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SIS 2000+ Mark Reporting

Step 6, Assign Mark Values

In this step the values of the Marks to be received are defined for each Markset. This procedure is necessary before grading and GPA calculations can be done.

Prerequisite:
GPA Marksets must be defined in the Table Editor (See Step 1).

6.1 Opening the Mark Values screen
From the Mark Reporting Main Menu, click on the Mark Values icon button.

Fig. 61 - read-only mode

6.2 Select a GPA Markset to define
The current GPA Markset is displayed in a field at the top of the screen (Fig. 61). Use the VCR buttons to scroll forward or backward through the available GPA Marksets, or use the List command button to select from a list of available Marksets. The screen can be resized with the mouse in order to view more rows or columns.

6.3 Define a Mark

6.3.1 Activate the edit mode
Click on the Edit command button to activate the edit mode, indicated when the gray cells turn to white (Figs. 62 & 63).

6.3.2 Add a mark
Click on the Add command button. The insertion point will jump to the first column of the first available line.

6.3.3 Enter values
Use the TAB key to move horizontally from cell to cell. Enter mark values in all columns. Use the horizontal scroll bar to view all columns.


Fig. 62 - edit mode, left side


• Mark -

The name of the mark
• Description -

Enter a descriptive name for the mark. This name will appear on report card legends.
• Rcd Mark -

(Report Card Mark) How the mark will appear on a report card
• Trn Mrk -

How the mark will be reported in a transcript
• Num Mrk -

The numerical equivalent of the mark, if applicable
• GPA Cr -

(Grade Point Average Credit) Check this box if the mark will be receive credit towards grade point averaging. "Failing" marks or "Incomplete" marks are likely to have this field unchecked.
• Grad Cr -

(Graduation Credit) Check this box if the mark will be receive credit towards graduation.
• No GPA Calc -

Check this box to exclude this mark from GPA calculations. (When this is "Yes" it doesn't matter what is in the GPA Cr field.)
• No Mark Calc -

Check this field to exclude the mark from the 'Calculate Final Marks' procedures.



Fig. 63 - edit mode, right side. Two GPA Val columns have been defined.
• GPA Val 0-9 -

Enter Grade Point Average work level values in each of the nine GPA Val fields or where applicable. When a course is defined in the District Courses program it is assigned a "work level", such as Regular, Honors, Advanced Placement, remedial, etc. Each work level has a corresponding numerical code, called a 'GPA Level' in the District Courses form. Different grade point scales can be used for different courses. Honors and Advanced Placement courses, for example, can have higher grade point scales than regular work level courses. The default GPA Level of a course is '0', so it would be wise to use the 'GPA Val 0' column as the basic, regular work level, grade point scale. The GPA Values for each course are set-up in the District Courses application, under the System Menu (this will be explained in greater detail later in this section of the Mark Reporting documentation).


6.3.4 Save data
Click on the Save command button to save mark value data, or Undo to cancel.

6.4.1 To edit a mark value:
Click on the Edit command button to activate the entry mode. Use the mouse, TAB key, or arrow keys to go to the target cell. Edit data and Save, or Undo to cancel.

6.4.2 To delete a Mark Value:
Mark values can be deleted one line at a time without activating the edit mode. In the read-only mode, select the line to be deleted until it is selected by a small, black pointer in the far left column. Click on the Delete command button. In the dialog box that appears (Fig. 64), answer "Yes" to confirm the deletion or "No" to cancel.


Fig. 64

6.3.4 Save data
Click on the Save command button to save mark value data, or Undo to cancel.

Fig. 65 - Sample No. 1, Mark Values for "Letter Marks with +/-" Mark Set

Sample No. 1:
In this set of values (Fig. 65), several differences can be seen between the related columns. In most cases, grades are not posted to a transcript with a plus or a minus. So in the column titled Trn Mark, the Mark Values were entered to match the letter grades, but without the +/-. Also, in this example the 'F' Mark is calculated into students' GPA, indicated by the check mark in the GPA Cr field but it is not counted towards a student's graduation credits, indicated by the Grad Cr field being unchecked.


Fig. 66 - Sample No. 2, Mark Values for "Letter Marks (no +/-)" Mark Set

Sample No. 2:
The second column of GPA Values in this Mark Set (Fig. 66) was set to award higher grade points for higher work level courses. GPA Val 0 in the first column was used as a base 4.0 grading scale. GPA Val 1 in the second column was used as an Advanced Placement 5.0 scale. The scales are completely customizable and up to ten can be defined per school. (The GPA Values must be set for each course in the District Courses program. See Step 6.6)



Fig. 67 - Sample No. 3, Mark Values for "Citizenship" Mark Set

Sample No. 3:
This Mark Set is used for Citizenship Marks (Fig. 67) . Since Citizenship Marks are generally not calculated into a student's GPA, the GPA Credit fields are left unchecked. Furthermore, the No GPA Calc and No Mark Calc fields have been checked in order to exclude Citizenship marks from GPA calculations and the 'Calculate Final Marks' procedures respectively. Also, the GPA Values have been left to the their default zero values.

Also in this example, the Num Mark column has been used to assign numeric values for use in Honor Roll and Eligibility calculations. This is how a numeric cut-off value can be defined when posting Eligibility records. This way, Citizenship Marks may be used as disqualifiers from the Honor Roll. Here, anything less than a 'Satisfactory' ('S') Mark in citizenship would disqualify a student from the Honor Roll if the cut-off was set to '71' when running the Honor Roll Report.

6.6.1 Open District Courses application
Go to the System Menu and click on the District Courses icon button.

6.6.2 Select a Course
From the main District Course screen, select the course to edit via the List command button or by using the VCR buttons to scroll forward or backwards through the course records.

6.6.3 Activate the edit mode
Click the Edit command button to activate the edit mode of the selected course (Fig. 68).


Fig. 68 - edit mode

6.6.4 Select Mark Set and GPA Level
Go to the 'Credits/Codes' tab. Select a Mark Set to be used for the course and then enter the GPA Level to be used. Since it is likely there will be more than one Mark Set, each with its own set of GPA values, it is necessary to match the appropriate Mark Set to the appropriate GPA scale. In the example above (Fig. 68), a GPA Lvl of '1' (GPA Val. 1) was chosen for the Mark Set called 'Letter Marks with +/-' will be used in GPA calculations.

6.6.5 Define Grad Credits and GPA Credits
Now is a good time to enter values in the Grad Credits and GPA Credits fields. These values must be entered in before running the Credit Calculation & Posting procedure later in Step 12. In the example above, students will receive '5.00' Grad Credits and '5.00' GPA Credits for successful completion of the course.

6.6.6 Repeat
Repeat Steps 6.6.1 - 6.6.4 for each course to be reported in the Mark Reporting process.

See document titled District Courses for more details on this interface.

6.7.1 Select
Go to the 'Pre-Co/ Misc' tab of the selected course. In the Course Categories field use the mouse to select "Include in Honor Roll" until it is highlighted in black (Fig. 69).

Fig. 69

6.7.2 Save
Click on the Save command button to save all attributes assigned, or Undo to cancel.

6.7.3 Repeat
Repeat Steps 6.6.2 - 6.6.3 to select other courses to be included in the Honor Roll calculations.

Note:
If 'Include in Honor Roll' is not yet a choice in the District Courses Course Categories field, it will need to be added to the 'Course category codes' table (zcrscat) (Fig. 70) via the Table Editor. Once it has been added there, return to District Courses and make the proper selection. See Table Editor for information on modifying tables.


Fig. 70