This lesson will show you how to create categories (e.g., manually create a category and link assignments to that category and include a weight percentage), and assign categories to multiple classes. Setting up categories is completely optional and contributes to changing the overall grade or mark.
This feature is only available for Points-Based Gradebooks.
Where to Start
- Click GradeBook.
- Select My GradeBooks.
- Click on the title of a Gradebook.
- Select Setup.
- Click Categories and Assignment Tags.
Categories
Categories or Weighted Categories are helpful for determining how different types of assignments contribute towards a student's overall grade (e.g. you want tests contribute towards 60% of the student's overall grade).
- Categories cannot be used in Standards-Based GradeBooks can only be used in Points-Based GradeBooks
- Each category needs an associated weight and the categories must add up to 100%
- Category Weights cannot be set as 0, even if the total is still 100%
- You can assign an icon to each category to enhance visual cues in GradeBooks
Setup a Category
- Name the category.
- Enter the category weight.
- Enter the number of Lowest Scores to drop from a student's overall grade (optional). The lowest score will be dropped for each grading period and there must be more than one assignment in order for an assignment to be dropped.
- The Icon is a visual representation of what category the assignment belongs to. These are also viewable in Assignment, Student, and Spreadsheet views.
- Use the Trash Can to delete a category.
- To add more categories, select + Add Categories.
- Also Save This To can save these Categories to all of, or select, GradeBooks.
- Click Save when done.
Follow the same steps to access categories for editing and deleting.
Be sure all categories add up to 100%.
Using Categories
Once you've created Categories, the options you've setup will display on the Add Assignment page within the Assignments section.
- If categories are created, every assignment MUST have an assigned category.
- Previously created assignments prior to category creation will need to be assigned a category.
- Tags will continue to be optional per user and are not required to be added to assignments.
- Remember, Categories are ONLY available for Points Based GradeBooks
Category Calculation Sample
If you have a weighted category(ies) added to your gradebook that you do not align to an assignment(s) in your gradebook, that will impact how the student's overall grade in the gradebook is calculated.
For example, if you have 4 categories, each worth 25% (i.e. Homework, Classwork, Quizzes, Tests), but have only aligned assignments to 3 out of the 4 categories, the overall student grades in your gradebook will be calculated off of a category weight of 75% instead of 100%. Here is a breakdown using example student percentages in each of those categories:
Example student category percentages:
Homework - 20% / 25%
Classwork - 25% / 25%
Quizzes - 22% / 25%
With the above example the student's overall gradebook grade would be 89.3% based on this student's combined category percentages (67%) divided by the total category weight percentage actually aligned to assignments (75%).
Next Steps
Review how to Create and Manage Assignments in your GradeBook, assigning categories and tags if applicable.