Schoolmaster Gradebook

Locating your Gradebook Application:

When you log into a school computer using your Novell account (username and password), you are connected to a folder containing your gradebook application and its associated data files.  This folder resides on a server in the main office, and your gradebook files are backed up every night.  After logging into Novell there should be shortcut icons for both Schoolmaster Attendance and Schoolmaster Gradebook (see below).  If not, you can double-click on "My Computer"; you should see a list of the folders currently connected to your computer.  One of these folders is labeled "smgb", and your gradebook files reside in this folder.  To create a shortcut on your desktop double-click on the smgb folder, find the smgb application and right-click on it, select "copy" from the menu, move your cursor over the desktop, right-click and select "paste shortcut".  A shortcut to your gradebook application should appear on the desktop.

Using your Schoolmaster Gradebook:

Logging In - Your Schoolmaster Gradebook is password protected.  The first time that you launch your gradebook you will need to enter a default password.  To obtain this default password contact Todd Curry (839-6482); one of your colleagues may also know the default password.

One-Time Setup Tasks -

1)  The first time you log into your gradebook you used a default password.  The first thing you should do is change that password to something that you will not forget.  If you forget your gradebook password, all prior data will be lost in the creation of a new gradebook.

Change Password - Click on the Edit Menu; Select "Change Password"; enter the old password (likely the default password) into the field marked "Current"; and enter the new password into the fields marked "New" and "Verify".

2)  Your gradebook also needs to know where it is going to obtain class rosters and where it should post grades.  You need to connect your Schoolmaster Gradebook to the main Schoolmaster Attendance Program.

Connect Gradebook to Attendance Program -  Click on the Utility Menu; Select "Establish Schoolmaster Connection".  The following window should appear:

The "Path" field should contain some data, but it should also be grayed-out (at AHS it should contain AHSDAT@10.11.8.2).  Enter your Schoolmaster Attendance Login Name in the field marked "Login" and enter your Schoolmaster Attendance Password in the field marked "Password".  In many cases (mostly with newer accounts) this information is identical to the Novell Username and Password you used to log into the computer.  If you would like your gradebook to update the class rosters every time you use it, select the box labeled "Update Rosters Daily".  Please Note:  This option will increase the time it takes for your gradebook to load.  Do not select the box labeled "No Connection".  Click the "OK" button, and a message indicating that a Schoolmaster Connection has been Established should appear.

 

3)  Lastly, you need to set up your Letter-Grade grading policy so that the gradebook knows how to associate a letter-grade with a percentage.  This is called setting up your "Mark Table".  You should only need to set up one Mark Table unless the same percentage means different letter grades in different classes (ie. 90% in one class might be an A, but 90% in another class might be an A-).

Mark Table Setup - Click on the Setup Menu; Select "Mark Tables".  The following window should appear:

 

 

There are several things to set up in this window:

a)  Select the Mark Table Title - Click on the Mark Table you intend to use.  The Alpha Marks available will change as you choose different Mark Table Titles.  The Object Mark Table is not used at NHUHSD.  Typically, the "Standard" Mark Table is used.

b)  Add, Delete, and Adjust Alpha Marks - The Alpha Marks used on Report Cards at NHUHSD are A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, and F.  Use the "Add Alpha Mark" button to add an Alpha mark that is missing, or click on an unwanted/unused Alpha Mark and use the "Delete Alpha Mark" button to delete an Alpha Mark.  If the Alpha Marks are out of sequential order, click on the out-of-place Mark and use either the "Up" or "Down" buttons to move into its correct position.  Calc. Override and Calc. Nullify can be used for special Alpha Marks such as I - Incomplete or EXC - Excused.

c)  Setup Conversion Thresholds -  This column reflects your overall grading policy.  As shown above, a score of 94 or higher results in a letter grade of an A; a score of 90 to 93.9999999... will result in a letter grade of an A-; and so forth down through a score of 0.  To change these thresholds click on the existing value and type in a new value.

d)  Setup Averaging Values -  This column is not used if all of your assignments are given numerical scores.  If you use letter grades on individual assignments, the computer needs to know how to value those letter grades numerically.  As shown above, the computer would use a numerical value of 96 for an assignment given a letter grade of "A" when calculating the overall grade.  To change these values click on the existing averaging value and type in a new value.

Once Per Semester/Year Setup Tasks -

1)  Your gradebook needs to obtain your class rosters from the Schoolmaster Attendance program.  NOTE:  If you have existing gradebooks from a prior year or semester, you will want to rename these older gradebooks prior to Importing Class Rosters for the current semester or year so that they can be distinguished from the newly imported gradebooks.

 

Import Class Rosters - Click on the Utility Menu; select "Import Schoolmaster Rosters"; on the next window select the button marked "Section"; a list of the course sections that you are teaching should appear as noted below:

With the CTRL key depressed, click on the sections for which you want to download the rosters.  When you have only the desired sections highlighted, click on the OK button.  The class rosters should begin downloading and creating a new gradebook for each section that your selected.

2)  One of your new gradebooks needs to be configured.  This "source" gradebook configuration will be copied to your other gradebooks.  If you have already configured a Schoolmaster Gradebook (either in a previous year or semester), and you don't wish to change the existing configuration or add a new configuration, move on to step #3 below.

Configuring a Gradebook - Click on the File Menu; select "Open"; click on the gradebook you wish to configure; click on the OK button.  The gradebook should open showing a window similar to what is below (the "Data Entry" view):

The gradebook will automatically open in the "Data Entry" View.  From the View menu, select "Configuration".  The following window should appear:

This window (the "Configuration" View) is full of information about the currently open gradebook.  You can change the Title of this gradebook.  This is useful at the beginning of the second semester or at the beginning of a future school year (as noted below in - Copying a Gradebook Configuration).  DO NOT CHANGE THE "ID", "TERM", OR "MEETING PATTERN" FIELDS as this will interfere with posting your grades at the end of a term, semester, or year.  Schoolmaster Gradebook should be able to accommodate any grading style.  If you are having trouble accommodating your grading style, please contact Todd Curry (839-6482) for assistance.

Assignment Groups - If you do not use groups of assignments each having different weights in the overall grade, you do not need to use the "Add Group" feature; all of your assignments will simply fall under the "Classwork" group.  If this is the case, make sure that all other groups are deleted (click on Group Name and click on Delete Group), and the "Classwork" group needs to have an overall weight of 100 (click in the "Overall Weight" box to the right of the "Classwork" group and type in 100).  To create a new group, click on the "Add Group" button, the window below will appear allowing you to customize the group.

Type in the "Name" for your group.  The "Overall Weight" is how much that group contributes to the overall grade calculation.  NOTE:  The sum of all "Overall Weights" should equal 100.  The "Default Value" should be the points possible for a typical assignment in that group.  This value can be changed as you are adding a new assignment.  The "Display Type" will be the default gradebook display for assignments in that group.  This value can also be changed for individual assignments (though not while the assignment is being created).

 

Other Default Settings - 

• "Student Identifier" and "Sort" determine how your students are displayed in the "Data Entry" view of the gradebook.

• As you add a new assignment, the "Default Group" will automatically be chosen for all assignments.  This can be changed as you are adding a new assignment.  To save time, chose the group that has the most assignments in it.

• Chose the "Mark Table" that you set up for all of your gradebooks (or this particular gradebook if you use different "Mark Tables" for different classes - as noted above in One Time Setup Tasks).

• The Overall grade calculation and the numerical assignment grades will be displayed using the default "Precision".  NOTE:  The Overall grade calculation will be displayed after rounding off the number to the amount specified by "Precision".  If "Precision" is set to fewer than 2 decimal places, confusion can occur due to rounding.  For example:  Your Mark table specifies that 94 and above is an A.  If a student's overall average is 93.9, the display may round it up to 94 (an A), but the grade calculation will indicate an A-.  Make sure that your "Precision" is set to 1 decimal digit greater than the values in your Mark Table.

3)  Once you have configured one of your gradebooks you can copy that configuration to all of your other gradebooks.  NOTE:  This has no effect on your Rosters, and Assignments are copied using a different process.  The configuration from a previous year or semester can be copied to save time.

Copying a Gradebook Configuration - While in the Configuration View for an unconfigured gradebook, click on the Task menu and select "Copy Configuration".  A window asking you to select the source gradebook will appear.  Select a pre-configured gradebook (either the one you just set up or one from a previous year or semester) as the source.  If you plan to use the same groups, click on Yes to "Replace Groups".  Move to the Configuration View for another unconfigured gradebook and repeat this process until all of your new gradebooks have been configured.

4)  Another time-saving command is the "Import Assignments" command located under the Task menu.  This is used to copy assignments from one gradebook to another.  While in the Data Entry View for a gradebook without any assignments, click on the Task menu and select "Import Assignments"; select the gradebook with the assignments that you want to import (you can also select individual assignments to import or select All), click "Begin", and the imported assignments will be added to your active gradebook.  Repeat this process for any other gradebooks that use the same assignments.

5)  On occasion a student who is not enrolled in Schoolmaster will be enrolled in your course.  For example, Pacific Coast, Tsurai, or Six Rivers Charter students may be taking your course, but they won't appear on your gradebook roster when when you import it from the Schoolmaster Attendance program.  Also, students will likely transfer into (or out of) your courses sometime after you have imported your Rosters.  To handle these situations you need to be able to "Add Students" and "Update Schoolmaster Rosters".

Adding Students - This is done only when a student not enrolled in Schoolmaster is taking your course (ie. students from Pacific Coast, Tsurai, Six Rivers, etc.).  Open the gradebook for the course that needs to have a student added; select the "Students" view (shown below); click on the button marked "Add Student"; You will be prompted for a unique "Student ID" number (use a unique 4 digit code), the student's first, middle, and last names.  This student will now be a part of your gradebook, however, when you post grades to the Schoolmaster Attendance system or to the web PASS system, the grades and assignment information will not be transmitted.

Student View - This view also includes information about the student's Grade Level, Address, and Parent Contact information (deleted in the view above).

 

Updating Schoolmaster Rosters - This should be done periodically when you have students add or drop your course.  Only those students enrolled in the Schoolmaster Attendance system will be affected.  Open the gradebook for the course that needs to have the roster updated; click on the Task menu; select "Update Roster from Schoolmaster"; new students will be added to your gradebook, students who have withdrawn from school will appear with a "W" next to their name, and students who have dropped your course will appear with a "D" next to their name.  To remove withdrawn or dropped students from your gradebook click on the Task menu; select "Delete Inactive Students"; and confirm that you want to proceed with the deletion.  If a student has transferred to another one of your courses, you may want to transfer their assignment scores to the new course prior to deleting them.  NOTE:  Once a student is deleted from your gradebook, all reference to them is gone from your gradebook (ie. you won't have any students with "W"'s or "D"'s next to their names).

Daily/Weekly/Term Tasks -

The most common thing that you will do from this point forward is "Add Assignments" and enter scores for those assignments.  Running Reports (such as Hard Copy and Progress Reports) and Posting your gradebook to the web-based PASS system are done routinely throughout the year, and Posting your grades to the Schoolmaster Attendance System for Report Cards is done every Term.

Adding Assignments - While in the Data Entry View, click on the Task menu and select "Add Assignment".  The Add Assignment window (shown below) will open allowing you to give the assignment a Title, an optional Heading (used in the Data Entry Display and on Reports - a truncated version of the Title is used if this field is left blank), a Date for the assignment (this defaults to the current date, however you can select other dates), the Group that this assignment falls into (this defaults to whatever you have set up in the gradebook Configuration), and the Value for the assignment (this defaults to whatever you have set up in the gradebook Configuration).  The Group and Value can be changed as the assignment is added.  Click OK when you have filled in the assignment details.  To give Extra Credit simply create an assignment that has a Value of 0.

Add Assignment Window - The "Assignment Is Comment" option is useful if you give comments to your students on their report cards.  When you Import your Schoolmaster Rosters, all of the available report card comments are loaded into your gradebook.  A Comment Assignment is merely a comment created within your gradebook that can be posted to the report card.  This is a big time-saver if you give a lot of comments.

Entering Scores - While in the Data Entry View, click in the square to the right of the student's name and below the assignment, type in the student's score for that assignment, and hit the Enter key to move on to the next student on the list.  The Overall Grade will automatically be recalculated after you hit the Enter key.  If every student (or the majority of students) received the same score, you can save time by using the "Fill Column with Mark" command under the Task menu.  Leaving a score blank will omit that assignment from the Overall calculation.  To ensure that an assignment is counted in the Overall grade a value must be entered for the score (even if it is a 0).

Reports - There are a wide range of reports that can be run using the data in your gradebook.  The 2 most common reports are "Hard Copy" and "Progress" Reports.  When you run one of these reports you can send it to your computer screen, your printer, or you can save it to a file.  It is recommended that you send reports to your computer screen prior to printing (this way you know it is the correct data in the correct format without wasting paper).

Hard Copy Report - This report is designed to look identical to your handwritten gradebook.  A printed version of this report could, in essence, replace your handwritten gradebook.  Click on the Report menu and select "Hard Copy"; the following window will appear:

Hard Copy Report Window -   Select one or more of your gradebooks.  Choose which students to include in the report.  Choose which assignments to include in the report.  Set a date range for the report (any assignments outside of the date range will not be included in the report).  Determine how the students will be displayed (name or ID number).  Determine how the students will be sorted in the display (name or ID number).  Sorting and displaying a report by the ID number is a good way to maintain anonymity when posting a printed report in a public place.

Progress Report - This is a report designed to show the detailed progress of individual students.  Groups and assignments are described in greater detail, grade calculations are made for each group and assignment, and an overall grade is shown at the end.  Click on the Report menu and select "Progress"; the following window will appear:

Progress Report Window - Select one or more of your gradebooks.  Choose which students to include in the report.  Choose which assignment Groups to include in the report.  Choose which assignments will appear in the report.  Choose how much detail you want printed for assignments and groups.  Like the Hard Copy report, you can specify an Date Range and you can adjust how students are displayed and sorted.  Additionally, you can send out a General Message to all of your students.

Posting Gradebook to PASS - In order for parents to see how their student is doing in your course, your gradebook needs to be extracted for web access.  Click on the Web menu and select "Progress Export (PASS)".  The following window should appear:

Posting Grades to Schoolmaster - This is probably the biggest time-saver for gradebook users.  At the end of a Term or Semester when grades are due for Report Cards, rather than posting individual grades (and possibly comments) for each of your 150+ students one click at a time, you can Select your Posting Settings and Post Marks to Schoolmaster for all of your courses in less than 15 minutes.

Selection of Posting Settings - Prior to Posting Grades your gradebook needs to know what you want to Post, and where to Post it for the Report Card.  You will need to perform this operation on each of your gradebooks prior to each posting.  While in the Data Entry View, click on the Task menu and select "Select Posting Settings".  The "Select Posting Settings" window (shown below) should open allowing you to tell your gradebook what grade or Comment to post (Usually the Overall Grade, sometimes a Calculation if you use them), and where on the Report Card to post (Grades are usually posted to Term 1, Term 2, Semester 1, Term 4, Term 5, Semester 2.  Comments are posted to Comment 1 and/or Comment 2).

Posting Settings - Each Term/Semester you will need to clear ("Delete") the existing settings and "Add" new settings.  To Delete the existing settings:  Click on one of the settings listed and click on the "Delete" button.  To Add new settings:  Click on the "Add" button; Select the Grade to Post (Typically the Overall grade); click "OK"; Select the Term to post this grade to; click "OK".  The image above shows Posting Settings created for Term 1 in which the grade is the Overall gradebook calculation and one of the assignments is a "Comment Assignment" which is posted to the Comment field on the Report Card.  While in the Data Entry View, you can confirm that you are posting the correct data by clicking on the Display menu and selecting "Postable Columns".  All assignments, except those being posted to the Report Card, should disappear.  Make sure to reset the Display menu to "All Assignments" when you are done checking.

Posting Marks to Schoolmaster - After establishing the Posting Settings, you can Post your Marks (and Comments if they are included in your gradebook) to the Schoolmaster Attendance System.  Click on the Utility menu and select "Post Marks to Schoolmaster".  The Select Gradebooks to Post window (shown below) should appear followed by the Select Secondary Mark Positions to Post window (shown below).

	Select Gradebook(s) - With the CTRL key depressed, click on the gradebooks that you have set up for posting; click on the OK button to proceed to the next window.
Select Marks to Post - With the CTRL key depressed, click on the Marks that you want to Post.  The image to the left shows that only a Comment mark is available for posting.  Typically a Term or Semester Grade is also listed and should also be selected.  Clicking OK will result in your Marks being posted into the Schoolmaster Attendance system.

Optional Additional Procedures - At this point you typically add Comments (if you use them and they were not part of your gradebook), make Grade changes if necessary, wait for office personnel to provide you with a "Teacher Mark Verification" report that you review and sign.  If you choose not to wait, you can open the Schoolmaster Attendance program, add Comments (if necessary) make Grade changes if necessary, print the Teacher Mark Verification Report yourself, and sign the report.

Adding Comments and Making Grade Changes - If you have used your gradebook to post comments, nothing needs to be added at this point.  However, sometimes the grade given by strict numerical analysis of a gradebook doesn't necessarily incorporate the student's situational circumstances.  Individual Grade changes can be made that will override the gradebook posting as you make them.  If you open the Schoolmaster Attendance Program and click on the "Grading" button, you can add Comments and make Grade changes in the traditional manner.

Teacher Mark Verification Report - This report is run through the Schoolmaster Attendance program (NOT the Schoolmaster Gradebook!).  Open the Schoolmaster Attendance Program and click on the Report menu; select "Secondary Grading", and select the "Teacher Mark Verification" report.  The following window should appear:

Teacher Mark Verification - The "Sequence" button (described below) is used to select yourself as the teacher for this report.  The "Grading Period" and "Mark Columns" should both be set to the current grading period.  The terms button should be set to Sem 1, T1, T2, and Year for reports run during the first Semester, and it should be set to Sem 2, T4, T5, and Year for reports run during the second semester.

Teacher/Section Sequence - In order for you to print your own Mark Verification Report, you need have Schoolmaster only select your course sections.  Select Index; Select Teacher for the list of possible Indexes; in the center select "Specific Teacher(s)"; click on the "Teacher(s)" button; select your name from the list of teachers, and click OK.  Then click on the "Print" button for the report.