Work Smarter, Not Harder: 24 Tips for the TeacherPlus Gradebook

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Bypass repetitive score entry. When you know most, or all of your students have the same number of points, use the Batch Entry function to instantly set scores for everyone. This comes in handy if you are handing out participation points, for example. Even if you have one or two students with different scores, just go back in and alter those individuals. Entering in one or two separate scores beats doing it all 30 (or so) times for the whole class.



Right-Click in the assignment column and choose Batch Entry: Current Column.

Did you know there are 11 hidden rows that can serve up extra stats about each of your assignments? These powerful little nuggets work behind the scenes to calculate averages, ranges, and more. Get in there and get a little crazy. Toggle on these rows and stack up a gold mine of statistical counts that could reveal trends about your assignments and students.

Add a little flourish to your Gradebook data and show off with some more advanced graphical visuals. We all know Excel is king when it comes to PivotTables, so why not use it? Save your Gradebook as an Excel document and experiment with tables, graphs and charts. Who knows? This could come in handy at your next departmental meeting, parent-teacher conference, or just for your own reference.



Download the exported Excel Workbook file by going to Reports > Save as Excel.

Using Google Classroom? We also understand that double-data entry is a nuisance. When it comes time to generate report cards, you’ll need those scores to come into the Gradebook and ultimately, AdminPlus. So how do you get the data from Google Classroom into the TeacherPlus Gradebook without double-data entry? Simple – you can use the built-in “Link.” When you add an assignment into the Google Classroom environment, you can then link that to a column in your Gradebook. Click the “Link Classwork” button and watch as it instantly pulls in the assignment description and points for each student. Whenever you make changes to an assignment that has already been linked, simply click the square Google Classroom icon for that column within the TeacherPlus Gradebook, and it’ll refresh any new incoming score data. Or click the round Google Classroom icon near the title of the class to Sync All. 

(If you don’t see the Google Classroom Link in your Gradebook, talk to your school’s TeacherPlus Management Admin – this integration must be enabled first.)

Interested in tracking raw points earned, rather than percentages? You can easily add a dedicated column that will tally up the points for each student and automatically keep a running total during the entire marking period as you add more point-based assignments. 

In the Custom View option, choose to show the Marking Period Points Earned by adding it to the Right Pane. (Check out Tip #15 to read more about Custom Views.)

Did you know there are 10 hidden fields that can be added to your Views? While playing around with creating custom Views in the Gradebook, you might have noticed that there’s a category for Teacher Defined Fields. These 10 fields come as a blank slate so you can use them to define unique, per-student data that has to do with your classroom in particular. 

Maybe you teach a literature class, and each student had to pick their favorite author? Maybe you teach a secondary language class, and each student had to pick a related nickname for that language? Add it as a row of data in your Gradebook to track it. 

The data that you enter in your Teacher Defined Fields is local for you and is not broadcast out to the AdminPlus database so you can track individualized snippets that the office doesn’t need. 

When you set up a new View, choose the Teacher Defined Fields radio button. From there, move any of the fields over to your Left Pane Column list. Make sure to rename it so you know what it’s for. Once it’s saved and added as a View in the Gradebook, you can fill in the data for each student.

Get a jump on Lunch Counts ahead of time while you take attendance. If your school does in-classroom lunch counts, you can activate the Lunch Count Entry mode in the gradebook to track your students’ choices. An extra column will be added to your Attendance Mode where you can enter each pick. Click to toggle through the list of meal options set up by the school. From there, you can submit the Lunch Counts along with the attendance entries. This is a great way to let the cafeteria know in advance what food to prepare. It could also help with special occasions like field trips.

Turn on the Lunch Count Entry mode under Settings > General Settings > scroll down to see Lunch Count Settings.

Keep in mind that the Gradebook can show you Student Alerts and IEP documents that might need special consideration. 

If you see a little yellow “caution” icon next to a student’s name, then you know there’s something you should be aware of. This is set up within AdminPlus and can include information on allergies or other medical conditions. 

You can also check if there’s an IEP for any of the students in your class by toggling on the IEP View or adding it to any of your Custom Views. You’ll see a green paper icon in the IEP column that you can click on to bring up the PDF. This document is sourced from the students’ Portfolio in the AdminPlus database, with other options for third-party integrations.

Let’s say that you have a student that comes to your desk, and you need to show them something in your Gradebook. Or maybe it’s time for parent-teacher meetings and you need to present data for a single student. Protect the other students’ private grade data by only showing one line of information in your Gradebook.

 

Right-click the student’s name and choose Show Only (Hide Other Students). This is a quick way to hide everyone else's grades for a private, one-on-one discussion. When you are done, right-click the student’s name again and choose Show All Students to bring everyone back onto the view.

Progress Reports (per Student)

Progress Reports are a great way to understand the big picture for an individual student in your class, even in the middle of the semester. No need to wait for final Report Cards from the office. These can be generated by teachers at any time and include detailed data about classroom assessment scores, possible points, missing work, skills and standards, attendance, etc.

To generate the report, right-click the student’s name and choose Progress Report. You can also use the left-side menu to go to Reports > Student > Progress Report.

Take advantage of the other report settings to pick what’s included in the report. This way, you can bring this report along to your next parent-teacher meeting and customize what parents see. If you save multiple templates, you could create a "Simplified" version for quick updates or a "Comprehensive" version with more comments, narratives and drill-down details.

Include a signature field if you want the parent to sign it right then and there at the meeting. Or upload it to PlusPortals for parents to see on their own time.

Custom Reports (per Gradebook)

While Progress Reports are great for per-student insights, other Custom Reports can be created to show general Gradebook data across your whole class and different marking periods. To get to your Report Library, navigate to Report in the left-side menu and choose Custom Reports. This is where you create and save your custom-made versions. Set your query for grades, averages, scores, skill grades, comments, narrative, attendance by student, or attendance totals by class. Include demographic fields like address, homeroom, IEP, counselor, and more. Once you run your Custom Report, you can even take it a step further by generating a Progress Report for all students included in the results, helping you narrow down any student you might want to meet with, Progress Report in-hand.

Memos (Internal Reference)

Memos serve as a way to add internal notes about individual students. Right-click a student's name to type up a Private Memo. You can keep it brief and simple or add formatting with lists, headings, and colors. These notes are for your eyes only (and school admins) and are never broadcast to parents or students. When applied, a green “M” icon will appear next to the student’s entry where you can reference the Memo at any time.

Class Memos (Progress Reports)

Not to be confused with a private, individual Memo that is attached to a single student, you can also create a Class Memo. This is a summary paragraph about what the class is learning and can be included in the Progress Report.



Add a Class Memo by going to Reports > Class Memo.

Narratives (Progress Reports)

Narratives will show up on Progress Reports and are perfect for detailed feedback to remark on a student's progress and behavior. They can be long-form essays, depending on the character limit your school has set.

To add a narrative, first turn on the Comments & Narratives View. This is an out-of-the-box View that comes with the Gradebook. You can also add Narratives to any new View that you create. 

In the Narrative column, click the paper icon to bring up the Narrative creation tools. From here you reference current and past marking period data while you add your notes.

Comments (Pick from a List)

Comments go hand-in-hand with the Narratives and are also shown in the Progress Reports. They can be found towards the bottom of the Narrative input screen. These are pre-defined little phrases that are set in the TeacherPlus Management Site by the school. The school can also define categories for the Comments. By default, you might see “Effort” and Citizenship” as the two category types. From there, you can choose from a list of phrases. Choose one that applies to your student’s progress and behavior like “great work”, “positive attitude”, etc.