How to Post Q1 Grades

How to Enter Quarter Grades in Aspen

Your Aspen gradebook is similar to the paper gradebook that we all used to use.   It’s a private document that only you can see. At the end of each quarter, your student grades and comments must be posted to make them visible to the school and district.

At the beginning of the school year, you should have set up your gradebook details.  The Details page allows you to create your average mode, set up categories, and link classes. To learn more about setting up your gradebook details, see my blog entry Setting up your gradebook in Aspen.

To Post your grades in Aspen Gradebook,

1. Select your first class in your gradebook. Click on the Grade Columns dropdown and select Post Columns - Terms.
2. The Aspen Posting columns will appear. These are

• Q1Grd - Quarter 1 Grade
• Q1ClsAbs - Quarter 1 Class Absences
• Q1Com1 and Q1Com2 - Quarter Comment 1 and Comment 2 field
3. Select Options -> Update Post Columns

5. This will take you through the Update Post Columns wizard.
• Step 1. Select the Grade Term (Q1) and the Grades to update (all students).
• Click Next

• 

  Step 2. Select
• Quarter 1 Grade = Average:Q1
• Q1 Class Absence= Class Absence Total
• Click Next

• Step 3. Confirms the choices made in Step 1 and Step 2.
• Click Finish

   

7. The Q1Grd (Q1 grade) and Q1ClsAbs (Q1 Class Absense) fields should now be populated. The Q1 total field from your gradebook has been copied to the Q1Grd field.
   

   

   
   
8. Add comment codes (see WHS Comment Codes).
   

   

Verifying your Grades

9. Verify your grade in Q1Grd against the grade from your Gradebook which is labeled Q1.
10. If you would like to change the grade, simply click on the grade in the Q1Grd field and change it. Grades that you have modified will be indicated by a red, crossed-out circle.
11. PASS/FAIL Courses If your class is being taken as a Pass/Field, you should change the Q1Grd field from a number to a P or a F. To change the entire column at once, add the P in the first students Q1Grd field and then click CTRL-D. Note the red, crossed-out circle next to the grade. This simply indicates that a modification to the grade was made by the teacher.

Applying the N-Rule (5 or more absences)

11. Determine if N-Rule applies. See N-Rule from Handbook
12. In Aspen, apply the N-Rule using the comment fields
• 100 N-Rule: May lose credit for course due to to attendance issues. Contact school administration.
• 101 N-Rule: Loss of credit, due to attendance issues, under consideration. Contact school administration

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What does the pushpin mean?

• If the pushpin is black ,
  you can enter grades for this column, but you cannot post them to transcripts yet.
• If the pushpin is green with a triangle ,
  you can enter and post grades for this column.
• If the pushpin is red with a square ,
  you already posted the information to transcripts. If you need to change a grade, you will be able to repost your grade for 5 days after the report cards are distributed.  After that, you will need to complete the grade change form (see Guidance department).

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POSTING Grades

Once you have verified the grades, added comments, and applied the N-Rule if necessary, you can Post your grades. Posting your grades sends a copy of the
grades in the field Q1Grd (and comments) to the report card / student transcript.

13. Once the posting period has opened, the pushpin will turn from black to green.  The green signifies that you can post your grades.
14. To Post your grades,  click Option -> Post Grades
15. 
    The Post Grades pop-up will appear.
    Fill in
• Grade Term = Q1
• Grades to post = Term Grades for all Students.
16. Click Ok
17. Once your grades are posted, your push pin will change from green to red.
18. **IMPORTANT ** You must Post Grades for each class individually.

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FAQs

• You may re-post your grades as many times as you please until the posting period ends.
• There will be no printed verification sheets.  Instead, you can verify your grades on the Post Columns page of your gradebook (see steps 9 and 10).
• Want a printable copy of this verification page?  

1. Select Reports -> Gradebook Sheet
2. The Gradebook Sheet will appear.  
3. Click Run.
4. The printable version of your Post Columns page of your gradebook will pop-up
5. Select Printer icon at the top of the Gradebook Sheet page.

• If you planning on using the same comment field for most of the students in your class, you can quickly add the comment to all students by using Options -> Fill Down Values or CTRL-D.  Then just change those students who need different comments.

GradeTransferer Chrome Extension

Grade Transferer is a Google extension for teachers who use Google Classroom. This extension can be utilized when transferring grades between Google Classroom and Aspen very quickly.  

A Chrome extension is software that gives the browser extra functionality and is free. When you have an extension it is located to the right of the web address bar. Please view this video about how to put this Chrome extension in your browser and this video that shows you how to use Grade Transferer.

Just a couple of things, though....once in a while it won't put the grade of the last student in the class, so just simply type it in. Secondly, I had changed some grades in Google Classroom, and found that I could overwrite the Aspen grades to the new grades (same process). It will not overwrite a grade with a blank (no credit).

It is definitely a time saver and I highly recommend using Grade Transferer.

How to get the extension

How to use Grade Transferer

Teachpoint: How to Unenroll/Withdraw from a Workshop

Since the 2018-19 school year, Winchester Public Schools have been using Teachpoint to sign up for and keep track of professional development.  Signing up for a workshop is easy, but sometimes you may need to cancel your attendance at a workshop.  No matter the reason, it is important that you unenroll in the first workshop because you may be holding a seat in that workshop that someone else may want.

How to Unenroll in a PD event in Teachpoint

PD Tracking icon

1. Log into Aspen and click on the PD Tracking icon on the lefthand side of the page.
2. Under the My Activities top tab, you should see a list of all workshops/PD events which are currently or have been enrolled.
3. Click on the event title of which you want to unenroll (1).  
   
   
   
   
4. Click on the Withdraw link (2).
5. A Withdraw pop-up window will appear.  Click on the red button starting with Withdraw from followed by the date of the event.
   
   
6. Once step five is completed, you event will be deleted from your list and you will be withdrawn/unenrolled from the event.