How to Enter Quarter 4 and Final Grades in Aspen 2020 Edition

How to Enter Quarter 4 and Final Grades in Aspen

The steps to entering your Quarter 4 grades is similar to entering grades during any other quarter, but you have the additional step of also adding your Final Exam and Final Grade (FG) for the course.

To Post your Q4 grades in Aspen Gradebook,

1. Go to the Scores page in your Gradebook
2. In the Grade Columns drop down box, select Post Columns.  Also, set the Term to Q4.  
   (see yellow in image right)
3. The Aspen Posting columns will appear.  These are
• Q4Grd - Quarter 4 Grade
• Final Exam - Final Exam
• Q4ClsAbs - Quarter 4 Class Absences
• Q4Com1 and Q4Com2 - Quarter 4 Comment 1 and Comment 2 fields
• Q4 - The grade from your gradebook for quarter 4
• FG - Final Grade

4. Click the Update Post Columns button -OR-
   Select Options -> Update Post Columns
5. This will take you through the Update Post Columns wizard.  (see images below)

Step 1. Select the Grade Term (Q4) and the Grades to update (all students).
Step 2. Select Click on Next at the bottom of the page
Step 3. Confirms the choices made in Step 1 and Step 2. Click on Next at the bottom of the page.
Step 4. Click Finish.

10. 
    Replace the Q4Grd with a P for Pass, I for Incomplete, or F for Fail.
    ** Final Exam Leave this field blank.  
    ** FG is the Aspen calculated Final Grade. You will compare the value in this field to the MidYear grade. Please note: Aspen will calculate the Final Grade field based on the contents in the Q1Grd, Q2Grd, Q3Grd, Q4Grd, Midterm Exam, and Final Exam fields. Also note: If any of these fields are blank OR if the fields are a P, M, or I, the fields are considered blank and will be ignored.
11. 
    When you give Pass/Fail /Incomplete grades, all of the grades will have a red circle with a line through it.  This just means that you manually entered the grade.
12. Compare the Midyear and FG fields and give students the higher of the two grades.  Because we have given Pass/Fail /Incomplete grades for Q4, it is being ignored.  The Final Exam is also ignored because it is blank.  So, the value of FG at this moment is equivalent to the value of the students grade through the third quarter.  If the midyear value is higher than the FG, giving the midyear grade as the final grade is equivalent to giving the student a P in Q3.
    
    
13.   Add comment codes (see WHS Comment Codes)

Withdrawn Students -- IMPORTANT --- Check all classes

During the school year, you may have had students who withdrew from your class. These are a special case and it is important to set their grade as W before Posting grades.

14. See a list of students who have withdrawn from the class section by clicking on the Withdrawn Status button (shown right).
15. For each student found in the list, add the final grade (FG) of W for withdrawn (see below). Adding this W will allow Aspen to not report the student as being in your class. If a student changed sections during the year, they will recieve their grades from that other section.

POSTING Grades

Posting your grades sends a copy of the grades to the report card / student transcript.

16. Once the posting period has opened, the pushpin will turn from black to green.  The green signifies that you can post your grades.
17. To Post your grades, click the Post Grades button -OR- click Option -> Post Grades
18. The Post Grades pop-up will appear.
    Fill in
• Grade Term = Q4
• Grades to post = Term Grades for all Students.
19. Click Ok
20. Once your grades are posted, your push pin will change from green to red.
21. You must Post Grades for each class individually.

HELP! I’m getting an error when I post my grades

If you get the error “This section has already been posted.  Posting again will overwrite grades currently on the transcript.  Do you want to continue?”

Click YES.  The reason that you are getting this error is because you had seniors in the class and you already gave them grades and posted them.

As you continue, you should also receive the error “Withdrawn students with grades are present.  Would you like to include them in this post?”  

My answer is NO.  I have posted my grades for seniors already and do not want to make any changes.   

---

FAQs

• You may re-post your grades as many times as you please until the posting period ends.
• Want a printable copy of this verification page?  
• Select Reports -> Gradebook Sheet
• The Gradebook Sheet will appear.  
• Click Run.
• The printable version of your Post Columns page of your gradebook will pop-up
• 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.  Then just change those students who need different comments.