Before teachers review grades within the PowerTeacher Pro gradebook and submit them for the printing of report cards, it is critical to understand what data will be utilized on the report card. Theoretically, teachers should be prepared with this information before setting up the gradebook for the school year; however a quick refresher will be extremely beneficial.

The report card may include:

• Standards grades,
• Teacher Comments (aka course comments),
• Citizenship Scores or
• a combination of these.

This article will provide information about how to review each of these areas in the gradebook, and how to submit grades at the end of the grading term. Please use what is applicable to your school and be sure to direct questions to your administrative team or lead teacher(s) well in advance of beginning the end of term process.

Standards Grades

Reviewing final Standards Grades will take a bit of time, so plan accordingly. Many schools have quite a number of standards grades in each course that will print to the report card, therefore a slow, careful review is key.  First, it is important to review how the grades are calculated before the final standards grades review begins.

Review the Standards Grades Calculation Method

To view the calculation method for each course, navigate to Settings > Standards Grade Calculations screen.  Knowing which method is used will help tremendously as teachers review final standards grades. Additionally, a regular, thorough analysis of standards progress (not noted in this article) is recommended throughout the grading term.

NOTE: PowerSchool defaults to the “Most Recent” 3 calculation method which averages together the 3 most recent standards scores for the grading term.

• Example Math standard: Adds and Subtracts within 20.
  • Most recent 3 grades for this standard are: 4, 3, 3  (4+3+3=10 divided by 3 = 3.33)
  • Therefore, the final standard grade will be a 3 for the Adds and Subtracts within 20 standard (on a numeric 1-4 grade scale).

An example screenshot follows for a school which chooses to average the most recent five scores for each standard.

 

Review the Final Standards Grades

Following the review of the standards calculation, teachers should navigate to A+ Grading > Standards to review the final, overall standards grades based on that calculation method.

The following screenshot shows the standard name and identifier (standard number), the standard final score, the mean/median/mode scores for each standard per class, and possibly a triangle icon that indicates that the grade has been manually updated from the calculated score.

Teachers should review for accuracy and for missing grades.

Teacher Comments

From the Comment Verification screen (as shown above), a teacher may enter comments for the grading term for all, or some, students. Review expectations with your administrative teams as report cards may limit the number of characters or the type of comments to be used.

**Please note that teacher comments are saved into historical grades (stored grades) in PowerSchool and may be viewed by parents and students who have access to the public portal in PowerSchool once saved in the gradebook.

Open Comments vs. Comment Bank

Depending upon how your PowerSchool server has been setup, teachers typically have one of two options to create term specific Teacher Comments: Open Comments or Comment Bank.

• Open Comments – freely written comments, typically limited by character count to fit onto the report card.
• Comment Bank – a drop down menu of options, setup by the Admin team in PowerSchool, typically limited by character count to fit onto the report card.

To create an Open Comment:

1. Navigate to the A+ Grading >Comment Verification screen and select the proper grading term which is coming to an end (ex. S1, Q1, T1).
2. Select (or click on) the final grade percentage or letter grade to open the Score Inspector Window.
3. At the bottom of the Score Inspector is an large, white box where Open Comments may be typed. The following screenshot details this view.
   • Type carefully and proofread thoroughly since there are no grammatical or spelling hints offered.
4. Save when finished.

 

To create a comment using the Comment Bank:

Within the same Comment Verification screen, and on the Score Inspector noted above, there is an option for the Comment Bank if one has been setup in PowerSchool.

1. Select the icon at the top of the screen that resembles a dialogue box shown in Step 1 of the screenshot below.
2. Select the Comment Bank link as shown in Step 2 below.
3. Then you may select the “+” sign to add comments to the comment box for each student using the list that follows.
4. Keep in mind the number of characters used and any Admin expectations for the content of these comments.
5. Proofread carefully and update them as needed before grades are submitted.
6. You may move through the student list by selecting the down arrow next to the student’s name near the top of the screen for each selected class.
7. Save when finished.

 

 

Citizenship Grades

PowerTeacher Pro may include the Citizenship Grades option if enabled in PowerSchool by the PowerSchool administrator. If it is enabled, teachers may enter the citizenship grade and view the citizenship grade scale from the A+ Grading > Traditional Grade screen. Remember to save when updates are made.

The Citizenship column will be next to the overall traditional grade column for the specified term.

Example Citizenship Grade and Grade Scale (Excellent, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement and Unsatisfactory):

 

Submitting Final Grades

As the term comes to an end, administrators will likely provide a hard deadline for grade submission. It is expected that teachers review and submit grades, teacher comments, and/or citizenship grades for grade storage and for report card printing.

Teachers should submit grades after a thorough review by following these steps:

1. Login to the Teacher portal of PowerSchool and open the PowerTeacher Pro gradebook.
2. Choose a course and proper grading term. This will be repeated for each course for which the teacher is responsible.
3. Navigate to any of the following screens: Comment Verification, Standards Grades, or the Scoresheet on the A+ Grading menu of options.
4. Select Final Grade Status at the bottom of the screen.
5. Click in the checkbox next to “[Term X] Final Grades are complete”
6. Select Save to submit grades.

The comment box is optional, however, if the teacher is not able to meet the deadline, a comment to provide a reason is recommended.  When the administrators run the “Section Readiness” report in PowerSchool, the comment will be visible next to the indicator that this class (and teacher) has not completed the final grade submission process.

Please remember, a regular analysis of grades will make the end of term grade submission process faster and easier!