Transcription
In this video, I will demonstrate how to set up a 4.0 GPA scale in Infinite Campus and Schoology. First, I will explain why you might want to use a GPA scale instead of the traditional grading scale. If you just want to know the mechanics for setting one up in Infinite Campus and/or Schoology, you can jump to that point in the video using the key moments down below.
One reason you might want to use a four-point GPA scale is because you are using a four-point rubric to assess your assignments. This is also known as levels of mastery. In this chart, you will see the point value, and if a student receives a four out of four, that's 100%. The mastery level would be exceeding the standard. The words used here for mastery can differ; these are just the ones that I like the best. If you're using this style of rubric to give points for your assignments, you would want a two out of four to be 75%, not 50% as it would be on a traditional grading scale. This is one reason to use a GPA scale instead.
Here is a GPA scale that you might be familiar with, and you can see that a score of two out of four is 75%, a C. That is what we want, and this aligns with that four-point rubric. Translating this into our traditional percentage scale, this is usually what we see for percentage points. However, there is a great discrepancy when looking at a traditional grading scale where an A is 90 to 100%, a B is 80 to 90%, and so forth. Notice that an F is 0 to 60%. Compare this to a GPA grading scale where each letter grade is an equal percentage of 20. We want to use the 4.0 GPA scale, but the percentage grade needs to be adjusted, and I'll show you that in a moment.
Another reason you might want to use a GPA scale is that you want to make your grading more equitable. Maybe you're familiar with the book "Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms" written by Joe Feldman, arguing that a GPA grading scale is much more equitable for all students. One reason being is that a student has a better chance of raising their grade from an F to a D with a GPA scale than they do with a traditional grading scale.
To convert a traditional scale to a GPA scale, we will refer back to our four-point rubric. You'll notice that there are five values. Take 100% and divide by those five values; we get 20%. Which means that a four out of four would encompass 80 to 100%. Three out of four would encompass 60 to 79.9 repeated, and so forth. I've added the letter grades to the left so you can see how this translates to those. You can give a student a score of 3.5 out of four points. To calculate the pluses and minuses, you can break down the 20% value sections further. The pluses would be the six upper values; for example, an A+ would be 94 to 100. Minuses would be the lower six values, so a B- would be 80 to 85.9 repeated, and the whole letter grade would be the seven values in the center, and an A would be 86 to 93.9 repeated. You can see how using this scale divides the percentages more evenly so that you get an equal distribution for each letter grade. This might seem like a complicated amount of work, but luckily Infinite Campus and Schoology have made it quite easy to input these values into a new scale. So next, I'll show you how to do that.
Here is the complete GPA scale for Infinite Campus. I've highlighted in blue the full letter grades so those stand out, and I included the breakdown of the pluses and minuses. You can take a screenshot to refer back to these numbers, but you don't have to. I'll also be typing them out in the next part of this video.
In Infinite Campus, click on Instructions, scroll down to your Gradebook, click on Settings to open this up, and Grading Scales. You will add a grading scale and give it a name, then click on Add Row 13 times for 13 rows. Under Name, type in 4.0. For Minimum Value, type in 94. For Grade, type in A+. And check that box for Passing. The second sequence will also be 4.0. Its minimum value is 86. This is your A. It's also Passing. For the third sequence, type in 3.7. The minimum value 80. This is an A-. And it's also Passing. I won't read out all of the other sequences, as you can follow along with the video. Whatever grade does not count as passing, you'll leave this box next to it unchecked. I know that some districts don't count a D as passing, for example, so you'll follow your district's policy again. Here are all the numbers that I typed in. Back to the Grade Scale, click Save when you have finished, and close.
Fortunately, you will only have to create the GPA scale once, but you will have to select it in Grade Calc Options for all of your courses. So, for each of your classes, you will go to Grade Calc Options under Settings. In the Grading Scale dropdown, you'll choose the GPA scale that you just made. Oops, I made one before; it has the same name, but for all of your grading tasks, you will want to choose your GPA scale, then click Save. And that's it for Infinite Campus.
In Schoology, click on Grade Setup. Here you'll see Scales and Rubrics. I'll diverge for a second and talk about the four-point rubric for your assignments or levels of mastery. Here's the rubric I use. You can see the points and the mastery levels. Again, this is the rubric I use for all of my assignments; they're all worth four points, and then I use weighted categories if I need to differentiate the importance of an assignment. My district has a mastery scale that they've entered into Schoology of G for us, but I prefer using different wording of levels, so I've added my own. You can choose your rubric when you're creating your assignments under Scale Rubric, and students will see these mastery levels as part of their grade. Back in Grade Setup, if you click the star, it will make it the default for all of your assignments so that you don't have to click in that dropdown each time. But just to be clear, this is the four-point rubric. This is different from the GPA scale, which I will show you now.
Here is the complete GPA scale for Schoology. I've highlighted in blue the full letter grades so those stand out, and I've included the breakdown of pluses and minuses. You can take a screenshot to refer back to these numbers, but you don't have to. I'll be typing them out in the next part of the video.
So, to add a grading scale in Schoology, in your Grade Setup screen, click on Add and click Scale. Since I have one already, I'll be sure to name this one GPA Scale Version 2. You'll want to add 12 levels, so click on this button 12 times. Back at the top, for Letter Grade, type in A+. The starting range encompasses the upper values, so type in 94. Skip Letter Conversion for now. Notice that in Schoology, you don't need to type in 4.0, 3.7, 3.3, etc. So, your second line will be the letter grade A, and the range is 86. Third line is A-, and the range is 80. I won't read each of these aloud, as you can follow along with the video. What is excellent about Schoology is that you only need to type in the first percent of the range, and it enters the second lower percent for you. And again, here are all the values that I just added in. I do suggest checking "Only Show Letter Grade." The numeric value will be hidden from students; the percentage might be a bit confusing, so it's easiest just to show them what letter they have for their grade. For Letter Conversion, when you enter the letter grade in the gradebook, this will be the percentage that will be used. If you check "Use Average," Schoology will figure out the average percent of each letter grade, but you need to watch out because if you type A+ for a student's grade, Schoology will calculate that in as a 97%. So, if you want the grade to be 100%, enter 100. To fix F, this you can enter specific letter conversions as you like. I also want to point out that it says 66 is a B, and here it says 66 is a B-. But hovering over shows that it means less than 66, so essentially 65.9 repeated is the top of a B-.
So, next you will want to save your changes. For your final grade settings in Schoology, you will want to make sure that your GPA scale is selected. Luck, you will only have to create the GPA scale once. However, you will have to select it under Final Grade Settings for each of your courses, but only once if your sections are linked. And of course, scroll down and click Save Changes. And that is how you create a GPA grading scale in Infinite Campus and Schoology.