Use this page to specify how your building calculates the average for one mark type based on student marks for other mark types. For example, the Final grade may be an average of the semester grades.
You can define the average so it is calculated by IT staff running the Mark Averages Calculation or by teachers or IT staff loading marks from Gradebook. If the Use in Gradebook checkbox is checked in the average setup, then average is calculated when marks are loaded from Gradebook. Otherwise, the average is calculated by running the Mark Averages Calculation.
The calculation options select the average setups to calculate for a course based on the Average ID selected for the course in the Master Schedule and how marks are issued for the course. For information on how this affects the number of average setups that need to be defined, refer to When Do You Need To Create Different Average Setups?
Note
If a mark type's mark should be calculated based on averages from Gradebook assignments, then you do not need to define an average setup. For more information, refer to Options to Calculate Marks.
Display average setups
Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Calculation Setup > Average Setup.
If needed, enter criteria on the search page for a Simple or Advanced Search, and then click Load.
Click Average ID link to display the setup.
Add average setup
Note
If an average should include a sub-average, define the average setup for that sub-average first. For example, if your building calculates the final by taking 75% of the average of all marking period marks and 25% of the exam mark, you need to first define a sub-average that calculates the average of all marking period marks. Then define the average setup for the final mark and select the sub-average to include.
Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Calculation Setup > Average Setup.
Click Add.
Define the settings for the average setup. You must select a duration in the Course Duration Type before you select the marks to include in the average.
To add a mark or sub-average to the Marks Used In Average Calculation section, enter values in the blank row.
Repeat Step 4 until all calculation rows are defined.
Click Save.
Change average setup
Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Calculation Setup > Average Setup.
If needed, enter criteria on the search page for a Simple or Advanced Search, and then click Load.
Click average ID link for setup to change.
Change values as needed.
As needed, make changes to the marks and sub-averages included in the Marks Used in Average Calculation section.
To add a mark or sub-average, enter values in the blank row.
To remove a mark or sub-average, select the Delete checkbox.
Click Save.
Delete average setup
Select Administration > Mark Reporting Setup > Calculation Setup > Average Setup.
If needed, enter criteria on the search page for a Simple or Advanced Search, and then click Load.
Click average ID link for setup to delete.
Click (Delete).
Click Yes.
You can also delete average setups from the search page by selecting the (Delete) box, and then clicking Save.
Fields
General Panel
Field
Description
Building
Building that uses this average setup.
Average Type
Indicates whether this average is a main average, secondary average, or sub average.
Select:
M - Main Average - to indicate that this average setup is used for all courses that do not have an average type selected in the Master Schedule Average ID field. S - Secondary Average - to indicate that this average applies to specific courses. The average type for a course is specified in the Master Schedule Average ID field. For example, if semester courses and full year courses use a different average calculation for the final, you would create a secondary average for the semester courses. U - Sub Average - to indicate that this average is calculated as part of a main or secondary average. For example, if the final average is calculated as 75% of the average of all marking period grades and 25% of the final exam grade, you would create a sub average to calculate the average of marking period grades. The final average setup would then use this sub average.
Average ID
Code to identify the average setup for secondary averages and sub averages. Character/5
If the Average Type field is set to M - Main Average, then the Average ID is set to Main.
Mark Type to Calculate
Mark type for which the average is being calculated. For main and secondary averages, select the mark type to calculate.
This field is inaccessible if the Average Type field is set to U - Sub Average.
Course Duration Type
Duration type for which the average setup is used. The average setup only applies to courses for this duration. For example, if your building uses marking period and wheel durations, you must define separate average setups for wheel and marking period durations.
Include this Average When Calculating for MP
The marking period when this average should be calculated. When you run the calculations, you select the report card run to calculate averages. The average setups for the marking periods within the selected report card run will be calculated.
Place Resulting Average in Marking Period
The duration period for which the average should be entered for the specified mark type. For example, if you are calculating the semester grade for marking period (duration M) 4, enter M4.
Use in Gradebook
Checked if the average is calculated when teachers load marks from Gradebook. If the average should be calculated by IT staff by running the Mark Averages Calculation, leave this box unchecked.
You must select this field to display Teacher Access Center (TAC) Student Averages.
Related Average Groups Panel
This panel displays information for other average setups that are defined for the building with the same average ID. To display this information, click (Expand).
Course Rules Panel
Field
Description
Include Status "T" Courses
Checked if averages should be calculated for courses that were dropped with the Marks option set to T - Teacher to indicate that marks will be entered by a teacher.
This field is inaccessible if the Use in Gradebook checkbox is checked.
Include Status "O" Courses
Checked if averages should be calculated for courses that were dropped with the Marks option set to O - Office to indicate that marks will be entered by the office.
This field is inaccessible if the Use in Gradebook checkbox is checked.
Process Courses Not Ended
Checked if the average should be calculated for courses that are not completed. For example, this would be checked when calculating the semester 1 average of a full-year course.
This field is inaccessible if the Use in Gradebook checkbox is checked.
Blank Marks
Determines how blank marks are processed. Refer to the example that follows for an illustration of the effect of these options.
Select:
E - Issue Error and do not process - to issue an error and not calculate the average if a blank is present for any of the mark types used in the calculation. I - Exclude blank marks from the calculation - to prevent blank marks from affecting the student's average. The blank mark will not be included in the sum of marks or weights. Z - Treat blank marks as zero - to treat any blank mark as a 0 (zero) in calculations. The blank mark will be included as a value of 0 and the weight for the mark will be included in the sum of weights.
Example: The average setup for the Semester mark is defined to calculate the average as shown below:
Mark Type
Marking Period
Weight
MP
M1
1
MP
M2
1
The student has a marking period 1 grade of 75 and the marking period 2 grade is blank.
If Blank Marks is set to:
Then:
E - Issue Error and do not process
An error is issued to the log and no average is calculated.
I - Exclude blank marks from the calculation
The average is calculated as:
75 / 1 = 75
Z - Treat blank marks as zero
The average is calculated as:
75 + 0 / 1 +1 = 75 / 2 = 37.5
State Course Equivalency
Determines how the calculation will process state course equivalency records. This field is only available for averages that are not used in Gradebook. If your site does not use state course equivalencies, select R - Use Regular Courses Only.
Select:
A - Use all courses - to calculate averages for courses that are linked to state course equivalencies, the state courses, and courses that are not linked to any state course equivalency. B - Use State-defined and unlinked regular courses - to calculate averages for the state course records and course records that are not linked to any state course equivalency. R - Use Regular Courses Only - to calculate average marks for all course records, except for the state course records. For example, if checked, a student's semester average will be calculated for courses taken. No state course equivalency averages are calculated. S - Use State-defined courses only - to calculate average marks for state course records only. For example, you might define an average for state courses if you have a state course equivalency for a two-part course, and you want to calculate the final average based on the semester marks posted to the state course record using the Course Equivalency Calculation option.
Calculation Panel
Calculation Settings Section
Field
Description
Resulting Average for Regular Course Is
Determines how the average mark is returned for the student for regular courses. Typically, courses are regular courses. A course is considered a regular course if the marks for the student are designated as Value, Fail, or Set in the Average Using Type field of the level table.
The option used to calculate the average determines whether the student's average is rounded or truncated to a whole number or the second decimal place.
The Mark Averages Calculation rounds or truncates averages to the whole number.
Teacher Access Center's Load from Gradebook or the eSchoolPlus Load Gradebook Averages option rounds or truncates to the second decimal place.
Select:
R - Rounded - to round decimal values. For example, 87.3 is rounded to 87, and 87.6 is rounded to 88. S - Use Mark Substitution - to substitute a mark for the calculated average based on the Mark Substitution Setup for the building and school year. This option is not used if the average is used in Gradebook. T - Truncated - to truncate decimal values. For example, 87.3 is truncated to 87, and 87.6 is truncated to 87.
Notes
If the average setup is defined with the Use in Gradebook checkbox selected and the MR Building Configuration is defined with the Allow Teachers to Override Average Weights checkbox selected, then teachers can override this setting for a class.
The software permits the choice of Use Mark Substitution even if Use in Gradebook is checked in the General panel of the Average Setup. However, the Load from Gradebook option will not use mark substitution setups to return marks. It always uses the Grading Scale assigned to the student or, if no scale is assigned, it uses the level table for the course.
Resulting Average for Pass/Fail Course Is
Determines whether the average should be rounded or truncated for courses that students can pass or fail. A course is considered a pass/fail course if all the marks for the student are designated as Pass, Fail, or Set in the Average Using Type field of the level table. For Pass/Fail courses, the average calculation will return the first passing mark in the level table for students whose average is passing.
The option used to calculate the average determines whether the student's average is rounded or truncated to a whole number or the second decimal place.
The Mark Averages Calculation rounds or truncates averages to the whole number.
Teacher Access Center's Load from Gradebook or the eSchoolPlus Load Gradebook Averages option rounds or truncates to the second decimal place.
Select:
R - Rounded - to round decimal values to the closest integer. For example, 87.3 is rounded to 87, and 87.6 is rounded to 88. T - Truncated - to drop the fractional portion of decimal values. For example, 87.3 is truncated to 87, and 87.6 is truncated to 87.
Average Uses Raw Gradebook Values
When checked, the average calculation uses the raw values from Gradebook when calculating averages.
When marks are loaded from Gradebook, the numeric average for a mark is converted to a valid mark in the Level Table or Gradebook scale, and the numeric average is also stored as the raw Gradebook value. For example, if a school uses marks of 100-0, a student has an average of 89.6 in Gradebook, and the teacher has selected Rounded averages, the student's mark will be 90. The student's report card record stores the mark of 90 and the raw Gradebook value of 89.6000.
This box should be checked if the calculated average is to be based on the numeric averages calculated in Gradebook. Even if this box is checked, there are two scenarios when the average calculation will use the numeric value of the mark as specified in the Average Using Value field in the Level table (rather than the numeric averages calculated in Gradebook):
The teacher or an office staff member has entered a mark for the student and checked the Override box (for yes).
A mark has been entered, and there is a null in raw Gradebook value (for example, if the mark was not loaded from Gradebook).
If you select to use the raw Gradebook and you publish information for average calculations so parents can confirm averages, parents should be notified that the averages are being calculated based on a Gradebook value and not from marks on the student report cards.
Caution
Do not use this option if your building calculates averages using anything other than a 100 point scale. The raw Gradebook values are based on a 100 percent scale, and calculating an average using two different scales in an average will yield incorrect results. If you are not sure what scale is being used, check the level table's Average Using Value field which is used to convert marks to numeric values for the mark average calculation.
Marks Used in Average Calculation Section
The following fields define the mark records used to calculate an average and the weights used for the average calculation.
Field
Description
Use
Determines whether this row is for a mark type or sub-average that is used to calculate the average. This field is only accessible for averages that are not used in Gradebook.
Select:
M - Mark Type - to use the mark earned for one mark type to calculate the average for another mark type. For example, if the Semester grade is based on 40% of the MP1 grade, 40% of the MP2 grade, and 20% of the Exam grade, Mark Type should be selected for the Use field of each row. S - Sub-Average - to indicate that this average is based on a sub-average.
For example, the final mark is calculated as 75% of the average of all marking period marks and 25% of a final exam mark so you first define an average setup for a sub-average named AVGMP that calculates the average of the marking period marks. Then you define the average setup for the final as follows:
Use
Mark Type / Average ID
Marking Period
Weight
S - Sub-Average
AVGMP
3
M - Mark Type
EXAM
M2
1
Mark Type/Average ID
The mark type or sub-average used for this row.
MP (Marking Period)
The marking period to use in the calculation. The mark earned for the specified mark type for this marking period will be used to calculate the average.
If you are using a sub-average, the MP field is not used.
If the row's mark type is issued once per year, the MP field is disabled.
%/Weight
The percentage or weight of the mark for the calculation. For example, if the semester grade is calculated based on the average of marking period 1 and marking period 2 marks, and both the exam mark and the marking period marks should be weighted twice as much as the exam, you might enter:
Mark Type
Marking Period
Weight
MP
M1
2
MP
M2
2
EXM
M2
1
Your building may allow teachers to override weights for averages used in Gradebook. The Mark Reporting configuration determines whether teachers can override weights.
Handle Exempt Marks
Determines how the calculations will process marks that are designated as exempt in the Level table.
Select:
I- Exclude Exempt Marks from the Calculation - to calculate the average for a mark type, but ignore exempt marks. The student's average is not affected by any exempt mark present. For example, if the student receives an MED (for medical exemption) for marking period 1 and 89 for marking period 2, the student's semester average will be calculated based only on the 89 earned for marking period 2. E - Issue Error if Exempt Mark is Found - to issue an error and not calculate the average for a mark type if any of the marks included in the calculation are exempt.
