Post Q4 Term Grades
This page explains how to post your grades in X2-Aspen. If you’re using the Aspen gradebook to record and calculate student grades, follow the entire procedure below. If you’re not using the gradebook, you can skip directly to Step 2 – Post Grades
Note that some of the screen shots will show second quarter info. The process is the same, regardless of the quarter.
- Step 1 -Update Post Columns – How to copy your Aspen gradebook quarter averages to the post columns
- Step 1.5 – Rounding a Student’s Grade (Optional) – What to do if you want to round a student’s grade
- Step 2 – Post Grades – How to post grades
If you are using the gradebook, you do not need to manually enter grades in the post columns. Aspen can do all of this for you automatically in a two step process (Update Post Columns and Post Grades). You must perform BOTH steps to post your grades. Here is what you need to do.
- Make sure that all assignments are marked as public. You can see which assignments are public by looking at the icon at the top of the assignment column in the Scores tab.
- Test 5 is Public (assignment details and grades visible to students and parents), as indicated by the small green check in the icon on the left.
- Test 6 is Public – No Grades (assignment details visible to students and parents, grades NOT visible or included in grade calculations they can see), as indicated by the blue circle icon with the exclamation point.
- Test 7 is Private (assignment details and grades NOT visible to students and parents or included in grade calculations they can see), as indicated by the small red circle in the icon on the left.
You can click on the icon to cycle the status of an assignment through the three options.
You can also see which assignments are not public by going to the Gradebook, and then clicking on the Assignments side tab. See below. The assignments shown here are Public. Any assignment marked Public – no grades or Private in the Visibility column needs to be changed to Public.
- Go to the Scores tab and make sure you have entered all of your assignment grades. It’s easy to forget to enter those makeups!
You may want to round some quarter grades up to the next higher grade. You can do that just before you post – see the section below.
- If you gave an exam, enter those grades now. To enter exam grades, select Post Columns – Term from the Grade Columns dropdown. The column for the final exam is T4Exm. The exam grades must be entered before updating the post columns, as Aspen will calculate the course grade as part of the Update Post Columns routine. Aspen calculates the course grade by counting each quarter as 20% of the grade, and the exam as 10% of the grade. If you do not give an exam, each quarter counts as 25% of the grade. If you wish to use a different weighting system, you will need to calculate the grade outside of Aspen, and then enter the course grade manually.
- Click on Options – Update Post Columns …
- From the Grade Term dropdown, select Q4. From the Grades to update dropdown, select Term grades for YOG 2015 if you are posting grades for seniors, and Term grades for YOG 2016, 2017, 2018 if you are posting grades for your other students. (Note that you may not have the option to post for YOG 2016, 2017, 2018 if the grade window for those students has not yet been opened.
- You should see Averages Q4 in the Term 4 Grade dropdown. Leave the Term 4 Exam field set to Do not update. You will also see a dropdown menu for Final Grade. If you want Aspen to calculate the course grade (with a weighting of 20% per quarter and 10% for each exam), leave this set to District Calculation. Otherwise, select Do not update. When you are finished, click Next. (Note the screen shot below shows Term 2 instead of Term 4, but the Term 4 screens are exactly the same.)
- You should now see the screen below. Click on Finish. Your Quarter 4 Averages will be copied into T4Grd (the Quarter 4 Post Column). The course final grade will be copied into the Final Column. See Step 2 – Post Your Grades for how to post your grades.
Step 1.5 – Rounding a Student’s Grade (Optional) Before posting your grades, look at the quarter averages (and final grade, if this is a semester-long course) for your students. If you want to round a student’s grade, overwrite the average with the lowest grade in the next higher grade category. For example, suppose a student has an average of 82.9, and you want to round this student’s grade to a B. Overwrite the 82.9 in the T1Grd column with an 83. The reason for this is that Aspen uses the grade in the post columns to calculate the course grade. If you enter a letter grade of B, Aspen will use a grade of 85 (the middle of the range for B) when calculating the course grade, which is, of course, inaccurate.
- Go to the Scores tab and select Post Columns – Term from the Grade Columns dropdown menu. You should see your students’ quarter averages in the T4Grd column, and the exam grade in the T4Exam column. You should also see the final course grade. Note that these grades are numbers, but the corresponding letter grades are printed on report cards and transcripts that are sent to colleges.
The pushpin is probably green – that means that the grade window is open and that you have not yet posted grades for this quarter. It may also be black or red – it doesn’t seem to matter what color it is!
If you have students who have not completed all of the work, or have withdrawn, or are not being given a grade, you should overwrite whatever grade is in the post column with the appropriate grade. Here are the other grades you can enter in the post columns:
| Grade | Explanation |
| P | Pass |
| AU | Audit |
| N | No Grade |
| X | Medically Excused |
| I | Incomplete |
| WP | Withdraw Passing |
| WF | Withdraw Failing |
| W | Withdraw |
2. Click on Options – Post Grades …
3. You will see the screen below. There are no options here – just click OK.
Your grades are now posted. Note that you can go back and repost your grades as often as you want while the grade window is still open.
- You should check the transcript of at least one student in each of your sections to make sure that the grades posted. To check a transcript, click on your Student top tab, and select a student. Click on the Transcript side tab, and make sure that there is a grade for your class in the TrGrd. T4Exm (if relevant). and Final Columns. If there is not a grade in these columns, run the whole process again.