Before School Year
Align Consistent Categorization & Weights
In student success systems, gradebooks are dynamic tools—when aligned with consistent categorizations and weights—to track student achievement and identify early warning signs in real time for human intervention. These steps outline how to up gradebook and course type taxonomy while ensuring dashboards are aligned with student needs.
Human Action
Identify Course Type Taxonomy
Identify standard taxonomy for all course types aligned to district course offerings
Human Action
Communicate Gradebook Taxonomy
Communicate specifics of approved grading taxonomy in gradebook for teacher view
Human Action
Align on Instructional Intent
Align the student success team on the instructional intent behind grading policies, including selecting the appropriate, research-based weight ranges
Examples to consider:
Missing (M): The student never submitted the work. In many systems, this automatically calculates as a 0% until the student turns it in, triggering an alert for teachers.
Excused or Exempt (E): The student does not need to complete the assignment (e.g., due to an excused absence or modified IEP requirement). This code ensures the missing assignment does not negatively impact their total grade percentage.
Incomplete (I): The student submitted the work, but it did not meet the minimum requirements to be graded, or a potion is missing.
Late (L): The assignment was submitted past the deadline. This provides context for why a teacher might have applied a late penalty.
Pending/Not Graded (NG): The student turned the work in, but the teacher has not graded it yet. This reassures the student that the blank grade is not a penalty.
Technology Action
Configure Gradebook Data Fields
Set up gradebooks using the district or school’s standardized parameters
Technology Action
Create Default Gradebook Weights
Configure the default weights for gradebook entries in various assignment categories
Different Grading Approaches
To help staff understand how assignments build a final grade, it is helpful to outline the core grading philosophies your system might support:
1) Traditional Weighted Grading (Category Weights): In this approach, different types of assignments are assigned a specific percentage of the total grade, regardless of how many points they are worth individually.
Example: Tests are 50% of the total grade, quizzes are 30%, and homework is 20%. Even if a student does 100 homework assignments perfectly, they cannot pass if they fail the tests, because homework is capped at 20% of their total course outcome.Â
2) Total Points-Based Grading: Every assignment is given a point value, and the final grade is simply the total points earned divided by the total points possible.
Example: A test is worth 100 points and a homework assignment is worth 10 points.
3) Standards-Based Grading (SBG): Instead of accumulating points or percentages, students are graded on their mastery of specific learning standards or skills.
Example: Instead of getting an 85% on a math test, a student might receive a “3” (Meets Standard) on “Fractions” and a “2” (Approaching Standard) on “Decimals.”
Technology Action
Align Dashboards with Student Needs
Provide department-level data visualizations and dashboards specifically filtered for relevant academic department and success team role views in alignment with student needs
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