Define grade scales in the District view

Define the grade scales and the grades that students can earn in your district. These are the grades that appear on report cards. When you define a grade scale, you also define the letter grades and numeric grade ranges that users can enter.

Note: Districts can align each grade in a grade scale to an alignment code. This way, if teachers create their own grade scales to use in their sections, they can align each grade they create to a grade on a district grade scale. Aspen can use these alignment codes to determine the district grade that appears on student report cards.

This way, if a teacher creates a 1-4 grade scale, he can determine that a score of 3 in his grade scale is equal to a B on the district grade scale. If the district does not create codes for teachers to align to, Aspen calculates a score of 3 as a 75 (C) out of 100.
Note: Follett advises against modifying grade terms, grade scales, and transcript definition columns once your school year begins. Making changes after teachers have entered assignment data in their Gradebooks, or schools have generated grading reports (progress reports, report cards) can cause unexpected issues. If you must make any changes to grade terms, grade scales, or transcript definitions, increased testing of all reports and views that use transcript data is strongly recommended.

To define grade scales and grades:

  1. Log on to the District view.
  2. Select Grades > Grade Scales.
  3. Select Options > Add. The New Grade Scale page appears.
  4. Type a name for the grade scale, and the maximum and minimum points that you can assign to a grade within this scale. Also, type the maximum and minimum values that can be entered for a grade in this scale; maximum and minimum values give teachers the ability to enter values for extra credit.
  5. Click Save. The grade scale appears on the Grade Scales page.
  6. Select the grade scale you created.
  7. On the Grade Scales side-tab, click Grades. The Grade Scales page for that grade scale appears.
  8. Select Options > Add. The New Grade Definition page appears.
  9. Use this table to enter information in the fields:
  10. Field Description

    Code

    Type a code to identify the grade. For example, you might type A, B, C, or D.

    Value

    Enter a value for the grade. The value is often the maximum percentage a student can earn to receive this grade. The system uses the value you enter to calculate GPAs and other averages from letter grades.

    Cutoff Value

    Enter a cutoff value for the grade. The cutoff value is often the lowest percentage grade a student can earn to receive this grade.

    Earns credit

    If a student earns the credits associated with a course for receiving this grade as a course's final grade, select this checkbox.

    No numeric equivalent

    If this grade does not have a numeric equivalent, select this checkbox. For example, INC for incomplete.

    This allows users to enter letters in numeric only columns.
  1. Click Save. Repeat steps 8 -10 to define all the grades within a grade scale.