MarkBook® section 7-1
Setting Up Calculation Parameters Including Methods, Remarks, Levels and
Weighting MarkBook® section 7-1
Setting Up Calculation Parameters Including Methods, Remarks, Levels and
Weighting 
There are
numerous measures of Central Tendency in the determination of a
overall grades. You have a choice for MarkBook's Calculation Method -
select one of the choices. Average is traditional but there are
excellent arguments that median and mode are better measurements. For a discussion of these
methods, see section 7-6 on Weighting. Most teachers use a
Category Weight method and it's supplied as the default. This weighting
technique can be changed at any time later without affecting entered data. The Entry Weight
method ignores the category weights and bases the value or importance of each
assessment according to its base mark or 'Out Of'. The Equal Weight
method also ignores category weights, if any, and treats all assessments
equally. The Weight = 'Out Of' cell makes the relative importance
or value of each entry equal to its base. Thus, a test out of 10 counts for twice as much as one out of
5 in the same category. However, these weights can be edited up or down later as you see fit. We suggest you start with this cell filled as shown.
Assigned category weights are still used with this cell checked. If selected,
these cells cause selected grades to be 'bumped' up or down as you see fit. Some
jurisdictions don't want grades just below a critical threshold reported. For
instance, if a pass is 65%, teachers are sometimes instructed NOT to issue a
grade from 61% to 64%. MarkBook can be set to raise or lower any grades that
fall in that range. Similarly, some don't want grades issued ending in the
number 9 (59, 69, 79, 89). This selection will automatically bump such grades.
If you report category grades and wish to use this bump feature, we recommend
selecting the Overall and Categories cell. If you report just an overall
grade, select the Overall only cell. In all cases of bumping, the data is
not affected nor is the calculation method. Only the displayed/reported grade is
altered. There are two displays available for your class list as you enter data as shown in section 7-4. The upper button displays student names only. The lower button displays a
grid with a percentage and any remarks for each student as data is entered. You can switch between either
display as you enter data, but this Setup selection will trigger one or the other by default. When checked, the [Enter] selects Next Name cell gives you the ability to use the Enter key on your keyboard to move from one student to the next.
This speeds up the entry process. MarkBook calculates to six decimal places. The Round Off button affects the displays and printouts of
entered and calculated data. Click on (as shown) to display/print to the nearest integer. Click off to display/print to the nearest single decimal place.
Careful about misinterpreting round-off error. If MarkBook calculates an overall
grade of 49.499999%, it correctly rounds off to 49% as the nearest integer, and
correctly displays 49.5% as the nearest single decimal. Do NOT mentally round
off the single decimal display to 50%! One should never round off a number that
has already been rounded off! The Trigger Value determines the deviation required to display a warning about an individual's performance on a selected item. The Entry Analysis in section 7-7 uses this trigger value to display significant results. In the lower left corner, the Display
Zero (0) as ... drop-down menu enables any user to alter both the printed and screen
presentation of zeros. Change as you see fit. We recommend the supplied default Zero!
since a student can never argue that they mistook a 0 for a 9 or a 6. Use this section to edit your remarks for data entry as described in section 7-4. Choose from your edited list or type in remarks as required.
Delete ones that you don't want. As with all selections on this screen, your edits will save when you click
Save in the
lower right corner. MarkBook will accept assessment data in numeric form, in letter grade form, and in levels.
For instance, 41/50, 82%, A- and 4- are identical values but in different
measurement systems. In order to blend these differing scales together, MarkBook uses
editable
data tables on this ANALYSIS / REPORTING screen to convert and store each value of measure
into percentage form. A MarkBook user can score and enter student performance three ways: numerically, by letter
grade, and by level. Then, MarkBook will report summary data as percentages,
letters, and levels as the user specifies in the Report Using box. This screen enables a
user to customize the conversion values and the way in which summary data is
displayed. The General Analysis box sets the conversions when entering data and when viewing calculated summary data. If you
enter assessment data by letter or level, MarkBook
stores that data as a percentage using the conversions in this General Analysis
chart. Similarly, MarkBook will convert any overall percentage into a letter or
level using this General Analysis chart. The default supplied with MarkBook is
an ABC.. letter scheme. This user has defined an R,1,2,3,4 levels scheme with
+/- variations. The Modal Analysis section enables
the division of all entered data into user-defined levels. In this example, the
user has selected five ranges or levels. The threshold for each is given. 80 and
higher is a 4, 70+ is a 3, and so on. If your system
mandates a "most consistent" analysis (i.e. a mode), then these are
the conversions that MarkBook will use for this type of analysis. This is a
completely different analytical technique than a weighted average calculation.
Rather than displaying each student's overall percentage converted to a level or
letter grade, MarkBook reports the student's most consistent (i.e. modal) grade which
may be very different from their overall weighted average.
As supplied by
default, the upper half sets the conversion values from
letter grades to percentages and back again for general summary reports.
Thirteen letter grades from F to A+ are supplied as
defaults. The threshold value
or bottom percentage value for each letter is specified. Each cell can be edited.
To reduce the number of available letter
grades/levels, click on the Active Levels pop-down menu to choose a number less than 12. Wipe out the cell contents of the remaining cells and replace these with your
preferences as in the example. The Tab key will move from cell to cell during this process.
Click Save in the lower right corner to store these custom settings. Edit the Column Heading title if you wish.
If converting this chart to numeric levels, change the Column Heading to Level.
If you select the Use mid-range
values ... cell, when you enter letter/level grade assessment data, MarkBook will
enter a percentage that is mid way between the threshold and the upper limit of
the grade. For instance, if the teacher assigns an A using the settings
in this screen example, MarkBook will convert the A to a 90 which is half way
between 80 and 100. If the mid-range is not checked, MarkBook will enter the
threshold value or 80 in this example. The Always display .. cell will
cause a grid to appear automatically when entering assessment data. Use the Check for Problems button to scan your new settings for errors.
If your system
mandates the use of 13 levels, convert the General Analysis chart as shown here. To convert
to levels, edit each A to 4, B to 3, C to 2, D to 1 and F to R (Remedial). Then you'll have thirteen
levels from R to 4+ enabling data entry by level. Note the change
to the word Level in
the Column Heading cell. MarkBook will handle
up to 19 levels. 
The Load
Scheme button will save lots of time in editing the conversions. MarkBook
comes with several conversion schemes pre-installed in the MarkBook directory. Highlight the .scm
file of choice and click Open. Similarly, the Save Scheme button shown
above will let
you keep your custom scheme and even ship it electronically to others as a file. This is
particularly handy if an entire school or district has set a particular scheme
and wants all teachers to use it. Once all edits
to this edits to this ANALYSIS / REPORTING screen are
satisfactory, click Save at the
lower right to automatically apply your new settings. Modal Analysis is very different from General
Analysis.
This conversion chart in the lower half of the screen is not used for entering data. Instead it's used by
MarkBook's Student Reports and Class Reports to display individual modal performance.
Mode is another way of calculating or measuring central
tendency. For a discussion of modal analysis, see section 8-9 and section 9-4.
You may display mode by letter grade (supplied default) or employ up to 19 levels by editing
this chart as per the next paragraph.
This Modal
Analysis chart sets the conversion values from
percentages to levels/letters for Modal Analysis only. The threshold value for each level/letter is specified. Again, each cell can be edited. If you wish to
alter the number of available levels from the 12 supplied, click on the Active Levels pop-down menu to choose a number.
Edit the active cells to your preferences. Your Tab key will move you from cell to cell during this edit process.
MarkBook will handle up to 19 levels. Notice that assessment scores under 50% are divided into
three levels in
this particular scheme. R stands for Remedial. Click on the Save
Scheme button to store your new conversions as a new .scm file. Click on Save at the
lower right (not shown here) to save your new settings for use with all classes
stored in
this computer directory. At the right of this setup screen are other opportunities to alter the default settings. Click on these to edit as required. For instance:
The Letter Styles button moves to another setup screen which instructs MarkBook to store and print your input data in particular ways e.g. ALL CAPITALS or all lower case or As TyPeD.
Set your chosen parameters for students' personal data, the school identification data, text data, and all of your titles and headings using this screen. When finished, click Save. If your entire department or school is using MarkBook, you may wish to mandate some of these settings for all teachers so that your printouts have an identical appearance. The Attendance button accesses the attendance set up screen, section 6-1.
Choose the default attendance data entry screen and select the bar code
font for your attendance forms if needed. For more information on bar-coded attendance, see section 6-6.
Select how your forms work for each
Mark Set if you have more than one assessment group in the same
classroom. The Dates /
Birthdays screen enables custom settings to display dates. Pick the
format that works best for you. However, if there are multiple users in your
school, we recommend setting a common format so that there is consistency on
printed reports. The Password
screen enables the user to create a password to prevent others from launching
their class(es). The Printer Options button lets you change printers, select a different paper size, and selects your default font for printing. "Arial" is the default font
for MarkBook. You can select another font and set it as your default. However,
it may not work properly on some of MarkBook's forms.
The Printer screen also has the option to open a printer control dialogue box
each time you click Print. This gives more flexible use of MarkBook when
multiple printers are available and when it's used as a network application.
You'll also have the option of increasing the thickness of dark lines on
printouts. The Email
screen receives the SMTP host name and your own return Email address. The Comment
Setup screen specifies the path the word processor, sets a default font, and
pre-sets the fit/size parameters for a comment.
After you set any new parameter in
any of these setup screens, click on Save to store the new setting(s). Click on Cancel if you wish to delete these new settings and return to MarkBook's defaults.Asylum Software's Home Page | Send Us Email | LockerManager | MarkBook CNX for handheld computers | Why Use Class Management Software? | Start of the MarkBook Manual | Order a printed MarkBook Manual | LogiNotes (MarkBook En Français) | Bar Coded Attendance | MarkBook's Home Page | Electronic Report Cards | Order MarkBook