Best Practice Composite Grading for Administrators
Composite grading is forming a grade for a grading task by combining two or more other grading tasks. For example, a semester grade can be the result of two quarter grades, or of two quarter grades and a semester exam. There are two ways that composite grading can be used in your system. The first is composite grading for administrators. This type of composite grading is set up at the course level and composite grading is the same for all sections of the course. The second way of using composite grading is at the section level where teachers can set up composite grading in the Instruction module for individual course sections. For the purposes of this article, we will be reviewing on how to set up composite grading for administrators.
Grading tasks are an integral part of any traditional grading setup in NASIS, and can be set up in Grading & Standards > Grading Tasks. Grading tasks can then be attached to a course by searching for a course, then going to the Grading Tasks tab.
For composite grading, a grading task should be established that will become the sum of two or more other grading tasks. As shown in the picture below, we are using the Quarter and Semester Grading Tasks. This course is a year-long course that gets a semester grade posted to the transcript for each of the Semesters 1st & 2nd. For our example here, we are going to make Quarters 1 and 2 each 50% of the Semester 1 Grading task (Q2) and Quarters 3 & 4 each 50% of the Semester 2 Grading Task (Q4).
Composite grading requires that all grading tasks are assigned a score group that has minimum percents defined. Score groups can be edited in Grading & Standards > Score Groups and Rubrics. See the picture below to view the sample score group that we have attached to our Quarter and Semester Grading Tasks on the course.
Once grading tasks and their score groups are set up, go to the course's Composite Grading tab.
To make a grading task a composite, select it from the list. The Composite Grading Detail box will appear. Enter a percent in the weight box next to the grading tasks that should contribute to the composite task. For this example, an equal weight of 50% for each quarter has been assigned to form the final semester grade. In the Composite Grading Detail editor box, there is a checkbox named “Locked.” If you choose to lock the composite grading, the teachers cannot modify the composite grading created by the system administrators. If it is left unlocked, teachers can decide whether or not to utilize composite grading or modify the recommended percentages for their assigned sections in the Composite Grading tool in the Instruction Module. The image below shows an example of the Composite Grading tab and Detail editor.
The next step in using Composite Grading is determining if you want to use the Auto Grade wizard to auto calculate and post grades to the composite grading task or if you want to open the grading window and allow your teachers to post grades to the composite grading task, or a combination of the two. In our example above, the Semester grading task is the composite grading task. If you decide to open the grading window for the Semester grading task, the teacher still has the ability to override the calculated composite grade while the grading window is open. If you want to prevent the teachers from modifying the Semester grade, you can use the Auto Grade wizard only to post the grades for you. In some instances, you might want to use auto grading and then open the grading window to cut down the amount of work that teachers need to perform, because they would then only have to work with the students whose grades need to be adjusted. The next section of the article explains how to use the Auto Grade module.
The Auto Grading Wizard, or Auto Grade, is used when composite grading is used at the administrative level. Auto Grade will assign final grades based on the settings established for composite grading.
Auto Grade
Auto Grade is found in Grading & Standards > Auto Grade.
Select the Grading Task for which to grade. This list will include grading tasks, such as the semester grade, from any course that has composite grading set up. When the grading task is selected from here, the calculations based on weight will happen on a per course basis, meaning that our English class with 50% for each quarter will be calculated as such, while another class with only 25% across four other tasks will simultaneously calculate to produce a final grade.
Select the Score Group with which to assign grades. As mentioned before, this must be a score group to which minimum percents have been assigned.
Check the box next to Overwrite Existing Grades if you wish to overwrite existing data entered by teachers or administrators. Select Auto Grade Students when finished. Grades will then be posted for the selected grading task.
After the grades are posted for the students and approved for the student’s transcripts, the administration can use the Student Portfolio tool for posting the grades to the student’s transcripts. Please feel free to have your system administrator contact NASIS support for assistance on setting up composite grading properly for your school.
