Overview of Course Credit

The Mark Reporting package stores mark, absence, comments, and credit in several tables. Credit information is stored in two of the tables.

Course header (MR_STU_HDR) record. There is one record for a course. The record stores the total attempted credit and earned credit values for the course. This record also stores the credit overrides for the course.
Course marking period (MR_STU_MP) records. There will be one record for each marking period that the student is receiving marks for the course. The marking periods when a mark used for course credit is issued store the attempted credit and earned credit for that mark. The Course Marking Period Example below illustrates how credit information is stored for a full year course that receives a credit mark twice a year.

Example of Marking Period Credits

A course has marking period records for every marking period that the course meets. The attempted and earned credits are stored for each marking period when the course receives a mark where credit is issued.

For example, assume the following:

Course Credit Setup is defined to issue partial credit and to issue credit based on the Semester mark,
The course is 1.0 credit,
The course meets M1, M2, M3, and M4,
The course receives the Semester mark in M2 and M4.

The Scheduling/RC Synchronization option will create the following marking period records and will calculate the attempted credit value for the marking periods where the Semester mark is received.

Marking Period	Attempted Credit
M1	0.00
M2	0.50
M3	0.00
M4	0.50

Calculating Course Credits

Attempted and earned credit values are calculated based on the Course Credit Setup, Master Schedule information, and student marks.

When the Scheduling/RC Synchronization option creates mark reporting records for courses, it calculates the attempted credit values for the course and marking periods.
The Course Credit Calculation calculates the earned credit for a course based on the student's marks.

Overriding Course Credits

You can override the credit calculations by manually entering credit values and setting override flags. In the Mark Reporting Configuration, your building administrator selects whether users enter credit overrides at the course header or course marking period.

The following factors should be considered when determining where to override credits.

If most courses receive more than one mark for the mark type for credit, you should override credits at the marking period level. For example, override credits at the marking period, if your building primarily has full year courses and assigns credit based on the semester mark which is issued two times for a full year course.
If most courses receive only one mark for the mark type for credit, you should override credits at the course level. For example, override credits at the course, if your building primarily has full year courses and assigns credit based on the final mark which is issued one time for a course. Also, override credits at the course, if your building has semesterized courses and assigns credit based on the semester mark which is issued one time for a course.

The option that your administrator selects determines how credit overrides are entered and displayed:

Overriding Credits at the Course Level

The Mark Reporting Detail page will allow users to enter credit changes and overrides in the attempted and earned credit fields in the Course Information panel.

When a user changes the credit for a course, the marking period credit will automatically be updated. The marking period credit will be calculated by dividing the course credit by the number of marking periods that receive the mark type on which credit is issued.

Overriding Credits at the Marking Period Level

The Mark Reporting Detail page will display attempted and earned credit fields in the Student Marks/Credits/Comments/Absences panel. The attempted and earned credit fields in the header section are inaccessible.

When a user changes the credit for a marking period, the course credit will automatically be updated to be equal to the sum of the marking period credits.

Which Credit Value is Used to Calculate and Print Mark Reporting Totals

The following chart indicates whether the report or calculation uses the course header or course marking period credits to calculate credit totals.

Option	Which Credit Value is Used
Transcripts	Marking period credits are used to print the course credit on the Transcript.
Report Cards	Marking period credits are used to print the earned credit totals on the report card.
GPA Calculation	If the GPA Setup is defined to use the Master Schedule credit instead of 1.0 credit, then the attempted credits stored in the course header are used to calculate the GPA.
Honor Roll Calculation	If the Honor Roll setup is defined to use the Master Schedule credit instead of 1.0 credit, then the attempted credits stored in the course header are used to calculate the GPA.
Graduation Requirements Calculation	The attempted and earned credit values stored in the course header are used to calculate graduation requirements.