Type in a keyword and a brief description of how to handle that problem will be displayed.

Transcription

1 Grade Quick Version 11 Elementary Teacher s Guide Printer A printer must be installed on the local computer. The print preview will not work and reports cannot be viewed or printed unless a printer driver is installed. Click on START - SETTING PRINTERS. There should be a printer listed. If not, check with the Grade Quick administrator. Running Grade Quick Double Click the Grade Quick icon in the application launcher to start Grade Quick. If there is no application launcher, the computer is not connected to the file server, which means that Grade Quick will not run. Reboot the computer and see if the launcher comes up. If it still does not, contact HELPDESK. Users must have a valid user name and password to use GQ. Both the user name and password are case-sensitive. Your user name is the same as your Novell login name and is in all lower case. The first time you access GQ, key your user name in the Login box and press ENTER. You will then be prompted to set a password to use whenever you open the program. The next time you open GQ, key your user name and password in the Login to GQ dialogue box. If your password does not appear to work, make sure the CAPS LOCK key is not on. If you lose or forget your password, contact HELPDESK to have the password reset. You can still set another password for each specific grade book, but it is not required. Assistance Tools 1. Using On-line Help Type in a keyword and a brief description of how to handle that problem will be displayed. 2. Using demofile.gbk demofile.gbk is a sample grade book that you can look at as a guide. It has many different types of marks. You can enter grades or change weightings of categories in that demonstration file to see how averages are changed. Creat ing Rosters in Grade Quick Before grades can be entered, class rosters must be created in Grade Quick. At the menu, click FILE - NEW. In a blank grade book, enter the names of the students in the class. Alphabetize the Names Click on a student name. Click on the up arrow on the icon bar (5th from the left). This will alphabetize the names. 9/11/2006 1

2 PASSWORD SECURITY is vital. Do not have a grade file without a password. Passwords will have to be set for each grade book, although you can set the same password for each. You should not write the password down, at least not where a student would ever see it. After you have set all the passwords, send an to the principal with the password in case the grade book would ever need to be accessed and you were not available. Student Information You can enter student information, as Parent names, phone numbers, or addresses, click on EDIT-STUDENT INFORMATION. New fields can be added at the end if there is some specific data you desire to keep. You can highlight any student to view his information. Class Information The class information fields contain information specific to each grade book. Information recorded there can be printed on reports and is used for proper sending and updating of data. Other Information Enter a ny other information and default settings that you want in all grade books. Once this is done, the grade book is ready to be saved. Save the File It is easier to work with the files if the grade book names are simple, as Reading, Math, Spelling. If you teach, for example, two math classes, name one Math1 and the other Math2. Click: FILE SAVE AS The default path should be G:\gqwin\teachers\username and a file name of untitled.gbk. Since the file name is in blue, it is erased as soon as you begin keying a new name. Key in Roster. While you still have the grade book open and only the list of students, key in the each course and repeat this for each of the courses you teach. Saving to the G: drive on the file server allows you to access the files from any computer in the district. Close the File 9/11/2006 2

3 Click: FILE CLOSE. Use the Exit command only when you want to leave Grade Quick. Repeat these steps for each class. Default Settings: Certain settings have already been setup. These include: Display Numeric Averages Subtotals to display average for the term Setting Grading Scale Setting Grading Symbols Attendance Information Codes, First Day of Class, Vacation Days Entering Grades After the rosters have been created, access the rosters by clicking FILE > OPEN or clicking the open icon on the toolbar and selecting the desired grade book. Select the grade book by double clicking on its name or clicking once and then clicking OK. If you are not asked to supply a password for the file, you should set one immediately by following the steps above. Entering Test Information This is the most important section. Name has a maximum of 8 characters Long Name is more descriptive than the Name field and is displayed below the menu bar when the cursor is in a cell in that column. Term is the number of the current marking period. It defaults to 1 until a different value is entered. It then defaults to that value until it is changed. The term must correspond to the marking period number in order that averages will be calculated properly for report cards. Terms for second semester courses are 3 and 4, even if a new gradebook is created. Category is the classification of that assignment. If total points is being used, it is best to leave the default of ** rather than classifying by test, quiz, report. 9/11/2006 3

4 Date is the date the assignment was given. By default, the current date is shown. Use the calendar if a different date needs to be entered. Possible is the number of points that is possible for this assignment. A bonus column can be created by setting the points possible equal to 0 and giving the student the number of bonus points he should receive. Possible cannot be a decimal. Entering Student Scores Note that ** is the default grade for each student on an assignment. This indicates that it does not count against him if he does not do the assignment. A grade of 0 must be entered if it is to count against him. Note that the ** that is automatically displayed is different from entering **. If you are entering grades and accidentally key over the **, you can double click the grade and delete it. This restores the default grade **. Entering Global Scores Weighting Categories Use this to weight the categories only if you use different categories. All will weight categories if there are 9-weeks and semester exams. Displaying Term Grades In order to display averages, click on VIEW SUB-TOTALS. Click on TERMS and CATEGORIES BY TERMS. The Subtotal column is the 9-weeks average and is the grade that is sent to Pentamation, not the Average column that is at the far right. The far-right column is the current semester average as computed by Grade Quick. It is not sent to Pentamation. Using Total Points for Calculations The category name for each of the regular assignments must be the same. The easiest thing to do is accept the default **. When you keep the grades for an entire semester, the same category title should be used in the second marking period as in the first. If you use different categories instead of just a single category, then each time a new category is added, Grade Quick opens a dialog screen 9/11/2006 4

5 asking for the weighting of that category. The sum of all the categories should be 100. Grade Quick does not recognize more than 2 decimal places in the weighting category, so there is a problem if you try to use a weighting as Because of this, it is recommended that you use whole numbers and mixed decimals instead of pure decimals. Examples of Weighting PercentWeighting Fraction Weighting Homework 20% / Quiz 30% / Tests 50% / WKSEXAM 25% / You should check some of the calculated grades against your own calculations to make sure that you have everything set up correctly. Entering Attendance Attendance can be stored in Grade Quick. The absence codes have been entered into the default settings for Grade Quick. To record a student s attendance, click the Attendance icon on the toolbar. The current week will be displayed with each student in the class listed. To record a student s attendance, click on the cell and a drop-down menu appears from which the code can be selected. The attendance codes are T = Tardy, A = Absent, ST = School Trip, ISS = Inschool Suspension. Empty Grade Book If you open a gradebook and it is empty, click on File-Close and do NOT save. The correct book can be restored, but it is much more difficult if an inaccurate copy has been saved. Weighting is not correct. REVIEW THE WEIGHTING PROCEDURES ABOVE. 9/11/2006 5