PowerTeacher Gradebook: Categories
November 3, 2013
Tags: Gradebook, Grades, PowerSchool, PowerTeacher
Before creating assignments in the PowerTeacher Gradebook, a team must create Categories. One cannot create an assignment without applying a Category to that assignment.
The purpose of Categories in the PowerTeacher Gradebook is to provide your team with a basis for analyzing student performance in different categories of assessments! With the inclusion of standards as their own element in the PowerTeacher Gradebook, we can separately conduct this analysis by Power Standard for the academic content areas.
We can use Power Standards as themselves, and we can then categorize types of assessments in the core academic areas by using Categories to do so.
So, what are some good Categories that teams might use?
Core Academic Classes, Grades K-8
- Reading-Project, Mini-Project, In-Class Activity, Observational Checklist
- Communications-Project, Mini-Project, In-Class Activity, Observational Checklist
- L1 Reading & Communications-Project, Mini-Project, In-Class Activity, Observational Checklist
- ESL-Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, Observational Checklist
- Math-Project, Quiz, Test, Exit Slip, Observational Checklist
- Science- Project, Mini-Project, In-Class Activity, Observational Checklist
- Social Science- Project, Mini-Project, In-Class Activity, Observational Checklist
Middle School Learner Qualities, Grades 6-8
- Self-Directed Learner – On-Time Completion, Organized & Prepared, Responsibility for Learning
- Collaborative Worker – Large Group, Small Group
- Quality Producer – Depth of Thought, Follows Directions
- Respectful Citizen – Respect for Learning Community, Respect for Learning Environment
Special Area & Exploratory Classes, Grades 1-8
Unlike the core classes, Power Standards for the Elementary School Special Area Classes and the Middle School Exploratory Classes are not printed on the Power Standards Summary Report at the end of the school year. Nevertheless, there are a variety of reasons, including both instructional reasons as well as for parent communication, that Special Area and Exploratory teachers will want and need to keep track of student progress with regards to the Power Standards. To help with this, teachers can and should create Categories in their Gradebooks centered around the Power Standards at this time.
Outdated Categories
Once grades have been stored at the end of a trimester, a Category that included grades can no longer be deleted. So, what does a team do when it has outdated Categories (e.g., “Homework”) that it wants to eliminate? Well, since they cannot be deleted, the best option is to rename the Category beginning with the letter “z”–This will push that Category down to the bottom of the list of Categories. Additionally, it might also be wise to use the same color (e.g., black) for all of the outdated Categories to also help separate them visually from the active Categories.
Creating Categories
To work with adding, changing, or deleting Categories, use the Category pan in the lower-left corner of the Gradebook window.
To delete an existing category that has not previously included stored grades at the end of a trimester, simply click on the category that you would like to delete. Then, click the “-” button at the top of the Categories pane.
To add a new category, simply click on the “+” button at the top of the Categories pane. When you do, a new “Category dialog box will open. The fields in this dialog create the default set-up for each assignment, but these variables can be changed for any individual assignment. For example, you will set-up a default point total for each assignment in the Category, and you might set that to 30 points. Yet, no single assignment in that Category may end up being exactly 30 points. That’s okay because you can change the point total on each specific assignment.
To change any field in an existing Category, simply double-click on the Category name in the Category Pane, and the above dialog box will open. Edit the necessary fields, and click the “OK” button.
Topic: Assessment, PowerSchool
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