This chapter covers tasks related to skill grades. See the following topics to learn how to customize skill grade calculation settings, enter skill grades, and view a student's progress over time.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Customize Skill Grade Calculation Settings
If you've been given permission in the TeacherPlus Management Site, you can set the skill grade calculation settings. These settings control how linked assessment grades are calculated into skill grades.
To customize skill grade calculation settings, do the following:
- On the Gradebook Toolbar, in the Commands group box, click Skills.
- In the Skills/Standards dialog box, click Skill Grade Calculation Settings.
- In the Skill Grade Calculation Settings dialog box, using the Calculation Method drop-down menu, click one of the following settings:
Method | Definition |
Mean | The average score across all linked assessments in the marking period. |
Mean of Most Recent x Assessments | The average score of the x most recent linked assessments. |
Highest | The highest score across all linked assessments in the marking period. |
Highest of Most Recent x Assessments | The highest score across the x most recent linked assessments. |
Most Recent | The score from the most recent linked assessment. |
Mode | The most frequently earned score of all linked assessments across the marking period. Note: If there's a tie between two different scores, no score will populate in the Skill Grade column. This situation requires the teacher's discretion. |
Median | The middle score in the ordered grade-set of all linked assessments across the marking period. Note: This formula assesses the grades in order from low to high to find the score in the middle. If there are an even number of scores, the two middle scores will be added together and divided by 2. |
Power Law | This is a complex calculation that is designed to predict how the student would perform on the next linked assessment, based on the student's performances on all previously completed linked assessments. Note: This calculation method places the most weight on the student's most recent assessment and progressively decreases the weight of each previous assessment. This calculation method often leads to more meaningful depictions of a student's skill progress on narrowly defined skills, such as counting to 10. Important: When defining Achievement Level Tables, don't start the lowest level at 0. The Power Law doesn't accept 0 as a value. If a grade with a value of 0 is used, it will be counted as the next lowest grade in the assigned ALT for indicator grade calculation. |
Decaying Average | This formula assigns the most weight to the most recent score, and lowers the assigned weight for each preceding score. The Current Weight percentage is customizable, and the Previous Weight is the remainder. Note: When you select Decaying Average, a chart with five examples illustrates the effect the formula will have on each assessment, based on the number of assessments in the marking period. |
- (Optional) Select the Include category weights in skill grade calculations (applies to Mean methods only) check box.
This setting will only affect skill grade calculations if the previous setting is set to Mean and you've set category weights. For more information on category weights, see Customize Category Weighting. - Click OK, and then, in the Confirmation dialog box, select which gradebooks to apply these settings to, and then click Yes.
Enter Skill Grades
With TeacherPlus Gradebook, you can use the Skills/Standards dialog box to manually enter skill grades into your gradebook.
To enter skill grades, do the following:
- On the Gradebook Toolbar, in the Commands group box, click Skills.
- In the Skills/Standards dialog box, click a skill grade cell, enter the student's skill grade, and then press Enter.
- Once you've added all skill grades, click Save and Verify.
View Skills Analysis
Using the Skills Analysis feature, you can access an individual student's skill grades to view the student's progress over time.
To view the Skills Analysis for a student, in the current gradebook, right-click a student's name, and then click Skills Analysis for.
The Skills Analysis dialog box opens for the marking period your gradebook is open to.
You can navigate between student's Skills Analysis reports using the left and right arrow buttons in the upper-left corner. If you've been given permission in the TeacherPlus Management Site, you can set the skill grade calculation settings from this dialog box. For more information on these settings, see Customize Skill Grade Calculation Settings.
Batch Enter Skill Grades
If the same Skill Grade needs to be entered for all students, you can do so by batch entering the Skill Grade into any Skill column. To Batch Enter a Skill Grade, do the following:
- Right Click at the top of the Skill column > Select Batch Entry:
- Select the Fill Column With radio button.
- Choose your desired Skill Grade in the dropdown.
- Click Ok, then click Yes on the confirmation warning.
