TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview

Creating a New Gradebook

Edit Preferences

Setup Display Preferences

Setup Grading Rules

Setup Communication

Setup Students

Setup Classes

 

Setup Spreadsheets

 

Enter Tasks

Enter Student Scores

Using Bulk Fill

Using Copy Tasks

Reports

Saving Your Gradebook

Questions To Consider
Download Software

OVERVIEW

InteGrade Pro is the gradebook purchased by the district. It is not required at this time that you use this or any electronic gradebook. You are free to use your current program if you prefer.  However, there are a few things you may want to consider. The district staff has only been trained on this program and may not be able to help much on others. A great advantage of using InteGrade Pro is that student and class data will be imported from SASI and we will be exporting grades directly to SASI. This will end manually typing grades into SASI!!  Also, InteGrade Pro licensing allows you to load this software on your home computer.

[The technology staff will assist you at the first of the year to import student data based on your SASI teacher number into your gradebook. You should save the gradebook as a file named "your_name_and_schoolyear_gradebook" in your home directory.]

InteGrade Pro uses many menus and commands similar to Microsoft programs (File>Save, Edit>Copy, etc.). It allows you to figure grades by weighting certain types of assignments (tests for example). It will figure individual assignment percentages as well as overall class percentages and give rankings, as well as other flexible features.

InteGrade Pro will not be available unless you have taken this class.  SchoolVista users will find an Integrade Pro book on the bookshelf under SASI.  Visual Casel users will find this in the Teacher folder on the desktop.

A teacher has one gradebook per school, per school year. This gradebook contains data for all of the classes taught by that teacher. Each year you must create a new gradebook.   This is a one-time, beginning of the year process.

A.  TO CREATE A NEW GRADEBOOK USING CLASS ROSTERS IMPORTED FROM SASI

B.  TO ACCESS AN EXISTING GRADEBOOK   

                3. Select your gradebook and Open.

You must set up a newly-created gradebook before you can use it. Setting up involves specifying some display preferences, creating spreadsheets, and defining tasks and classes. Because we are importing class rosters, some of the setup is already entered. You must setup Display, Grading Rules, Communication and Spreadsheets. You should not use Setup to enter Students or Classes since SASI does this for you, but you may want to use these to view information such as Inactive Student Status or Student Contact Email information.

Please do not create a password. There is no backdoor to InteGrade Pro passwords so that if you forget it, we have to delete your entire gradebook and start over. Your SchoolVista password should provide sufficient protection.

Following the directions below step by step will allow you to setup your gradebook at the first of the year and have it ready to simply enter task/assignments and student scores for the rest of the year.

Checking the Preferences under the Edit menu will ensure that your settings are ready for the year.  There are 3 lines in Preferences.

UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY - should be checked to allow InteGrade Pro to check SASI each time you open your gradebook for changes in students.

SHOW TOOLBAR - Displays the new toolbar for this version of SASI for quick launch of commands.

SAVE AUTORECOVER - should be checked and the time set (10 minutes is recommended) so that InteGrade Pro will make a temporary save every 10 minutes and if you have a freeze up or power failure you will only lose the last 10 minutes of work at the most.

   

    B.    SETUP DISPLAY PREFERENCES

The Display dialog box from the Setup menu is used to set the display preferences of the program. There are four tabs in this dialog box: Date, Extra Field Titles, Spelling and Spreadsheet.

Date tab

Use this tab to set your preferred date format. Choose your options from the various categories and look at the sample dates at the lower right to see the results. The date format set here appears on spreadsheets and reports.

Extra Field Titles tab

 

Spelling tab

This tab allows you to set your spell checking preferences.

Spreadsheet tab

This tab contains options that may make your spreadsheet easier to read and use. You can see the effect of each option on the sample spreadsheet shown.

• Ledger Lines: These lines color every second row on the spreadsheet. Set the colors by clicking on the color patches next to "Ledger Line One" and "Ledger Line Two."

• Highlight Row/Column: If selected, the entire row is selected when a cell is selected; if a row in the Task area is selected, the corresponding column in the Student area is also selected.

• Show Task Short Name instead of Index: If selected, the column titles in the Student area use the abbreviated task name instead of the task number.

• Show Student Last Name First: If selected, displays student names "last name first." Otherwise, students are displayed "first name first."
• You may want to uncheck the DISPLAY INACTIVE STUDENTS so that students who have left your class will no longer show up in your spreadsheet.

• The color patches at the right of the dialog are used to specify custom colors for every facet of the display:

• Ledger Line One/Two: The color used for the ledger lines.

• Highlighted Line One/Two: The color used when a row/column is highlighted.

• Editable Text: The color used for text that you can change.

• Noneditable Text: The color used for text that you cannot change. For example, calculated values.

• Corner Clips: The color used for the markers in the visual cues.

C. SETUP GRADING RULES

Grading rules collectively refer to the task type sets, letter grade tables, and special scores defined in your gradebook. These rules categorize tasks, define the minimum percentage required to earn given letter grades in the class, and also define special scores: alphabetic symbols that have a numeric value for calculation purposes.

There are 4 tabs in the Grading Rules dialog:

Attendance Codes

This tab can be ignored since attendance is handled in SASI not InteGrade Pro.

Grade Tables tab

This tab is used to define the grading scale used in your class. Several grade tables have been predefined for you to use.  These may be deleted if you do not intend on using them.

Grade Tables: These are the grade scales you use in your classes.  Most people will have one grading scale.  Teachers who use E, S, and U grading or honors grading scales may want additional grade tables defined. You may delete any grade tables you will not be using.

Below the list of grade tables are the following buttons:

New: Creates a new grade table. Give the new table a name and indicate how many decimal places of precision you want to use when calculating the grades. Then define the letter grades and the lower limit for each grade.

Copy: Copies the selected table. The new table is initially named "Copy of <original table name>." Give the table a new name, then make the necessary changes to the letter grades.

Delete: Deletes the selected table. You are asked to confirm this action. (Note: If you delete a grade table that is currently used in a spreadsheet, the table in the list is automatically associated with the spreadsheet.)

Grade Table Name: The name of the currently selected grade table. Make edits as necessary.

Letter grade: The letter grades and their lower limits for the selected grade table are displayed/edited in the center section of this spreadsheet. Be sure that you are thinking in terms of "What is the lowest percentage a student can earn and still get this letter grade?"  You must define it to the decimal place if you allow rounding up (e.g. 89.5 for A- ).  Also note that the lowest limit for an F is not 50 but 0!  F+ and F- may be created for you and you can delete these if you do not use them.

Below this section are the following buttons:

New: Creates a new letter grade called "New" with a lower limit of "0". Give this new letter grade a name, up to seven characters long. Next, specify the minimum percentage a student must achieve in order to earn this letter grade.

Delete: Deletes the selected letter grade. The next lowest letter grade automatically assumes the percentage range of the deleted grade.

Sort: Resorts the table in descending order; use it after entering new grades.

# of Decimals Box: The number of decimal places displayed on spreadsheets/printed on reports for any class which uses this grade table. Note that the number of decimals actually displayed may occasionally exceed what is set here, for statistical accuracy. For example, a z-score displayed in one decimal place will not be meaningful; in this case, InteGrade Pro will temporarily override the setting and use as many decimal places as necessary to provide a meaningful score. Note that internally, numbers are actually stored at full precision.

Special Scores tab

This tab records the special scores that can be entered in lieu of a numeric score. A number of special scores have been predefined for you to use.  You may use these as you like or delete them.

Special Scores: The special scores currently defined for the gradebook. The value of the score is shown in parenthesis next to the score name. The value must be either "Excused" which will remove that assignment from being counted in the student's final grade, or a percentage of the assignment's value. so that when you are entering student scores, if you type in one of these special scores instead of a number, the computer will know whether to count that score as excused or a numeric value like 0.  Below the list are the following buttons:

New: Creates a new score that you want to be able to type instead of an actual number and gives it a default value of "0".  Change the value in the Score Value box if you would like it to be "Excused" or some other percentage of the assignment value.

Delete: Deletes the selected score. You are asked to confirm this action. If the special score was in use, it is replaced by the raw score equivalent on the spreadsheet. For example, deleting a special score of Pass=50% would result in a score of 5/10, 10/20, etc., in places where Pass was used.

Score Symbol: The name of the selected score. The symbol can be up to seven characters long. This symbol must begin with a letter, but can otherwise be any combination of numbers, letters, and characters.  Keep this short for typing ease.

Score Value: The value of the score. The value can be a raw score or a percentage. You can also use the predefined value "excused" to indicate that a student has been excused from the task without penalty.

Incomplete Symbol: The symbol used to indicate that a student did not complete a task. The default symbol is "INC". Any student who receives an incomplete on any task will receive an incomplete as their spreadsheet summary grade.

Type Sets tab

This tab defines the kinds of assignments or task types used in your gradebook.   Defining the types of task assignments you give will allow you to view how students are scoring according to the types of assignments.  For instance, a student may have excellent scores on Daily Work but have trouble with Tests.  This also allows you to weight grades so that you can have all Tests averaged and counted as 50% of the final grade (no matter if you give 1 test or 10), and have certain other types of task assignments averaged and counted as other parts of the grade.  Your total does NOT have to equal 100; weighting can be relative.

Most elementary teachers use Total Points where final grades are not weighted according to the type of task assignment.  In this case, you will want to put an equivalent number, like 10 for each task type you use in class.

Type Sets refers to the subject for those types of assignments.  The Type Sets or Subjects are listed down as columns.  Most teachers will have one type set for the subject they teach.  For elementary, you may want one type just called elementary that includes all of the types for all subjects in one list.  You can also have more than one type set of assignments (for example, a teacher who teaches P.E. and Psychology might want two separate sets with different types of assignments).  If you have more than one type set, you need only put numbers in the types of task assignments you use for that set; any types that have a blank will not be available for that set of task assignments.

Task Types are the kinds of assignments you give and are listed as rows going across.   The value of the task types does not refer to the actual points for a specific assignment.  The actual points are defined when you create a task in the gradebook (see CREATING A NEW TASK).

The types and type sets can be edited in the table. Within the table, you enter the "weight" (importance) of each task type in a task type set. The weights can be expressed as percentages or they can be relative weights. For example, four equally-weighted task types can be 25-25-25-25 or 10-10-10-10. Likewise, three equally-weighted task types can be 10-10-10.

If you want to include an unweighted task type (i.e. for tasks which are not used in the calculation of the spreadsheet grade), be sure to input a weight a 0.0 for the task within the task type set chart. You will be unable to assign a task type to a task if it has no weight indicated in this chart.

The following editing buttons appear to the right of the spreadsheet:

New Set: Creates a new task type set or subject. Enter a name for the new set. The first 14 characters of this name are displayed in the Grading Rules dialog. The new set is added to the right of the other sets.

Rename Set: Renames the task type set currently indicated by the cursor in the table.

Delete Set: Deletes the task type set currently indicated by the cursor in the table. You are asked to confirm this action. (Note: All classes using the deleted type set are automatically associated with the first type set in the table. If the first type set is being deleted, then the next type set is used.)

New Type: Creates a new task type or kind of assignment. Enter a name for the new task. The first 14 characters of the name are displayed in the Grading Rules dialog. The new task type is added to the end of the list.

Rename Type: Renames the task type currently indicated by the cursor in the table.

Delete Type: Deletes the task type currently indicated by the cursor in the table. You are asked to confirm this action. (Note: All tasks using the deleted task type are automatically associated with the first task type in the table. If the first task type is being deleted, then the next task type is used.)

 

D. SETUP COMMUNICATION

There are 6 lines to fill in under SETUP COMMUNICATION.  Filling these in will allow you to use the EMAIL PROGRESS REPORTS option to send a student's progress report directly to a parent's email addresss.  The following information should be entered in these lines.

TEACHER NAME:  This should be your full name as you want it displayed.

TEACHER EMAIL:  This would be your district email address such as jpulis@usd353.com.

EMAIL SERVER:  The name of our email server is notes.usd353.com.

ACCOUNT NAME:  This is your email login name (usually first initial last name like jpulis).

TEACHER WEB SITE:  If your class has a web site, you will type the URL here.  It will look something like www.usd353.com/roosevelt/decker/index.html.   Verify this by actually going to your web site on the Internet and recording the URL.

SCHOOL WEB SITE:  Each building has its own website in the format of www.usd353.com/buildingname/.   Again you can verify the actual URL on the Internet.

E.    SETUP STUDENTS

Setting up students will be done by SASI so that you will not use this command to add or delete students. You may edit student information here, including EMAIL ADDRESS which is located on the Contacts tab.  Check this line to be sure there is an email address and that the check box for SEND EMAIL REPORTS TO THIS CONTACT is check marked in order for InteGrade Pro to include this student when EMAILING PROGRESS REPORTS.

F.    SETUP CLASSES

The Classes dialog box from the Setup menu handles everything about a class, including adding new classes, modifying or entering more information for existing classes, or deleting unrequired classes.  SASI will create classes and students so that you will not create classes or add students using this command.  You may use this command to view STUDENTS and manually make them inactive by viewing the STUDENT STATUS for a particular class and removing the student's "X".

ADDING AND DELETING STUDENTS FROM CLASSES

Students and classes are added to your gradebook by importing from SASI.  This is done from the office.  If you have a student who is not showing up correctly in your gradebook, you should first check with the office to see if they have done the Integrade Pro Data Exchange.  If they have, you may need to use FILE > IMPORT GRADEBOOK and locate your IGPRO teacher file. 

Elementary teachers will have a class for each subject area that receives a grade. Secondary teachers will have a class for each section/class they teach.

If a student leaves your class, SASI should make them inactive automatically.  DO NOT DELETE STUDENTS FROM INTEGRADE PRO.  If you do and there is a need for that student's records, you will not be able to recover their info.  Also, SASI may continue to put them back in your class.  If SASI doesn't remove a student, you can manually make students inactive by  going to SETUP > CLASSES and selecting the class and clicking on STUDENT STATUS.  Uncheck the student's box to make him inactive.  These students will continue to show up unless you go to SETUP > DISPLAY and uncheck the DISPLAY INACTIVE STUDENTS box on the Spreadsheet tab.

G. SETUP SPREADSHEETS

1. ABOUT SPREADSHEETS

In InteGrade Pro, student scores are recorded on spreadsheets.

There are four types of spreadsheets: Numeric, Skill, Attendance, and EndTerm.

1. Numeric spreadsheets record data such as scores from various assignments and a summary grade is computed from those student scores.
2. Skill spreadsheets track the mastery of skills. The summary grade on a Skill spreadsheet is entered manually; it is not the result of computations.
3. Attendance spreadsheets are used to track attendance for students. This will be taken care of in SASI.
4. EndTerm spreadsheet is used to transfer student grades to the office computer at the end of a reporting period. This spreadsheet is automatically created when rosters are imported from SASI.

You can have as many spreadsheets per class as you need. Schools based on quarterly terms will want 4 quarterly spreadsheets for each subject.  The high school will generally have one cumulative spreadsheet per class.  Each spreadsheet can contain scores for an essentially unlimited number of tasks and the tasks themselves can be grouped into task types such as quiz or homework.

You can define as many spreadsheets as you need for a particular class. Each numeric spreadsheet can have a different letter grade table. This enables you to use different grading rules for sets of tasks or for different terms. However, only one copy of the EndTerm spreadsheet is created for each class.

2. TO CREATE A SPREADSHEET

Make sure the class to which you are adding the new spreadsheet is displayed in the class viewer.

1. Choose Setup > Spreadsheets from the pull down menus.

2. Click New at the bottom of the spreadsheet list.  Select Numeric Spreadsheet and Next.

3. Enter a name for the new spreadsheet like 1st Quarter or Fall Term.

4. Select the calculation method.  Use Weighted Type if you assigned weights in Task Types to average the types of assignments.  Use Total Points if you are not weighting grades and made all Task Types an equal value.

5. Click Create.  The new spreadsheet will be added to the bottom of the list and you may edit its attributes along the right side of the window.

3. TO DELETE A SPREADSHEET

You may wish to delete the default spreadsheets (Weighted Numeric and Skills) that SASI creates to prevent confusion when entering grades.

1.   Make sure that the class you want to work with is in the CLASS line of your window.

2.  From the Setup menu, choose Spreadsheets.

3. Select the spreadsheet to delete.

4. Click Delete.

5. Confirm the deletion. (Note: Deleting a spreadsheet deletes all the tasks, all the scores, all spreadsheet notes for the student, and all score notes.)

1. From the Tasks menu, select New Task. Or use the New Tasks icon on the Tool Bar.   Click Next.

2. Complete the relevant task information fields.

• Task Name: Enter the name of the task as it will appear on the spreadsheet and in reports (required).  This will be the specific name of the assignment, like Chapter 5 questions or addition quiz
• Date Assigned: Enter the task date assigned (optional).  This comes in handy if you have assignments with similar names or you need to tell parents when a task was assigned and compare with the Due Date.  You may click the calendar icon at the right of this line to view the calendar and click the date you would like to use.
• Date Due:  Enter the task date due (optional).  This comes in handy if you have assignments with similar names or you need to tell parents when a task was assigned and compare with the Due Date.  You may click the calendar icon at the right of this line to view the calendar and click the date you would like to use.
• Task Type: Specify the type for the task.
• Out of (Raw): Enter how many total points the task is worth.
• Scale Factor: Specify how the scores for this task should be scaled. The default is 1.0. Adjust the scale factor only if you want to make this task more or less important than the other tasks. Note that scaling does not affect a student's percentage score on a task, only the weighting of the scores on that task compared to all other tasks. Thus, a score of 5 out of 10 scaled 2.5 produces a score of 12.5 out of 25.  Some teachers choose to use scale to count a test score twice.
• Out of (Scaled): This is automatically calculated based on the Out of (Raw) and Scale Factor. Manually entering an 'Out of (Scaled)' automatically changes the Scale Factor.
• Maximum Score: Optionally specify a maximum score for the task. This score triggers a confirmation dialog box if the score entered on the spreadsheet is greater than the maximum. It helps you from inadvertently entering 99 when you meant to enter 9. If no maximum score is specified, then no confirmation is asked, even if the entry is greater than the 'Out of (Raw)' score.  If an assignment has possible extra credit points attached, you will want to make the maximum score equal to the required points for the assignment plus possible extra credit to show that you might type more than the required points for the assignment.

3. Click Create. The new task is added to the end of the list of tasks.

4.  To edite a task that has already been created, you can go to the TASKS menu and select EDIT TASKS, use the EDIT TASKS icon on the toolbar, or click the pulldown menu on the TASK NAME bar.

B. ENTERING STUDENT SCORES

1.  To Enter Scores Directly on the Spreadsheet

1. Select the score cell next to a student name to enter on the current spreadsheet.

2. Enter the score. A score that is greater than the 'Maximum Allowed' score is indicated by a message and a corner clip at the top right of that score.

2.  To Enter Scores by Student

Use this option to enter or view all the task scores for one student.

1. From the Setup menu, choose Students.

2. Select the student for whom you are entering scores.

3. Select the Scores tab.

4. Enter the appropriate score for each task.

5. Click Close.

3.  To Enter Scores by Task

Use this option to enter or view all student scores for a single task.

1. From the Tasks menu, choose Edit Task.

2. Select the task for which you are entering scores.

3. Select the Scores tab.

4. Enter the appropriate score for each student.

5. Click Close.

C.  USING BULK FILL TO ENTER SCORES

Use the the Bulk Fill dialog box from the Tasks menu to enter the same score for specified students and tasks. The Bulk Fill command is very powerful when used in conjunction with the Student Filter.

The following are some sample uses for Bulk Fill:

• When a new student registers in one of your classes, you enter an excused score for all tasks assigned prior to the student's arrival.
• You know that almost everyone is going to get 10/10 on a particular assignment. Use Bulk Fill to enter 10 for everyone and then adjust the exceptions.
• A group of students missed a task because they were away on a field trip. Use Bulk Fill to locate these students and enter an Omit score for the students.
• Fill all blank scores with "0" at the end of a term.

To Use Bulk Fill

1. Ensure that you are viewing the class and spreadsheet to which you are entering scores and go to TASKS > BULK FILL.

2. Select the students who will receive the new score.  You may use a filter to select certain students or check and uncheck boxes. 

3. Select the tasks to include.

4. Enter the value of the new score. If you want only blank scores to be filled, also select Replace

only Empty scores.

5. Click Fill.

D.  USING COPY TASKS

Copy Tasks on the TASKS menu can be used to copy identical assignments from one hour to another.  To do this, you should:

    1.   First create the task assignment in one hour. 

    2.  Once it is created, change your CLASS line to the next hour that would have the same task assignment. 

    3.  Click on TASKS > COPY TASKS.

    4.  Next, select the CLASS and SPREADSHEET where you first created the assignment and click Next.

    5.  Click in the box of all of the task assignments you would like to copy and click Next.

    6.  Select Raw Score and Next and then OK.

The new task assignment will be created at the bottom of your task list ready for you to enter student scores.

REPORTS

There are numerous reports under the REPORTS menu that are very useful for teachers as well as communication to parents.  When you select a report, you will be given the chance to determine which students, tasks, and other options to include on the report.  

    Email Progress Report - Will email student's progress directly to the email address listed in SETUP > STUDENTS> CONTACTS if the check box is selected for Send Email Reports to This Contact.

    Class Roster - Will print a list of students with blank cells which could be used for recording assignments and scores or as a checklist for various purposes.

    Multi-Class - Will print the student's progress with all classes taken from this teacher in a continuous report.

    Student Progress - Conveys the same info as Email Progress Reports except can be printed not emailed

    Spreadsheet - Prints as a gradesheet with the information you are seeing on the screen.

SAVING YOUR GRADEBOOK

Select FILE and SAVE AS when saving so that you can check the SAVE IN box to ensure that you are saving to your home directory, or to a floppy if you are taking your file home. Give your gradebook a defining name which includes your name and year.

If you load InteGrade Pro on your home computer, you need to remember to save your file to a floppy to take it home and save it back when you are returning to school.  Then you will need to open it from the floppy and use FILE > SAVE AS to save it to your home directory.

 

You may plan ahead and enter tasks beforehand. To insert a task between others, adjust the dates.

Consider how you score your assignments. If all assignments contribute to a total number of points and all carry equal value, select total points.

If some assignments are worth more points but contribute to total points, use the scale factor when creating a task.

To weight types of assignments so that the total of each type is averaged for the type and then contributes that percentage to the final grade, using weighting in task types.
 

DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE

If you would like to load InteGrade Pro on your home computer, you can download the software
at this link. Download