PowerTeacher Gradebook: Overview on Entering Assignments
November 3, 2013
Tags: Gradebook, Grades, PowerSchool, PowerTeacher
What are we assessing?
The first step to entering assignments is knowing what the assignments are. The move to using the Power Standards as a focus and guide, the inclusion of the Learner Qualities in our assessment system, and our efforts to differentiate instruction based on student performance all will cause us to take a second look at the type of assignments that we have given in the past.
While typically we find that the nature of the activities that students are asked to complete on these assignments are good, questions should arise about exactly what we are assessing. For example, questions we may ask ourselves include:
- Am I really assessing the quality of the students’ writing rather than the Science content on this assessment? Should I be assessing each?
- Am I really assessing a student’s work as a Self-Directed Learner rather than whether or not he/she knows the Social Science?
- What specific skills am I assessing on this?
- Have I defined what my standards are on this assessment?
- Do students know what they are expected to do on this assessment?
The answers to these questions, and others, become critical when transferring assignments to points for entry in the Gradebook. When you have answers to these questions, the process of determining how many points possible the assignment should be worth is quite easy. When you do not have answers to these type of questions, the simple task of creating an assignment can be much more complicated.
“To determine what you are assessing, ask yourself the following questions that will help guide your entering of assignments in the Web Gradebook.”
For core academic teachers, on this assessment, on which of the traditional academic content areas am I assessing the students?
For each area you are assessing, you will enter an assignment in to that assessment area’s Gradebook (i.e., Reading, Communications, and Science assessments within a single assessment).
For all middle school teachers, on this assessment, on which of the Learner Qualities am I assessing student performance?
For each Learner Quality you are assessing, you will enter an assignment in to that Learner Quality’s Gradebook. (Middle School teachers–This will lead directly to LQ grades on the Report Card.) *Remember that the Learner Qualities use a different grade scale to capture the nature of the 4, 3, 2, 1 grade scale. Likewise, remember that the number of points possible for Learner Quality assessments should always be divisible by 4.
For all teachers, have you defined your standards and what constitutes a “meeting standards” performance on this assignment?
This is crucial for each Power Standard you are entering on a particular assignment.
Topic: Assessment, PowerSchool
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