Initial Setup of Grades

It is important that you set your Grade Setup accurately for each Reporting Term. Begin by setting up the Q1 Reporting Term. Under Grade Setup, click the arrow icon beside each of the listed Reporting Terms to setup the method PT Gradebook will use to calculate the final grades.  For Q1, Q2, etc., you might use Total Points and/or Category Weights. For Y1 though, everyone should always choose Term Weights and be sure that the Reporting Terms Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 are weighted 25, 25, 25, and 25.

A Note About How Grades Are Calculated

Regardless of your settings for an assignment, PowerSchool uses the point value when calculating grades. If you issue a letter grade for an assignment, PowerSchool will use the corresponding 'Percent' grade (grade out of 100) to calculate the Final grade. For example, you give two quizzes in the Quiz category, one quiz with a Points Possible of 50 and the other with a Points Possible or 100.  The student scores a C on the first and a B on the second.  The student will end up earning 75% (i.e. C) of 50 points and 85% (B) of 100 points, giving the student 122.5/150 (37.5 + 85 points of a total 50 + 100 points). If these were the only two assignments in Q1 Reporting Term, then the student would get 122.5/150 --> 81.7 --> B- for the quarter. The cutoff for a B is 80.0.  If the student were to have scored a B on the first and a C on the second, they would have gotten a C+ (78.3). The take away from this is that the Points Possible for each assignment in a category weight that assessment against other assignments in the same category OR if you use Total Points to calculate your final grades, then the Points Possible weight the assignments against all other assignments. The points matter!

Another thing to note about how grades are calculated: PowerSchool carries forward the 'Percent' grade and not the letter grade when calculating a Final Grade. In the above example, even though a B is the equivalent to a Percent grade of 83, the student's Y1 average would be calculated using 81.7 and not 83.

All of the above also holds true for the O, S+,S etc... grade scale. You can see what the "Cutoff" and "Percent" are for each letter grade in your gradebook under Grade Setup --> Grade Scales.

"It was my understanding that there would be no math..."