PT GradeBook is the software application teachers use to track classes, enrollments, attendance, and grades. It interacts with the PowerSchool server automatically sending, and receiving information from the server.

The teacher does have some ability to adjust how a grade is calculated, or how the grade scale is setup. There are a couple options when it comes to the final grade calculation. There are also many factors that come into play as well. We will start with the final grade setup.

The default setting in PT GradeBook is the Total Points Scale. Below is an example student with some scores earned during a term.

In this example, the student earned 521 out of a possible 610. So their score is calculated like this: 521 divided by 610 to equal .8403… Just drop the period and round to the nearest number, for a grade of 84%.

The total points scale is just that, the total points earned divided by the possible points. It is the simplest and quickest way to calculate a grade.

Weighted Grade Scale, or Category Weighting is calculated differently. It isn't as simple as the total points scale, and can be a little confusing at first. For this example, we are going to use the same assignments from the previous example, but I added a new column called “Category”.

In this example, the teacher decided to calculate the final grade using the following allocations:

• Tests: 50%
• Quizzes: 30%
• Homework: 20%

PT GradeBook takes additional steps to figure out the weighted final grade. We are going to break down each step to help you understand how it all factors together.

PT GradeBook figures each category separately totaling the points received on assignments in that category. Using the example above, this is what it would look like:

Quiz Category

Homework Category

Tests Category

PT GradeBook now divides the total points earned, by the total possible points, to equal a percentage. Using the information above, it would look like this:

PT GradeBook now multiplies the student’s final percent in each category by the percent it factors into the final grade.

PT GradeBook now adds the total scores together. This will give the student the appropriate letter grade depending on the grade scale.

Using the Weighted Grade Scale this student earned a 79.45 percent.

If there is a category that figures into the final grade setup but there are no assignments in that category, the calculation could be incorrect. To workaround this create all the categories you’ll need, but don’t use them in figuring the Final Grades Setup until you actually have an assignment to put into that category.