The Grades Page: A How-To Guide

The Grades page is where you record and review each student's scores, subject by subject. It keeps a running average for every subject and shows each score the way that student's grading scale expects, so a percentage stays a percentage and a 1 to 4 grade stays descriptive.

This guide walks through every function on the page.

Opening the Grades page

From the main menu on the left, click Grades. On a phone, Grades is not one of the four buttons in the bottom bar, so tap More (the menu button on the right of the bottom bar) and then tap Grades in the pop-up menu.

The page has these parts:

• The student tabs and action buttons across the top.
• A Pending grading card (only when lessons are waiting to be graded) listing completed lessons that still need a score.
• A Progress by subject card with a running average for each subject.
• An All grades card listing every score for the selected student.

Note: To record a grade you first need at least one student and at least one subject. If you have not added a student yet, the page shows "Add a student on the Family page first." Students and their grading scales are set up on the Family page; subjects come from your Curriculum.

Switching between students

Every student in your family has their own tab at the top of the page, each with the color dot you chose for them on the Family page. The page always shows one student at a time.

1. Click a student's tab (for example, Ada or Linus).
2. The Progress by subject and All grades cards refresh to show only that student's grades.

The selected tab is highlighted in that student's color. When you add a new grade, the page automatically switches to the student you just graded so the new entry is visible.

Note: Each student keeps their own grading scale. Ada (5th grade) uses 0 to 100, so her grades show as percentages. Linus (2nd grade) uses 1 to 4, so his grades show a descriptive label instead. This is why the same page can look different from one tab to the next.

Pending grading

When a lesson is marked complete (by you on the Curriculum page, or by a student from their own login) but has not been given a grade yet, it shows up in a Pending grading card at the top of the Grades page, grouped by student. The card's heading shows how many lessons are waiting, for example Pending grading (3). It is the same list you may also see on the Dashboard.

To grade one, click Grade on its row. The Add grade window opens already filled in with that lesson's student, subject, and title, on the student's usual scale, dated today. Enter the score and click Save. That records a normal grade, so it immediately appears in All grades below, counts toward the Progress by subject averages, and can be included in the Portfolio. Grading it also clears it from the pending list here and from the Dashboard.

The card only appears when something is waiting to be graded.

Adding a grade

1. Click Add Grade (top-right of the page). The Add grade window opens.

   

2. Fill in the form:

   Field	What it does
   Student	Which student the grade belongs to. This starts on whichever tab you had open. Changing it switches the score entry to that student's usual scale (see How the Score works, below).
   Subject	The subject being graded (for example, Math or English). The list comes from your subjects.
   Title	A short name for the assignment, such as "Chapter 3 test" or "Spelling list 1" (required).
   Score	The mark earned. How you enter it depends on the scale, see below (required).
   Out of	The grading scale for this one grade: 0 through 100 (a percentage) or 1 through 4 (the descriptive scale). It starts on the student's usual scale but you can change it per grade.
   Date (optional)	The date of the assignment. Leave it blank if you do not want to record a date.

3. Click Save. The window closes, the page switches to that student, and the new grade appears in All grades and updates the subject average.

To close without saving, click Cancel. The window stays open if you click the background or press Esc, so a half-typed grade is never lost by accident.

Note: Save stays greyed out until you have filled in a Title, a Subject, and a valid Score. If the score does not fit the chosen scale, Save stays disabled until you fix it.

How the Score works for each scale

The Score box changes shape depending on the Out of scale you chose. This is the most important thing to understand on the page.

0 through 100 (percentage):

• The Score box is a free-text field. Type a number from 0 to 100, for example 85.
• As you type, a live preview reads Calculated grade: 85% so you can confirm the score.
• If you type something outside 0 to 100 (or not a number), a red warning appears: "120" is not a valid score for 0 through 100, and Save is disabled until you correct it.

1 through 4 (descriptive):

• The Score box becomes a drop-down instead of a text field, so it can never be invalid.
• Choose one of the four options, each shown with its meaning:
  • 1 - Unsatisfactory
  • 2 - Needs Improvement
  • 3 - Satisfactory
  • 4 - Outstanding
• There is no percentage on this scale. The grade is stored and shown by its descriptive label only.

Tip: The Out of scale defaults to the selected student's usual scale, but you can override it for a single grade. For example, most of Ada's work is on 0 to 100, but you could record one project on the 1 to 4 scale by switching Out of to 1 through 4 for that entry. If you switch scales after typing a score that no longer fits, the Score box clears so you can enter a fresh one.

Editing a grade

1. In the All grades list, find the row you want to change.
2. Click Edit on that row. The same window opens, now titled Edit grade, pre-filled with the grade's current details.
3. Change any field, then click Save. The row updates and the subject average recalculates.

When editing, the Score box matches the grade's own scale, so a 1 to 4 grade opens with the drop-down and a percentage grade opens with the text field and live preview.

Deleting a grade

1. In the All grades list, find the row you want to remove.
2. Click Delete on that row.
3. Your browser asks you to confirm (for example, Delete "Fractions quiz"?) because this cannot be undone. Click OK to remove it, or Cancel to keep it.

The grade disappears from the list right away and the subject average updates.

Reading the subject averages

The Progress by subject card rolls up all of the selected student's grades into one running average per subject, sorted by subject name.

Each subject shows:

• The subject name on the left.
• The average on the right.
• A progress bar underneath.
• A count of how many entries make up that average.

How the average reads depends on the grades in that subject:

• If every grade in the subject is on the 1 to 4 scale, the average shows as a number with its descriptive label, for example 3 - Satisfactory (no percentage). Linus's Math, with a single "3 - Satisfactory" counting worksheet, reads this way.
• Otherwise the average shows as a percentage with a letter grade, for example 95% (A). Ada's English, with a single 95% spelling list, reads this way.
• If a subject has no gradable data yet, its average column simply shows a -.

The progress bar fills to match the average. When a subject's average is below 70%, the bar changes to the accent (warning) color to draw your eye.

When a subject mixes both scales

You can record grades on either scale within the same subject. When a subject contains both percentage and 1 to 4 grades, the roll-up cannot use the descriptive label, so it converts everything to a percentage to produce a single fair average and shows the percentage with a letter grade (for example, 95% (A)).

Ada's Math is a good example: it holds a "Fractions quiz" at 90% and a "Chapter 1 test" recorded as 4 on the 1 to 4 scale. Because the two grades are on different scales, the 1 to 4 grade is mapped to a percentage behind the scenes and the subject average is shown as a single percentage with its letter grade.

Note: Individual grades in the All grades list always keep their own look: a 1 to 4 grade reads as "4 - Outstanding" in the table even when the subject average above it is shown as a percentage. Only the roll-up combines them.

Empty states

• No students yet: the page shows "Add a student on the Family page first." Add a student on the Family page, then come back.
• No subjects yet: if you click Add Grade with no subjects set up, the page shows "Add at least one student and one subject before recording a grade." Add a subject first.
• A student with no grades: the Progress by subject card shows "No grades recorded yet." and the All grades card shows "No grades for this student yet." Both fill in as soon as you add a grade for that student.

Printing a grade report

Click Print (top-right, next to Add Grade) to print the selected student's grades. A clean report is produced with a "Grades report" heading, the student's name, and the date it was printed. The student tabs, the Pending grading card, and the per-row Edit and Delete buttons are left off the printout.

Quick reference

Screenshots use a sample "Demo Family" with two students: Ada (5th grade, 0 to 100) and Linus (2nd grade, 1 to 4), and the subjects Math and English.