Student Master

Calculation of Semester and Final Averages: Avoyelles Parish

**This step is only needed for grading periods in which a semester or final average is needed. (Ex: End of 4x4 Semester, Mid-Term, or End of Year)

The following rules are used to calculate a final grade:

1. All grading periods must have a grade.
2. Letter grades, not numeric averages, are used to determine a final.
3. Grading periods and the final are equally weighted.
4. A student must pass either the Final exam or the Last Grading Period.

If the report card session requires the calculation of a semester and/or final average, this section will describe how to get JPams to perform this calculation. Normally this is done after grade assignments / exams have been entered by teachers

• Prior to calculating any semester and / or final averages, remind teachers of the deadline to have all assignments in JGradebook.
• Also remind teachers to recalculate each class in JGradebook just to make sure all averages are up to date prior to any semester / final grade calculation.

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1. In Grades Command Center, click on Grades, then Post Grades Master.
2. At the setup box, set the Year and School.
3. Click to place a check mark next to All and Both as shown below.
4. For Semester Grade Calculation Requires, most districts choose All Marking Period Grades Within Semester as shown below.
5. In the pink area, click to place a check next to Report Card Mode. This will tell JPams to calculate a final or semester grade for any course viewed.

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1. The dialog box warns the user that the system will calculate semester and final grades. Click Continue as this is desired at this time.

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1. In the menu bar, click Admin, then Calculate Sem/Final Grades.

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1. A progress bar will be displayed. When done, classes will now have semester. If grades for the entire term are present, the final averages will be displayed also.
2. It is a good idea to spot check the grades calculated. Do this by locating the Teacher and Course fields at the bottom of the screen. Click to choose a teacher and course.

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1. On screen, the user will see the calculated grades. Calculated grades for semesters will be in green and the finals will be in the pink area. After reviewing, open up several other classes to make sure averaging is being done correctly.

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1. Notice the Semester and Final averages show letters in lower case. This tells the user that the grade averages were calculated by the JPams system. If a user sees letter grades in upper case, this indicates a “manually entered” semester or final average.
2. Are there several students with no Semester or Final Average? These can be caused by:
   1. Student has an “I” average for one of the grading periods. To remedy, work with teacher to update the assignment with the “I”. When he/she does this, then open back up the class in Post Grades Master report card mode. The semester and/or final average will then be updated.
   2. Missing grades in a grading period or exam. This could be caused by a transfer student, teacher not up to date in JGradebook, or other special situation.
      1. The remedy is to enter the missing scores, or enter the semester average and/or final average by hand if the missing grades cannot be accounted for.
         1. To manually enter a missing grade, exam, semester, or final: Click in the cell and enter the numeric average. Then either (1) tap the down arrow on the keyboard (2) tap the ENTER key or (3) click on another cell to confirm the cell entry. The user will notice the average for semester and final will be updated after the entry.
3. How often can the Calculate Semester / Final Averages program be run?
   1. The program can be rerun as often as needed. If there are a number of grade changes, a user may find it easier to rerun this program as opposed to opening up each class with changes in Post Grades Master.
4. Does the user have to run the Calculate Semester / Final Averages program if there are only a few changes made from the last time it was run?
   1. No. If there are only a few changes that need to be recalculated, the user can just open up the single class in Post Grades by Student or do the change for an individual student in Post Grades By Student.