Aspire - Grade Book and Canvas

Important Tips:

All Teachers and students are required to have email addresses setup in Aspire before the syncing with Canvas will work. This doesn't mean some teachers and some students, this means ALL Teachers and ALL Students.

All Categories are created in Aspire - Do NOT create some categories in Canvas

All Assignments are created in Canvas - Do NOT create some assignments in Aspire

The data is linked by Course ID numbers created in Aspire that are linked to course numbers tied to marksets (A,A-,B+,B,B-, C+,C,C-,D+,D,D-,F) etc. in Aspire- This needs to be created in Aspire before syncing with Canvas.

The scheduled course ID Number is created in Aspire

This scheduled course ID Number is transferred to Canvas

Assignments are linked to the scheduled course ID Number Categories for transferring data back and forth.

The assignments are linked to the course ID number to transfer data between databases.

If you do not follow these instructions, you will have problems syncing data

Taking Attendance is done in Aspire for reporting attendance to the state -

Attendance is not transferred from Canvas to Aspire

Users still need to take attendance in Aspire for proper reporting

Grade Book Task Bar Drop-down Menu:

Setting up Categories for Canvas

The Web USBE - Aspire Grade Book

Introduction

The grade book focus has been to allow teachers easy set up and navigation in the grade book. The grade book was created with teacher usage in mind for simple, fast, and accurate data entry.

Subject Templates are used to simplify initial setup from term-to-term and from year-to-year. Citizenship is based on positive and negative incidents called Citizenship Items. Entering and editing scores is fast and convenient with the spreadsheet-like screen.

When navigating in a web browser, the user must always save the data entered by clicking on the save button or the data entered will be lost. Even the screen refreshing without saving data entered will be lost. Remember to always save data before navigating away from the screen.

Security →

To keep the data secure, login sessions will time out when left idle for several minutes. If the session times out and data entered has not been saved, the data will be lost.

Logging In →

The Aspire Grade Book is accessed using a web browser. Ask your local SIS specialist for the URL for your school.

Login using your regular SIS login ID number preceded by the letter ‘F’ and your confidential SIS password ( F 383 ). The letter ‘F’ signifies faculty user.

Applications → Attendance

You can use the Attendance screen without any grade book set up. Attendance must be taken on Aspire for reporting to the state.

1. Select the class period you need to take attendance for

Applications → Attendance Entry

The attendance entry screen shows two calendar weeks with the current day (the date you select) in the middle of the screen. The spreadsheet-like screen allows you to easily move from cell-to-cell to enter or edit attendance codes. The top cell of the date you select will initially be selected for editing. The software will not allow you to type an invalid code. Attendance codes are set up by the office. Navigation arrows allow you to move forward or backward in two-week increments until you enter or change a student’s attendance code. You will need to save the data entered or data changed before leaving the screen.

2. Select the Attendance tile or period you need to take attendance. (Period A/1 -- Period A/2)

Attendance → Class Entry Screen

To use the attendance entry screen:

Attendance Totals Display next to the student name for easy viewing.

Teachers must put a check in the check box below the date in red and save to reflect they have taken attendance. This will reflect on reports for the office they have taken attendance.

To take Attendance for different periods:

Select Day-to-Day - Attendance - at the top of the screen
Select the Term
Select the Class
Change the date, if desired
Open the Legend – the Legend will show available attendance codes:
1. a.Attendance not taken for this date. Office attendance code. (If the office has entered the attendance, it will show up in blue.)
  Available Codes:
  X - Absent (X)
  . - Present ( . )
  U - Unexcused (U)
  T - Tardy (T)
Enter or change attendance codes, as needed
Click Save to store your work

Citizenship → Define Citizenship

If you do not plan to use Citizenship in your grade book, you can ignore this section

Citizenship → Define Citizenship and skip to page 14 → Gradebook Setup

To Define Citizenship Definition Template:

Most teachers will only define Citizenship once and use it for all of their classes from term-to-term and from year-to-year.

Prior to defining the Define Citizenship you must answer a few simple questions:

What will I call the Citizenship Definition Template? (Most teachers name it Citizenship).
What Citizenship Mark Set will I use? H (Honors) - 90, S (Satisfactory) - 70, N (Needs Improvement) - 50, U (Unsatisfactory) - 0
What Starting Points will each student begin with for citizenship? (Depending on what starting citizenship mark you want showing in the grade book for students. Some teachers want students to start with an ‘S’ so, they would put 70 starting points – in this example 70 points equal ‘S’).

Citizenship → Marks Definition → H (Honors) – S (Satisfactory) – N (Needs Improvement) – U (Unsatisfactory)

Citizenship marks are based upon an accumulation of Citizenship Items to which are assigned positive or negative values. Each student begins with a preset starting value set by the teacher.

To Define Citizenship Definition:

Select Gradebook Setup
Select Define Citizenship
Leave *New Citizenship Definition in the drop-down menu
Type in the Title of your Citizenship Definition (Citizenship)
Enter the Citizenship Mark Set
Enter the Starting Points that each student will start with
Click Save to store the new Citizenship Definition

To edit a Defined Citizenship Definition:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select Define Citizenship
Select the definition you want to edit from the Citizenship Definition drop-down list
Modify information as desired by
1. a. adding or deleting text
2. b. checking or unchecking checkboxes
Click Save to store the modified Citizenship Definition

To delete a Defined Citizenship Definition:

Make sure the Define Citizenship Definition is not being used by any setup classes. If it is, you will need to individually delete the Citizenship by Items and Citizenship Marks assigned all active and

* inactive student(s) using the Defined Citizenship Definition before you can delete it.

If Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks have been posted , you will need to have the office or administration unlock the posted citizenship marks so that you can delete them. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the Citizenship marks have been Posted. After editing the posted citizenship marks post the citizenship marks again and save.

Citizenship → Define Citizenship Items

The Defined Citizenship Items describe general categories of negative and positive citizenship behavior items. For example: Caught Being Good, Helpful in Class, Caught Cheating, Habitually Unprepared, Excessive Absences, Disruptive In Class, etc.

The Citizenship Items can be added to a student’s citizenship log to detail the reasons for his/her earned citizenship mark. You may assign a positive or negative point value to each Defined Citizenship Item to simplify calculating citizenship marks to a student’s log. Assigning Citizenship Items with negative or positive points to individual students will recalculate the Citizenship mark.

Citizenship Comments do not print, they are for teacher view only.

Prior to defining the Define Citizenship Items you should:

Make a list of the positive and negative citizenship items you want to track
Assign a point value to each citizenship item
Determine what order you want them listed (optional)

To Define Citizenship Items:

Select Gradebook Setup
Select Define Citizenship Items
For each Citizenship Item you wish to define use the next available line to:
1. a. Enter the sort order number (optional)
2. b. Enter the Title of the Citizenship Item
3. c. Enter the default value (either positive 5, 1 or negative -5, -1 or leave blank)
Click Save to store your Citizenship Items
Note: Five new blank lines will be added at the bottom after you click Save

To delete Defined Citizenship Items:

All Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks assigned to active and *inactive students must be deleted before you can delete the Defined Citizenship Items.

To delete Posted Citizenship Marks and scores:

Select Day-to Day on the menu bar
Select Citizenship
Select the Term attached to the Defined Citizenship Definition you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Defined Citizenship Definition you want to delete
Select the Grades tab
Have the office or administration unlock your posted marks if they have been posted

After the office has unlocked the Posted Citizenship marks, select Show Inactive on the menu bar to show * inactive students. The Posted Citizenship marks screen will now be editable.

To delete Citizenship Items by student and Citizenship Marks:

Select Citizenship
Select the Citizenship Item
Select the Term attached to the Defined Citizenship Definition you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Defined Citizenship Definition you want to delete
Select Show Inactive at the top right below your name and show *inactive students
Select the Student(s)
Check the check boxes next to all items you want to delete that are attached to the Citizenship
Definition you want to delete
Click Save to delete the Citizenship Items
Repeat this step for all students to delete assigned Citizenship Items

After making changes to the Posted Citizenship Marks, you will need to post them again.

To delete the Defined Citizenship Items:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select Define Citizenship Items
Select the Delete boxes attached to the Define Citizenship Items you want to delete
Click Save to delete the Define Citizenship Items

Define Citizenship Item screen

After all Defined Citizenship Items have been deleted:

Define Citizenship screen

To delete the Defined Citizenship Definition:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select the Define Citizenship
Select the Citizenship Definition in the drop-down menu you want to delete
Select Delete Citizenship Definition
Click Save to complete the deletion

Applications → Grade Book Setup

Grade Book Setup

When setting up gradebook to sync with Canvas -

When using Canvas - Only the Subject template with Categories are created. Tasks / Assignments are not created on the Aspire GradeBook

Best Practice is to setup all categories for all terms for the full year - Do not add Tasks/assignments or scores on the Aspire side 'ever'. They should always be setup on the Canvas side once the categories have been transferred to Canvas.

Gradebook → Setup - Define Subject Template

The Subject Template is used to define specific grading parameters. Once the template has been saved it may be copied to multiple classes and it will remain available from term-to-term and from
year-to-year.

Gradebook → Define Subject Template:

Prior to defining the Subject Template Definition you must answer a few basic questions:

What will I call the Subject Template Definition? (It can be a generic name such as
the name of the course).
Do I want a sort order for the Subject Template Definition? (This is if you have more than
one Subject Template Definition)
Will I use category weighting to calculate grades? (Optional, if yes, put a check mark in the box).
If I plan to use category weighting, what percentage will each category have? (They need to total 100 %.)
How many Category Titles will I use? (You must have at least one).
What will my Category Titles be named? (They can be generic names such as Assignments, Tests, Lab Work. Generic Category Titles can be copied to every class)
In what order do I want my Category Titles to appear? (optional) Enter a number for each Category Title to indicate the sort order (1, 2, 3) or you can leave the sort order blank.
Do I want to set up score dropping for any of my categories? (optional)
If score dropping is checked for a given category, the system dynamically excludes the lowest

score(s) that will hurt the student’s mark the most.

i. Check the Drop Lowest checkbox if you want to use this feature

ii. Enter the number of scores to drop

iii. Enter how many scores are needed before dropping a score
What Mark Set grading scale will I use? The Mark Set is usually decided by the administration.

Select a Mark Set from the drop-down list (ask your school registrar/secretary which Mark Set to use)

If you are allowed to modify the Mark Set:

a. Uncheck the marks you don’t want to use and edit

Academic Marks → Definition

Academic marks are calculated with or without category weighting. Blank cells are not included in the calculation, but zeros are. Blank cells indicate a student wasn’t enrolled in class to hand in the assignments. Ignored scores are not included in the calculation. If category weighting is being used and one or more categories are empty, a reasonably accurate mark will be calculated based upon the categories that have scores. If there is not enough score information to calculate a mark, no mark will be shown. Extra credit is defined simply as points above points possible (points possible can be zero). A student may earn more than 100% overall.

10. The Comments box is for teacher view only and does not print anywhere. These comments are about the subject template and may give teacher instruction or reminders about a particular subject template from year to year. These comments are optional.

11. Click Save to save your template.

Important Grade Book setup information:

There are an unlimited number of ways teachers can setup their grade book.

During the design, programmers tried to make the setup simple and as easy as possible.

Since ‘Dropping Scores’ is defined by category, the software will drop the score that increases the category mark. It is possible when dropping a lowest score to have a situation where dropping one score is better for the category mark and dropping another score is better for the subject mark. This situation will only happen when a teacher has not chosen to do category weighting, has a wide range in the amount of points possible within a category, and has given large amounts of extra credit. Thus, the calculation could drop 100 points out of 100 points rather than 3 points out of 8 points. A parent looking at this would wonder why this happened and think the grade book isn’t working correctly when in fact, it is.

Dropping scores is designed to allow a teacher to forgive one low score of a certain type (aka, category). The results are easy to explain when a category score is dropped, it will increase the mark (student grade) within that category. This result is not necessarily meant to forgive a lack of work in another category.

It should also be noted that because of the grade book flexibility, the teacher is able to accomplish the desired results by marking: ‘do not drop’ on the score they didn’t want dropped.

Teachers also need to evaluate the subject percentage instead of the category percentage when dropping lowest scores in the grade book that does not use category weighting. Caution should be used when choosing this option because; it may be harder to explain to parents because the grade book will act differently depending on how it is setup, and it will allow scores in one category to overcompensate for low scores in a different category.

Please remember, keep your grade book scores as simple as possible for parents to understand the results.

To create a new → * Subject Template Definition:

Select *New Subject Template Definition from the Subject Template drop-down menu and name the new Subject Template.
Repeat the steps listed above.
Subject Templates can be shared with other teachers

To edit a Subject Template Definition: (Modifying this template does not affect the Define Class Template that is in use.)

Select Gradebook - Setup
Select Define Subject Template
Select the template you wish to edit from the Subject Template drop-down list
Modify information as desired by:
1. a. adding or deleting text
2. b. checking or un-checking checkboxes in the Mark Set
Click Save to store your modified Subject Template

Define Subject Template screen

To delete a Subject Template Definition:

Make sure the Subject Template is not being used by any setup classes. If it is, you will need to:

First - individually delete the Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks and delete the student academic scores from both active and * inactive students. If there are any Posted Citizenship Marks, or Posted academic marks, they will need to be deleted. If you have added comments to a student, they will need to be deleted. How to delete is later in this documentation.

Class → Define Class in Gradebook

At the beginning of the school year, you will need to set up the grade book for each class for each term. You can setup one term or all terms. You will set up your classes by copying Subject Templates or a previously defined class to each term.

You can also select the Citizenship for Class Definition to add Citizenship to each class (optional), if you have setup Citizenship. You can include Class Comments. These comments are not printed or viewed by anyone but the teacher. This is a preliminary step in using the grade book for a class.

Define Class screen

To Define Class in grade book:

Select Gradebook – Setup – Define Class in Gradebook
Select Define Class in Gradebook
Select the Term
Select the Class to be setup in the drop-down menu list
Select the Citizenship for Class definition in the drop-down menu to be used for the class if you have setup your Define Citizenship Template (optional)
Copy academic grading parameters by using set up a or b - listed below:
1. a. Copy Course:
  1. i. Select a previously defined Class (if there has been a class previously setup) from the drop-down list. Copying Course can include copying the Tasks (assignments) you have already setup for another course by checking Include Tasks
  2. ii.Click Save to copy the information from that class course to the new class
2. or
3. b. Copy Subject Template:
  1. i. Select a subject template from the drop-down list
  2. ii. Click Save to copy the information from the subject template to the new class
Modify any of the grading parameters that have been copied to the new class, if allowed by your administration
Add Class Comments, as desired (Class Comments are for teacher information only)
Add Class URL this links to a personal web page for that class. Teachers can link assignments to each class, such as ‘myuen’ for students to access from home or in class.
Click Save to complete the Class Definition setup

To edit a Defined Class in the grade book:

Select Day-to-Day
Select Define Class
Select the Term
Select the Class you want to modify in the drop-down menu list
You may:
1. a. changes the Citizenship Definition
2. b. edits the Subject Title
3. c. modifies or delete Category information if there are no existing scores
4. d. adjusts the Mark Set grading scale if this allowed by your administration
Click Save to store your work

To delete a Defined Class:

Make sure the Defined Class is not being used by any students. If it is, you will need to:

First - individually delete the Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks and delete student Day-to Day scores for active and *inactive students. If there are any Posted Citizenship Marks or Posted Day-to Day marks, they will need to be deleted. If you have added comments to a student, they will need to be deleted.

To delete Posted Citizenship Items and Posted Citizenship Marks – see documentation under Citizenship

If Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks have been posted , you will need to have the office or administration unlock the posted Citizenship marks so that you can delete them. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the Citizenship marks have been Posted. After editing the posted Citizenship marks post the Citizenship marks again and save.

Select Day-to Day on the menu bar
Select Gradebook (the Score Entry screen is the only place you can edit, and view Posted marks)
Select the Term attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Select the Grades tab
Have the office or administration unlock your posted marks if they have been posted

Do not delete scores for Tasks (assignments) in Aspire - only tasks and scores are deleted with in Canvas:

Select Day-to Day on the menu bar
Select Gradebook
Select the Term attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Select the Grades Tab to see if students have posted marks
Have the office or administration unlock your posted marks if they have been posted

If students have posted academic marks, you will need to have the office or administration unlock the Posted academic marks so that you can delete them. If a padlock shows next to the academic marks, this signifies the academic marks have been Posted.

After the office has unlocked the Posted marks, select Show Inactive on the right top of your screen

under your name to show * inactive students. The Posted Score Entry screen will now be editable but score updates should only be changed in Canvas.

To delete scores for Tasks (assignments): go back to Canvas

To delete all Tasks (assignments) and Scores: go back to Canvas

Day-to Day → Define Tasks / assignments - only in Canvas