| Weights, Worth, Net, Impact |
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Weight, Worth, Net, and Impact on Grade all describe how much an assignment affects the total grade: Assignment Worth (on the page) is how many points or grades an assignment is worth. (You can select if you want this worded as "points" or "grades" on the page. Note than a assignment worth 1 grade is mathematically the same as one worth one point, so this does not change how grades are calculated or reported.) Normally when using "points", an assignment is "worth" the same number of points that are "possible", e.g., a 10-question quiz worth 10 points. However, you could optionally make a quiz with 10 questions "possible" be "worth" 15 points (i.e., each question counts as 1.5 points). Other gradebooks call these "weighted assignments", since they are like assignment weights within category weights. To make all assignments within a category be worth the same, make them each worth 1 grade. Weighted Categories (on the page) let you set, for example, homework to be 40% of the grade, quizzes 30%, etc. Categories are optional, and may be weighted or unweighted. Many teachers like to use weights out of 100 to represent percent, but it accepts relative weights even if they don't add up to 100. See Categories for more details. Weighted Cumulatives (on the page) let you set, for example, each quarter to be 25% of the year total, or each quarter to be 20% and the semester exams 10%, etc. Cumulatives may be left unweighted, e.g., so the 3 six-week grading periods are simply added together for the semester grade. This option isn't available if no cumulative grades are defined. See Cumulative Grades for more details. Net Percent (on the page) shows what percent of the total grade each assignment represents based on its Assignment Worth and Category Weights if any. This is a generalization for the whole class — the actual percent for each student may vary if they have any excused, ungraded, or Independent Study assignments. Students do not see this — they see the Impact on Grade instead. (Note: Net Percent is out of 100% of either the grading period subtotal, like 2nd Quarter, or the cumulative total, like 1st Semester, depending on whether you're using Weighted Cumulatives.) Impact on Grade (on the page and reports) shows the student exactly how much each assignment raises or lowers their grade. This is based on their score, the Assignment Worth, and the Category Weight if any. It is relative to their current average, not chronological order, so the negative red bars show what's below their personal average, which changes when you add new scores. This graph helps students visualize the consequences of missing work, poor test scores, etc., and helps them focus their efforts on make-up work if possible. Impact on Grade is shown on reports and the student's detail page (but not if you're using Rubrics). Troubleshooting: Why is Impact on Grade 0% or blank? • If a student has extra credit over 100% for their total grade or a category, then an assignment with a perfect score of 100% actually lowers their average, so it would have a negative impact. While this is mathematically correct, it is counter-intuitive, so to avoid confusion the impact is not shown in this case. • The assignment is worth zero points (see ), or the category has a weight of zero, or the cumulative has a weight of zero (see ).
• Extra credit is ignored if it is the only assignment in a weighted category. It must be added to other assignments before it can be calculated as a percent (e.g., you can't calculate the percent of 10 out of 0). • The assignment is worth zero points (see ), or the category has a weight of zero, or the cumulative has a weight of zero (see ).
• The assignment is Extra Credit and/or Independent Study, which do not count for Net Percent (see ).
• This is normal when you haven't graded assignments for all your categories yet — e.g., if the Participation category is weighted as 10% of the grade, but it hasn't been graded yet, then the other categories expand from 90% to make up 100% of the grade, so a Homework category weighted as 50% would for the moment be 55.6% of the grade. (If it didn't adjust like this, it would have to give 0% for that fraction of their grade, which would make everyone's grade unexpectedly low.) |
