Choosing the right digital gradebook for teachers is essential for effective classroom management. Gradebook software for classroom management streamlines grading, improves accuracy, and enhances communication with students and parents. In this post, we’ll explore key features to look for when you are a QuickSchools user.

If you’re using the QuickSchools Gradebook, here are some tools available to you as a teacher. Just click on the paper icon on the top right corner of the screen:

This will bring up the following screen:

Print Gradebook

This feature is useful if you want to print and post grades outside the classroom. When using this function, there are several option to configure the layout as well as what information is displayed:

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The QuickSchools Gradebook is one of our core modules and we spend a lot of time making sure teachers have the best possible experience when working with it. We’ve been taking teachers’ feedback and have made a lot of improvements over time.

We’ve organized different articles and tailored them for admins and teachers. Please see the list of articles below.

Gradebook Setup for Admin

Administrators can easily and conveniently configure Gradebook Settings for the entire school via the Grading Setup menu. These settings will be reflected in every teacher’s Gradebook. Check out the article here: Gradebook Setup For Admins

Gradebook Setup for Teachers

Teachers can set up their own grading scales and categories if permitted by the school admin. Otherwise, they have to use what the admins have centrally set up for the school. But teachers can configure other Gradebook settings based on their preference. Learn more from the article: Gradebook Setup for Teachers

Gradebook Basics – How to use the Gradebook

Now that your Gradebook is set up, let’s go through some of the basic functions you can use when entering grades.

Adding Columns

To add a new column to your Gradebook, click on the green Add Column (Ctrl-A) button. You can enter the Column Name, Category, Date, and Total Marks.

The Category is useful for grouping similar items together when using formulas. The Total Marks is the maximum mark for the assignment. This is not the weight of the assignment in the overall grade. You can also award extra credit by entering a mark that is higher than the Total Marks.

Once you’ve entered the information, click Add to create the column.

Adding Grades

Adding grades is easy. Simply click on a cell and enter the student’s grade. You can use the Tab key to move from one cell to the next.

You can also use the Gradebook legend to enter descriptive grade values. Keep in mind that blank cells are not counted as zeroes, while cells with a zero are counted as zero.

Adding Notes

You can add notes to individual grades in the Gradebook. These notes can be either public or private.

Public notes can be viewed by the student, parents, and faculty/staff, while private notes can only be viewed by faculty/staff. To add a note, hover over the grade cell and click on the speech bubble icon. Enter your comment and click Add Comments.

Saving Your Gradebook

The Gradebook does not automatically save your changes, so remember to save your work regularly.

You can click the red Save (Ctrl-S) button or simply use Ctrl-S on your keyboard.

Switching Subjects or Sections

If you teach more than one subject or section, you can switch between them using the subject selector near the top-right of the Gradebook. Click on the selector and search for the subject or section you want to view.

Gradebook Views

The Gradebook has two views: Normal and Full Screen.

Full Screen view can be useful when working with larger Gradebooks, while Normal view gives you a more compact and holistic view of the Gradebook.

Advanced Gradebook Features

Once you’re familiar with the basic Gradebook functions, there are a few more advanced features that can make grading easier.

Formulas and Weight Factors

Formulas allow you to calculate grades based on different groups of assignments. To add a formula, click Add Formula and enter the formula name, total marks, and other details.

You can also use Weight Factors to assign different percentages to different categories. For example, you could give Tests 30%, Projects 20%, Homework 35%, and Participation 15%.

If the formula is going to be used as the final grade for report cards or progress reports, make sure to enable Is final grade?. Only one final grade should be set for a Gradebook.

Extra Credit

Extra credit can be set up using an Extra Credit category and formulas. This allows you to give students additional marks without changing the regular grading structure.

Gradebook Templates

If you use the same Gradebook format for different grading periods, sections, or subjects, Gradebook Templates can save you time.

To create a template, click the stack-of-papers icon and select Templates, then click Create Template. The template takes a snapshot of the current Gradebook columns and formulas.

You can edit the columns, change their order, delete columns, or add new ones. Formulas are preserved in the template. You can also choose to share the template with all staff/faculty.

Once a template has been created, you can find it under Templates and click Insert to use it in another Gradebook. Be careful when inserting a template more than once, as this will create duplicate columns.

Exporting and Printing

There are several ways to export or print information from the Gradebook.

To export the entire Gradebook, click the stack-of-papers icon and select Export. The Gradebook will be exported as a CSV file.

You can also select Print to print or download the Gradebook. There are several options available, such as including students with no grades, dropped students, student names or student numbers, and choosing how many columns to display per page.

You can also print Progress Reports for selected students or all students, as well as generate a Missing Grades / Ds and Fs Report.

Auto-Filling Grades

If you need to enter the same grade for several students, you can use the Auto-Fill feature.

Hover over the top cell of a column and click the pink arrow. Enter the mark you want to use and, if needed, select the option to fill only empty cells. Then click Auto-Fill Column and save your Gradebook.

Customizing Gradebook Settings

You can customize several Gradebook settings by clicking the pink gear icon.

Here you can choose whether to show letter grades and class averages, change the way student names are displayed, change the column order, and hide columns by date. You can also change the grading scale if you have permission to do so.

Remember to save your changes when you’re done.

School is back! We wanted to make sure teachers are all set as you start the new school year. If you have new teachers going onboard, this article would be very helpful. For existing teachers, this is a good refresher!

Teachers need to effectively use Quickschools. So we are hoping teachers can maximize using the system to make their tasks simpler and to promote streamlined communication and collaboration with parents and students.

Our Teacher Portal video tutorial shows you how to get started with Quickschools and what are the things you can do using different modules (e.g. Gradebook, Attendance, Report Cards, Homework, etc.).

Aside from video tutorial, we also have a Getting Started article that you can read through: Getting Started As A Teacher

As you get the hang of using our system, we’d like to introduce how you can engage parents to help them track their student’s progress, or better yet, involve them in their student’s progress in school: Engaging Parents

And of course we are here for you if you have any question. Looking forward to hear from you, please chat with us!

There are various modules and features within QuickSchools that allow teachers to share information with parents who have access to the Parent Portal. Here we discuss a few of those features:

Gradebook

In additional to sharing all gradebook information with parents, teachers can also add public comments on individual assignments, that will then be shared with parents.

Class Discussions

Class Discussions allow teachers to interact with parents (and students) for a specific class via a chat-like timeline, including sharing pictures and files. There are various scenarios that can take advantage of this feature. You can even use it to send emails to parents (instead of using the Parent Messaging feature).

Private Messaging

If the Teacher Directory is enable for the Parent Portal, teachers can communicate one-to-one with parents, without ever having to leave the Teacher Portal. All communications can be kept centralized in one place. Private Messages include email notifications, so you don’t have to be logged in to receive messages. In some cases, Private Messaging is a great alternative to Mass Parent Messaging.Read More »