2015 - 2016 Preparing for the June Report Cardsharepoint.tcrsb.ca/sis/staff/Report Card/June Report Card Support... · Provide anecdotal comment(s) ... report cards and transcripts

TCRSB PowerSchool Documentation

Revised 06/03/2016 Page 1

Preparing for the June Report Card Support Document for Grade 9 – 12 Teachers

Teachers are expected to use the Gradebook to complete the following tasks for the June report card. All items MUST be entered in the Y1 or T3 bin – with the exception of item #2.

1. Assign a term grade (pages 1 – 2)

2. A final grade must also be assigned to all courses from grades 9 - 12.

The final grade for your course(s) must be entered in the F1 bin. (page 3)

3. Complete the learner profile (pages 4 - 5)

4. Provide anecdotal comment(s) supporting the assigned grade. (pages 5 – 8)

Note: If a learner profile comment if required, it is entered at the end of the academic comment. The learner profile comment is in addition to the academic comment, and it cannot consume the total space or replace the academic comment.

Before proceeding with any of the above tasks, be sure that your class in Gradebook is set to the proper reporting term:

If your course is reporting grades three times a year, then be sure that your Gradebook is set to the T3 reporting term.

If your course is reporting grades four times a year, then be sure that your Gradebook is set to the Y1 reporting term.

1. ASSIGNING A PROGRESS GRADE

Important First Step for grade 9 – 12 subject teachers!!

To ensure that the numeric/percentage grade is calculated correctly in Gradebook (according to your specifications), double check your Grade Setup for the current reporting term (T3 or Y1) by clicking on the ‘Grade Setup’ tab, and then double-clicking the bin. (This process should be repeated for each course you teach).

For assistance with Grade Setup, refer to the support documents located on the SIS website at http://sharepoint.tcrsb.ca/sis/ . Afterwards, navigate to Information for Teachers > Gradebook Documents > Setup of Categories &

Assessments in PowerTeacher Gradebook Grades 7-12.

2015 - 2016

http://sharepoint.tcrsb.ca/sis/



The report card will ‘pull’ the grade from the Final Grade section of the Gradebook.

As shown above, if a teacher is using the Gradebook to input their assessments and/or achievement level scores, then a grade will be automatically generated in the Final Grade section of Gradebook. The grades appearing in this section of Gradebook will be the grades that appear on the report card, so be sure to verify the grades for accuracy. Do not simply assume that the grades are correct – the Gradebook will calculate the grades based on how you’ve set up your Gradebook and entered your assessments (in other words, if you’ve entered something incorrectly, then your grades could also be incorrect).

Manually Overriding Grades in the Gradebook

If you are not yet using the Gradebook to enter your individual assessments, or if you need to override one or more of your grades, you will need to use the Score Inspector. To access the Score Inspector, right-click on a student’s grade with the mouse and select ‘Show Score Inspector’ or CTRL + SHIFT + I on the keyboard (COMMAND + SHIFT + I on a Mac).

1. Be sure the reporting term is set to the correct bin (T3 or Y1)

before entering your grades.

2. Select the ‘Professional Judgement’ checkbox,

3. Enter the appropriate grade in the Percent field.

4. Enter the appropriate grade in the Grade field (even if it is the

same grade in both fields [as illustrated in the image to the right]).

Both the grade and percent fields must be populated so that

report cards and transcripts print the properly.

5. Use the Up / Down arrow buttons ( ) next to the student’s name to quickly move to

another student in your class.



2. ASSIGNING FINAL GRADES (IN THE F1 BIN)

If you teach a grade-level 9 – 12 course, a final mark will need to be included for all students on the June report card.

Before proceeding with completing your final grades, be sure that your class in Gradebook is set to the F1 reporting term:

The report card will ‘pull’ the grade from the Final Grade section of the Gradebook.

As shown above, if a teacher is using the Gradebook to input their assessments and marks, then a grade will be automatically generated in the Final Grade section.

To ensure that the F1 grade is correct in Gradebook, double check your Grade Setup for the F1 bin (by clicking on the ‘Grade Setup’ tab,

and then double-clicking the F1 bin). For assistance with Grade Setup, refer to the support documents located on the SIS website at http://sharepoint.tcrsb.ca/sis/ . Afterwards, navigate to Information for Teachers > Gradebook Documents > Setup of Categories & Assessments in PowerTeacher Gradebook Grades 7-12. If you are not yet using the Gradebook to enter your individual assessments, or if you need to override one or more of your grades, you will need to use the Score Inspector. For more information, refer to the section on Manually Overriding Grades in the Gradebook on page 2 of this document.

When manually overriding grades, both the grade and percent fields must be populated so that report cards and transcripts print the properly.




3. COMPLETING THE LEARNER PROFILE/WORK HABITS The Learner Profile categories changed last year and indicated below (in bold) are the new learner profile categories, along with some bulleted statements, which help to provide clarification as to the meaning of these categories. What you see below will also be printed on the first page of the student report card. There are four learner profile categories to complete for grade levels 9 to 12.

Classwork and Assignments

Completes classwork

Completes homework

Strives to produce quality work

Organizational Skills

Comes prepared for class

Manages own materials and belongings

Uses time efficiently

Interactions with Others

Interacts positively

Resolves conflicts appropriately

Works collaboratively

Responsibility and Independence

Accepts responsibility for own actions

Arrives on time for class

Follows instructions/directions/rules and routines

Respects school property and the property of others

Works independently

For grades 9 – 12, the learner profile is found in each individual course. Click on the Scoresheet tab and then choose Final Grades Mode to complete the learner profile for your students. Note: Be sure the reporting term is set to the correct bin (T3 or Y1) before completing the learner profile.

Methods that can be used to enter Learner Profile descriptors

Method 1: Direct Entry 1. Click on an entry location.

2. Type the appropriate abbreviation for the entry (Consist, Usually, Sometime, Rarely, N/A) NOTE: N/A only applies to junior high courses



Method 2: Right Click 1. Right-click on an entry location.

2. Click ‘Grades’.

3. Select the appropriate abbreviation for the entry.

Method 3: Quick Fill This option can be used for occasions when most students will have the same entry value.

1. Right-click on the Profile category header

(the blue or green colored area).

2. Click ‘Quick Fill’.

3. Click the appropriate abbreviation for the entry to be

inserted for all students.

4. Using either Method 1 or Method 2 from above,

modify individual students requiring different values.

4. ADDING COMMENTS

Comments are required to be included for all students in all subject areas. The comments reflect student achievement of expected learning outcomes specific to the course and should not reflect work habits. Be sure the reporting term is set to the correct bin (T3 or Y1) before entering any student comments.

Note: If a learner profile comment if required, it is entered at the end of the academic comment. The learner profile comment is in addition to the academic comment, and it cannot consume the total space or replace the academic comment.

For assistance with developing strong report card comments, refer to the support documents located on the SIS website at http://sharepoint.tcrsb.ca/sis/ . Afterwards, navigate to Information for Teachers > Gradebook > Creating Strong Report Card

Comments – A Handbook for Jr / Sr High Teachers.

Comments that are saved electronically in

MS Word or MS Excel format can be copied

and pasted into the Gradebook.

Comments for secondary students are

entered in the Final Grade section of the Gradebook. Once a comment has been added for a

student, a comment icon ( ) will appear.




To add a comment for a student, you will need to use the Score Inspector (note: this is the same

Inspector box that is used to manually override a student’s grade).

1. To access the Score Inspector, right-click on a student’s

mark (in the Final Grade section) with the mouse and

select ‘Show Score Inspector’ or CTRL + SHIFT + I on

the keyboard (COMMAND + SHIFT + I on a Mac).

2. Enter the comment for the student in the comment box. Use the functionality of the Score Inspector to either move up or down to the next student.

3. If you are copying comments from another

document (such as MS Word or MS Excel), comments can pasted in the Gradebook by using the following method (right-click option does not work in Gradebook):

To Copy, press CTRL + C

To Paste, press CTRL + V 4. If you using your personalized comment

bank to insert comments, be sure to select My Comment Bank. Choose a comment from

the list and click Insert Selected.

NOTE: For more detailed instructions on how to set up your personalized comment bank, refer to the document entitled: Using the Personal Comment Bank in

PowerTeacher Gradebook 2.3. The document can be downloaded from the board’s SIS support website, or from the provincial iNSchool website (at

http://inschool.ednet.ns.ca).

5. Be aware that there are comment length restrictions. These limitations vary among courses

as well as grade level. Values indicated below are total number of characters (spaces do

count as characters).

Grade Level ELA FLA Math Other subjects

Grades 7 - 9 800 800 800 400

Grades 10 - 12 400 400 400 400



Using Smart Text Tags When Writing Comments

Smart Text is a code that will automatically replace the inserted code with the appropriate student information. These are converted by decoding the Smart Text directly within the Gradebook when you save the comment. The Smart Text that is available to use with comments is listed below. Since these codes are immediately decoded within the Gradebook when you save, they offer some advantages to the smart pronouns previously used: • Teachers will know that the code has worked when they save the comment in the Gradebook.

• Teachers will have an accurate character count in the Gradebook.

• Comments will appear properly within the portal. To view a 12 minute video on using Smart Text, please navigate to http://tctube.tcrsb.ca.

Smart Text Tags

<first name>

<he/she> <last name, first name>

<He/She>

<first name last name>

<his/her> <preferred name>

<His/Her>

<last name>

<him/her>

NOTE 1: The <preferred name> Start Text tag will use the preferred name field from the Student Info screen. If there is no preferred name for a student, the first name will be used. The preferred name needs to be FIRST entered into your Gradebook before using this tag.

1. Click the ‘Student Info’ tab.

2. Enter the student’s preferred

name under the appropriate column.

Note 2: Some teachers may wish to use himself/herself in their comments. There is no Smart Text tags for these words, but the following is a workaround that will serve the same purpose. To use himself or herself, enter (as one word with no spaces): <him/her>self

http://tctube.tcrsb.ca/



Reviewing your Report Card Comments

After having completed your comments, you may wish to review, just to make sure that they are appropriate (according to the student’s level of achievement for the reporting period) and that there are no grammatical or spelling errors. To review your comments, go to the Start Page of PowerTeacher and click on the ‘View My Comments (7-12)’ link. The comments will appear in exactly the same form as they will on the report card, so be sure to make any necessary revisions.

One of my Classes is Report Card Ready!: A Final Step to Complete

After completing the tasks [(1) enter progress grades, (2) complete learner profiles, (3) write comments] for the students in one of your classes, you can mark the class as being completed. Click the button to change the status from ‘in progress’ to ‘complete’. As you complete other courses, this step will need to be repeated for each of those courses.