the Add Group button, then click Add Group. See notes on Special Characters allowed when entering the group name.

The group is listed in the Group Manager (left grid) with a student count of 0.

	Click to add or delete students in the group. The Manage My Group page opens. From that page, add students to your group, save, and then click Return to Student Group Manager to return to this page. The Count column is updated to reflect the number of students selected.
	Click to delete a group. You are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the group. Click OK.

Group Reports (left grid)

Click a report title to run the report for a student group:

• The group Admin Student Grades page allows you to run the Admin Student Grades report for a student group.

• The Attendance Summary report generates a summary report of student attendance for a specified student group.

• The Student Grades Report (and UIL Eligibility) Report lists student working cycle averages for all of their courses, which allows you to determine UIL eligibility and locate students who may be at risk of losing eligibility. Courses in which the student has failing grades are shaded pink.

Copy a group to another teacher:

This is only available for administrative users.

❏ Click Copy Group to Another Teacher to copy a teacher's student groups to another teacher.

The Copy Student Groups page opens.

Teacher Guide to ASCENDER TeacherPortal

Click here to generate a PDF of this guide.

Daily Tasks

Attendance tasks:

Post attendance.

Attendance > Post/View Attendance

This page allows you to record and post attendance for each period. You can also view attendance data that has already been posted.

NOTE: You can post the data only once for each period-course. If you discover an error after you have posted, you must contact the attendance clerk to correct the record.

Flexible attendance cannot be posted from TeacherPortal.

❏ Retrieve the students.

Date	The current date is displayed by default. Type another date in the MMDDYYYY format, or click to select a date from the calendar. Courses are only displayed on the days met. For example, if a course meets only on Monday, it is displayed only when the attendance date is a Monday. You can select a Saturday if Saturday is a valid attendance date, even if the course does not meet on Saturday. This may be used for bad weather makeup days. NOTE: Some campuses may not allow you to post attendance for a prior date. In this case, the Post button is not displayed for prior dates. NOTE: You will get an error message, Attendance posting more than XX days prior not allowed., if the posting date is greater than the number of days entered in the Days field on Grade Reporting > Maintenance > TeacherPortal Options > Campus and the Allow Prior Days Posting field is checked.
Semester	The semester of the selected date is displayed by default.
Period	Select the period-course for which to view or record attendance. By default, the first period for which you have not posted attendance is selected. Attendance can be posted only once for each date-period. If you already posted attendance for this date-period, the period is shaded in the drop-down list. If you select a shaded period, a message indicates that attendance has been posted for this date-period, and a view-only list is displayed.

The list of active students for the selected date and period-course is displayed.

The columns can be re-sorted.

If attendance is already posted for the selected date-period-course, the attendance data is view only.
- Student absences and tardies are highlighted, and you can click the comments icon to view any comments associated with the absence.
- If a student withdrew from the course since attendance was posted for the date, his attendance record is displayed.
- If a student's enrollment date is after the selected attendance date, his attendance record is not displayed.
If you teach multiple courses for the selected period, by default, all students in all courses are listed. This setting can be changed using the Combine Courses in Attendance field on Settings > Update Profile.
New students are indicated with the “new” icon next to their student ID. The icon remains for one day only.
Attendance-only courses are included in the class list.
Students whose attendance is excluded from reporting are listed, but you cannot record attendance. (This is a rare circumstance.)
Students who withdrew from the course are no longer listed.

Student ID	The student's ID is displayed. Click the student ID to view the student's profile.
	The Star of Life icon is displayed for any student who has medical circumstances you should be aware of. To view details, click the student ID to view the student's profile (Medical Alerts section).
Last Name First Name	The first and last names of the students in the selected course-period are listed.

❏ Under Attendance:

By default, all students are set to Present. You will see these options if your campus chooses to use Remote Asynch attendance, Remote Sync attendance, or Both.

Present - physically present in the classroom
Remote Synch - online at the time of class
Remote Asynch - will complete the assignment at a later time

As you mark students Absent or Tardy, the rows change color.

• Tardy students are shaded yellow.
• Absent students are shaded red.

If a student's absence is pre-posted (e.g., a scheduled band trip or a student who called in sick), the student is shaded gray, and the Attendance field displays the reason for the absence. Pre-posted absences are handled by the attendance clerk, so you are not able to mark attendance for the student.

	The icon is displayed next to the attendance, if the attendance clerk entered comments associated with a student's attendance for the date and period displayed. Click the icon to view the comments. The Comments window opens, and the comments are displayed. The date-time and user ID of the person who entered the comments are also displayed. Click Close to close the Comments window.

• The Absent and Tardy fields are disabled during the ADA period, on the first day of school, and on the first day of enrollment.

• The Absent and Tardy fields are enabled during the ADA period if the student has a withdrawal reason due to a status change.

The Tardy field may not be displayed depending on campus attendance settings.

If the district allows tardies during the ADA period, the tardies may only be valid during a set number of minutes for the period. After this number of minutes has passed, the student should no longer be marked as Tardy and should be marked as Absent, although the program does not prevent you from marking a student as Tardy (except on the first day of semester 1). The number of minutes is determined by the district. If applicable, a message is displayed above the table indicating when tardies are valid.

Students who are on a track that does not meet on the selected date are listed; however, the Absent, Tardy, and Present fields are replaced by a message indicating that the date is not a membership day for the student.

Students whose first day (or re-entry day) is not the official first day of school cannot be marked absent during the ADA period on their first day. The Absent option is disabled.

Grade	The student's grade level is displayed.
Course Section	The course-section is displayed.
# Students	The total number of students enrolled in this period is displayed at the bottom of the Student ID column.
Print	Click to print the attendance roster for one period or all periods. The Attendance Roster Report Selection page opens allowing you to make selections for printing the Attendance Roster report.

Post attendance:

❏ After you have recorded attendance for the course, review your input carefully.

Be sure to follow procedures established by the district for recording attendance.

When you are satisfied with your attendance input, you must post the data.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN). For your convenience, the PIN box and Post button are displayed at the top and bottom of the attendance list. You can use either box to post attendance. NOTE: Once attendance is posted the PIN box and Post button will be disabled.

❏ Click Post.

If you indicated that all students are present (and no absences were previously entered by the attendance clerk), you are prompted you to confirm that all students are marked present.

❏ Click Confirm to confirm.

Attendance is posted.

Generate attendance verification report.

Reports > Attendance Verification

This report displays attendance for all of your students for a selected course-section and date range. You can view data for up to one semester. You can also generate a summary report that displays only totals for the selected date range.

The following codes are used:

A - Excused absence
S - School-related absences
T - Tardy
X - Truant

An asterisk next to the attendance code indicates that the absence or tardy occurred in a course other than the course the student is currently enrolled in (e.g., if he transferred from one course to another during the school year).

NOTES:

Inservice work days are indicated with an I in the column heading.
Saturday may be a valid attendance date, even if the course does not meet on Saturday. This may be used for bad weather makeup days.
If you are printing the report for more than three weeks, you should set the printer orientation setting to landscape or the Page Scaling field to Shrink to Printable Area. If the Shrink to Printable Area setting is not enabled, the landscape orientation will accommodate up to six weeks plus the Total column per page. Additional weeks (up to one semester) can be generated by entering the appropriate dates in the From Date and To Date fields; however, the report will print on multiple sheets of paper with a Total column on each page.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester	The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.
Course-Section	Select the course-section and period for which to print the report.

From Date To Date	Enter the beginning and ending dates. Both dates must fall within the selected semester.
Include Withdrawn Students	Withdrawn students are not automatically included. Select the field to include withdrawn students in the report.
Summary Only	Select to display only totals for the selected date range. If not selected, the report lists all absences for the selected date range.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Generate attendance rosters.

Attendance > Attendance Rosters

This page allows you to print attendance rosters for one course or all of your courses at one time. A signature line is provided at the bottom of each period-course.

Date	Type a date in the MMDDYYYY format, or click to select a date from the calendar.
Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.
Period	Select the period-course for which you want to print the roster. Or, select ALL CLASSES to print rosters for all periods.
Sorting Options	Indicate if you want to sort the rosters by student ID, last name, first name, or course-section.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Generate seating chart report.

Reports > Seating Charts

This report prints a teacher's seating charts for all periods or one period. For each period, the seating chart is displayed followed by a list of students who are not assigned to seats. The seating chart lists the student name, gender, and ID.

If printed for all periods, each period prints on a separate page.

NOTE: If that field has been changed, and the seating charts have not been re-saved on Settings > Manage Charts since the setting was changed, a warning message is displayed when the report is generated indicating that the reports will not be accurate until the Manage Seating Charts page has been re-saved. You must review the seating chart for each period on the Manage Seating Charts page, make any necessary changes, and then re-save each chart.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester

The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.

Period

Select the period-course(s) to print the seating chart for, or select ALL CLASSES to print seating charts for all periods.

If Combine Courses in Attendance is selected on your Settings > Update Profile page, the courses are combined by period.

width

Select the width setting for the report.

Fixed Seat Width	Select to print a report in which all seats are the same width. This setting works for small and average-size classes. For larger classes, some seats may not print on the page.
Auto-Adjusted Seat Width	Select to print a report in which each column is adjusted to the student name. Each column is only wide enough to accommodate the longest name in the column; therefore, some columns are wider than others. This setting is a better option for larger classes.

For either width setting, you can adjust the orientation when you print. Select Landscape to increase the number of students that fit on the page.

Show Pictures

Select to display student photos in the seating chart. Photos are only available if they have been added by the district.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Generate class roster report.

Reports > Class Roster

This report provides a blank class roster by semester and course, including a list of students enrolled in the course and up to 50 blank columns. You can choose the sort order and whether to include the student’s birth date and contact information. The report can be exported in CSV format.

If you print the report for a course group, the Course Section column is included allowing you to identify the course-section in which the student is enrolled.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester

The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.

Course-Section

Select the course-section and period for which to print the report. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses.

If course groups have been created on the Course Grouping page, the groups are listed as well as the individual courses.

Columns

Type the number of blank columns to display on the report, up to 50.

Display Options

Birthday	Select to include the student's birth date. The Birthday column will be included in the report.
Student Email	Select to include the student’s email address.
Contact Information	Select to include the student's contact information. The Contact Information columns will be included in the report, and all of the student's contacts are listed. The contact's name, relationship, cell phone, home phone, business phone, other phone, mailing address, and e-mail address are listed.
Guardian Last Viewed IPR/Report Card Date	Select to include the date on which a parent/guardian last viewed the student's interim progress report (IPR) or report card online.

Sorting Options

Indicate the order in which to sort the report data. You can sort by student name (last name), Student ID, course-section (for course groups), birth date (if included), or custom student order.

Custom student order is the order specified for the course-section on Settings > Arrange Student Order.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Grading tasks:

Create assignments.

Settings > Manage Assignments

This page allows you to add assignments for your active courses, including extra credit assignments. You can also copy the assignments to other courses.

Categories must be established for the course on Settings > Manage Categories before you can add assignments.

Different fields are displayed according to the type of course selected (category-based (i.e., regular) courses and standards-based courses).

You cannot make changes to assignments once the cycle is closed.

❏ Specify the course-section:

Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.
Cycle	The current cycle is displayed by default. You can select another cycle.
Course-Section	Select the course-section you want to add assignments for. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses. NOTE: For courses that are part of a course group, any changes to an assignment will apply to all courses in the group. An assignment can only be modified or deleted if no grades exist for the assignment for any course in the group.

❏ Click Retrieve.

Assignments that have previously been entered for the semester-cycle-course-section are listed. Otherwise, the message “No Assignment Exists” is displayed.

❏ Click Add new assignment to add a new assignment.

A blank row is added to the grid.

Assignment Name

Type a name for the assignment (e.g., Pop Quiz 1), up to 50 characters, that is unique no matter what the category is per semester/cycle. Assignment names can be changed at any time, as needed.

TIP: It is helpful to keep the assignment name as brief as possible; however, the name should be descriptive enough to distinguish it from other assignments. Longer assignment names require more space on the Assignment Grades page, which may result in a more cumbersome page.

See notes on Special Characters and Copy/Paste From Other Documents.

NOTE: Assignment Names cannot contain a pipe character ( | ).

Category

Select a category for the assignment. These categories are established on Settings > Manage Categories.

If a color has been assigned to the category on the Manage Categories page, the drop-down list displays the assigned color for the category.

This field is not displayed for standards-based courses; the Edit Standards column is displayed instead.

Edit Standards/Skills

For standards-based courses, the number of standards currently associated for the assignment is displayed.

This field is only displayed for standards-based courses.

# Standards

❏ Click the link.

The Editing Standards for Assignment: Assignment Name window opens.

An assignment cannot be saved unless it has at least one standard associated with it.

Available Standards	All available standard-sets and associated standards are listed. Select the standards you want to associate with the assignment. To select multiple consecutive standards, click the first standard, then press and hold SHIFT while clicking the last standard in the range. To select multiple nonconsecutive standards, click a standard, then press and hold CTRL while clicking the other standards.

❏ Click Add» to associate the selected standard(s) with the assignment.

Selected Standards	The selected standards are listed under the appropriate standard set name.

❏ To remove a standard from an assignment, select the standard under Selected Standards, and then click «Del.

The standard is moved back to the Available Standards list.

NOTE: You cannot delete a standard if there are any assignment grades for the standard.

❏ Click OK to close the window.

The Edit Standards field is updated to reflect the number of standards associated with the assignment.

Date Assigned

Type the assignment date in the MMDDYYYY format, or click to select a date from the calendar.

NOTE: This field is critical for running the Graded Assignment Count admin report. If this field is blank for an assignment, and a date range is selected when running the report, the assignment is not included in the report.

Date Due

Type the assignment date in the MMDDYYYY format, or click to select a date from the calendar.

NOTE: You can also set a default value for this field using the in the Default Assignment Due Date field on Settings > Update Profile. Valid options are no default date, the current date, or up to five days in the future. You can override the default date as needed.

Total Points

Type the total number of possible points for the assignment. Do not type zero unless it is an extra credit assignment. The field is set to 100 by default.

This field is not displayed for standards-based courses.

NOTE: If you have assigned a rubric chart to this assignment, this field displays the total possible points for the rubric chart and cannot be updated.

If you are using percentage-based weighting, and if the field is not set to 100, the warning icon is displayed next to the field. When you click , a warning message opens indicating that you should review the Help for Calculating Averages (Calculate Averages guide) to understand how the grades are calculated in this situation. This warning is also displayed when you click Save if the points are not set to 100.

Select Do not show this message again if you do not want to receive this reminder every time you click Save.

WARNING: If all assignments in a category do not have the same total points value, then the calculations for dropping a specified number of assignments for the category (as indicated in the # Drop field on Settings > Manage Categories) may result in an average that is different than expected. If the total points value varies, the grade with the lowest number of points may not necessarily be the lowest grade.

Extra Credit

Select if the assignment is for extra credit.

NOTE: If the assignment is for extra credit, the Total Points is set to zero and cannot be changed.

Extra credit assignments add points to the average for the category selected. If a student has no grade or a zero for the extra credit assignment, it does not count against him when his average is calculated.

See the Extra Credit section of the Calculate Averages guide for an explanation of calculating averages with extra credit for each weighting type.

This field is not available for standards-based courses or assignments that have a rubric chart assigned.

Do Not Drop

Select if you do not want to drop that particular assignment. This field relates to the # Drop field on Settings > Manage Categories.

If Do Not Drop is selected, the assignment grade is not dropped, even if it is the student's lowest grade, and you have specified to drop one or more of the lowest grades in a particular category.

This field does not apply to standards-based courses.

Rubric

You can assign an existing rubric chart to the assignment, which allows you to grade the assignment using a rubric chart. The rubric charts are created on Settings > Rubric Setup.

• If a rubric chart is not currently associated with the assignment, the icon (three black squares) is displayed.

• If a rubric chart is currently associated with the assignment, the icon (four multicolored squares) is displayed.

❏ Click the icon to associate a rubric chart with the assignment or to change the associated rubric chart.

The rubric chart window opens.

Under Available Rubrics, any rubric charts you have created that have at least one skill and one score are listed.

Available Rubrics	Click for the rubric chart you want to use. If the rubric is selected, the box becomes yellow . You can only change the rubric chart assigned to an assignment if no grades exist for the rubric chart.

❏ Click Assign Selected Rubric.

The window closes.

IMPORTANT: The Total Points field for the assignment changes to display the maximum possible points for the rubric chart (maximum possible points x skill count) and is read-only.

Notes

❏ Click to add or update optional notes for the assignment.

If entered, these notes are viewable in ParentPortal.

The notes above on special characters for the Assignment Name field also apply to this field.

❏ Add or update the note in the Note window and click OK.

The Note window closes, and the note icon is yellow to indicate that a note was entered.

❏ Or, to clear an existing note for the assignment, click Clear.

The Note window closes, and the note icon is gray to indicate that no notes exist.

Click to delete an assignment.

NOTE: You cannot delete an assignment if grades have been posted for the assignment.

If you delete grades on the Assignment Grades page in order to delete an assignment, you must be sure to delete the grade for any withdrawn students too.

Save assignments:

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save.

Copy assignments to another course-section:

Once you have saved assignments for a course, you can copy the assignments to another course-section.

❏ Use the Semester, Cycle, and Course-Section fields to select the course-section from which to copy assignments.

❏ Click Copy Assignments to Another Course-Section-Cycle.

The Copy Assignments page opens.

Once you establish the assignments for a course on Settings > Manage Assignments, you can copy the assignments to other course-sections.

If you are copying assignments for the current semester-cycle, the entire assignment record is copied, including the assignment date and due date.
If you are copying assignments to a future semester-cycle, the assignment record is copied without the assignment date and due date.

This page is only accessible from the Manage Assignments page.

From Course	The course-section, semester, and cycle selected on previous page are displayed. This is the course-section you are copying categories from.
Assignments to Copy	All assignments for the selected course-section are listed. Select specific assignments, or select All Assignments to select all.
Copy To Course-Section	All course-sections for all cycles are listed. Closed cycles are disabled. Select specific course-sections to copy assignments to, or select the cycle check box to select all course-sections for the cycle.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Copy.

The list of assignments and the courses to which the assignments were copied is displayed.

❏ Click Return to Assignments to return to the Manage Assignments page.

Enter assignment grades.

Grades > Assignment Grades

This page allows you to view and enter assignment grades for students by semester, cycle, and course-section. You can enter comments and indicators for each assignment grade (e.g., excluded, late, or re-do), and you can print grades by assignment. You can also accept transfer students into a course and enter a walk-in average for those students.

NOTE: Students are not listed on this page prior to the first day of school.

❏ Select the course-section you want to enter assignment grades for:

Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.
Cycle	The current cycle is displayed by default. You can select another cycle.
Course-Section	Select the course-section you want to enter assignment grades for. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses. NOTES: If the course is marked as ready to post on Grades > Cycle Grades, the message “[READY]” is displayed next to the course. If course groups have been created on Settings > Manage Course Groups > Course Grouping, the groups are listed, as well as the individual courses. Any group that does not have courses associated with it is not listed.

❏ Click Retrieve.

The students and assignments are displayed according to your selections in the previous steps. Students are sorted by last name, unless you have specified a custom sort order on Settings > Arrange Student Order.

❏ You can further filter the students and assignments displayed:

Category	Select the category to enter assignment grades for, or select All Categories. These categories are set up on Settings > Manage Categories. If a color has been assigned to the category on the Manage Categories page, the assigned color is displayed.
Assignment	Select the assignment you want to enter grades for, or select All Assignments.
Student	Select the student you want to filter by, or select All Students.

The grid lists all students currently enrolled in the course-section and the assignments according to your selections.

The columns can be re-sorted.

Student ID

The student's ID is displayed. Click the student ID to view the student's profile.

The Star of Life icon is displayed for any student who has medical circumstances you should be aware of. To view details, click the student ID to view the student's profile (Medical Alerts section).

Next to the student's name, click the icon to view or add a course note about the student. The note icon is yellow if a course note already exists for the student.

The Student Course Note pop-up window opens allowing you to enter or update comments.

NOTE: These notes are not displayed to parents/guardians.

The student's name is displayed. Verify that you are adding/updating the note for the correct student.

❏ Under Saved Notes:

Any existing notes for the student are listed. You can view all notes for courses to which you have access.

Cat: Note category codes:
• AT - Attendance
• DS - Discipline
• GN - General
• HL - Health
• SP - Supplies

Note: If you created the note, you can update it, up to 3269 characters.

Author: The last name of the person who entered the note is displayed based on the user login.

Last Updated: The date on which the note was last updated is displayed.

Delete: Select to delete an existing note. You can only delete a note if you created it, or if you are the Teacher of Record for the course. For example, the Teacher of Record can delete a note entered by an Assistant Teacher for the course.

❏ Under Add Note:

To add a new note, select the category code indicating what the new note is related to, such as AT for attendance.

In the text box, type the new note, up to 3269 characters per note.

❏ Click Save.

NOTE: The Student Notes report provides a report of these course notes.

Beside each student's name is the transfer icon (i.e., a gray T) indicating that he is not a transfer student. If a student transfers into the class, the red transfer icon is displayed next to his name.

NOTE: The student will only have a red T if he is transferring from one section to another section within the same course. Otherwise the T will remain gray.

If a student transfers into the course, you must accept the student into the course and enter his walk-in transfer average and weight. The campus, student ID, semester, and cycle must all be the same for the average to transfer.

❏ To accept the transfer student into the course-section, click .

The Transfer Walk-In Average window opens.

Date: The student's transfer date is displayed by default. You can type over the date in the MMDDYYYY format. Or, click to select a date from the calendar.

From: The teacher name, course number, and section are displayed for the course from which the student transferred. This data is only displayed if the student transferred from a different section of the same course and has a transfer average.

Average: The student's tranfer average is diplayed if available. Otherwise, you can type the student's walk-in average.

This is the student's average in the class from which he transferred. You can enter a numeric grade or an alphabetical (ABCD or ESNU) grade.

NOTE: If a student transferred from a course that posts letter grades to a course that posts numeric grades, and a letter grade is entered for his transfer average, the student's working cycle average is displayed as a numeric grade.

See the Calculate Averages guide for an explanation of calculating averages for each weighting type for an explanation of calculating averages for transfer students.

Weight: The field displays 0 for a transfer student who has not yet been accepted into the class.

To accept the student into your class, type the weight you want to apply to the student's transfer average. For example, if a student transferred three weeks into a six-week cycle, you may want to enter a weight of 50%. The maximum weight you can enter is 100.

The student's transfer icon remains red until a weight is entered and saved.

Once you enter and save a weight, the student's transfer icon turns blue . The blue icon remains until the end of the semester.

❏ Click Ok.

If you entered and saved the transfer average data for the student, his walk-in average is calculated in his working cycle average.

NOTE: The changes are not actually saved until you type your PIN and click Save Grades.

Clear: Clear all data previously entered for the transfer student.

NOTE: Any course assignments that were due prior to the student's transfer date are excluded for the student, and the Exclude indicator is displayed for the assignments. You can override the exclusion if you want the transfer student to complete an assignment that was due prior to his transfer date.

To override the exclusion, click , clear the Exclude field. Click OK and save.

NOTE: For standards-base courses, accepting a transfer student is a manual process. The transfer icon is not displayed.

Calculating the average for a transfer student:

If a student transfers into the course during a cycle, the following calculations are used to determine his working cycle average:

Formula for transfer student:

1.	For the transfer grade, multiply the Transfer Average by the Transfer Weight: Transfer Average x Transfer Weight = Transfer Value For example: The student's Transfer Average is 74. The student's Transfer Weight is 55%. 74 x 55% = 40.7 The student's Transfer Value is 40.7.
2.	Calculate the average of the student's assignment grades (for the remainder of the cycle) using the steps described above under Percent-based, Point-based, or Multiplier-based. For example: The percent-based example above shows a Working Cycle Average of 87.
3.	Calculate the weight for the Working Cycle Average: 100% - Transfer Weight = Working Cycle Average Weight For example: The student's Transfer Weight is 55%. 100% - 55% = 45% The student's Working Cycle Average Weight is 45%.
4.	Calculate the Working Cycle Average Value. Working Cycle Average x Working Cycle Average Weight = Working Cycle Average Value For example: The student's Working Cycle Average is 87. The student's Working Cycle Average Weight is 45%. 87 x 45% = 39.15 The student's Working Cycle Average Value is 39.15.
5.	Take the sum of the Transfer Value and the Working Cycle Average Value. Transfer Value + Working Cycle Average Value = Actual Working Cycle Average For example: The student's Transfer Value is 40.7. The student's Working Cycle Average Value is 39.5. 40.7 + 39.5 = 80.2 The student's Actual Working Cycle Average is 80.

If a student transferred from a course that posts letter grades to a course that posts numeric grades and a letter grade is entered for his transfer average, the grade conversion table is used to determine the numeric value.

Cycle Average	The student's working cycle average is displayed. The average is updated every time you access the page, click Calculate Averages, or save grades. If the student does not yet have a working cycle average, the field is blank. • The working cycle average is calculated according to the weighting selected on Settings > Manage Categories, as well as calculations described in the the Calculate Averages guide. • The working cycle average is rounded to a whole number. If the decimal value is .5 or greater, the grade is rounded up. • If you use percentage-based categories, and you have a category that does not yet have grades (e.g., if it is early in the cycle and you have not administered any tests), the student's working cycle average is calculated based on the percentages for the categories that have grades. For more information on calculations, view the Help for Weighting Type on Settings > Manage Categories.
Show Averages as Alpha	If the course is set up to post alphabetical grades, the field is displayed. • Select the field to display averages as alphabetical grades. • Clear the field to display the averages as numbers. NOTE: For courses that use alphabetical grades, a cookie is set to remember the setting, and the page will always display averages according to the setting by default. Averages are also displayed on the Cycle Grades page according to the setting. Courses that use numeric grades will always display grades numerically.
Sort Assignments by Date Due in	Assignments are listed left to right in ascending order by the due date. (If there is no due date, they are displayed by the date assigned. Otherwise, the date entered is used.) To change the assignment display order to descending, change this setting to Descending.
Category	The category for the assignment is displayed first in the column heading row, above the assignment name. The assignments are color-coded according to the category. If a color is assigned to the category on Settings > Administer Categories, the column displays the selected color.
Assignment Name	The assignment name is displayed in the column heading below the category name.
Due	The assignment due date is displayed if entered on Settings > Manage Assignments.
Max	The total points possible for the assignment is displayed if entered in the Total Points field on Settings > Manage Assignments.
	For campuses that use curriculum and test taking systems (e.g., eInstruction and Eduphoria), click the icon to import a data file that only includes the student's ID, assignment grade, first name, and last name. NOTE: The import function is not available on mobile devices. • Only .csv and .txt files can be imported. The text file must be comma-separated data with one student per row. • Attempting to import for students not in the course will create exceptions errors that cause the import to fail. Deleting these rows should allow the import to be successful. • You can only import assignment grades for existing students. • You can only import grades where students has blank grades for the particular assignment. If the student already has grades, the data is displayed in red and crossed out. Steps for importing the data file: ❏ Click to import grades for the assignment. The Import Assignment Grades window opens allowing you to upload the data file, review the data, and import the file. ❏ Under Step 1, click Browse to select the data file. Locate and open the file. The file name is displayed. ❏ Click Upload File. When the upload is complete, the “Success” message is displayed indicating the name of the uploaded file. ❏ Under Step 2, review the default file format and adjust the columns of your data if necessary: ❏ Under To Column, the default file format is listed. The format is determined according to the type of data found in the uploaded file. For example, a six-digit string of numbers is assumed to be the student ID, and a string of up to three characters is assumed to be an assignment grade. There are four columns: • Student ID • Assign Grade • First Name • Last Name NOTE: For the six-digit student ID, include all leading zeros. ❏ Under From Column, make adjustments as needed. For example, if the default file format has the first name before the last name, and you want the last name before the first name, you can change the columns under From Column accordingly (i.e., change column 3 to 4, and change column 4 to 3). NOTE: The order of the first and last names is not important when uploading this file. ❏ If you assign the same column number to more than one column, the message “duplicate” is displayed by the duplicated column. You must correct this before proceeding. ❏ As you make any changes under Step 2, the data displayed under Step 3 changes accordingly. Review the data under Step 3 before importing the file. ❏ When the data under Step 3 is being refreshed, the message “validating” is displayed. Wait until the message goes away. • If errors are encountered, the records with errors are displayed in red with a strikethrough. The number of errors found is listed below the grid. Errors may include mismatched or invalid data. • Currently, the only acceptable error is an error due to the student already having a grade for the assignment. Exception errors due to invaid records will cause the import to fail. ❏ When you are satisfied with the data under Step 3, click Import Now under Step 4. The data is imported, and the assignment grade fields on the Assignment Grades page are populated with data from the import file. The Import Now button is disabled if there are no valid records to import. NOTE: If the course has any withdrawn students, the import file has a record for the withdrawn students. Therefore, you must select Show withdrawn students on the Assignment Grades page to import the grade for the withdrawn students. If you do not select Show withdrawn students, the import file will generate errors for the withdrawn students.

Assignments per Page	By default, the page displays only the first five assignments. You can change the number of assignments displayed. To print all assignments, select All from the drop-down menu or select the number of specific assignments to be printed.
Previous/Next	If there are more assignments, use the buttons to view the other assignments.

❏ Enter the grades in the grid.

NOTES:

Only whole numbers can be entered for numeric grades.
To add extra credit points, you can add points to the assignment grade.
When you enter or change a grade, the table cell turns gray to indicate that the grade was changed but not yet saved. Once you save the assignment grades, the cell is no longer gray.
If you type an invalid grade, such as a letter grade that does not have a conversion value, the cell is shaded red. You must correct the entry before you can save the grades.
Dropped grades are italicized.
If the course is set up for alphabetical or ESNU grade posting, you can type letter grades or numeric grades. If you type a letter grade, it is automatically converted to a numeric grade for calculating the working cycle average, according to the conversion values set by the campus.
Other codes can be typed in place of a grade:
- M - Missing
- I - Incomplete (If you type I for any grade, the student's working cycle average will be I until a grade is entered.)
- X - Excluded (The X functions the same way as clicking the note icon and selecting Exclude from the Grade Properties window.)
- Only one shortcut code can be entered per assignment grade.
If the campus has disabled posting of grades for prior cycles, you cannot make changes to assignment grades for previous semesters-cycles. The Save Grades button is disabled.
Grades can be entered in the shaded fields for the selected skills on the Assignment Grades page. The field will change from gray to white and the grades will print on the report card. However, grades should not be entered in the shaded fields for the selected skills for the Semester and Cycle that appear gray on the Assignment Grades page.
You can navigate through the grade fields using the keyboard

Press ENTER after you type each grade to move down the list to the next student. You can press SHIFT+ENTER to move up the list. You can also press the up and down arrow keys to move up and down the list.

Press TAB to move across the list to the next assignment. You can press SHIFT+TAB to move back to the left.

.

Next the grade field, click to open the Grade Properties window where you can add comments or indicators (e.g., excluded, late, re-do, or accommodated) associated with an assignment.

Enter comments and/or select the appropriate indicator(s).

If there is no grade for the assignment, it cannot be marked as late or re-do.

The icon is displayed if the assignment grade is excluded (e.g., for a transfer student). The grade will continue to be displayed in the field.

Print comment	Select if you want the indicators and/or comments to print on the student's IPR and display to parents in ParentPortal.

Click OK to close the window.

WARNING: Your comments and/or selections are not actually saved until you type your PIN and click Save to save all data on the Assignment Grades page.

The following icons are displayed in the grade fields according to the comments and/or indicators entered:

Indicators:
- Excluded
- Late (not excluded)
- Re-do (not excluded)
- Accommodated

Notes:
- Excluded with comments
- Late or re-do with comments
- Comments only
- No comments

NOTE: If an assignment is excluded for a student, and you have entered a number in the # Drop field on Settings > Manage Categories (indicating that you want to drop a specified number of assignments for a category), the assignment grade does not count toward the number that will be dropped. Only non-excluded grades are dropped.

If a rubric chart has been associated with the assignment, the icon is displayed next to the grade field allowing you to grade the assignment using a rubric chart.

❏ Click the icon to open the rubric in a window where you can type a score for each skill.

❏ When all scores have been entered, click Update Assignment Grade. The score (i.e., the sum of all scores entered) is calculated and displayed in the grade field.

NOTE: When entering a score for a skill, you are not limited to the range specified in the rubric chart. For example, if the score range is 0-5, you are not prevented from typing 0 or 6.

If you type a score for some skills but not all skills in the rubric chart, the sum of the scores entered is calculated and displayed in the grade field.

If the grade for the assignment should be zero, you must type 0 for one of the skill scores.

You can type a grade directly into the grade field even if a rubric chart is assigned to the assignment.

Exclude All

Click to mass exclude grades for an assignment for all students.

The button for the column turns red, all indicator icons are red, and the field turns gray to indicate that the grade is excluded for the student. To override the exclusion for a specific student, click , unselect Exclude, and then click Ok.

Fill

Use the button and adjacent field to mass enter an assignment grade for all students.

For example, if you entered grades for all students who turned in the assignment, and you want to enter zeros for all other students, type 0 in the field, and then click Fill. All blank grade fields for the assignment are changed to 0.

Or, to mass replace blank grades with a value (e.g., 100), type the grade in the field, and then click Fill. All blank grades for the assignment are changed to the entered grade.

To change all assignment grades to blanks, delete any data from the field, and then click Fill. All grades for the assignment are changed to blank.

Overall Averages

The overall averages (i.e., class averages) for the working cycle average and each assignment are displayed in the bottom row of the table. The overall averages are updated every time you click Calculate Averages and every time you save grades.

Print	Use this option instead of the browser's print option. This printout contains formatting to handle the features on the Assignment Grades page. To choose the number of assignments that will print per page, use the up/down arrow. Assignments can also be printed using the Assignment Grades Report.

Save Data:

Any data that has changed since the last time you saved your grades is indicated by gray shading in the table cell.

NOTE: 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 assignment grades for one student, but you previously entered grades for other students, the grades for all students are saved, regardless of what is displayed on the page at the time you save the data.

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save.

Generate assignment grades report.

Reports > Assignment Grades

This report lists assignment grades for all students in a course according to options entered on this page. The overall assignment average and class average are also displayed.

Excluded grades are indicated by Ex in place of the grade.
Dropped grades are indicated by D next to the grade.

NOTE: The Category Legend as it appears on the report matches the Cat ID (category ID) column (in the Assignment Legend) to the corresponding category name and category weight. The Assignment Legend matches the assignment ID heading to the corresponding assignment name, total points, and Cat ID.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester	The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.
Cycle	The current cycle is displayed. You can select a different cycle.
Course-Section	Select the course-section for which to print the report. Or, select All to produce the report for all of your course-sections. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses.

Viewing Options

View Student Names	Select to display the student names on the report. Otherwise, the names are not printed on the report, and students can only be identified by their student IDs. The student IDs are always displayed on the report.
View Withdrawn Students	Withdrawn students are not automatically displayed. Select the field to display them. The message “W/D” and the withdrawal date or “Dropped” are displayed by the student's name. The withdrawal date may be the student's withdrawal date from school or his withdrawal date from the class.

Sorting Options

Indicate the field to sort the report by.

Custom Student Order	This option is only displayed if Student Order on the Update Profile page is set to add new students to the top of the list or bottom of the list. Select Custom Student Order to sort the report in your custom sort order. If you have not specified a custom sort order for a particular class, the students are sorted by name.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Review student notes (report).

Reports > Student Notes

This report displays any of the following notes for one or all courses, and for one or all students.

Course Notes: Notes entered in the Course Notes field on Settings > Manage Courses. These are comments and notes entered by teachers about their courses, such as reminders, announcements, and other course-specific information. These notes are displayed to parents in ParentPortal.
Student Course Notes: Notes entered by clicking the note icon next to the student's name on Grades > Assignment Grades. These are course-specific notes entered by teachers about the student, and the notes are associated with specific categories. These notes are note displayed to parents in ParentPortal.
Course Assignment Notes: Notes entered in the Notes field on Settings > Manage Assignments. These are notes entered by teachers about their assignments. The notes are displayed to parents in ParentPortal.
Student Assignment Notes: Notes entered by clicking the note icon next to the student's assignment grade on Grades > Assignment Grades. These are assignment-specific notes entered by teachers about the student. The teacher has the option to display the note to parents in ParentPortal.
IPR Notes: Notes entered in the Note field on Grades > IPR Comments. These are student-specific notes entered by the teacher about the student relative to the IPR. These notes are printed on the IPR that is distributed to parents.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester	The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester. The selected semester affects the courses listed in the Course-Section drop-down list, but it does not affect the notes displayed; the notes are not semester-specific. For example, for a two-semester course, the notes are displayed for the entire year.
Cycle	The current cycle is displayed. You can select a different cycle.
Course-Section	Select the course-section for which to print the report. Or, select ALL to produce the report for all of your course-sections. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses.

❏ Under Notes Selection Options:

Student ID

Begin typing the student's ID. As you begin typing the ID, a drop-down list displays students whose student ID matches the numbers you have typed. From the drop-down list, select a student.

Select Note Type

Select one or more note types to be printed. The descriptions for each note type are listed above.

If you select Student Course Notes, the following fields appear:

Note Category	Select the category of notes you want to view. Or, select ALL to include all categories.
Notes Created By	Select a user name to see only notes entered by that user. Or, select ALL to include notes from all users.
Sort Order	Indicate if you want these notes sorted by note category or user name on the report.

❏ Under Viewing Options:

Include withdrawn students	Withdrawn students are not automatically included. Select the field to include withdrawn students in the report.
Page break between courses	Select to print one course per page. Otherwise, the data will print continuously.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Award extra credit.

There are several ways to award extra credit:

• Create an extra credit assignment on Settings > Manage Assignments
• Add extra points to an assignment grade on Grades > Assignment Grades
• Add extra points to the cycle average on Grades > Cycle & Semester Grades

Create extra credit assignment:

Settings > Manage Assignments

Extra Credit

Select if the assignment is for extra credit.

NOTE: If the assignment is for extra credit, the Total Points is set to zero and cannot be changed.

Extra credit assignments add points to the average for the category selected. If a student has no grade or a zero for the extra credit assignment, it does not count against him when his average is calculated.

See the Extra Credit section of the Calculate Averages guide for an explanation of calculating averages with extra credit for each weighting type.

This field is not available for standards-based courses or assignments that have a rubric chart assigned.

For extra credit assignments, the Max on Grades > Assignment Grades is 0.

Calculations for extra credit assignment:

IMPORTANT: See Calculate Averages for additional information.

Percent-based weighting:

If the student has extra credit points, include the extra credit (EC) points in the Total Points Earned.

(Points Earned 1 + Points Earned 2 + Points Earned 3 + EC) = Total Points Earned

For example:

The Homework category has three assignments. The student earned a 70/100, 80/100, and 90/95 for those assignments. He also has 10 points for the extra credit assignment.

(70 + 80 + 90 + 10) = 250

In this case, the Total Possible Points for the Homework category is 295.

250 / 295 = .847
The student's average for the Homework Category is 85.

Points-based weighting:

If the student has an extra credit assignment, add the points for the extra credit (EC) assignment to the Category Points:

Category Points + EC = new Category Points

For example:

The Homework category has three assignments, each worth 50 points. The student earned a 40, 45, and 50 for those assignments.

40 + 45 + 50 = 135

The student’s Homework Category Points is 135. The student was awarded 5 points for a homework extra credit assignment.

135 + 5 = 140

In this case, the Total Possible Points for the Homework category is 150.

140 / 150 = .933
The student's average for the Homework Category is 93.

Multiplier-based weighting:

If the student has an extra credit assignment, add the points for the extra credit (EC) assignment to the Actual Category Points:

Actual Category Points + EC = new Actual Category Points

For example:

The student’s Homework Actual Category Points is 240. The student was awarded 5 points for a homework extra credit assignment.

240 + 5 = 245

In this case, the multiplier for the Homework category is 2.

245 x 2 = 490

The Homework category has three assignments, each worth 100 points.
100 + 100 + 100 = 300
300 x 2 = 600

490 / 600 = .816
The student's average for the Homework category is 82.

ANOTHER OPTION: If you want to give an extra credit assignment that will be included in the cycle average for the students who do the assignment (but not for those who do not do it), create a regular assignment (not extra credit), and then exclude the grade for all students who do not complete the assignment.

Add extra points to an assignment:

Grades > Assignment Grades

If you enter an assignment with the Total Points field set to 100, you can enter a grade that is greater than 100. In this case, it is not necessary to enter an extra credit assignment.

Add extra points to cycle average:

Grades > Cycle

Override	This field allows you to override a student's working semester average with a different grade (e.g., if the student's working cycle average is 69, you may give the student a cycle grade of 70, depending on district policy). If you enter an Override grade, click Calculate Semester Averages to see the impact of the change on the semester average before saving.

Generate seating chart report.

Reports > Seating Charts

This report prints a teacher's seating charts for all periods or one period. For each period, the seating chart is displayed followed by a list of students who are not assigned to seats. The seating chart lists the student name, gender, and ID.

If printed for all periods, each period prints on a separate page.

NOTE: If that field has been changed, and the seating charts have not been re-saved on Settings > Manage Charts since the setting was changed, a warning message is displayed when the report is generated indicating that the reports will not be accurate until the Manage Seating Charts page has been re-saved. You must review the seating chart for each period on the Manage Seating Charts page, make any necessary changes, and then re-save each chart.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester

The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.

Period

Select the period-course(s) to print the seating chart for, or select ALL CLASSES to print seating charts for all periods.

If Combine Courses in Attendance is selected on your Settings > Update Profile page, the courses are combined by period.

width

Select the width setting for the report.

Fixed Seat Width	Select to print a report in which all seats are the same width. This setting works for small and average-size classes. For larger classes, some seats may not print on the page.
Auto-Adjusted Seat Width	Select to print a report in which each column is adjusted to the student name. Each column is only wide enough to accommodate the longest name in the column; therefore, some columns are wider than others. This setting is a better option for larger classes.

For either width setting, you can adjust the orientation when you print. Select Landscape to increase the number of students that fit on the page.

Show Pictures

Select to display student photos in the seating chart. Photos are only available if they have been added by the district.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Generate rubric report (if enabled for campus).

There are two ways to access the rubric printing options:

From the Manage Rubric Charts page, click Print.
From the Reports menu, select Rubrics.

Print the rubric chart:

❏ Click Print to print a report of the displayed rubric chart.

The Rubric Report Selection page opens allowing you to make selections for printing the report.

This report prints a rubric chart which has been set up on Settings > Manage Rubric Charts. You can print only the rubric chart (i.e., blank), or you can print the rubric chart with student grades for a particular assignment.

❏ Specify report options:

Rubric Name

Select the rubric chart you want to print. Only rubric charts that have skills and scores already set up are listed.

Title

(Optional) Type a title for the report, up to 50 characters. If blank, the rubric chart name is used as the title.

Print with grades

Select to print the report with student grades. This field is only displayed if the selected rubric chart has already been used to grade an assignment.

If selected, an additional field is displayed allowing you to select a course-section. Only course-sections that have a rubric chart set up are listed.

course-section

Once you select a course-section, another field is displayed allowing you to select the assignment that was graded with a rubric chart.

assignment

Once you select an assignment, a list of students in the course-section is displayed, along with their grade for the assignment.

This Student	Select for the students you want to print the rubric for. You can select Check all at the top of the column to select all students in the course-section.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Generate class roster report.

Reports > Class Roster

This report provides a blank class roster by semester and course, including a list of students enrolled in the course and up to 50 blank columns. You can choose the sort order and whether to include the student’s birth date and contact information. The report can be exported in CSV format.

If you print the report for a course group, the Course Section column is included allowing you to identify the course-section in which the student is enrolled.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester

The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.

Course-Section

Select the course-section and period for which to print the report. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses.

If course groups have been created on the Course Grouping page, the groups are listed as well as the individual courses.

Columns

Type the number of blank columns to display on the report, up to 50.

Display Options

Birthday	Select to include the student's birth date. The Birthday column will be included in the report.
Student Email	Select to include the student’s email address.
Contact Information	Select to include the student's contact information. The Contact Information columns will be included in the report, and all of the student's contacts are listed. The contact's name, relationship, cell phone, home phone, business phone, other phone, mailing address, and e-mail address are listed.
Guardian Last Viewed IPR/Report Card Date	Select to include the date on which a parent/guardian last viewed the student's interim progress report (IPR) or report card online.

Sorting Options

Indicate the order in which to sort the report data. You can sort by student name (last name), Student ID, course-section (for course groups), birth date (if included), or custom student order.

Custom student order is the order specified for the course-section on Settings > Arrange Student Order.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Generate blank/missing grades report.

Reports > Blank/Missing Grades

This report lists blank, missing, and incomplete assignment grades according to options entered on this page.

❏ Specify report options:

Semester	The current semester is displayed. You can select a different semester.
Cycle	The current cycle is displayed. You can select a different cycle.
Course-Section	Select the course-section for which to print the report. The drop down lists the two-digit period and course name. The course number and section number are in parentheses.

Grade Selection Options

Select the items you want to include in the report. For example, to include all student assignment grades for which no grade has been entered, select Show Blank Grades. To include all items, select Select All.

Viewing Options

Page break between students

Select to print one student per page. Otherwise, the data will print continuously.

View Student Names

Select to display the student names on the report. Otherwise, the names are not printed on the report, and students can only be identified by their student IDs. The student IDs are always displayed on the report.

View all assignments due after

Select to narrow assignments by date, and enter a valid school date.

View Current or All Course Sections

Current	Select to narrow assignments to only course-sections for the current semester-cycle.
All	Select to show assignments for all course-sections.

❏ Click Generate.

The report opens in a new window, and you can print the report from that window.
The report selection page remains open on your desktop.

Other tasks:

Accept transfer students.

Grades > Assignment Grades