Overview
Navigate to Grade Reporting > Configurations > Grading Periods to define the Grading Snapshots.
Navigate to Grade Reporting > Functions > Manage Grading Snapshots to calculate the Grading Snapshots.
Grading Snapshots allows schools to pre-define windows of time that calculate student marks based on Gradebook scores for assignments that are due during that time frame. These time periods are independent of Grade Reporting (i.e., report card) time frames and can be used as mid-term progress reporting, or to determine sports eligibility. Schools can process the Grading Snapshots as the year progresses on the Manage Grading Snapshots page which will save the results for each snapshot in the Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) table. Grading Snapshots are only available at the school level and in schools using a Master Schedule.
Grading Snapshots appear on the students' Grades page. They are also visible to Parents, Students and Teachers when given permission
Any marks below 70 are highlighted in red.
Grading Snapshot marks can also be printed on the Grade Report Cards. See Print Grade Report Cards for more information. NOTE: the Print Grade Report Cards process uses Grade Reporting Data (GRD) data to determine the class and teacher information that will be printed on the report cards, therefore the Grade Reporting (GRD) table may need to be initialized for Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) marks.
- If the Gradebook Snapshot marks are being printed prior to the first Grade Reporting period of the school year, then the Grade Reporting (GRD) table must be initialized before attempting to print the report cards.
- If the Gradebook Snapshot marks are being printed in between Grade Reporting periods, then the Grade Reporting (GRD) table may need to be initialized before printing the report cards in order to print the student's current class and teacher information.
- GRD should be initialized the day prior to running the Grading Snapshot.
Security ↑
Table | Permission | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Grading Periods (GPD) | Read Read, Insert, Update and Delete | View Grading Periods page Full permissions are needed to Add, Update or Delete Grading Period records. |
| Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) | Insert | View Manage Grading Snapshots page and run the Create/Update Gradebook Scores for Snapshot function |
| Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) | Read | User type accounts with Read to GSS can view the Teacher Emulation>Grading Snapshots by Teacher page User type accounts with Read to GSS and Read to Grades (GRD) can view the Snapshots on the Grades pages. (Student Data>Grades>Grades and Grade Reporting>Grades). All Portal Groups with Read to GSS and Read to Grades (GRD) can view the Snapshots on the Student Data>Grades page. Teacher Group accounts will also be able to view the Grading Snapshots by Class page. |
| Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) | Read and Update | Will allow User type accounts to edit the Gradebook Snapshots Comments (GSS.CO) on the Grades pages. NOTE: These users will also need at least Read to Grades (GRD). Allows Teacher Group accounts to edit the Comment field on the Grading Snapshot by Class page. NOTE: Grading Snapshot Window must be defined. Please see Grading Snapshots Portal Options NOTE: Parent and Student Group accounts will not have edit capabilities to the Grading Snapshots regardless of permissions. |
| Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) | Read and Mass Update | User type accounts will be able to edit the Gradebook Snapshots Comment (GSS.CO) field on the Teacher Emulation>Grading Snapshots by Teachers page. |
Configurations ↑
Grading Snapshots are only available at the School level for schools with a Master Schedule. This includes schools that have a Scheduling Type of Secondary, Flexible, and Elem w/MST on the School Options page. Grading Snapshots are configured on the Grading Periods page. Please review the Gradebook Grading Periods article for more detailed information about this page.
School Options Requirements for Grading Snapshots
Schools must have a Scheduling Type of Secondary, Flexible or Elem w/MST.
The Use Grading Periods Instead of Terms in Gradebook option must be selected for the Grading Snapshot to calculate. Please review the Gradebook Grading Periods article for more detailed information about this option.
Teacher Gradebook Requirements for Grading Snapshots
Gradebook Assignment scores are used in the Grading Snapshots calculations. These calculations are highly dependent upon how teacher gradebooks are configured. There are several areas that teachers need to take special note of:
- Gradebook - Edit Gradebook - only the sections associated with the gradebook that are flagged as Primary Gradebook will be included in the Grading Snapshot calculation. In the below example only the students in section 3036 will have a Gradebook Snapshot score calculated from this gradebook.
- Gradebook - Options - when the Apply Assignment Scores Immediately option is unchecked only the applicable assignments with the "Grading Completed" flag set will be included in the Grading Snapshots calculation. When the Apply Assignment Scores Immediately option is checked then any applicable graded assignment will be included in the calculation regardless of the "Grading Completed" flag.
- Gradebook - Edit Assignment - Due On - the Grading Snapshot calculation will include all assignments in applicable gradebooks where the due date falls within the grading snapshot window. If there is a particular assignment, such as an end-of-chapter test, that the teacher would like to have included in the grading snapshot calculation, then that assignment's Due On date must fall within the Grading Snapshot window and the assignment must be graded.
- Gradebook - Final Marks - gradebook Final Marks need to be set up to calculate a mark value in the students' Gradebook Snapshots Mark (GSS.MK) field. If Final Marks are not set up the Gradebook Snapshots Mark (GSS.MK) will be empty for records associated with that Gradebook.
Adding a Grading Snapshot
On the Grading Periods page click on the Add Grading Period button to add a Grading Snapshot to that term.
Grading Snapshots should be added to the lowest term levels. For example, if a school has a few quarter classes and mostly semester classes, the Grading Snapshots should be defined at the quarter level. In the below example the snapshots that are within the 1st and 2nd quarter of the Fall semester are defined in the 1st Quarter and 2nd Quarter term areas. When the system calculates the Snapshot Quarter 1 it will include all Master Schedule sections with a term of 1, Fall and Year in the analysis. If the Snapshot Quarter 1 was defined at the semester level, then any Master Schedule sections with a term of Fall and Year will be included and the term 1 sections would be ignored.
When adding a new Grading Snapshot the following fields need to be populated:
- Grading Period - add the name of the snapshot grading period, such as SNPQ1 or SQ2. The name has a 10 character limit and must be unique within each term.
- Description - enter a description for the grading snapshot.
- Start Date and End Date - enter the start date and end dates of the grading snapshot. The dates are limited by the term dates defined in the Terms page and the dates must fall within the term but do not need to be the entire length of the term. In the above example the Snapshot dates only include the first few weeks of each term.
- GRD Grading Mark - select Grading Snapshot in the dropdown
- Apply to Gradebook? - when checked this option will display a separate Gradebook view for the Snapshot for each of the teachers' applicable gradebooks. NOTE: staff, teachers and parents will all see the additional Snapshot views of the Gradebooks. Below is an example of the teacher dashboard when the Apply to Gradebook option is turned on for the Snapshot Quarter 1 grading period.
The following fields are optional:
- Color Code - allows you to select a color code for assignments within a grading period
- Show in Portal? - this option will display when the Grading Snapshot is selected in the GRD Grading Mark dropdown. Note: Support for this option will be available in the near future.
Editing and Deleting a Grading Period Snapshot
Click on the Edit icon to the left of the Grading Period Snapshot record to edit or delete the record. When deleting a Grading Period Snapshot, if the Grading Snapshot calculation has already been run and Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) records exist, a warning message will appear reminding the user that deleting the Grading Period Snapshot will also delete all Grading Snapshot scores associated with it.
Manage Grading Snapshots ↑
Navigate to Grade Reporting > Functions > Manage Grading Snapshots to calculate the Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) scores. The Manage Grading Snapshots tab displays each of the Grading Snapshots with their date windows and whether or not the Show in Portal option is selected. The Grading Snapshot Summary tab is populated as each Grading Snapshot is created. The Grading Snapshots date window is included along with the last time the snapshot was created/updated and a count of students in each snapshot.
Grading Snapshots can be created or updated at any time. Each time the calculation is run the Gradebook Snapshots (GSS) records are refreshed. A historical record is not kept.
Click on the Grading Snapshot that you would like to run. It will be highlighted in blue. Click on the Create/Update Gradebook Scores for Snapshot button. A message will appear informing you that it may take some time to complete the calculation and that it is okay to navigate to other pages while it processes. After clicking on OK a progress bar will display.
The option Active Gradebook Entries Only is available to limit the Grading Snapshot to exclude gradebooks that the student is no longer active in from the snapshot calculations. Using this option when calculating the Grading Snapshot will ensure that the Grade Report card will only display grading snapshot marks for the gradebooks that the student is active in.
Once the Grading Snapshot calculation has completed an email is sent to the user that initiated the process and the Manage Grading Snapshots page is refreshed. The Grading Snapshot will be listed under the Grading Snapshot Summary tab with a Last Updated date and count of students that were included in that snapshot.
Query ↑
A query can be run to list the student, Grading Period information for the Snapshot, and Gradebook Snapshots Mark:
LIST STU GSS GPD STU.SC STU.ID STU.LN STU.FN STU.GR GSS.SCL GSS.SE GPD.GP GPD.DE GPD.TM GSS.MK IF GSS.GP = SQ4
NOTE: The Mark field (GSS.MK) is a character field. Using mathematical operators such as >, <, <= will sort based on the first character of the field. As a result, any query to get a list of students below a numeric grade mark will include students with a value of 100 unless you add GSS.MK # 100 as in this example:
LIST STU GSS GPD STU.SC STU.ID STU.LN STU.FN STU.GR GSS.SCL GSS.SE GPD.GP GPD.DE GPD.TM GSS.MK IF GSS.GP = 3rdProgres AND GSS.MK < 87 AND GSS.MK # 100