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Class

The Class screen defines overall aspects of a class. For example, you define the default percentages needed for an A+, A, A-, B+ etc. in the class screen.

If you have not created any classes, or want to add a new class, click on the Add button.

Topics:
Required Fields
Elementary Format
Grading Scale
Buttons
Copy Grading Scale

Related information - Grading Periods Screen

Required Fields (indicated by red type)

Class Title (required field)
Descriptive name of the class (especially useful in determining which class it is when you have more than one).

Start Date and End Date (required fields)
When you add assignments, the system checks to make sure that the date assigned and date due are not outside the bounds defined by the class start and end dates.

Use the Month/Day/Year format to enter dates. For example: 06/08/2000

Start Time and End Time
These fields are for your reference only. Enter using the hh:mm format. For example: 1:00.

Classword
Each class needs to have a unique password that is not being used by any other class. If you are having difficulty finding a unique password, try adding numbers or letters to the front or the end of the password you are trying to use.

Course Number
If you are not part of a Group Account that is using MyGradeBook integration to create and manage your class lists, you can enter a course number for your class.

Entering the course number your school has assigned to your class will mean that the course number is included in files you export via the Export Screen. Having the course number in exported files is useful in schools that are using custom programs that automatically update grades and attendance in your schools computer systems based on data exported from MyGradeBook.

Sort Order
You can use the Sort Order field to change the order in which your classes are displayed in the "Class:" menu. In order to take advantage of the sort feature all your classes must be assigned a sort order. If you decide to use the Sort Order field, enter 1 for the first class you want listed, followed by 2 for the second class, 3 for the third class...

Elementary Format
The Elementary Format box in the Class screen should be checked if you are teaching an elementary class so you can make the system report grades by specific categories/subjects. Secondary teachers should not check the Elementary Format box. We define a secondary teacher as a person that teaches multiple classes where each class covers a specfic subject and has different students. An Elementary teacher teaches multiple subjects in a single class.

Many Elementary Teachers also use the Preferences section of the My Account screen to uncheck the box labeled "Show percentages and weights to students and parents when they login". In addition, many Elementary Teachers score by code instead of by points so they use the Non-Numeric Scores screen to alter the default percentages assigned to the "+", "OK, and "-" scoring codes or they create their own non-numeric codes that use the Percentage Of Max Points column. Furthermore, Elementary teachers often make greater use of the sub category abilities in the categories screen than secondary school teachers.

You can check and uncheck the Elementary Format box in the class screen at any time. When the Elementary Format box is checked, the following changes occur:

When you create new classes, you get category defaults that are more appropriate for an Elementary class. The elementary format option will be enabled by default in new classes if the teacher's last class was created in elementary format. Elementary teachers should pay careful attention to the "Report Grade" checkboxes in the Category Screen.
When students and parents login, they will see grades for each of the categories that have had the Report Grades box checked in the categories screen instead of the overall grades and percentages that students and parents see in secondary classes. In addition, the Progress Reports page shows the same kind of information as the Summary page for every grading period you have defined.
The Overall Summary section of the teachers Student Summary report and the teachers Grading Periods report will show grades and percentages for the categories that have had the Report Grades box checked instead of overall grade information that is shown in secondary classes.
The Category Grades report does not display overall grade, percentage, total points possible, or total points earned for each student because those values are not meaningful in elementary classes.
The Scores By Student, Scores Spreadsheet, Percentages By Category, and All Scores screens/reports will show the grade and percentage for the category selected instead of the overall grade. If the currently selected category is not flagged as reporting grades in the category screen, the next higher category that has been flagged to report grades is used to report the grade. If the selected category does not report grades and there is no higher category that is reporting grades, you will see "NA" (Not Available) instead of a grade.
The Student Scores (Vertical) report does not display overall grade, percentage, total points possible, or total points earned for each student because those values are not meaningful in elementary classes.
The Student Scores (Horizontal) report does not display each students overall grade because it is not meaningful in elementary classes.
The Student Demographics report does not display each students rank, overall grade, and overall percentage because it is not meaningful in elementary classes.
The Grading Periods (Horizontal) report shows grades for each category that reports grades in each selected grading period.
Student Rankings are not shown in any of the reports and screens regardless of your stated preference in the My Account Screen.
As of the time this help file was written, grades in Elementary classes cannot be downloaded directly into your school's Student Information System and they cannot be overriden within MyGradeBook via the Override Grades screen. Nontheless, we strongly recommend checking the Elementary Format checkbox in the Class screen if you are teaching an elementary class.

Grading Scale
All grading calculations for the class refer to the grade defaults in the Class screen when assigning grades to students. There are three columns in the grading scale and they are described below:

Minimum Percentage: Enter a number representing the lowest percentage a student can get and still receive the grade. For example, you might enter 90 in the minimum percentage column for an A. Students who have an overall percentage lower than every minimum you define get an F. If you do not want students to get a F make sure you have a grade with a minimum percentage of 0.01. If a student ends up with an overall percentage of zero, the student will still receive a F until you give them at least one point in some assignment to prevent the F from being assigned.
Grade: Enter any value up to six characters long to represent the grade the students will receive if their overall percentage is at least equal to the minimum percentage column.
Description: The description of the grade is optional.

When you add a new class, the defaults placed in the grading scale are derived from the My Account Screen. You can change or even remove the values for any grade at any time.

For each grade, put in the minimum overall percentage a student needs to receive the grade and a grade code. For example, your school may have established 97 as the minimum requirement to receive an A+. Enter 97 in the minimum percentage column and enter A+ in the grade column.

Note:
If your school does not use plus and minus scores, simply delete the contents of the plus and minus rows. Please note that any row that has nothing in the minimum percentage fields has the default minimum percentage defaulted to 999.

Related Grading Information: Category Weights; Grading Period Weights; Extra Credit.

BUTTONS

Add
When you click the Add button, a new empty Class screen appears. The cursor will be in the Class Title field. Enter all pertinent information in the various fields. To make entries in the other fields, you can navigate to them with the Tab key. To move backwards to a field, press the Shift and the Tab keys simultaneously.

If you decide you do not want to keep this new class, click Cancel and you will return to the previous screen with no additions applied. If this is the only class you want to add, either press the Enter key or click Save . This will update the file and take you out of editing mode.

Drop
If you want to delete (drop) a class for your schedule, select the class from the pull-down menu at the top of the page, then click Drop . You will be taken to a screen that asks you if you want to keep the class or drop the class. This is a safety feature to help you avoid inadvertently dropping a class.

Copy
The Copy button copies the currently selected class and all of its categories and assignments to a new class. Rather than re-entering the same information into a new class or using the copy buttons in the category and assignment screens, you can use the Copy button to quickly replicate a class. After you click the Copy button, the new class is created and the Class screen displays the copied class.

Each class has an ID automatically assigned by MyGradeBook. The Class ID,Student ID and password are all included in the automatic email notifications to students and parents that are sent when you logoff.

Copy Grading Scale
If you have more than one class that uses the same grading scale and you need to modify the grading scale, you can modify one of the classes and then copy the grading scale to all of the other classes that should use it.

Select a class that needs to have its grading scale updated.
Update the grading scale and click the save button.
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen to view a list classes that have not ended yet which have a different grading scale.
Check the box next to any of the classes that should use the grading scale shown on the screen.
Click the save button.

If you apply the grading scale to any other classes, it will also become the default used for any new classes you create in the future. Go to the My Account screen and scroll to the bottom if you want to see what your current default grading scale looks like.