Student Grading System

Comprehensive Information Management for Schools G/T (CIMSÂ® G/T)

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

NCS Publication Number 649 400 205

Second Edition (July 1999)
This edition applies to Version 7.00 of the NCS Comprehensive Information Management for Schools G/T (CIMSÂ® G/T) Student Grading System (SGSâ„¢) product for IBM AS/400* systems, and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions or updates. The data used to illustrate the reports and screen images may include names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are fictitious; any similarities to actual names are entirely coincidental. Further, any illustrations of report formats or screen images are examples only, and reflect how a typical customer would install and use the product. CIMSÂ® and SCHÂ® are registered trademarks of National Computer Systems, Inc. ACSâ„¢, SMSâ„¢, SASâ„¢, SGSâ„¢, CSOâ„¢, NCS Abacusâ„¢ and Performance Plusâ„¢ are trademarks of National Computer Systems, Inc. *IBMÂ® and AS/400Â® are registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. GUI/400 is a product of Seagull Business Software B.V. and a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Copyright Â© 1997, 1999 National Computer Systems, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from National Computer Systems, Inc.

About This Guide
District and school-level users of the Comprehensive Information Management for Schools G/T (CIMSÂ® G/T) Student Grading System (SGSâ„¢), Version 7.00, will benefit from this userâ€™s guide. The guide contains instructions for implementing the Student Grading System, entering student grades, calculating cumulative grade point averages, and maintaining student transcripts. Before using this userâ€™s guide, you must install the CIMS G/T Application Control System (ACSâ„¢) and the Student Management System (SMSâ„¢). See the Application Control System Userâ€™s Guide for information on installing applications.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

iii

iv

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

How This Userâ€™s Guide Is Organized
This userâ€™s guide contains eight chapters: Chapter 1, â€œIntroduction,â€ describes the features available in the Student Grading System. It provides an overview of the SGS programs and describes the methods available for managing student grading information. Chapter 2, â€œImplementing the Student Grading System,â€ describes the programs you use to implement the Student Grading System. Chapter 3, â€œEntering and Maintaining Grades,â€ describes two methods of entering and changing student grades, on a student-by-student basis or by using the grading worksheet. This chapter also provides instructions for printing sample grading reports, including report cards. Chapter 4, â€œPrinting Grading Reports,â€ describes some of the additional grading reports you can print to review grading information. Chapter 5, â€œMaintaining the Honor Roll,â€ describes how to define honor roll formats and print the defined honor roll reports. Chapter 6, â€œMaintaining Transcripts,â€ includes instructions to post student transcript information manually or automatically. This chapter also describes how to remove old transcript records from the system. Chapter 7, â€œReviewing Graduation Requirements,â€ summarizes the process of tracking graduation requirements for your students. The chapter also describes the programs you can use to display graduation requirement status. Chapter 8, â€œUsing the Grading Report Writer,â€ describes how to define report formats for the Grading Report Writer. It also describes the program you use to print your defined reports. The Appendixes provide general reference information about the student applications, including the SGS product. Appendix A contains instructions for reporting on several students. Appendix B provides a list of the annual and non-annual files contained in the CIMS G/T student applications. Appendix C lists the switch settings in the student applications. The Index lists the programs and topics described in this userâ€™s guide.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

About This Guide

v

Conventions Used in This Userâ€™s Guide
This book follows specific conventions for presenting different types of information such as new terms and field names. The following table describes the convention for each type of information and provides an example of its usage.

New terms

The first time a term appears in this book, the term is bold-faced and italicized. For example: Each panel in the Student Grading System contains information in limited areas known as fields. A field may present information for you to review, or it may present a place for you to type information.

Field names

Field names are italicized. For example: Type a 1- to 9-digit identifier in the Student Number field.

Characters you type

When you need to type one or more characters from the keyboard, the characters appear in bold-face. For example: Type UN to mark an unexcused absence. If instructions identify a default, the value appears in bold-face type. A default is a value that the system assumes if you do not specify a different value. For example: The default is 1. Comments, cautions, and additional notes have a dark bar running parallel to the note. For example: Leave this field blank if you scan your data using CIMS Scanning Operations software.

Default values

Notes

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

vi

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview of the SGS Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Student Grading System Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Implementation Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Getting the Most Out of Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 NCS Professional Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Using Planning Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Student Grading System Implementation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Setting Up Grading Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Setting Up Grade Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Setting Up Grade Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Setting Up Comment Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Setting Up Comment Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Formatting Grading Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Formatting Report Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Gathering Grading Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Printing Report Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Grading Information Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Clearing Grading Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Printing Grading Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Using a Worksheet to Enter Grades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Calculating Grades for Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Entering Grades for an Individual Student. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Updating the Cumulative GPA and Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Calculating Class Rank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Printing Report Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Printing a Ranked GPA List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Printing a Detailed Cumulative GPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Printing Cumulative GPA by Student Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Printing Grade Distribution by Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Printing a Student D, F, or I Grade List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Printing a List of Students by Rank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Listing the Student Ranking by Student Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Chapter 2 Implementing the Student Grading System . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 3 Entering and Maintaining Grades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 4 Printing Grading Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

vii

viii

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Chapter 5 Maintaining the Honor Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Defining Honor Roll Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Generating the Honor Roll Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Transcript Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Setting the Student Date of Graduation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Maintaining Student Transcripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Posting Student Grades to Transcripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Printing Transcript Listings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Printing Student Transcripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Printing Transcript Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Purging Old Transcript Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Tracking Graduation Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Applying Excess Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Displaying Student Graduation Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Reviewing Records for Graduation Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Printing the Graduation Requirements Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Chapter 7 Reviewing Graduation Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Chapter 8 Using the Grading Report Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Creating Grading Report Writer Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Generating a Grading Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Appendix A Processing Reports for Multiple Students . . . . . . . . . 125 Appendix B Annual and Non-annual Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Appendix C Switch Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Reviewing Switch Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Student Application Switch Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Introduction

1
1

Managing and controlling student information is critical in any school district. The CIMS G/T student applications provide an integrated student record system designed to meet the challenges of student administration. The flexibility of CIMS G/T applications can help you meet your information requirements. The integrated CIMS G/T student applications are:

n n n n

Student Student Student Student

Management System (SMSâ„¢) Scheduling System (SCHÂ®) Attendance System (SASâ„¢) Grading System (SGSâ„¢)

This userâ€™s guide describes how to establish grading options, enter and maintain grading information, and generate various grading reports using the Student Grading System. This chapter provides the following SGS planning information:

n n n n n

Overview of the SGS application Student Grading System decision making Implementation planning Getting the most out of training NCS professional services

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

2

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Overview of the SGS Application
The Student Grading System offers a flexible and automatic method to record student achievement. The SGS application helps you process and track specific academic achievement throughout the school year, as well as maintain permanent student transcripts, both current and post graduation. The SGS application exchanges information with the Student Management System. The following figure shows how the SGS application works with the other CIMS G/T applications.

ACS

SMS

SGS

SAS

SCH

Through the Student Grading System, you can perform the following tasks:

n n n n n n n n n

Select grading system options Format worksheets to record and edit student grades Maintain student grades Format and print report cards Calculate and report grade point averages Track graduation requirements Maintain and report honor roll information Maintain and report transcript information Print standard and custom grading reports

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 1 Introduction

3

Selecting Grading System Options
The SGS application provides a flexible method for calculating, recording, and reporting student grades. When you set up your grading system, you select from a number of options to define your grading system according to your schoolâ€™s needs. When you implement the SGS application, you can:

n Deny course credit to students based on an absence amount. These n n n n
Define the grading symbols you want to use (letters or numbers). Have the system automatically compute grades. Define different grade point values for each grade symbol. Define comments that print on report cards to describe studentsâ€™ progress in a class or their work habits.

absences are called grading absences. (Grading absences are independent of the official absences recorded in the SAS application.)

Creating Grading Worksheets
To help collect and enter grading information, you create grading worksheets that reflect the needs of your school. The format that you create determines the type of panel used to maintain grades. The format also determines the layout for printed worksheets. Your teachers use these printed worksheets to record grades.

Maintaining Student Grades
After you format your grading worksheet, you can enter student grades in the same format as your worksheet. Using this approach, you can enter grades by course section. You also can enter and maintain grading information for individual students by using STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records or STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records.

Formatting and Printing Report Cards
You can define different report card formats for each grading period, select different grades, and include grades from previous grading periods. You also can include information such as teachersâ€™ comments, absence information, grade point averages, and course credit on your report cards.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

4

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Calculating and Reporting Grade Point Averages
When you implement the SGS application, you can choose to set up grade weights. With the flexibility of weighted grades, a student may earn 4.5 points for an A in an advanced class, but only 4.0 points for an A in a standard class. The system can calculate two types of GPA:

n Current period n Cumulative
The system calculates the current period GPA based on grades assigned during an individual grading period. The system calculates the cumulative GPA using all final grades from the current school year and all grades in the transcript.

Tracking Graduation Requirements
You can track a studentâ€™s progress against defined graduation plans to ensure that each student fulfills graduation requirements. The system groups credits earned by pre-defined graduation categories, which can be by department or some other specified grouping.

Maintaining and Reporting Honor Roll Information
The system enables you to define honor formats for all of your honor rolls. You can print honor roll reports that include the information and title you defined for each honor roll format.

Maintaining and Reporting Transcript Information
The system enables you to post grades to transcripts automatically, or you can add or update transcript information for each student individually. The system provides reports you can use to print transcript lists and transcript labels.

Printing Standard and Custom Grading Reports
You can generate standard reports from grading information, such as GPA listings and student ranking reports (based on student grade point averages). You also can print grade distribution reports by teacher and use a grading report writer to design your own grading reports.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 1 Introduction

5

Student Grading System Decision Making
Making the proper decisions before you implement the Student Grading System can save you time and money. Undertake the decision process carefully to ensure that you perform the implementation correctly. Set up your student applications to meet the requirements of your school and district, and ensure that the system is efficient for your staff to use. Consider the following issues carefully during your planning.

Software Requirements
Before you begin working with the SGS application, you must install the following software:

n IBM AS/400 Operating System, CISC: Version 3 Release 2
(or above) or RISC: Version 3 Release 7 (or above).

n CIMS G/T Application Control System, Version 3.00 (or above).
See the Application Control System Userâ€™s Guide for more information on installing and implementing the ACS application.

n CIMS G/T Student Management System, Version 7.00 (or above).
You must install and implement the SMS application before you can install and operate the other student applications, including the Student Grading System. The SMS application provides the database of student information.

n CIMS G/T Student Scheduling System, Version 7.00 (or above) if you define schedules for next year.

n CIMS G/T Student Grading System, Version 7.00 (or above).

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

6

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Forms and Supplies
The SGS applications uses the same basic paper sizes that you use for the SMS application. You also may want to order the following CIMS G/T forms with pre-printed information tailored for your school:

n Continuous-feed paper for report cards (8 Â½" x 11") n Scanning forms you can use to gather information for grading
Order the paper you need from your forms supplier, or contact your NCS sales representative for more information on ordering forms and paper. Use NCS scanning forms for scanning. The following chart lists the SGS programs that generate reports and the paper size needed for each report. Student Grading System Printed Report Size
Paper Size 14" X 11" Paper SGS Report GRD.510 GRD.545 GRD.550 GRD.551 GRD.555 GRD.556 GRD.570 GRD.580 GRD.585 GRD.511 GRD.540 GRD.541 GRD.548 GRD.549 GRD.551 GRD.558 GRD.575 â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ Print Grading Worksheet Print Detail for Student Cumulative GPA Print Transcript List Print Student Transcripts (portrait) Print Grade Distribution by Course Print Grade Distribution by Teacher Print Graduation Requirement Status List Students by Rank List Ranking Information by Student Name Print Print Print Print Print Print Print Print Student Report Cards GPA List by Student Name GPA List Ranked by GPA Cumulative GPA Ranked by GPA Cumulative GPA by Student Name Student Transcripts (landscape) Student D.F.I. List Student Honor Roll

8 Â½" X 11" Paper

1 Â½" x 4" Labels

GRD.565 â€“ Print Transcript Labels

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 1 Introduction

7

Implementation Planning
This section includes recommendations on when to implement the SGS application. After you install and implement the ACS and SMS products on your system, as well as the SCH application if you defined schedules for next year only, you are ready to implement the SGS application. You can overburden your system and your staff if you attempt to implement all aspects of the student applications at once. Consider the time it takes to enter all of your existing data into your new system. If you plan to implement the SGS application in the middle of a school year, you must decide if you want to enter current year information, or begin planning for next year. If you choose to enter current year grading information, you must enter current year schedules. If you do not enter the current year schedules, you cannot use the SGS application this year. You also will not be able to use the SAS application to capture attendance by period. You should not install your SGS application at the following times:

n Any critical time in the school year, such as when you need to produce grading and attendance reports

n The first two weeks before and after the start of school n During the last several weeks of the school year, when you produce year-end reports

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

8

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Getting the Most Out of Training
You want to maximize the benefits of SGS training and ensure that the training meets your staffâ€™s needs. Consider the following training suggestions. Consult your NCS sales representative for more information about available training services and costs.

Selecting the Participants
Try to include the following personnel in SGS training:

n Your school principal or administrators. n Individuals responsible for recording and tracking grading information. n Your data processing system operator. If you do not have a system operator, assign this position before you install CIMS G/T software.

Selecting the Seminar Location
After you select your training participants, you need to decide where to hold the training. Possible training sites are your district office, one of the schools in your district, or an NCS Regional Resource Center. If you decide to hold the training session at an NCS facility, you simply need to plan the dates and time. If you decide to hold the training session at a building in your district, you need to select the location, dates, and time. You also must provide a suitable training environment. The training room must:

n Be located in a low-traffic area n Have a chalkboard and chalk or white board and markers, an overhead projector, or both

n Have a display station for every one or two seminar participants n Have a printer in close proximity to the classroom

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 1 Introduction

9

NCS Professional Services
In addition to telephone support, NCS provides the following services:

Internet Support

The CIMS Customer Link on the Internet is an electronic source of information about CIMS software. You can access Customer Link using a PC, communications software, and a modem. Customer Link is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at: http://www.ncslink.com Contact NCS to supply for-fee educational support, which consists of implementation and operational training seminars. NCS provides this for-fee service to districts that need custom applications and reports. Custom changes to any part of a program can affect other parts of the CIMS G/T applications. Such changes and their impact on the program or future releases shipped are the userâ€™s responsibility. You can receive enhancements, in the form of new versions of the licensed programs and documentation, on an annual subscription basis. If you do not have an enhancement subscription, you still can receive enhancements and updates on a fee basis. Source code for CIMS G/T applications for the IBM AS/400 computer is available for a fee.

Education Support

Custom Programming

Enhancement Subscription

Source Code

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

10

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Implementing the Student Grading System

2
11

The Student Grading System (SGS) enables you to report student academic achievement to parents, students, and other educational institutions. This chapter describes the concepts and programs you need to implement the SGS application. Using these programs, you can perform the following tasks:

n Set up your grading options for the fiscal year, including grading levels and grading absences

n Identify grade titles for your school n Define grade symbols for your school n Define titles for the comments you want to include on the report card n Define codes for the comments you want to print on report cards n Set up the grading worksheet formats you will use to maintain grades n Define formats for your schoolâ€™s report cards

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

12

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide This chapter provides step-by-step instructions for the following programs:

n n n n n n n

GRD.101 GRD.201 GRD.250 GRD.203 GRD.253 GRD.210 GRD.211

â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“

Grading Options Grade Titles Grade Symbols Comment Titles Comment Codes Grading Worksheet Formats Report Card Formats

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

13

Using Planning Worksheets
As you implement the SGS application, you may find it helpful to use printed worksheets to plan your system. Each program described in this chapter has a worksheet that you can fill out while planning how to set up your SGS application. If you want to use the planning worksheets, copy them from the CIMS Student Product area of the NCS Customer Link Bulletin Board on the Internet. Make as many copies of these worksheets as you need to aid in your planning. The worksheets are for a single school or district. If you need more space or are gathering information for more than one school or district, make extra copies of the worksheets. Filling out the worksheets can make your data entry process more efficient by accumulating the information in a central location and ensuring that the data is in the correct order to enter on the panels.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

14

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Student Grading System Implementation Checklist
This checklist provides an overview of the steps you need to perform to implement the Student Grading System.
Step Task Define grading options Menu SGS100 Program GRD.101

q 1.

If you did not define your grading options in either the SMS or SCH application, use GRD.101 â€“ Grading Options to define your grading options for each school year. See page 15 for information about this program. q 2. Define grade titles SGS100 GRD.201

Use GRD.201 â€“ Grade Titles to define the grade titles for your school. For each title that you define, specify if the grade title represents a final grade and whether you want the system to compute the grade. If you want the system to compute grades, you must specify the computation. See page 17. q 3. Define grade symbols SGS100 GRD.250

Use GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols to define the symbols you want to use to represent grades in your school. As you define each grade symbol, you also choose whether to include the grade in the GPA, whether to give credit for the grade, and whether you want the system to right-justify the symbol when it prints. See page 21. q 4. Define comment titles SGS100 GRD.203

Use GRD.203 â€“ Comment Titles if you want to print comments on your grading worksheets and report cards. You define comment titles to act as placeholders for comment codes. See page 24. If you do not want to print comments, skip this program. q 5. Define comment codes SGS100 GRD.253

If you want to print comments on your grading worksheets and reports, define each of the comments you want to use with GRD.253 â€“ Comment Codes. See page 26. If you do not want to use comments, skip this program. q 6. Define grading worksheet formats SGS500 GRD.210

Use GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats to define the format of both the grading worksheets and data entry panels you will use to collect and maintain grading information. See page 27. q 7. Define report card formats SGS500 GRD.211

Use GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats to define report card formats for your school. See page 29.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

15

Setting Up Grading Options
Use GRD.101â€“ Grading Options to define grading options for a fiscal year. Grading options enable you to define the multiple levels of courses offered at your school. You can issue different grade point values for courses based on their level. For example, on a 4.0 scale, you can assign a grade point value of 3.5 for a B in an advanced course, while giving the same grade a value of 2.5 in a remedial course. In addition, you can deny course credit to students based on the number of times they miss a course. You deny them credit based on their grading absences. Grading absences, also called course absences, are independent of official attendance, which you track through the Student Attendance System.

Before You Begin
You can define grading options in the SMS and SCH applications. Before you implement the SGS application, review your SMS and SCH setups to see how your school personnel defined grading options.

Defining Grading Options
Choose GRD.101 â€“ Grading Options from the Grading Definitions menu. On the command panel, type your district and school codes, and the last two digits of the year for which you are defining grading options. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

16

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 1 Change the defaults in the Grading Levels fields, if necessary. Grade levels enable you to group courses with the same grade value and to define multiple point levels for a single grade symbol. The system predefines the first three grading levels as Advanced, Regular, and Essential, but you can change them to represent your grading levels. You can define up to nine different grading levels for each school. You must define at least one grading level. 2 Choose the Withhold Credit for Excessive Course Absences option if you want to deny credit to those students who exceed the number of absences you specify for the course. You enter the grading absences at the same time that you enter grades. The system does not associate these absences with your official attendance, which the Student Attendance System tracks. 3 If your system uses course attendance, use the Course Attendance Title fields to define how the system displays your course attendance titles; for example, EXCUSED and UNEXCUSED. If your system uses course attendance, use the Abbreviated Title fields to define a short name for each course attendance title. The information you type in the Course Attendance Title and Abbreviated Title fields appears on scan sheets, report cards, and grade panels, if you use grading absences. 5 If you selected the Withhold Credit for Excessive Course Absences option, type the number of grading absences allowed for each attendance title in the Number of Absences fields. The number that you type in this field represents how many grading absences a student can have before being denied credit for a course. For example, type 5 next to UNEXCUSED if your school denies credit after five unexcused absences. 6 If you selected the Withhold Credit for Excessive Course Absences option, type the total number of absences allowed in the Total field. This number represents the total number of times a student can be absent before being denied credit for a course. This number includes all absences, regardless of the number you typed in the Number of Absences fields. For example, type 10 if your school denies credit after ten absences, whether or not they were excused absences. These fields act independently. The number that you type in the Total field does not need to be the sum of the numbers in the two Number of Absences fields. 7 Click OK. The system displays the Grading Options command panel.

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

17

Setting Up Grade Titles
Use GRD.201 â€“ Grade Titles to identify up to 24 grade titles for your school. Grade titles are placeholders for grades, regardless of when you assign the grade; for example, mid-term or exam grades. You can specify a grade title to represent a final grade. A final grade counts toward the studentâ€™s grade point average and updates the studentâ€™s transcript when you run GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades. You also can choose to have your system compute certain grades, based on other stored grades. Your teachers have the flexibility to override a computed grade, if they choose. A computed grade title consists of up to 16 other grade titles, including a weight or relational value of one grade title to another. You can print as many as 12 grade titles on a report card. Once you add grade titles for your school, you must use Change to define additional grade titles. If you try to use Add a second time to add more grade titles for your school, you will receive the error message THIS RECORD IS ALREADY ON FILE.

Defining Grade Titles
Choose GRD.201 â€“ Grade Titles from the Grading Definitions menu. On the command panel, type your district and school codes. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

18

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 1 In the Title field, type a grade title. A grade title identifies a grading term. For example, QT1 could identify the first quarter marking period. 2 In the Description field, type a description of the grade title. Use this field to describe the grade title more fully. For example, FIRST QUARTER GRADES could be a description for QT1. 3 In the Final? field, type Y to designate this grade title as a final grade. Leave this field blank if the grade title is not a final grade. If you designate a grade title as a final grade, the system posts the grade assigned to that grade title and the associated course credit to the studentâ€™s transcript when you run GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades. The system also uses the grade titles you mark as final in the cumulative GPA calculation. You can mark only six grade titles as final. 4 In the Compute? field, type Y if you want the system to compute this grade. You can compute grade titles from up to 16 other grade titles. For example, grade title SM1 could be calculated using grades from QT1, QT2, and EXM. If you type Y, the system displays another panel for you to define how you want the system to compute the grades. 5 Repeat Steps 1 through 4 for up to eleven more grade titles, then click OK. The system displays another panel where you can add twelve more grade titles. 6 When you finish adding grade titles, click OK. If you typed Y in the Compute? field, the system displays the Grade Title Computations panel. See â€œSpecifying the Grade Computationsâ€ in the next section. Otherwise, the system displays the Grade Titles command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

19

Specifying the Grade Computations

1

In the Title box to the left of the equal sign, review the name of the grade title that you want the system to compute; for example, FIN for the final grade. In the Title field to the right of the equal sign, type the first grade title that you want the system to include in the computation; for example, EX1 for the first exam. In the Weight field (between the parentheses), type a weight amount; for example, 50. The weight is the relational value of one grade title to another grade title. In the sample panel, the grade title FIN equates to the total of EX1 and EX2, which are weighted equally. Another example would be when your grade title SM1 equates to the total of QT1, QT2, and EXM. You can include a weight amount to give the quarter grades greater weight than the exam in the calculation: SM1 = QT1 (40) + QT2 (40) + EXM (20). The total weight for the grade titles does not have to equal 100, because the weight is not a percentage value. The following calculation also is valid: SM1 = QT1 (6) + QT2 (6) + EXM (3). In this example, QT1 and QT2 are equal, while EXM has a lesser value in the computation.

2

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

20

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 to continue adding titles and weights for the computation for this grade title. Repeat steps 1 through 4 to define the computations for each title. If you marked more than three grade titles as computed, click OK to display additional Grade Title Computations panels. 6 After you enter the last computation, click OK. The system displays the Grade Titles command panel.

5

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

21

Setting Up Grade Symbols
Use GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols to define up to 150 grade symbols for your school. Teachers use grade symbols, such as A, C+, or 79, to report a studentâ€™s performance in courses. Grade symbols can be alphabetic characters or numbers.

Defining a Grade Symbol
Choose GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols from the Grading Definitions menu. On the command panel, type your district code and school codes. Type a grade in the Grade field. A grade is the symbol that prints on reports and report cards to represent performance in courses. You must define symbols that include plus (+) or minus (-) separately. For example, C and C+ are different grade symbols, and you must add each one individually. To ensure accurate computation of grades, define no more than 150 grade symbols. The grade computation program, GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades, can compute a maximum of 150 grade symbols. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

Specifying Grade Symbol Information

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

22

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 1 Change the default in the Grade field, if necessary. The system displays the grade symbol that you typed on the command panel as the default. In the Alternate Symbol field, type an alternate symbol for the grade. You can choose to print alternate symbols on report cards, but they do not post to the transcript. For example, if the grade symbol is 85, you could print the alternate symbol B on report cards, but the official grade symbol remains 85. 3 Choose the Include in GPA option if you want the system to include this grade in the GPA calculations as part of the total calculated points. Choose the Credit Given option if you want students who receive this grade to earn credit. The system posts the credit to the studentâ€™s transcript. Choose the Honor Roll option if you want the system to include this grade as part of honor roll eligibility. Choose the Right Justify option if you want the system to right-justify this symbol on grading reports and report cards (print a justified right margin). See the following example of justified and non-justified printing.
Justified Non-Justified 100 85 100 9

2

4

5

6

100 85 100 9 7

In the Grade Points field, type the number of grade points for the first grading level (for example, Advanced). You can type up to 6 numbers or 5 numbers and a decimal point. Assign grade points for each grading level. Grade points should not exceed 9.999. If grade points exceed 9.999, you must use the Numeric Equivalent for all grades at your school. If you indicated that transcripts use points in SCH.101 â€“ Scheduling Options, you must assign the grade point value in this field.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2 8

Implementing the Student Grading System

23

In the Numeric Equivalent field, type the numeric value of the first grading level. If you typed a value in the Grade Points field, skip this field. If you indicated that transcripts use numbers in SCH.101 â€“ Scheduling Options, you must assign the numeric value in this field. You also must use this field if your grade points exceed 9.999.

9

Repeat Steps 7 and 8 for each grading level that the system displays.

10 Click OK. The system displays the Grade Symbols command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

24

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Setting Up Comment Titles
Use GRD.203 â€“ Comment Titles to define comment titles. This program is optional, but you must define comment titles if you want to print comments on your grading worksheets and report cards. Comment titles are place-holders for comment codes. For example, you could use CM1 to hold the first comment code on a report card or grading worksheet. You can define up to 24 comment titles for your school. The system can print up to four comment titles for each report card format. Once you use the Add command for your school in this program, you must use the Change command to add new comment titles. If you try to use the Add command again for additional comment titles, the system displays the message THIS RECORD IS ALREADY ON FILE.

Defining Comment Titles
Choose GRD.203 â€“ Comment Titles from the Grading Definitions menu. On the command panel, type your district and school codes. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

1

In the Title field, type a code to identify the comment title. This code identifies the comment area. For example, CM1 could represent the first comment area. The code prints on the report card or grading worksheet as a heading. If you want to keep comments from all grading periods, you must define separate comment titles for each grading period.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

25

In the Description field, type a description of the comment title. Use this field to describe the comment title. For example, Comment 1 could be the description for CM1.

3

Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for additional comment titles. You can define up to 24 comment titles on this panel. Click OK. The system displays the Comment Titles command panel.

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

26

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Setting Up Comment Codes
Use GRD.253 â€“ Comment Codes to define the comment codes to print on report cards. This program is optional, but you must define comment codes if you want to print comments on your report cards. Comment codes represent comments about a studentâ€™s performance or other information that you want to print on report cards. For example, PA could be a comment code for a comment on positive attitude.

Defining the Comment Code
Choose GRD.253 â€“ Comment Codes from the Grading Definitions menu. On the command panel, type your district code, school code, and the comment code. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel. If you use the CSOâ„¢ application, type single-digit comment codes as 1 through 9, using no preceding zeros. Using preceding zeros in comment codes causes errors within the CSO application.

1

In the Description field, type a description of the comment code.
HAS A POSITIVE ATTITUDE could be a description of PA. You can

choose whether the comment description prints when you use GRD.511 â€“ Print Report Cards to print your report cards. 2

Click OK. The system displays the Comment Codes command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

27

Formatting Grading Worksheets
Use GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats to define the format for grading worksheets and data entry panels to maintain grades. Define formats that represent the grades you collect and report for each grading period. The Student Grading System enables you to create grading worksheets to fit the unique needs of your school. The formats that you create determine the format of the printed worksheets that your teachers use to record grades and the format of the panel that the system displays for entering those grades. You must create at least one grading worksheet format.

Defining a Grading Worksheet Format
Choose GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats from the Grading Reports menu. On the command panel, type your district code, school code, and the grading worksheet format ID. The worksheet format ID is the code that you use to identify the format. For example, you can use QT2 to collect and maintain Quarter 2 grades. You need the format ID when you use GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet to maintain grades, and when you print grading worksheets using GRD.510 â€“ Print Grading Worksheet. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

1

In the Short Title field, type a brief description of the grading worksheet format.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

28

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 2 In the Description field, type a description of the format. This description prints at the top of the grading worksheet. 3 In the For Date Range and Through fields, type the beginning and ending dates of the grading term for this worksheet format. The date range prints on the grading worksheet. If you use the Student Attendance System, the system uses the date range to total absences and tardies for the grading term. The system uses the date range to select students to include in the worksheet. For example, to be included in the worksheet, the student must have a course request active within the date range. The format of the date is MMDDYY. For example, type September 1, 1998 as 090198. Type the date without slashes; the system inserts them for you. 4 In the Use Grade Titles fields, type up to four grade titles. These fields indicate the grades that you want the system to collect for a marking period. For example, you can enter first semester grades at the same time as second quarter grades by specifying both grade titles. 5 If you chose to use grading absences in GRD.101 â€“ Grading Options, select the Use Grading Absences option for each grade title you specified in Step 4. These fields identify grade titles that use grading absences. In the Use Comment Titles fields, type the comment titles that you want to include on the grading worksheet. In the Display Previous Grade Titles fields, type the name of any previous grade titles. When you print the grading worksheet, you can choose whether to print grades recorded during a previous grading period. You may want to print these previously entered grades for informational reasons. You can request up to six previous grade titles to include on the grading worksheet. 8 If you want to include official absences on the grading worksheet, choose the Display Official Absences option. If you use the SAS application, this field indicates that you want to include official period absences. 9 Click OK. The system displays the Grading Worksheet Formats command panel.

6

7

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

29

Formatting Report Cards
Use GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats to define report card formats for your school. Report card formats determine the information that prints on your report cards for each grading period.

Defining a Report Card Format
Choose GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats from the Grading Reports menu. On the command panel, type your district code, school code, and report card ID. The report card ID is the code that you use to refer to the report card format. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

1

In the Title and Description fields, type the title and description for the report card format. The description prints at the top of report cards.

2

Choose the Homeroom Number and Counselor options if you want the homeroom number or counselorâ€™s name on the report card. Choose the Comment Descriptions option if you want the system to print comment descriptions at the bottom of the report cards.

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

30

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 4 Choose the Current Period GPA for Grade Titles option if you want to include the current period GPA for specified grade titles. Type up to three grade titles for which you want to include a GPA on the report. Type the grade titles in these fields in the order that you want them to print on the report card. The last grade title field prints directly over the cumulative GPA, for those schools that want to line up these items on the report cards. 5 Choose the following options, if desired: Current Period GPA Messages Includes GPA messages for the grade titles you specified in the previous fields. The system prints messages at the bottom of the report card. Prints cumulative GPA information on report cards. You must run GRD.645 â€“ Update Cumulative GPA and Credit before you print the report card, if you choose this option. Prints the total credit that each student has earned. You must run GRD.645 â€“ Update Cumulative GPA and Credit before you print the report card. Prints the studentâ€™s ranking information on report cards. You must run GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking before you print the report card. Prints course credit information. The system prints attempted course credits, not earned credit. Includes a listing of non-graded courses for each student. The system includes this information along with the studentâ€™s graded courses. This field refers to courses that have no grade, not to those courses marked as being a non-graded course in SCH.310 â€“ Courses. Prints alternate grade symbols on report cards. Choose this option if you defined alternate grade symbols for your system. Prints report cards in compressed format. If you choose this option, you can use only 11 grade titles. Non-compressed format prints the name and address at the top of the report card and enables as many as 12 grade titles to print.

Cumulative GPA

Cumulative Credit Earned

Class Rank

Course Credit

Non-graded Courses

Alternate Grade Symbols Compressed Format

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2 6

Implementing the Student Grading System

31

Choose the Period Absence Table option if you want the system to print period absence table information on report cards. Select up to three defaults for which you want to print period absence table information on the report card; for example, Absent, Excused, or Tardy.

7

If you use automated course attendance and want to include this information on report cards, choose the Course Attendance option. If you choose this option, the system prints course attendance information for each student. You can print period absence information for type A absences, type E (excused) absences, and tardies. The system defaults to print information for type A absences and tardies. The system displays the Course Attendance option only if you use course attendance.

8

Click OK. The system displays the following Report Card Formats detail panel.

Specifying Additional Report Card Information

1

To specify a date range for the report card, type valid dates in the Date and Through fields. The report card format specifies a date range for the grading term. The date range prints on report cards. If you use the Student Attendance System, the system uses the date range to total period absences and tardies for the grading term.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

32

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide The system also uses the date range to select the courses to print on the report card. If a student dropped a course before the date you specify in this field, the printed report card excludes that course. 2 To include specific grade titles on the report card, type up to twelve valid grade titles in the Print Grade Titles fields. Type the titles in the order that you want them to print on the report card. 3 Choose the Grading Absence option under each desired grade title to include grading absences on report cards. If you use course attendance, the system displays Course Attendance options in place of Grading Absence. 4 To include comments on the report card, type up to six valid comment titles in the Comment Titles fields. Type the comment titles in the order that you want them to print on the report card. 5 In the Course Credit based on Grade Title field, type a grade title. The system displays this field only if you selected the Course Credit option on the previous panel. 6 In the first Description field, type a description of the first official attendance period that you want to include. This process enables you to print absences separately for each grading period. In the Begin Date and End Date fields, type beginning and ending dates for the first official attendance period. To include other official attendance periods, repeat steps 6 and 7. Click OK. If you chose the Current Period GPA for Grade Titles or Current Period GPA Messages print option on the Report Card Formats panel on page 29, the system displays the following Report Card Formats detail panel. Proceed to the next step. Otherwise, the system displays the Report Card Formats command panel.

7

8 9

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 2

Implementing the Student Grading System

33

Specifying Grade Title GPAs and Messages

1

If desired, type a beginning and ending GPA range in the first From GPA and Through GPA fields. This range corresponds to the specified grade title under the Grade Title column. The grade titles default from the Current Period GPA for Grade Titles field on the Report Card Formats panel on page 29. GPA information is not required. If you want to include a message to print on all report cards, regardless of the GPA, leave these date fields blank.

2

In the first Message to Print field, type a message. This message prints for the specified grade title. For example, for any students whose GPA earned them a place on the honor roll, you could type â€œCongratulations!â€.

3

To specify additional GPA messages, repeat steps 1 and 2. You can either enter up to three different grade titles with their associated GPA range and messages or use all six GPA range and message fields for one grade title. To print six lines of messages for the same grade title, you must repeat the grade title in all three Grade Title fields.

4

Click OK. The system displays the following Report Card Formats detail panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

34

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Specifying Grade Point Average Information

1

In the Courses field, choose the All Courses option if you want the system to use all courses to calculate GPA. Choose the Selected Courses option if you want the system to calculate GPA using only the courses that you specified in SCH.310 â€“ Courses.

2

In the From Course Definition field, choose the Credit option if you want the system to calculate the GPA from full or partial course credit, based on the course definition. If you did not specify partial credit, the system calculates by full credit. Choose the Weighting Factor option if you want the system to use the courseâ€™s weight factor to calculate GPA.

3

In the From Grade Definition field, choose the Grade Points option if you want the system to calculate GPA from the grade points specified in the grade definition. Choose the Numeric Equivalent option if you want the system to use the numeric equivalent to calculate GPA.

4

Click OK. The system displays the Report Card Format command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Entering and Maintaining Grades

3
35

This chapter describes the steps you follow to gather grading information and type it into your system. Using the information in this chapter, you can perform the following tasks:

n Print grading worksheets to gather grading information n Enter grading information into the system and verify that the information is correct

n n n n

Compute grades for those grade titles requiring computation Calculate cumulative GPA, credit, and class ranking Clear grading comments from prior grade reporting Print report cards

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

36

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide This chapter summarizes the process of gathering, entering, and maintaining grading information and provides you with a grading checklist. In addition, this chapter provides step-by-step instructions for the following programs.

n n n n n n n n

GRD.610 â€“ Clear Grading Comments GRD.510 â€“ Print Grading Worksheet GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking GRD.511 â€“ Print Report Cards

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

37

Gathering Grading Information
You can use two methods to enter student grades:

n You can enter grades manually by using GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet, STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records, or STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records. transfer grades from an optical scanning form into the system.

n You can enter grades automatically by using an optical scanner to
This chapter describes the steps you use to manually enter student grades. For information on using an optical scanner and CIMS Scanning Operations (CSO) software to transfer grades, contact your NCS sales representative.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

38

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing Report Cards
Report cards consist of two parts: a heading and body. The system prints student information, including the studentâ€™s name, class, student number, student file ID, and date in the heading of the report card. The body of the report card includes course and grading information. To select the information to print on the report card, you must define a report card format using GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats. For information about this program, see Chapter 2, â€œImplementing the Student Grading System.â€ To print report cards, use GRD.511 â€“ Print Report Cards. Based on the report card format you defined in GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats, you can select optional information to print in both the heading and body of the report card. For the heading, you can choose from the following options:

n Homeroom number n Counselor n Current period GPA
The system calculates the current period grade point average (GPA) based only on the grades the student receives during an individual grading period.

n Cumulative GPA
The system calculates the cumulative grade point average based on all final grades the student received.

n Credit earned
You defined course credit in SCH.310 â€“ Courses.

n Class rank
The system also prints optional information in the body of the report card:

n n n n n n n n n n n

Course titles Grades and grade titles Comment codes and comment titles Comment descriptions Absences from the Student Attendance System or course absences Grading absences Tardies Course credit GPA messages Teacher Official attendance information

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

39

The report card format that you create determines the information that prints on report cards. The system prints comment descriptions only if you defined comment codes in GRD.253 â€“ Comment Codes and you chose to print comment descriptions in the report card format. The system prints official absence and tardy information only if you use the Student Attendance System to record attendance information and you chose to print this information in the report card format. If you select non-compressed format, you can print as many as 12 grade titles and six comment titles, with a combined maximum of 14. In compressed format, you can print as many as 11 grade titles and six comment titles, with a combined maximum of 11. If you include course credit on your report cards, the system limits you to two fewer fields for either format; the system reserves these two fields on the report card for course credit. To print report cards, perform the following tasks: 1 2 Define report card formats using GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats. If you ran report cards for another marking period and want to reuse the same comment titles, clear the previous grading comments using GRD.610 â€“ Clear Grading Comments before you add the new ones. Ensure that you entered student grades into the system using GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet, STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records, STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records, or the CSO application. If you want the system to compute any grade titles, run GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades. If you print cumulative GPA and credit information on report cards, run GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit to update student GPAs and credit. If you print class ranking information on report cards, run GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking.

3

4

5

6

The illustration on the following page shows an overview of the process of entering grades, updating and revising them, and printing report cards.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

40

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Print Grading Worksheets GRD.510

Input Grades GRD.410

Compute Grades?

Yes

Compute Grades GRD.611

No

Print Worksheet to Edit Grades GRD.510

Update Grades GRD.410 STU.301E STU.301M

Input Final Grades?

Yes

Calculate Cumulative GPA GRD.645

Calculate Ranking GRD.680

No

Print Repor t Cards GRD.511

Print Grading Repor ts

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

41

Before You Begin
Before you begin entering and maintaining grading information, make sure you do the following:

n n n n n

Verify grading options defined in GRD.101 â€“ Grading Options Verify comment titles defined in GRD.203 â€“ Comment Titles Verify the grade symbols defined in GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols Verify the comment codes defined in GRD.253 â€“ Comment Codes Verify that you defined your grading worksheet formats using GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

42

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Grading Information Checklist
To manually enter grades into your system, you need to perform the steps in the following chart.
Step q 1. Task Clear grading comments Menu SGS200 Program GRD.610

Use GRD.610 â€“ Clear Grading Comments to clear grading comments from any prior report card runs from the files. See page 44 for information about how to use this program. q 2. Print grading worksheets SGS500 GRD.510

Use GRD.510 â€“ Print Grading Worksheet to print grading worksheets. Distribute the worksheets to your teachers to gather grading information. See page 45 for instructions. q 3. Use the worksheet to enter grades SGS200 GRD.410

Use GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet to enter the information the teachers supplied on the worksheets. You can use STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records to enter grading information by student, but the GRD.410 program presents the panels in a format similar to the worksheet (by course, section, period), which simplifies grade entry. See page 47 for instructions. q 4. Compute grades SGS200 GRD.611

Use GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades to calculate grades for the grade titles that require computation. If you do not need to compute any grades, you can skip this step. See page 50 for instructions. q 5. Verify grades SGS500 GRD.510

Use GRD.510 â€“ Print Grading Worksheet again to print the grading worksheets with the current grades. You then redistribute the worksheets to teachers so they can verify the information. See page 45 for instructions. q 6. Revise individual grades as needed SGS200 STU.301E

After teachers verify and return the grading worksheets, use STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records, STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records, or GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet to make changes to an individual studentâ€™s grades. See page 53 for instructions. q 7. Update student cumulative GPA and credit SGS200 GRD.645

If you plan to enter final grades, use GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit to compute cumulative GPA and credit for your students. If you do not want to enter final grades at this point, you can skip this step. See page 55 for instructions.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3
Step q 8. Task Calculate class ranking

Entering and Maintaining Grades
Menu SGS200 Program GRD.680

43

Use GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking to calculate current class ranking for your students. See page 57 for instructions. q 9. Print report cards SGS500 GRD.511

When your grades are correct, use GRD.511 â€“ Print Student Report Cards to print report cards to distribute to your students. See page 58 for instructions.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

44

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Clearing Grading Comments
Use GRD.610 â€“ Clear Grading Comments to purge any comments that remain in your grading file from the last grading period. If you include grading comments on your report cards, you can use this program to clear the comments from a prior grading period. For example, suppose your first report card marking period contains comment codes for comment titles C1 and C2. If you want to use comment titles C1 and C2 again for the next marking period, you use this program to clear any existing comment codes before you add new ones. You can choose to clear comments for an individual school or an entire district.

Selecting the District and School
Choose GRD.610 â€“ Clear Grading Comments from the Grade Maintenance menu. When the system displays the panel, type your district and school codes. When you click OK, the system displays the following panel.

1

To clear the comment listed next to the first item, type Y in the first Clear field. Repeat Step 1 for each Clear field on the panel. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

2 3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

45

Printing Grading Worksheets
Use GRD.510 â€“ Print Grading Worksheet to print a grading worksheet format. You print grading worksheets to distribute to teachers so they can record grading information. You then use the completed worksheets to provide the information you need to enter grades into the system. This program uses a grading worksheet format that you defined in GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats. See Chapter 2, â€œImplementing the Student Grading System,â€ for information about defining grading worksheet formats. You can limit the worksheet to a specific teacher or class period. If you set up your system to track grading absences, the report can include that information. This program refers to the information in the Class Rolls field in SCH.320 â€“ Master Schedule to determine if a grading worksheet should print for each course, section, and period. After you record your grading information (or use CIMS Scanning Operations software to post grades to your grade file), you can print this report again to verify the grades in the file. See the Student Applications Sample Reports for a sample of the report.

Printing Worksheets
Choose GRD.510 â€“ Print Grading Comments from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

46

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 1 In Report For field, type your district and school codes in the District and School fields. If you are restricted to a single district or school, the system defaults the district or school code in this field. 2 In the Term field, type the term number for which you are recording grading information. In the Format field, type the code for the format to use for this grading worksheet. Use one of the grading worksheet formats that you defined using GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats. 4 To limit the worksheet to a specific teacher, type the teacher code in the Teacher field. To limit the worksheet to a specific period, type the period number in the Period field. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

3

5

6

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

47

Using a Worksheet to Enter Grades
Use GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet to enter grades from a grading worksheet. The panel you use to enter grades in this program should resemble the format of your grading worksheet, to simplify the process. You also can use STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records or STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records to enter grades. The difference among these three methods is:

n GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet enables you to enter grades by course section. The system displays all students enrolled in a course section on your panel, and also displays each studentâ€™s name and number for your verification. You can enter grades and comment codes for each student. enter grades for multiple students. You can select students by tag. After you select the desired students, the system displays all courses in the studentâ€™s schedule on your panel. grades for an individual student. When you type a student ID, the system displays all courses in the studentâ€™s schedule on your panel. You can enter grades and comments for one or more of the studentâ€™s courses.

n STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records enables you to

n STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records enables you to enter

A typical approach entering grades is to use GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet to enter the grading information initially, then use STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records or STU.301M â€“ Access to Multiple Student Records to revise grading information for individual students, as needed.

Entering Grades from a Worksheet
Choose GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet from the Grade Maintenance menu. The system displays the following panel. The student names displayed on the panel may not match the names printed on the worksheet if students dropped or later added a course section.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

48

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Selecting the Worksheet Format

1

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. In the Course field, type the course code. If you are using the grading worksheet, find the course code in the upper left corner of the page.

2

3

In the Section field, type the section number. If you are using the grading worksheet, find the section number in the upper left corner.

4

In the Format field, type the format identifier for the worksheet. You defined worksheet formats using GRD.210 â€“ Grading Worksheet Formats. The format determines the grade titles and comment titles that the system uses.

5

Click Change. The system displays the following detail panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

49

Adding Grading Information

1

In the Grades field, type the appropriate grade symbol for the first student. The number of grade title fields that the system displays on this panel varies, based on the grading worksheet format definition. The maximum number is four. If you do not want to grade a student, leave the Grades, Comments, and Credit fields blank for that student.

2

In the Comments field, type up to four comment codes. The number of comment fields that the system displays on this panel varies, based on the grading worksheet format definition. The maximum number is four. If you do not use comments, the system does not display this field.

3

If you use grading absences, type the number of grading absences for this student in the Credit field for each displayed absence category (for example, Excused and Unexcused). If you do not use grading absences, this panel lists one student on each line without displaying absence category lines. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 for each student displayed on the panel, then click OK. If the course includes additional students, the system displays another panel of students for you to continue entering grades. If you have entered the grades for the last student in the course section, the system displays the Input Grades from Worksheet command panel.

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

50

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Calculating Grades for Students
Use GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades to automatically calculate grades for students in a specified district, school, and grade title. You need to use this program if you defined any of your grade titles as being computed in GRD.201 â€“ Grade Titles. You can limit this process to a specific class or individual student. This program can compute a maximum of 150 grade symbols. Do not define more than 150 grade symbols in GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols, if you plan to use this program to compute grades.

Switch Setting
This program contains a switch setting that affects the way the system selects the grade symbol to use. See Appendix C, â€œSwitch Settings,â€ for information on using switch settings.

n Always use next highest Grade Symbol?
This switch controls the rounding approach the system uses to select grades. For example: Switch not selected selected Result 3.49 = B 3.49 = A

If you select this switch, the system rounds up any fraction to the next higher grade symbol definition. For example, both 3.01 and 3.99 would be an A.

Computing Grades
Choose GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades from the Grade Maintenance menu. The system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

51

Selecting the Grades to Compute

1

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. In the Grade Title field, type the grade title you want the system to calculate. Choose the Re-calculate Existing Grades option if you want the system to re-calculate existing grades for only the selected grade title. If you do not choose this option, the existing grades remain unchanged. Choose an option in the Compute Using field. If you choose the Grade Points option, the system computes grades using grade points. If you choose the Numeric Equivalent option, the system computes grades using a numeric equivalent.

2

3

4

5

Change the date in the Use Dropped Courses if Drop Date is Greater Than field, if necessary. The default is the system date. The date in this field represents the last date (stored in SCH.410 â€“ Course Requests) of dropped courses that you want to exclude from the grading process. The system includes any courses dropped after the date in this field.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

52

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 6 Choose an option from the If Blank Grades are Found field, based on how you want the system to handle blank grades: Do Not Calculate a Grade Calculate and Skip Blank Grades Skip and Print on Report System does not calculate a grade if a blank grade appears. System calculates grades, but omits blanks from the calculation. System calculates grades, but omits blanks from the calculation and also lists them on the report.

Calculate and Make System calculates grades and counts blanks Blank Grades Zero as zero grade points. 7 Choose an option in the Limit To field. To limit the grade computation to a specific class, type a valid class code in the Class field. To limit the grade computation to a specific student, type a valid number in the Student Number field. 8 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

53

Entering Grades for an Individual Student
Use STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records to enter individual student grades. Before you begin, make sure that you have a current listing of student numbers and you know the desired report card format. You defined report card formats in GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats.

Entering Individual Grades
Choose STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records from the Grade Maintenance menu. The system displays the following panel.

Selecting a Student Record

1

In the District and School fields, type the district and school codes. These codes represent the district and school that the student currently attends.

2

In the Student Number field, type the studentâ€™s number to identify the student whose records you are revising. In the Records Available field, choose the Grades option.

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

54

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 4 Click Change. The system displays the following detail panel. Although you may be adding new information for this student, you must use the Change command to update a student record that you already added in STU.301 â€“ Basic Student Information.

Entering the Grades

1

In the Credit field, type the number of credits for this student. The system displays the Credit field only if you elected to vary credit by student in SCH.101 â€“ Scheduling Options. The system displays specific absence fields here only if you chose to include grading absences in GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats. The field names (such as EX for excused or UN for unexcused) come from the Abbreviated Title field in GRD.101 â€“ Grading Options.

2

In the Grades fields, type a grade under the appropriate grade title (for example, QT1). The system displays grade titles based on the report card format you chose on the previous panel.

3

In the Comments fields, type valid comment codes under the comment titles. If you do not use comments, the system does not display these fields.

4

Click OK. The system displays the Student Records command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

55

Updating the Cumulative GPA and Credit
Use GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit to update studentsâ€™ cumulative GPA and credit before you print cumulative GPA information on any grading reports. The program uses only the grades in final grade titles (defined in GRD.201 â€“ Grade Titles). Run this program after you enter or change grades. You can run this program as often as necessary. NCS recommends that you run this program on a dedicated system (no other users at that time).

Selecting the Students and Grades
Choose GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit from the Grade Maintenance menu. Type your district code, school code, and year. When you click OK, the system displays the following panel.

1

Choose an option from the Limit To field. To limit this process to a specific class, type a valid class code in the Class field. To limit this process to an individual student, type the studentâ€™s number in the Student Number field.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

56

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 2 In the Include Current field, the system displays the grade titles that you defined as final grade titles in GRD.201 â€“ Grade Titles. Choose the Select option for each grade title and term that you want included in the process. The system calculates cumulative credit for all courses. 3 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

57

Calculating Class Rank
Use GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking to calculate class rank. The system determines class rank by comparing the cumulative GPA of one student to the cumulative GPA of other students. You can calculate ranking information for a specific class or an individual school. You can exclude students who have specific tags from the ranking. You can print reports that contain the information from this program by running either GRD.580 â€“ List Students by Rank or GRD.585 â€“ List Ranking Information by Student.

Determining Class Rank
Choose GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking from the Grade Maintenance menu. The system displays the following panel.

1 2

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. To limit this process to a specific class, type the class code in the Class field. To exclude students with specified tags from the ranking calculation, type tag names in the Exclude Students With Tags field. Choose the Include in Rank Totals option directly under each tag that you want to include in the total count. For example, you may have Special Education students whom you do not include in the class ranking calculation, but want to include in the total count of students (rank totals).

3

4

5

Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

58

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing Report Cards
Use GRD.511 â€“ Print Report Cards to print a report card format that you defined using GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats. In addition to specifying a unique report card format, you can limit the records that print based on fields you choose on the selection panel. You can include or exclude specific information, and sort the report cards in a variety of ways. This program contains various options by which you can limit printing. For example, you can limit report cards to print for specific homeroom numbers. You can select only one of these options each time you print report cards. See the Student Applications Sample Reports for a sample report card.

Before You Begin
Make sure you complete the following:

n Verify that you entered student grades for the correct grading term.
You entered student grades in GRD.410 â€“ Input Grades from Worksheet or STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records.

n Verify that you defined a report card format in GRD.211 â€“ Report

Card Formats. See Chapter 2, â€˜â€™Implementing the Student Grading System,â€™â€™ for information about report card formats. printed on reports. You can print absence and tardy information on report cards only if you use the Student Attendance System. using GRD.611 â€“ Compute Grades.

n Verify that you entered absence and tardy information, if you want it

n If your system calculates grades, verify that you computed grades n If you are printing the cumulative GPA, cumulative credit, or ranking information on report cards, update your data using GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit and GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3

Entering and Maintaining Grades

59

Switch Settings
This program contains the following switch settings. See Appendix C, â€œSwitch Settings,â€ for information on using switch settings.

n Disable printing of **PERFECT ATTENDANCE**?
The message is disabled by default, but you can change the switch to print the message.

n Limit Attendance Information to Periods Grades are Reported?
If you select this switch, the system uses attendance information from all periods.

Selecting Report Card Contents
Choose GRD.511 â€“ Print Report Cards from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

1 2

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. In the Report Card field, type the report card format identifier. You defined this format ID in GRD.211 â€“ Report Card Formats for the specified school and district.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

60

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 3 Choose options from the Limit To field. To print a report card for an individual student, type the student number in the Student field. To print report cards for specified students, choose the Multiple Students option. The system later displays additional panels for you to select specific student numbers. 4 To print report cards for a specific term, type a term number in the first Terms field. To print report cards for a range of terms, type a beginning term number in the first field and an ending term number in the second field. To limit report cards to other specific categories, click on the category bar: n n n n n

5

Homeroom Numbers Counselors Classes Tags Tag Categories

For each category that you choose, the system displays a panel that enables you to specify the desired items. For example, if you click Homeroom Numbers, the system prompts you to type the numbers of the home rooms for which you are printing report cards. 6 To sort report cards in a specific order, choose the desired Sort option. Select the Student, Terms, Counselors, Homeroom Numbers, Classes, or Zip Code sort order option. You can choose only one sort option each time you print report cards. 7 Choose the Cumulative GPA option if you want the system to calculate by cumulative GPA and credit. If you choose this option, the system displays an additional panel for you to specify cumulative GPA information. Choosing this option has the same effect as running GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit to calculate the cumulative GPA and credit. This option adds processing time when you run this program. 8 Choose the Class Rank option if you want the system to calculate by class ranking. If you choose this option, the system displays an additional panel for you to specify class ranking information. Changing this option has the same effect as running program GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Rank to calculate the class ranking. This option adds processing time when you run this program.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 3 9

Entering and Maintaining Grades

61

Choose the Mailing Label Format option if you want to select a predefined mailing label format for report cards.

10 Choose the Print Unlisted Phone Number option if you want the system to print telephone numbers on all report cards, including those for students with the unlisted phone number flag set to Yes in STU.301 â€“ Basic Student Information. Choose the Print Report Card for Contacts option if you want to print report cards for all of the contacts that you authorized in the basic student information programs to receive report cards. 11 Click OK. If you chose the Multiple Students option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers. See Appendix A, â€œProcessing Reports for Multiple Students,â€ for information on selecting the students and ending the program. If you chose the Cumulative GPA or Class Rank option, the system displays an additional panel for you to specify more information. Proceed to the next section. Otherwise, the system displays a submittal prompt.

Specifying Cumulative GPA and Class Rank Information

1

In the Calculate Cumulative GPA field, choose the option directly under each term and grade title that you want to include in the cumulative GPA and credit calculation.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

62

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide The system displays these fields only if you chose the Cumulative GPA option on the previous Print Report Cards panel. The system displays the grading terms defined as final grades for the specified district and school. 2 In the Calculate Class Rank field, type up to six tag names in the Exclude Students with Tags fields. The system excludes students who have these tags from the class ranking. The system displays these fields only if you chose the Class Rank option on the previous Print Report Cards panel. 3 Choose the Include in Rank Totals option directly under each tag that you want the system to include in the rank totals, but exclude from the class ranking calculation. For example, you may have Special Education students whom you do not include in the class ranking calculation, but do include in the total count of students (rank totals). 4 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Printing Grading Reports

4
63

After you enter and process grading information as described in Chapter 3, â€œEntering and Maintaining Grades,â€ the Student Grading System provides a number of standard reports you can use to display and print grading information. Using the report programs described in this chapter, you can perform the following tasks:

n n n n

Review the current period GPA ranking of your students Review the cumulative GPA ranking of your students Evaluate the grades given in different sections of the same course Identify those students who are having academic difficulty

This chapter provides step-by-step instructions for using the following SGS reports from the Grading Reports menu.

n n n n n n n

GRD.541 GRD.545 GRD.549 GRD.556 GRD.558 GRD.580 GRD.585

â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“

Print GPA List Ranked by GPA Print Detail for Student Cumulative GPA Print Cumulative GPA by Student Name Print Grade Distribution by Teacher Print Student D.F.I. List List Students by Rank List Ranking Information by Student Name

You can see samples of each of these reports in the Student Applications Sample Reports.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

64

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing a Ranked GPA List
Use GRD.541 â€“ Print GPA List Ranked by GPA to print a report of students and their current period GPA sorted by rank. You can print this report for all districts (if authorized), or limit it to a single district, school, class, or GPA range. Use GRD.540 â€“ Print GPA List by Student Name to print a report of current period GPA sorted by student name.

Selecting the Records to Print

1

In the Grade Title field, type the grade title for which you want the report. To limit the report to one district, type the district code in the District field. To limit the report to a single school, type the school code in the School field. To limit the report to a specific class, type the class code in the Class field. To limit the report to a range of GPAs, type the lower limit of the range in the Low field and the upper limit of the range in the High field. Click OK. The system displays the following selection panel.

2

3

4

5

6

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 4

Printing Grading Reports

65

Calculating Current Period GPA

1

Choose an option in the Current Period GPA is to be calculated using field. Choose the All Courses option if you want the system to include all graded courses in the current period GPA calculation. Choose the Selected Courses (Include in GPA?) option if you want the system to include only those graded courses that you selected to include in the GPA using SCH.310 â€“ Courses in the Student Scheduling System.

2

Choose an option in the Use from Course Definition field, based on how you defined your courses in the Student Management System. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide for more information on course credit and weighting factors. Choose Credit if you want the system to include the course credit in the current period GPA calculation. You defined the course credit amount in the Credit For Current Period GPA field in SCH.310 â€“ Courses. Choose Weighting Factor if you want the system to include the course weighting factor in the current period GPA calculation. The weighting factor is a method of tracking student averages without maintaining course credit or student transcripts.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

66

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 3 Choose an option in the Use from Grade Definition field, based on how you defined your grade symbols in GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols. Choose Grade Points if your system uses grade point value in the current period GPA calculation. Choose Numeric Equivalent if your system calculates the current period GPA using the grade numeric value. 4 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 4

Printing Grading Reports

67

Printing a Detailed Cumulative GPA
Use GRD.545 â€“ Print Detail for Student Cumulative GPA to print a report of students with their cumulative GPA by class and student name. You can print the report for an entire district or limit it to a specific school, class, or student. A flagged course on the report indicates an unposted grade. The system used the grade to calculate the cumulative GPA because the grade was for a final grade title, but the grade was not transcripted.

Before You Begin
Before you generate this report, be sure you run GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit.

Selecting the Report Content

1

To limit the report to one district, type the district code in the District field. To limit the report to one school, type the school code in the School field. To limit the report by either class or student, choose one of these options. To print the report for one class, type a class code in the Class field. To print the report for an individual student, type the studentâ€™s number in the Student Number field.

2

3

4

Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

68

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing Cumulative GPA by Student Name
Use GRD.549 â€“ Print Cumulative GPA by Student Name to print a report of students with their cumulative GPA sorted by student name. You can print this report for an entire district, or limit it to a single school, class, GPA range, or tag. Use GRD.548 â€“ Print Cumulative GPA Ranked by GPA to print a report of studentsâ€™ cumulative GPA sorted by GPA.

Before You Begin
Before you generate this report, be sure you run the following programs.

n GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit n GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking

Selecting the Records to Print

1

To limit the report to a specified GPA range, type the lower limit of the range in the Low field and the upper limit of the range in the High field. To limit the report to one district, type the district code in the District field. To limit the report to one school, type the school code in the School field.

2

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 4 4

Printing Grading Reports

69

To limit the report to a specific class and tag, type the class code in the Class field and the tag name in the Tag field. The system includes only those students with the specified class and tag. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

5

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

70

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing Grade Distribution by Teacher
Use GRD.556 â€“ Print Grade Distribution by Teacher to produce a grade distribution report sorted by teacher. You may want to use this report to evaluate grades given by teachers. Use GRD.555 â€“ Print Grade Distribution by Course to print a grade distribution report sorted by course.

Selecting the Grades to Print

1 2 3 4

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. In the Term field, type the term number for the report. In the Grade Title field, type the grade title for the report. In the Column Heading field, type the column heading you want for the first column of the report. For example, you could specify a column heading â€œ90 - 100â€ for a column that contains all of the grades that fall within that numeric range.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 4 5

Printing Grading Reports

71

In the Grade Symbols field, type up to three grade symbols that you want to include in the first column of the report. If you use this field, leave the Numeric Grade Ranges field blank.

6

In the Numeric Grade Ranges Low and High fields, type the numeric grade range for the first column. If you use these fields, leave the Grade Symbols field blank.

7

Repeat Steps 4 and 5 or 6 (depending on the option you chose) for each column you want in the report. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

8

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

72

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing a Student D, F, or I Grade List
Use GRD.558 â€“ Print Student D.F.I. List to print a report of those students who received a D, F, or I grade. After you select the grade title for which you want to run the report, you can limit the report to a single district, school, or class. Use this report to identify those students who are having academic difficulties. Print this report only if you use alphabetic grade symbols; this report does not apply to numeric grades. The system selects students based only on D, F, and I grades. The report includes plus and minus grades (D+, D-).

Before You Begin
The system does not print right-justified grades in this report. Your grades and grade symbol definitions both must be left-justified. Before you generate this report, ensure that you left-justified your D, F, and I grades when you entered them (no leading spaces) and that you did not choose the Right Justify option in GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols when you defined them.

Selecting the Report Content

1 2

In the Grade Title field, type the grade title for the report. To limit the report to a single district, type the district code in the District field. To limit the report to a single school, type the school code in the School field.

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 4 4

Printing Grading Reports

73

To limit the report to a single class, type the class code in the Class field. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

5

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

74

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing a List of Students by Rank
Use GRD.580 â€“ List Students by Rank to print a report of cumulative student ranking information by rank, sorted by class. You can limit this report to a specific class. You can choose to include unranked students on the report.

Before You Begin
Before you generate this report, be sure you run the following programs.

n GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit n GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking

Listing Students by Rank

1 2 3

In the District field, type the district code. In the School field, type the school code. To limit the listing to a specific class, type the class code in the Class field. Choose the List Unranked Students on Report option if you want the report to include unranked students. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

4

5

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 4

Printing Grading Reports

75

Listing the Student Ranking by Student Name
Use GRD.585 â€“ List Ranking Information by Student Name to print a report of cumulative student ranking information, sorted alphabetically by student name. You can limit this report to a single class or student. Use GRD.580 â€“ List Students by Rank to print cumulative student ranking information sorted by class.

Before You Begin
Before you generate this report, be sure you run the following programs.

n GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit n GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking

Selecting the Report Content

1 2

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. Choose an option in the Limit To field. To limit the report to a specific class, type the class code in the Class field. To print the report for an individual student, type the studentâ€™s file ID in the Student field. To include all students, leave this field blank.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

76

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 3 Choose the List Unranked Students on Report option if you want the report to include unranked students. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Maintaining the Honor Roll

5
77

This chapter describes the Student Grading System honor roll. You can define an honor roll format for each type of honor roll that your school uses. The honor roll formats that you define determine eligibility for each honor roll and the title that prints on the honor roll report. You also use the honor roll formats to specify the GPA calculation used to compute grades for honor roll eligibility. Using the programs described in this chapter, you can perform the following tasks:

n Define honor roll formats n Print honor roll reports
This chapter provides step-by-step information about the following programs:

n GRD.275 â€“ Honor Roll Formats n GRD.575 â€“ Print Student Honor Roll

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

78

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Defining Honor Roll Formats
Use GRD.275 â€“ Honor Roll Formats to define report formats for your honor roll. If your school has more than one honor roll, you can maintain a separate format definition to select eligible students for each honor roll. Your formula for the GPA calculation and the honor roll formats that you define determine which students the system includes in or excludes from the honor roll. For each honor roll format that you define, you can choose the following:

n n n n n n

Honor roll report title Upper and lower limit for honor roll eligibility Weighted GPA, or unweighted GPA with grade level Grades to ignore in GPA calculation Whether to override a course flag Whether to use a grade point or numeric equivalent GPA

You can disqualify students from the honor roll by defining the following exclusions:

n n n n n

Minimum credit less than a specified amount Specific comment codes in specified comment titles Specific grades More than a maximum number of a specified grade Grade below a specified level

Use this program to create the formats for your honor roll reports. Then, use GRD.575 â€“ Print Student Honor Roll to print your honor roll.

Specifying the Format Name
Choose GRD.275 â€“ Honor Roll Formats from the Grading Reports menu. Type your district code, school code, and the name of the honor roll format that you are defining. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 5

Maintaining the Honor Roll

79

Defining the Report Title and Honor Roll GPA

1

To the right of the honor roll format name that appears in the Honor Roll Format field, type a description. For example, you could type â€œHonor Rollâ€ to describe your general honor roll (HON) or â€œNational Honor Societyâ€ for an NHS honor roll format.

2

In the Report Heading field, type the title of your honor roll report for this honor roll format. The system displays this title in the heading of each printed page of the honor roll report. Review the default (999.0000) in the Upper Limit field. Leave the default if you do not want to define an upper limit on the GPA for this honor roll. To restrict the upper limit of the honor roll, type the highest GPA that you want to include in this honor roll. The system excludes any student with a GPA that is higher than this upper limit from the honor roll.

3

4

To define the lower limit of this honor roll, in the Lower Limit field, type the lowest GPA that you want to include in this honor roll. The system excludes any student with a GPA that is lower than this lower limit from the honor roll. Choose either the Weighted or Unweighted option, depending on whether or not you use a weighted GPA.

5

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

80

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 6 If you chose the Unweighted option in the previous field, type a number from 1 to 9 in the Unweighted Grade Level field. This number identifies the grade level to use when calculating the GPA. You defined these grade levels in GRD.101 â€“ Grading Options. 7 Click OK. The system displays the following panel, where you can define the honor roll report exclusions and GPA calculation.

Defining the Report Exclusions and GPA Calculation

1

If desired, in the Minimum Credit Less Than field, type the minimum credit load that your school requires for a student to be eligible for this honor roll during this reporting period. The credit that the system uses to determine honor eligibility depends on how you entered course credit in SCH.101 â€“ Scheduling Options.

2

If desired, in the Comment Title field, type up to four comment titles to search for codes that would exclude a student from this honor roll. If you type a comment title in this field, type at least one related comment code in the Comment Code field.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 5 3

Maintaining the Honor Roll

81

If desired, in the Comment Code field, type up to four comment codes that would exclude a student from this honor roll. If you typed a comment title in the Comment Title field, you must type at least one comment code in this field. If any of the codes that you type in this field appear in any of the comment titles entered in the Comment Title field, the honor roll report excludes the students who have that code.

4

If desired, in the Grade field, type up to five grades that would exclude a student from this honor roll. This field works in combination with the Number of Grades field. For example, to exclude a student who earns two D grades, type D in this field and in the Number of Grades field directly under the D, type 2.

5

If you typed any grades in the Grade field, type a number to associate with each of those grades in the Number of Grades field. The number that you type in this field determines how many grades exclude a student from this honor roll. For example, to exclude a student who earns three C grades, type 3 in this field and type C in the Grade field directly above the 3. If you do not type a number into this field, the system uses a default of 1. For example, if you typed C in the Grade field and left this field blank, the honor roll report excludes any student who earns a C grade.

6

If desired, in the Grade Below field, type the grade below which a student is not eligible for this honor roll. For example, if you type C in this field, the honor roll report excludes all students who receive a grade of C- or lower.

7

If desired, in the Ignore Grades field, type up to five grades to ignore in the GPA calculation. For example, you may want to type P to exclude a passing grade in Pass/Fail courses.

8

Choose the Override Course Flag option if you want to override the Include in Honor Roll and Include in GPA options in SCH.310 â€“ Courses. This option enables you to include affected courses in the GPA calculation for this honor roll. Overriding the course flag in this program does not affect the permanent GPA if you do not include the course in the GPA calculation. If you do not want to override the course flag settings in SCH.310 â€“ Courses, do not select the Override Course Flag option.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

82

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 9 Choose an option in the Use Grade Point/Numeric field. Choose the Point option to use grade points in the GPA calculation. Choose the Numeric option to use a numeric equivalent calculation for the GPA. 10 Click OK. The system displays the Honor Roll Formats command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 5

Maintaining the Honor Roll

83

Generating the Honor Roll Report
Use GRD.575 â€“ Print Student Honor Roll to print the honor roll report for a specified honor roll format. For this report, you must select the following:

n District and school n Honor roll report format n Grade title
The printed report starts a new page for each class. You can sort the information within class by student name or GPA. If desired, you can limit this report to a specified class. See the Student Applications Sample Reports for a sample honor roll report. Choose GRD.575 â€“ Print Student Honor Roll from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

Limiting and Sorting the Honor Roll Report

1 2 3

In the District field, type the district code for this honor roll. In the School field, type the school code. In the Honor Roll Format field, type the format for this honor roll. You defined this format in GRD.275 â€“ Honor Roll Formats.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

84

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 4 In the Grade Title field, type the grade title on which you want to report honor roll information. To limit the report to one class, type the class for this honor roll in the Class field. Choose an option in the Sort field. Choose the Student Name option to sort the honor roll information by student. Choose the Honor Roll GPA option to sort by GPA. 7 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

5

6

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Maintaining Transcripts

6
85

This chapter describes how to add and update student transcripts. Transcripts are permanent records of academic progress. The information maintained in the permanent record includes course information, grades, and credit issued. Using the programs in this chapter, you can perform the following tasks.

n n n n n

Set the date of graduation for all students in a graduating class Add and revise individual student transcripts Post grades and courses to transcripts automatically Print transcript listings and labels Purge old transcript records from your files

This chapter summarizes student transcripts and provides step-by-step information for the following programs:

n n n n n n n

GRD.601 GRD.450 GRD.665 GRD.550 GRD.551 GRD.565 GRD.801

â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“ â€“

Set Student Date of Graduation Maintain Student Transcripts Transcript Student Grades Print Transcript Listing Print Student Transcripts Print Transcript Labels Purge Old Transcript Records

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

86

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Transcript Process
Transcripts retain permanent grading and credit information. You usually maintain transcript information at the high school level. Using student transcripts is optional, but you must update transcripts if you want to maintain a cumulative GPA for your students. You maintain the following information in the student transcript record:

n n n n n n n n n

Course name Credits attempted and earned Final grades Graduation categories (identifiers that indicate the areas of study in which courses meet graduation requirements) Points earned Course code Grading absences Course descriptions Fiscal year, term, class, school, and district

If you are tracking graduation requirements (the credit amount necessary to successfully complete a studentâ€™s chosen graduation plan), make sure you are familiar with the graduation categories defined for your school.

Adding Transcript Information
When you add or update transcripts, you can enter grades individually for each student using GRD.450 â€“ Maintain Student Transcripts. You also can post grades and associated course information automatically to transcripts, using GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades.

Posting Transcript Information from Other Districts
If you post information from other districts, you can set up a simulated (dummy) district and school to separate the grades and credit a student received in another district from the grades and credit received in your district. Then, you can use the dummy district and school code to enter information from the outside district. The GRD.450 â€“ Maintain Student Transcripts and GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades programs accept only those districts and schools that you previously defined to the system. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide for information on setting up district and school codes.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts

87

Purging Old Records
You can use GRD.801 â€“ Purge Old Transcript Records to remove unneeded transcript records for a school, class, or student. When you remove transcript records for a student, you can tell the system to exclude specified classes. You also can use this program to remove middle school and junior high school transcripts, to exclude them from the high school transcript records. The figure on the following page illustrates the transcript process described in this chapter.

Before You Begin
Make sure you do the following:

n Sign on to the correct fiscal year. n Ensure that you are familiar with the date that your school posts grades to the transcripts, to avoid updating transcripts at the wrong time.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

88

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Input Grades from Worksheet GRD.410

Individual Student Grade Maintenance STU.301E or STU.301M

Transcript Student Grades GRD.665

Transcript File

Maintain Student Transcripts GRD.450

Transcript Listing

Transcript Label

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts

89

Setting the Student Date of Graduation
Use GRD.601 â€“ Set Student Date of Graduation to set a graduation date. You can set the date of graduation for an individual student or all students in a graduating class. The system displays the date of graduation at the bottom of the specified transcript records when you print transcripts using GRD.550 â€“ Print Transcript Listing. To process a graduation date, you must have defined the next year district and school information in STU.301 â€“ Basic Student Information. When you process a graduation date for an entire class, the system gives a graduation date only to students who are not scheduled to attend the same school next year. When you process a graduation date for a single student, the system sets the graduation date for that student, regardless of his or her next year school.

Changing the Date of Graduation
Choose GRD.601 â€“ Set Student Date of Graduation from the Grade Maintenance menu. The system displays the following panel. If you set the date of graduation but later want to change it, you can run this program with a blank date field to delete the old date. Then, run the program again using the new date.

1

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

90

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 2 In the Date field, type the graduation date. The date that you type in this field represents the graduation date for the students you specify. The format of the date is MMDDYY. For example, type June 1, 1998 as 060198. Type the date without slashes; the system inserts them for you. To remove a graduation date, leave this field blank. 3 Choose an option in the Limit To field. To set the graduation date for a specific class, choose the Class option. Only the students who are not scheduled to attend the same school next year are given a graduation date. To set the graduation date for an individual student, type the studentâ€™s number in the Student Number field. 4 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts

91

Maintaining Student Transcripts
Use GRD.450 â€“ Maintain Student Transcripts to add and change student transcript information for an individual student. Student transcripts provide a permanent record of studentsâ€™ courses, grades, and credits. You also can use GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades to automatically create and update transcript information. See page 94 for more information.

Switch Setting
This program contains a switch setting that affects its operation. See Appendix C, â€œSwitch Settings,â€ for information on switch settings.

n Must Graduation Requirement be Entered for Course Credit?

Adding Student Transcript Information
Choose GRD.450 â€“ Maintain Student Transcripts from the Grade Maintenance menu. Type the studentâ€™s file ID. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

1

To add a new line at the beginning of the transcript, click Add. To add a new line at the end of the transcript list, use your cursor to highlight the last line displayed on the panel and click Add.

2

Click OK. The system displays the following Maintain Student Transcripts panel, where you can add detailed information for a line.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

92

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Adding Transcript Detail

1

In the Course field, type the course code. If you are adding a course from another school and you did not define this course in your system, leave this field blank and enter the course title in the Description field.

2

In the Description field, type a description of the course. Use this field to enter a course description when you add a course from another school. If you are using a course code already defined for this district and school, you can skip this field. The system automatically completes the description after you click OK.

3

In the Final Grade field, type the grade symbol for the final grade. This field specifies the studentâ€™s final grade for the course. The system requires this information to calculate the GPA.

4

In the Graduation Requirement field, type the graduation category code applicable to this course. If you are adding a course from another school, use this field to specify the graduation requirement to which the course applies, if appropriate. If you entered a course code in the Course field, you can skip this step. The system supplies the graduation category code defined in SCH.310 â€“ Courses for this course after you click OK.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts 5 Choose the Use in GPA, option if you want the system to include this course in the studentâ€™s cumulative GPA calculation.

93

6

In the Credit field, type the credit attempted and earned information in the Attempted and Earned fields. The Attempted field specifies the total possible credits that a student can earn for the course. The Earned field is the actual credit amount achieved by this student. The system requires this information to calculate the GPA.

7

If you want to enter grade points, type the grade points that the student earned for this course in the Grade Points Earned field. To manually determine grade points earned, using grade points as defined in GRD.250 â€“ Grade Symbols, do this calculation: Credit Earned X Grade Points (or the numeric equivalent). Type the result in this field. To let the system calculate the grade points earned, leave this field blank. For the system to calculate the grade points earned, you also must select the Compute Points option and type the grade level in the Grade Level field.

8

The Grade Level and Compute Points fields work in conjunction with the previous Grade Points Earned field. If you manually enter grade points earned, leave the Grade Level and Compute Points fields blank. If you want the system to calculate the grade points earned, type the grade level in the Grade Level field and select the Compute Points option.

9

If you use grading absences, type the total excused and unexcused grading absences in the Excused and Unexcused fields. If you do not use grading absences, the system does not display these fields.

10 Click OK. The system asks you to confirm the information you entered. If everything is correct, click OK again. The system displays another line detail panel so you can enter more transcript information for this student. 11 To stop adding transcript information, click OK without typing anything in the line detail panel. The system displays the transcript panel. Click End to return to the command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

94

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Posting Student Grades to Transcripts
Use GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades to post final grades from the current school year to studentsâ€™ transcripts. This program enables you to automatically post the student grades to transcripts, in place of manual posting for one student at a time. You should run this program only at designated times during the year to avoid maintaining grades both in the current year and the transcript. After you post grades to the transcript for a final grade title, you must maintain the grades in the transcript. You cannot re-post grades to the transcript if the grades change.

Before You Begin
Make sure you complete the following:

n Verify that you are the only person currently signed on to the
Student Grading System

n Verify that you set up the course definitions in SCH.310 â€“ Courses with the correct credit values

Posting Final Student Grades to Transcripts
Choose GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades from the Grade Maintenance menu. When the system displays the process panel, type the district, school, and year. When you click OK, the system displays the following panel. Each time you use this automatic transcript process to post grades, the system also adds course credits to the transcript. For example, if you use this program to post grades for SM1 and SM2 to transcripts, the system posts the credits entered in the course definition twice. The system also flags the course and grade title as transcripted.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts

95

Restricting the Automatic Transcript Process

1

To limit posting to a specific class, type a valid code in the Class field. Choose the grades and terms to post by using the Select fields. When you choose the Select option, the system posts the grades to the transcript for the associated grade title and term. The definition of your schoolâ€™s grade titles determines the number of titles that the system displays.

2

3

Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

96

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing Transcript Listings
Use GRD.550 â€“ Print Transcript Listing to print student transcript records. The system uses the information from transcript file records only. You can limit the contents of this listing to the following:

n n n n n

District School Specified class Individual student Multiple students

The system gives you the option of printing information for only one student on each page of the list. You also can include ranking information and absence history information on the list.

Before You Begin
Make sure you run the following programs:

n GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit (to print student rank)

n GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking (to print student rank) n GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades n ATT.650 â€“ Post Summarized Absence History (to print absence history) See the Student Applications Sample Reports for a sample transcript listing.

Printing a Transcript Listing
Choose GRD.550 â€“ Print Transcript Listing from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts

97

Selecting the Contents of the Listing

1 2

Type the district code in the District field. To limit the transcript listing to one school, type the school code in the School field. To print a transcript listing for a specific class, type the class code in the Class field. To print a transcript listing for an individual student, type the student number in the Student field. To print a transcript listing for selected students, choose the Multiple Students option. If you choose this option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers to select multiple students for this report, after you click OK.

3

4

Choose printing options in the Print field. One Student per Page Ranking Information Absence History Information Prints information for each student on a separate page. Prints the studentâ€™s rank at the end of the transcript. Includes the studentâ€™s absence history on the report.

5

Click OK. If you chose the Multiple Students option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers. Otherwise, the system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

98

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing Student Transcripts
Use GRD.551 â€“ Print Student Transcripts to print transcripts by year. The system gives you several options to control formatting and limit transcripts to specific schools, classes, an individual student, or multiple students.

Before You Begin
If you want to print student ranking or absence history, run the following programs:

n GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit (to print student rank)

n GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking (to print student rank) n ATT.650 â€“ Post Summarized Absence History (to print absence history) Limiting Transcript Information
Choose GRD.551 â€“ Print Student Transcripts from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

1

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts 2

99

To limit the report to specific classes, type up to six class codes in the Classes fields. To limit the report to an individual student, type a student number in the Student Number field. To limit the report to specific students, choose the Multiple Students option. If you choose this option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers, after you click OK.

3

4

Choose printing options from the Print field. One Student Per Page Additional Student Information Prints information for each student on a separate page. Prints student information from STU.301 â€“ Basic Student Information: the studentâ€™s mailing address, city, state, zip, guardian, counselor, Social Security Number, and birthdate.

Ranking Information Prints the studentâ€™s rank at the end of the transcript. Attendance History Tag Information for Tags 5 Includes the studentâ€™s attendance history on the report. Includes tag information for up to three tags that you type in this field.

Choose formatting options for the printed transcripts from the Report Format field. To print the report on 8 Â½ x 11 inch paper, choose the Landscape (lengthwise) option. If you do not select this option, the system prints the report in portrait (normal) format at 132 characters in width; you need to print on 14 x 11 inch paper for this option. To print a separate page of information for each tag that you specified, choose the Page Break Before Tags option. The system uses this option only if you are printing tag information for specific tags.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

100

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 6 If you want to control how columns print, choose one of the Columns options. By Year 2 Columns Prints the report by year, in a single column. This option is the default. Prints the report in two columns, with information breaking at the end of each page and beginning again in the second column. Prints the report in three columns, with information breaking at the end of each page and beginning again in the second and third columns.

3 Columns

7

Click OK. If you selected the Multiple Students option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers. Otherwise, the system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts

101

Printing Transcript Labels
Use GRD.565 â€“ Print Transcript Labels to print labels for transcripts. A transcript label lists the studentâ€™s courses, final grades, and credits. You also can include cumulative GPA, ranking information, and absence history on the labels you create. This program prints transcripted grades; it also prints untranscripted, current grades that are in final grade titles. This program contains various options by which you can limit printing. For example, you can limit transcript labels to print for specified students. See the Student Applications Sample Reports for sample transcript labels.

Before You Begin
If you want to print student ranking or absence history, run the following programs:

n GRD.645 â€“ Update Student Cumulative GPA & Credit (to print student rank)

n GRD.680 â€“ Calculate Class Ranking (to print student rank) n ATT.650 â€“ Post Summarized Absence History (to print absence history) Printing Labels
Choose GRD.565 â€“ Print Transcript Labels from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

102

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Selecting the Records to Print

1 2

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. To limit the labels to specific classes, type up to six class codes in the Classes field. To limit the labels to an individual student, type the student number in the Student field. To limit the labels to specified students, choose the Multiple Students option. If you choose this option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers, after you click OK.

3

4 5

Review the default in the Year field. Change the default, if necessary. To print labels for up to six specific terms, type the term numbers in the Terms fields. To print labels for up to six grade titles, type the grade titles in the Titles fields.

6

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts 7 Choose transcript label printing options from the Print field. New Label for Each Term

103

Prints information for each term on a separate label. Use this field only if you are printing labels for specific terms.

Cumulative GPA

Prints the studentâ€™s cumulative GPA on the transcript label.

Ranking Information Prints the studentâ€™s rank on the transcript label. Absence History 8 Prints the studentâ€™s absence history on the transcript label.

Click OK. If you chose the Multiple Students option, the system displays additional panels for you to specify student numbers. Otherwise, the system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

104

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Purging Old Transcript Records
Use GRD.801 â€“ Purge Old Transcript Records to remove transcript records. This program gives you the option to delete transcript records for a school, class, or student. For example, if you maintain transcripts for an elementary, middle, or junior high school, you need to purge these records once the student reaches high school. Make sure you perform a backup of your transcript records before running this program. The program deletes all transcript records for the options that you specify. This program also deletes any high school credit that 8th grade students earned. Choose GRD.801 â€“ Purge Old Transcript Records from the Grade Maintenance menu. The system displays the following panel.

Specifying the Transcript Records to Purge

1

In the District and School fields, type the district and school codes for which you are purging currently assigned students.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 6 Maintaining Transcripts 2 Review the defaults in the Remove All Transcript Records Except Classes field. Change the defaults, if necessary.

105

The system defaults class codes 09, 10, 11, and 12. You can type up to 12 class codes to exclude from the purge process. The system saves the transcripts for the class codes that you type in this field. This field designates the class codes for which you want to save transcripts. Do not use this field to specify the class codes whose transcript records you want to delete. The system will delete all other transcript records on file, except the ones you designate in this field. 3 To limit the purge process to the students who are currently in one class, type the class code in the Class field. The class code that you type in this field represents a current grade level. It does not represent classes on the transcript records. To remove the transcript record for an individual student, type the studentâ€™s number in the Student Number field. Run this program for a single student before removing a group of transcript records to verify the results on the transcript records for that student. Use GRD.450 â€“ Maintain Student Transcripts to verify that the system removed the studentâ€™s transcript record, as you expected. 4 Click OK. The system deletes the specified transcript records, then displays the Grade Maintenance menu.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

106

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Reviewing Graduation Requirements
With the programs described in this chapter, you can perform the following tasks:

7
107

n Review a studentâ€™s graduation requirements n Print a list of studentsâ€™ graduation requirements status
This chapter describes how to review studentsâ€™ graduation requirements. The chapter summarizes graduation requirements and provides step-by-step instructions for the following programs:

n GRD.310 â€“ Display Student Graduation Requirements n STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records n GRD.570 â€“ Print Graduation Requirement Status

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

108

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Tracking Graduation Requirements
The use of graduation requirements is optional in the Student Grading System. The graduation requirements function enables you to define graduation plans that specify the graduation categories and number of credits needed by category for successful completion of the plan. Several programs affect the process of tracking graduation requirements. The following chart summarizes how these programs affect graduation requirements.
Program STU.107 â€“ General Student Attributes Application SMS

Define the graduation plan attribute. An attribute could be the year of graduation attribute, which is one of the predefined student attributes, or some other attribute. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide for information about this program. STU.310 â€“ Graduation Requirements SMS

Define category codes and the number of credits required to fulfill the graduation plan. Use the graduation plan attribute you defined in STU.107 â€“ General Student Attributes. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide for information about this program. SCH.101 â€“ Scheduling Options SMS or SCH

Respond Yes to the option that asks whether you want to use graduation requirements. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide or Student Scheduling System Userâ€™s Guide for information about this program. STU.301 â€“ Basic Student Information SMS

Enter the studentâ€™s graduation plan when you add basic student information. The field to enter graduation plan appears as one of the 15 possible student attributes. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide for information about this program. SCH.310 â€“ Course Definitions SMS or SCH

Complete the fields relating to the grading system for each course. These fields include transcript credit, credit for current period GPA, and the fields that identify the graduation requirement categories. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide or Student Scheduling System Userâ€™s Guide for information about this program. SCH.410 â€“ Course Requests SMS or SCH

Enter the graduation plan category codes that a requested course satisfies. See the Student Management System Userâ€™s Guide or Student Scheduling System Userâ€™s Guide for information about this program.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 7 Reviewing Graduation Requirements
Program GRD.450 â€“ Maintain Student Transcripts Application SGS

109

Post grades for courses to studentsâ€™ transcripts individually. The graduation requirement category code is part of the course information. See Chapter 6, â€˜â€™Maintaining Transcripts,â€™â€™ for information about manually entering transcript information for students. GRD.665 â€“ Transcript Student Grades SGS

If you use this program to automatically post student grades to transcripts, the system updates the graduation requirements as well. See Chapter 6, â€œMaintaining Transcriptsâ€ for information about automatically posting grades to transcripts.

The following figure illustrates how these programs interact to enable you to track the graduation requirements status of your students.

SMS

SMS

SMS or SCH

SGS

Scheduling Options General Student Attributes STU.107 Course Definitions SCH.310 SCH.101

Basic Student Information STU.301

Graduation Requirements Defined STU.310

Course Requests (Categories) SCH.410

Transcript Grades GRD.450 GRD.665 STU.301E

Graduation Requirements GRD.310

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

110

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Applying Excess Credit
As you track graduation requirements, you have the option to apply excess credit in a graduation category to an elective graduation category. When a student earns more than the required number of credits in a graduation category, the system usually shows the excess credits as â€œEarned Credits.â€ You can apply the excess credits to an â€œElectiveâ€ graduation category. You also can adjust the â€œCredit Earnedâ€ amount when you apply credits to an â€œElectiveâ€ graduation category, to better represent the actual number of credits required, earned, or needed for a particular graduation category.

Switch Settings
To apply excess credit, select one or both of the following switch settings:

n Apply excess credit to ELECTIVE on graduation status? n Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied?
You must select the first switch setting before you can select the second switch setting. The following programs contain these switch settings:

n STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records n GRD.310 â€“ Display Student Graduation Requirements n GRD.570 â€“ Print Graduation Requirement Status
NCS recommends that you enable the switch settings for each of these programs to get consistent graduation category results throughout your system. Enabling these switch settings does not affect the contents of the graduation requirements information. These switch settings only affect the way the system calculates and displays the credits for the graduation categories. See Appendix C, â€œSwitch Settings,â€ for information on switch settings.

Create an Elective Graduation Requirement
The system requires you to create an elective graduation requirement for the appropriate graduation plan before you can apply excess credits to an â€œElectiveâ€ graduation category. You must create the elective graduation requirement using STU.310 â€“ Graduation Requirements in the Student Management System. Define the elective graduation requirement as â€œELEâ€.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 7 Reviewing Graduation Requirements

111

Displaying Student Graduation Requirements
Use GRD.310 â€“ Display Student Graduation Requirements to display a listing of a studentâ€™s graduation requirements.

Switch Settings
This program contains two switch settings that affect its operation. See Appendix C, â€œSwitch Settings,â€ for information on switch settings.

n Apply excess credit to ELECTIVE on graduation status? n Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied?

Reviewing a Studentâ€™s Graduation Requirement Status
Choose GRD.310 â€“ Display Student Graduation Requirements from the Grade Maintenance menu. Type the district code, school code, and studentâ€™s ID number. When you click Lookup, the system displays the following panel.

1

Review the information on the panel. The panel shows the current graduation status of the student you selected. Click OK. The system displays the Student Graduation Requirement Inquiry command panel.

2

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

112

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Reviewing Records for Graduation Requirements
You also can use STU.301E â€“ Access to All Student Records from the Grade Maintenance menu to review the graduation requirements status of a student. This program displays the same inquiry panel as GRD.310 â€“ Display Student Graduation Requirements.

Selecting the Record

1 2 3

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. In the Student Number field, type the student number. In the Records Available field, choose the Grad. Req. option. Choosing Grad. Req. indicates that you want to look up the graduation requirements status for the specified student.

4

Click Lookup to look up a studentâ€™s graduation requirements. The system displays the Student Graduation Requirement Inquiry panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 7 Reviewing Graduation Requirements

113

Reviewing the Graduation Requirement Status
Review the studentâ€™s current graduation requirements status when the system displays the Student Graduation Requirement Inquiry panel. This display is for information only; you cannot make any revisions on this panel. Click OK when you finish reviewing the panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

114

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Printing the Graduation Requirements Status
Use GRD.570 â€“ Print Graduation Requirement Status to list the status of studentsâ€™ graduation requirements. You can limit the report to a specific class or individual student. This report shows each studentâ€™s graduation plan. It also shows the graduation categories that make up the plan, credits required for the plan, credits the student has earned, and the number of credits still needed. See the Student Applications Sample Reports for a sample of this report.

Switch Settings
This program contains two switch settings that affect the way the program operates:

n Apply excess credit to ELECTIVE on graduation status? n Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied?
You must select the first switch setting before you can select the second switch setting. Selecting these switch settings does not affect the contents of the graduation requirement information. These switch settings only affect the way the system calculates and displays the credits for the graduation categories. See the Excess Credit description on page 110 for more information about applying credit. See Appendix C, â€œSwitch Settings,â€ for information on switch settings.

Printing Graduation Requirements
Choose GRD.570 â€“ Print Graduation Requirement Status from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 7 Reviewing Graduation Requirements

115

Selecting the Records to Print

1 2

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. To limit the report to a specific class, type the class code in the Class field. To print the report for an individual student, type the studentâ€™s number in the Student Number field. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

3

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

116

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Using the Grading Report Writer

8
117

The Student Grading System provides a Grading Report Writer to enable you to create custom reports of student grading information. With the Grading Report Writer, you can create your own reports based on studentsâ€™ performance, either in all classes or selected classes. Using the programs described in this chapter, you can perform the following tasks:

n Define special grading report formats n Print the reports you defined
This chapter provides step-by-step information about the following programs:

n GRD.260 â€“ Grading Report Writer Formats n GRD.560 â€“ Grading Report Writer

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

118

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Creating Grading Report Writer Formats
Use GRD.260 â€“ Grading Report Writer Formats to create reports based on studentsâ€™ GPAs or grades. You may limit the information on these reports to student performance in specified courses. When you define a report format, you can select up to 18 items to print on each report. You also choose column order, sorting, and page breaks. Sorting enables you to select the order in which you want the items to print. For example, if you design a student listing for your high school, you may want to print it by class, and within each class, by student in alphabetical order. To achieve these results, sort first by class, then by student name. Sorting these two items in this order prompts the system to print all 9th-grade students together, then all 10th-grade students, and so on. Page breaks determine when a new page begins. You can select a page break for any of the items you select to sort. For example, in a student listing you may request a page break by class. If you are requesting a report for the 8th and 9th grades, the printer stops printing on the current page after it prints the last 8th grade student, and begins on a new page when it starts printing the students in the 9th grade. Use this program to create the formats for your grading reports. Then, use GRD.560 â€“ Grading Report Writer to print your grading reports.

Specifying the Format Name
Choose GRD.260 â€“ Grading Report Writer Formats from the Grading Reports menu. When the system displays the command panel, type the district code, school code, and a report format identifier. When you click Add, the system displays the following panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 8

Using the Grading Report Writer

119

Specifying the Report Contents

1

In the Description field, type a description of the format you are defining. Choose the Print One Line Per Student option if you want the system to display the studentâ€™s name on the report only one time. If you choose this option, you must: n Request that the student name or number be included in the

2

sort sequence.

n Be sure you sort the course, section, or teacher after the student

sort. You do not have to sort by course, section, or teacher, but if you do, you must sort these items within student sort. information, grades, or absences.

n Leave out the detail information such as course request

If you do not choose this option, the student may appear on the report more than one time. 3 Review the defaults in the Width, LPI, CPI, and Space fields. The defaults in these fields are for standard 14" x 11" computer paper. You can change them if your printer supports compressed print or if you want to include more than one space between items.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

120

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 4 Review the displayed items. To select items as column headings for the report, type the order in which you want the items to print in the Print Sequence field. The print sequence determines the columns that the system displays on your report. For example, if you type 1 next to the studentâ€™s last name and 2 next to the studentâ€™s first name, the first report column will contain the studentâ€™s last name and the second column will contain the studentâ€™s first name. 5 In the Sort Sequence field, type the order in which you want the system to sort the information. The sort sequence determines the order the system displays the items you select. For example, if you sort the report by class, last name, and first name, the system generates a report listing all students in grade 1 in alphabetical order. It then lists all students in grade 2 in alphabetical order, and so on. Select sort criteria beginning with the largest item and proceed to the smallest item. For example, you could sort in the following order: n n n n

District School Class Student

6

Where appropriate, type Y in the Page Break field. Page breaks should correspond to items you selected for sorting. For example, if you sort by School and Class, you could request a page break at School by typing Y in the Page Break field next to School, and leaving the Page Break field blank next to Class. The system would print information for all classes in school 100 and start a new page when it begins printing information for school 200.

7

Review the default (1) in the Additional Space field. Change the default for any item, if necessary. The number in this field indicates the number of spaces the system inserts between report items. Valid numbers are 1 through 9.

8

Review the defaults in the Column Heading field. Change the defaults, if necessary. The system truncates the column headings to the number of characters defined in the Size field. For example, the â€œDistrictâ€ column heading prints as â€œDisâ€ because the size is limited to 3 characters. You can change the column heading fields. For example, you can change the column heading for â€œCourse Sectionâ€ to â€œSecâ€. The changes you make to column headings are in effect only for this report.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 8 9

Using the Grading Report Writer

121

Page down to review the items on the additional panel. Continue specifying print sequence, sort sequence, page breaks, additional space, and column headings for all of the information you want to include on this report.

10 Click OK. The system displays the Grading Report Writer Formats command panel.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

122

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Generating a Grading Report
Use GRD.560 â€“ Grading Report Writer to generate a grading report using the grading report writer. You defined the format for the report in GRD.260 â€“ Grading Report Writer Formats. When you print a grading report, you can restrict your report to only those students whose performance matches selected criteria based on their grades, courses, and GPAs. Choose GRD.560 â€“ Grading Report Writer from the Grading Reports menu. The system displays the following panel.

Specifying the Report Information

1 2

In the District and School fields, type your district and school codes. In the Report ID field, type the report format name. You defined the name for the report format in GRD.260 â€“ Grading Report Writer Formats.

3

In the Heading field, type the name of the person who receives the report or other pertinent information. Choose a Course Requests option. The default is all courses. You can change the default, if necessary.

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Chapter 8 All Courses Courses with Grade Level

Using the Grading Report Writer

123

Includes all courses for which a student received a grade in the report calculations. Includes only courses in the specified grade level in the report calculations. You can use the grade level that the system displays or type another valid grade level.

Honor Roll Courses Includes only courses defined as being included in the honor roll in the course definition. 5 Choose a Grade Types to Process option: Choose Grade Points if you want the system to use grade points when processing this report. Choose Numeric Equivalent if you want the system to use the numeric equivalents for grades when processing this report. 6 To further limit the report, choose an option from the Print Only Students With field. n GPA Type (Step 7) n Grade Range (Step 8) n Course Requests (Step 9)

The following steps describe the options for each of these print-only choices. 7 If you chose GPA Type, select one of the following: Cumulative Selects students by cumulative GPA. If desired, you can further limit selection by typing a GPA range in the Limit to GPA Range field. Use this field to select students by the grade range that you specify. Only for Grade Title Selected Courses Selects only students with the grade title that you specify. Selects students based on your choice in the Course Requests option in Step 4. You can limit your choice further by the grade title that you specify in the Limit to Grade Title field.

Proceed to Step 10. 8 If you chose Grade Range, type a range of grades to include on your report. To further limit the students to include on your report, use the At Most or In Range (low and high) fields. You also can limit the report to include only the grade title that you specify in the Limit to Grade Title field. Proceed to Step 10.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

124

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide 9 If you chose Course Requests, type up to three grades, or a range of grades. Use only one of these options. You also can limit the report to include only the grade title that you specify in the Limit to Grade Title field. 10 Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Processing Reports for Multiple Students

A
125

When you specify on a selection panel that you want to process a report for multiple students, the system displays a series of panels that contain windows of information to enable you to complete the process. Use the following instructions to assist you in selecting multiple students for a process or report.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

126

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Specifying Individual Students
When you choose the Multiple Students option on a selection panel and click OK, the system displays the student selection panel for that report or process.

1

Click the Select option if you want the system to display a window to help you choose students. Click the Display option if you want the system to display a window containing the name, class, and gender of students, once you select them. Use this window only when you have selected students for this report and want to review more detailed information about the selected students. If you do not use a selection window to help you choose students, you can type up to 72 student numbers directly into the blank Student Numbers fields. Click OK. If you chose the Select option and you are selecting students for the first time, the system displays the position window. If you chose the Select option and you already typed student numbers, the system displays the selection window. If you chose both the Select and Display options, the system displays the position window first. If you left both options blank and typed student numbers directly into the Student Numbers fields, the system displays a submittal prompt.

2

3

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Appendix A Processing Reports for Multiple Students

127

Using the Position Window
The system displays the position window when you first begin the process of selecting students for the report. This window enables you to move to a specific position in the student index file, rather than having to review information for every student. For example, you can position the selection to a specific student name. You can also limit the list of possible students by specifying a class or gender.

1

Type a full or partial name in the Last Name, First Name, and Middle Initial fields. The name or partial name you type in these fields indicates where to start the selection list of students. For example, if you type SMITH JOHN C and click OK, the system displays the selection window, beginning with John C. Smith. If you type MA in the Last Name field, the system displays the selection window, beginning with the first student whose last name begins with â€œMa.â€

2

To limit the selection list to a specific class, type the class code in the Restrict to Class field. To limit the selection list to a specific gender, type M or F in the Restrict to Gender field. Click OK. The system displays the selection window.

3

4

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

128

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Using the Selection Window
This window enables you to select students from the list that the system displays. You can type letters in the Position to field to change your position in the list.

1

To select a student, type X in the X field to the left of the studentâ€™s name. You can page through the list of students and select as many as 72 students.

2

To stop selecting names, click OK. The window disappears and the system displays student numbers for the students that you selected in the Student Numbers fields. Click OK. If you chose the Display option on the Multiple Student Selection panel, the system displays the display window. Otherwise, the system returns to the Select Multiple Students panel.

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Appendix A Processing Reports for Multiple Students

129

Using the Display Window
Use this window to display the names for students you have already selected in the Student Numbers fields. The window displays the associated name, class, and gender for the students whose numbers display in the selected row. You can remove a student from the list by deleting the X next to the studentâ€™s name in the window.

1

Review the displayed names. To eliminate a student from the selection list, delete the X from the field to the left of the studentâ€™s name. The system displays as many as six student names in the window. These names correspond to the row of student numbers on the panel that is marked with an arrow. If you page through the list of names, the system displays the arrow to the left of the previous or next row of numbers. When you remove the X from the left of a name, the system removes that number from the list of students in the body of the panel.

2

Click OK. The window disappears and the system displays student numbers for the students you selected in the Student Numbers fields. Click OK. The system displays a submittal prompt.

3

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

130

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Annual and Non-annual Files

B
131

This appendix provides a list of the annual and non-annual files used by the CIMS G/T student applications. An annual file contains information for only one school year. For example, a separate school calendar (file PATT210) for one school year is an annual file. A non-annual file is a file that does not change for each school year. For example, Basic Student Information (file PSTU301) is a non-annual file.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

132

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Annual Files
The following is a list of the annual files used by the CIMS G/T student applications.
File Number PATT210 PATT211 PATT212 PATT240 PATT240L PATT241 PATT241H PATT242 PATT243 PATT244 PATT250 PATT260 PATT260L PATT270 PATT282 PATT420 PATT420C PATT420L PATT620 PGRD210 PGRD211 PGRD410 PSCHP07 PSCH301 PSCH310 PSCH311 PSCH312 PSCH313 File Name School Calendar School Calendar Notes Calendar Note Distribution Codes Attendance Register Definitions Attendance Register FTE District Register â€“ Attendance Attendance Reports Run District Register â€“ Absences District Register â€“ Entry Codes District Register â€“ Age Groups Entry/Withdrawal Code Definitions Valid Absence Reasons Absence Reasons Extended Student Enrollment History Attendance Letter Control Student Absence Record Student Absence Record by Course Student Absences Period Reasons Group Attendance Request Marking Period Definitions Report Card Definitions Course Request Grading Information Prompt Data for Scheduling Student Availability Grid Course Definitions Course Catalog Descriptions Course Scheduling Links Course Request Instructions

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Appendix B Annual and Non-annual Files
File Number PSCH314 PSCH315 PSCH316 PSCH320H PSCH320L PSCH321 PSCH330 PSCH410 PSCH440 PSCH607 PSCH650 PSHR330 PSHR330H PSHR330L PSHR360 PSHR360H PSTU215 PSTU220 PSTU231 PSTU240 PSTU241 PSTU241A PSTU322 PSTU360 File Name Course Graduation Requirements Satisfied Course Competency Requirements Satisfied Course Grade Definitions Course Schedule Master â€“ Sections Course Schedule Master â€“ Resources Master Schedule Section Extension Master Planning Record Course Requests Study Hall Assignments by Student Course Expansion File Mass Changes Requests Student Medications Header Student Medications Header Detail Student Medication Detail Student Health Log Student Health Log Header School Room Definitions Department Definitions Map Grid Definitions Teacher IDs Teacher Numbers Next Available Teacher Number School Class Definitions Student Registration Information

133

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

134

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Non-annual Files
The following is a list of the non-annual files used by the CIMS G/T student applications.
File Number PATT101 PATT111 PATT280 PATT280L PATT450 PGRD101 PGRD201 PGRD202 PGRD203 PGRD240H PGRD240L PGRD250 PGRD251 PGRD253 PGRD255 PGRD260H PGRD260L PGRD270H PGRD270L PGRD290H PGRD290L PGRD275 PGRD300 PGRD301 PGRD450 PSCH101 PSCH210 PSCH220 PSCH610Q File Name Attendance Options Attendance Options (load table) Attendance Letter Formats Attendance Letter Text Absence History File Grading Options Grade Title Definitions Grade Computation Definitions Comment Title Definitions InteGrade Pro Validation Rule InteGrade Pro Validation Tokens Valid Grades Valid Grade Extensions Valid Comments InteGrade Pro Incomplete Symbol Format File Report Writer Format Lines InteGrade Pro Grade Table InteGrade Pro Grade Item InteGrade Pro End Term Spreadsheet InteGrade Pro Spreadsheet Task Setup Honor Roll Report Definition Class Ranking File Student Graduation Date Student Transcripts Scheduling Options Scheduling Term Definitions Scheduling Period Definitions Auto Scheduler Results

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Appendix B Annual and Non-annual Files
File Number PSHR102 PSHR221 PSHR221H PSHR222 PSHR223 PSHR262 PSHR263 PSHR264 PSHR265 PSHR306 PSHR306H PSHR310 PSHR310H PSHR320 PSHR320H PSHR390 PSHR390H PSHR400 PSHR400H PSHR501 PSMS100 PSMS110 PSMS120 PSMS1101 PSMS1201 PSTULID PSTU102 PSTU107 PSTU108 PSTU109 PSTU203 PSTU206 File Name Result Codes File Immunization Definition Immunization Definition Header Immunization Status Medication Groups Symptom Codes First Aid Codes Disposition Codes Diagnosis Codes Student Immunization Student Immunization Header Student Hearing Student Hearing Header Student Tuberculosis Student Tuberculosis Header Student Vision Student Vision Header Student Notes Student Notes Header Values from Prompt for QRYLST File Access to all Student Records Items Access to all Student Records Categories Access to all Student Records Assignments Category Lines Category Assignment Lines Next School Student Number District Options General Student Attributes Value Table For General Attributes Graduation Requirement Plan Attribute Location Suspension/Disposition Codes Immunizations Definitions

135

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

136

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide
File Number PSTU209 PSTU210 PSTU221 PSTU250 PSTU260 PSTU265 PSTU280 PSTU280L PSTU282 PSTU300 PSTU301 PSTU301X PSTU302 PSTU303H PSTU303L PSTU304H PSTU304L PSTU304M PSTU305C PSTU305H PSTU305L PSTU307 PSTU308 PSTU309 PSTU310 PSTU320 PSTU334 PSTU350 PSTU370 PSTU580 PSTU606S File Name Achievement Test Descriptions City Code Definitions Class Definitions Mailing Label Definitions General Report Writer Formats Locker Combinations Student Tag Definitions Student Tag Verification Data Student Tag Restricted Access Alternate Student Number Reference Basic Student Information Basic Student Information Extension Special Education Information Student Discipline Header Record Student Discipline Text Data Student Tag Assignments Student Tag Text Student Tag Columnar Data Additional Contact Information Student Emergency Information Student Emergency Information â€“ Special Instruction Bilingual Education Records Optional Student Basic Information Student Achievement Test Scores Graduation Requirements School Master Information District Master Information Family Information Discipline Location Description Student Tag Report Writer Formats Abacus Unique School ID

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Switch Settings

C
137

A switch setting, or program option, is a value that determines how a program functions. For example, switch settings can control:

n Whether all users can add, change, or delete records n Whether the system displays certain fields on a panel n Defaults for specific fields

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

138

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

Reviewing Switch Settings
Your system switch settings are set to fit the needs of the majority of CIMS G/T clients. You probably will not need to change them. The system programmer assigned a number to each switch setting when creating the student application programs. The switch setting number ranges from 1 to 16, depending on where the switch is located in the menu item definitions. If authorized, you can use ACS.310 â€“ Maintain Menu Item Definitions in the ACS product to review your switch settings. The Menu Item Definition detail panel (panel reference ACS.310.13) lists each switch setting and its status for the specified program under Program Options. Checking the box to the right of the switch setting enables that program option. Leaving the box unselected means that the program option is disabled. Caution: Do not change your switch setting descriptions or the sequence in which the system displays them in ACS.350 â€“ Maintain Program Technical Definitions.

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Appendix C

Switch Settings

139

Student Application Switch Settings
The following charts list the switch settings for the SMS, SCH, SAS, and SGS applications. The charts include the menu item and description for each switch setting.

SMS Switch Settings
The following SMS menu items contain default switch settings when you receive your system.
Program SCH.310 SCH.320 SCH.538 STU.005 STU.102 STU.108 STU.209 STU.301 Menu Item Courses Master Schedule Print Teacher Rolls Description Use alternate course descriptions? Allow Delete of sections with student count greater than 0? New page for same teacher/room/period?

Student Record Access Restrictions Allow users restricted to a school to have â€œLookupâ€ access? Student Record Options Use Alternate Student ID Verification panel?

Table Values for Student Attributes Allow entry of options for Alternate ID? Achievement Test Definitions Basic Student Information Allow users restricted to a school to have â€œUpdateâ€ access? Default Family Record access to â€œY?â€ Default Emergency Record access to â€œY?â€ Default Registration Record access to â€œY?â€ Default Tag Assignments access to â€œY?â€ Default Request Records access to â€œY?â€ Default Health Records access to â€œY?â€ Allow changes to Last Year information? Enable call to STU308 for Custom student record? Include old and new family members on change of family number?

STU.301E Access to All Student Records

Disable access to the Registration Record? Disable access to the Tag Assignments? Disable access to the Transcript Records? Disable access to the Health Record? Disable access to the Graduation Status Display? Disable access to the Student Grades?

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

140

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide
Menu Item Description Disable access to the Bilingual Education Record? Disable access to the Achievement Test Scores? Apply excess credits to ELECTIVE on graduation status? Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied? Display course attendance absences? Display discipline records in ascending order? Has the SGS product been installed at this location? Has the SAS product been installed at this location?

Program

STU.301M Access to Multiple Student Records

Allow changes to last year information? Enable call to STU308 for Custom student record? Apply excess credits to ELECTIVE on graduation status? Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied? Display course attendance absences? Display discipline records in ascending order?

STU.301T Student Transfers

Default course request removal response to â€œY?â€ Allow review of grades on Drop or Transfer? Prevent usage of the Drop command for all users? Prevent usage of the Transfer command for all users? Blank next year district, school and class? Make next year district, school and class same as current?

STU.320 STU.334 STU.500

School Information District Information Performance Plus Assessment Report

Use Alternate information? Use Alternate information? Attribute #1 Attribute #2 Attribute #3 Attribute #4 Attribute #5 Attribute #6 Attribute #7 Attribute #8 Attribute #9 Attribute #10 Attribute #11

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Appendix C
Program Menu Item Description Attribute #12 Attribute #13 Attribute #14 Attribute #15 STU.519 STU.950 Print Mailing Labels Remove All Records for a Student

Switch Settings

141

Enable immunization information selections? Disable edit to allow deletion of students with attendance?

SCH Switch Setting
The following SCH menu item contains a default switch setting when you receive your system.
Program SCH.510 Menu Item Print Course Requests Tally Description Eliminate separate count of alternate requests on tally?

SAS Switch Settings
The following SAS menu items contain default switch settings when you receive your system.
Program ATT.421 Menu Item Enter Student Absences By Course and Section Print Absence Reason Worksheet Description Use course request â€œAdd Dateâ€ when selecting students? Use course request â€œDrop Dateâ€ when selecting students? ATT.510 List students in student order? List students in the order they are displayed in ATT.430? List students by guardian? ATT.620 STU.805 STU.910 Group Absence Maintenance Preset Starting Enrollment History Audit Enrollment History Do work interactively? If â€œNâ€, updates will occur in batch. Print listing when unable to create requested enrollment? Print report at 66 Lines/Page? If â€œNâ€, will print at 88 L/P?

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

142

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide

SGS Switch Settings
The following SGS menu items contain default switch settings when you receive your system.
Program GRD.310 Menu Item Display Student Graduation Requirements Description Apply excess credits to ELECTIVE on graduation status? Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied? GRD.450 GRD.511 Maintain Student Transcripts Print Report Cards Must graduation requirement be entered for credit courses? Disable printing of **PERFECT ATTENDANCE**? Limit attendance information to periods grades are reported? GRD.570 Print Graduation Requirement Status Apply excess credits to ELECTIVE on graduation status? Should credit earned be adjusted when credits are applied? GRD.611 Compute Grades Always use next higher grade symbol?

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999 Confidential Information

Index
A C
Absences, grading 16 Grades computing 50 cumulative GPA 55 entering by course 47 entering individually 53 Grading absences 16 comments, clearing 44 options 15 Grading report writer defining formats 118 printing 122 Grading worksheets formats 27 printing 45 Graduation date, setting 89 Graduation requirements, status 111 - 112

Checklists entering grades 42 implementation 14 Class rank, calculating 57 Comment codes 26 titles 24 Compute grades 50 Course absences 16 Credit, excess 110 Cumulative GPA 55 Custom programming 9 Customer Link 9

E F

H I

Enhancement subscriptions 9 Entering grades manually 47 Excess credit 110

Honor roll defining formats 78 printing 83

Forms 6

G

Implementing SGS middle of the year 7 times to avoid 7 Internet 9

GPA reports cumulative sorted by GPA 68 cumulative sorted by student name 68 ranked by GPA 64 Grade symbols 21 titles 17 Grade distribution by course 70 by teacher 70

O P

Overview of SGS 2

Programs GRD.101 GRD.201 GRD.203 GRD.210 GRD.211

15 17 24 27 29

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

143

144

Student Grading System Userâ€™s Guide Reports cumulative GPA by class and name 67 cumulative GPA sorted by GPA 68 cumulative GPA sorted by student name 68 DFI list 72 GPA list ranked by GPA 64 grades by course 70 grades by teacher 70 grading worksheets 45 graduation requirement status 114 honor roll 78 page sizes 6 ranking by student name 75 report cards 38, 58 transcript labels 101 transcript listing 96 transcripts 98 Requirements, software 5

GRD.250 21 GRD.253 26 GRD.260 118 GRD.275 78 GRD.310 111 GRD.410 47 GRD.450 91 GRD.510 45 GRD.511 58 GRD.540 64 GRD.541 64 GRD.545 67 GRD.548 68 GRD.549 68 GRD.550 96 GRD.551 98 GRD.555 70 GRD.556 70 GRD.558 72 GRD.560 122 GRD.565 101 GRD.570 114 GRD.575 83 GRD.580 74 GRD.585 75 GRD.601 89 GRD.610 44 GRD.611 50 GRD.645 55 GRD.665 94 GRD.680 57 GRD.801 104 STU.301E 53, 112 Purging transcripts 104

S

Software requirements 5 Source code 9 Supplies 6 Switch settings SAS 141 SCH 141 SGS 142 SMS 139 Symbols, grade 21

T

R

Report card formats 29 Report cards, printing 38, 58 Report writers, grading 118, 122

Titles, grade 17 Training 8 Transcript labels 101 Transcripts automatic entry 94 manual entry 91 purging 104

W

Worksheets 13

Copyright Â© National Computer Systems, Inc. 1997, 1999

Confidential Information

Student Grading System

Similar Documents

Dbms

Computerized Student Information System

Introduction for Research Example

Students Account Information System

Getting Started

Anything

Early Child Care School Management System

Proposing and Designing a Student Information System for Spahs Then Evaluating the Proposed Design

Srs on Osms

Sdsads

The Impact of the New Grading System Towards the Student of Uc Metc S.Y 2015-2016

Globalization

Literature Cited

Reflective Assessment Portfolio 1 Com150

Gut1 Task 4

Popular Essays