Important Info on PTG
Thank you for using PowerTeacher Gradebook (PTG). As a new user there are a number of items you
should be aware of when using PTG.
* Items with an asterisk (*) indicates an issue currently being investigated. See item for more details.
Quitting the gradebook (9/2/2008)
When you sign on to PTG, the computer downloads a file called “LaunchGradeBook.jnlp” to your
computer. When you log out, the file remains. You will need to TRASH this file. DO NOT use this file again. Only trash this file once you QUIT PTG. At the time, this is reported from users running Mac OS 10.5. For the majority of you, you may never see this file appear anywhere.
Assignment Name & Abbreviation (9/3/2008)
Assignment names have a 30 character limit.
Assignment Abbreviations have a 15 character limit.
If you exceed either one, an error window will appear on the screen that says to contact your System Administrator.
Extra Credit (9/10/2008)
Make sure when you put in an extra credit assignment that it is placed in an existing category. Do not put extra credit assignments in it’s on category. Entering an extra credit assignment worth 0 points does works as long as it is not the only assignment with points entered. For instance if a teacher entered a project assignment score of 89 points (worth 100) and an extra credit assignment score of 10 (worth 0) and the final grade changed is 99. However, if the extra credit assignment is the only score entered for the student, the final grade remains 0.
Launching the gradebook (9/2/2008)
Remember when you click on the ‘Launch Gradebook’ link to start your gradebook, only click once. If you click multiple times an ‘Terminate other sessions’ window could appear. Another problem is that the program won’t launch at all. Remember single click!
Final Grade Column Not Displaying (9/8/2008)
In some classes, the final letter grade column may not display. When you enter scores in your assignments for students and click SAVE, their final letter grade should update in the final grade column. If you are not seeing the letter grade there are two things you have to make sure:
1. You have a “Reporting Terms” selected in the pull-down menu.
2. Your final grades are setup.
If you have made sure both are completed and still don’t see a letter grade, then please contact me ASAP. See Erik’s screenshot below:
Assignment Letter Grade Not Displaying for Parent/Student (9/17/2008)
A parent reported that they could not see the letter grade of an assignment posted on Parent/Student Portal. Both the point and percentage is visible, however, the letter grade is missing. Even though the letter grade is missing, the final grade is calculating correctly. To fix the display problem, the assignment that is missing the letter grade needs to be toggled. This means, you have to change the total points possible, Save, then change the total points back, then Save again.
This issue has been submitted to PowerSchool 9/17/2008. I will continue to follow up with it. You have the option of doing the above workaround if this occurs or wait to see if PS fixes the problem. Please keep in mind this doesn’t affect the final grade calculation, it’s a display issue.
Comments for Report Cards (9/23/2008)
To insert comments for students for a specific term, such as Q1, you must change your Reporting Term filter to that specific term. If you are viewing S1, but want to insert comments for the Q1 Report Card, you need to switch the view on your grade to Q1 first.
Grouping Students (10/02/2008)
Assignments cannot be associated by groups. All assignments will apply to every student in the class. If you do create different groups, when you're in the scoresheet, group of students can be "highlighted" so that entering scores will be easier. For instance, let's say Group Adv is assigned Web Design HW #1. In the scoresheet, after you created the assignment, on the left side, click on the group name, Group Adv. When you click on the name of the group, students that belong to the group are highlighted in the scoresheet. You can fill in scores for those students only and do a "Fill Scores" of "EX" for everyone else. That way this assignment would only count for those in Group Adv.
