Because schools differ in when and how they calculate report card grades and generate report cards, the SchoolFront system supports a wide variety of Marking Period configurations. To help you to better understand Marking Period configuration and how it relates to Report Card calculations in the system, we created this section of the Online Help to provide you with some examples.
Marking Periods
The term “marking period” in schoolfront refers to a defined period of time with a specific start- and end-date during which courses run and scores on coursework are aggregated by teachers in their schoolfront gradebooks.
At the conclusion of the marking period, an overall marking period grade is calculated by the system for each student based on the configuration of the system by both school administration and by teachers for courses.
Summary Marking Periods
Summary marking periods are marking periods made up of sub-marking periods and are configured by administrators using overlapping marking period dates.
An example is a “school year” with two “semesters” made up of two “quarters” each. In a school with this marking period schema the “school year” or “final” grade could be calculated by averaging the two semester grades which are calculated by averaging the grades from the two quarters of which each semester is comprised.
Configuring Marking Periods to Properly Calculate Report Card Grades
Before you read further, make sure you understand the mechanics of marking period configuration in SchoolFront. The examples will not make sense if you are not familiar with how marking period configuration is done.
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Click here to view the Online Help section explaining step-by-step how to configure Marking Periods.
Standard Marking Periods
To configure the example described above, the administrator would create 4 non-overlapping marking periods, titled “Quarters,” with start- and end-dates as follows:
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Quarter 1: 8/1 – 9/30
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Quarter 2: 10/1 – 12/23
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Quarter 3: 1/1 – 4/27
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Quarter 4: 4/28 – 6/21
Summary Marking Periods
Then he or she would create 3 summary marking periods, titled “Semesters” and “Year” with start- and end-dates as follows:
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Semester 1: 8/1 – 12/23 (check report card only box)
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Semester 2: 1/1 – 6/21 (check report card only box)
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Year: 8/1 – 6/21 (check report card only box)
Note that the summary marking periods have start- and end-dates that encompass the sub-marking periods. Summary marking periods are also indicated by the administrator by checking the “Report Card Only” checkbox in the marking period configuration.
As with all school-level configurations, the teachers still have the ability to configure grade calculations for each of their courses, but the report card grades in this example would be as follows:
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Report Card 1 (Quarter 1 Report Card) = Average of Quarter 1 Course Grades
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Report Card 2 (Semester 1 Report Card) = Average of Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 Course Grades
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Report Card 3 (Quarter 3 Report Card) = Average of Quarter 3 Course Grades
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Report Card 4 (End of Year Report Card) = Average of all Quarter Course Grades
An administrator can configure deviations of the first example by changing the start- and end-dates of the summary marking periods. For example if they wanted each report card to be a cumulative calculation of all prior marking periods, they could configure the system as follows:
Standard Marking Periods
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Quarter 1: 8/1 – 9/30
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Quarter 2: 10/1 – 12/23
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Quarter 3: 1/1 – 4/27
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Quarter 4: 4/28 – 6/21
Summary Marking Periods
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Report Card 1: 8/1 – 9/30 (check report card only box)
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Report Card 2: 8/1 – 12/23 (check report card only box)
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Report Card 3: 8/1 – 4/27 (check report card only box)
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Report Card 4: 8/1 – 6/21 (check report card only box)
In this configuration report card grades would be as follows:
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Report Card 1 = Average of Quarter 1 Course Grades
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Report Card 2 = Average of Quarter 1 and 2 Course Grades
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Report Card 2 = Average of Quarter 1, 2, and 3 Course Grades
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Report Card 2 = Average of Quarter 1, 2, 3, and 4 Course Grades
Administrators can divide the school year into any number of chunks and then use summary marking periods to define report card calculations as required by the school.
If you need help with this configuration, submit a request for support!
Marking Period Exams
If you have school-wide tests/exams during any of your marking periods (i.e. standard or summary marking periods) you can optionally include the grades from those tests/exams on the report card.
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Click here for more information about displaying marking period tests/exams on your report card.