Monthly Mentions Newsletter – November 2018

As the end of the quarter approaches, your teachers will need to go through the ReportCard input process.  This means an administrator will allow input, the teachers will enter grades into the ReportCards and then the administrator will close input.  From there, you can either print the ReportCards or permission them to be viewed by parents online. Opening up teacher input for 1st Quarter ReportCards will require:

• Changing input for 1st mid-quarter from ‘Allow Input’ to ‘Input Complete’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’
• Changing input for 1st quarter ReportCards from ‘Not Yet’ to ‘Allow Input’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’
• Having teachers go through the 1st quarter ReportCard input process
• Closing the input process by changing ‘allow input’ to ‘input complete’

If your school is printing report cards, keep in mind that you can allow your parents to view them online.  This option will save your school time, money and the environment.  If a parent signature is needed to verify that they have seen the report cards, then you can create a WildCard field where parents can enter in their initials and the date electronically, letting you know they have viewed the report card. Here are the steps to allow viewing online:

1. Go to ‘Grades’ then ‘Parent View Controls’
2. In the ReportCard column, choose which grade levels will need their ReportCards viewable online and change those grade levels from ‘NO’ to ‘YES’.
3. Click ‘Submit’

You will need to make sure that input has been set to ‘Input Complete’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’.  If you would like assitance setting up a WidlCard field, contact HelpDesk and they will be happy to walk you through the process.

Review Your ReportCards! One very important step in creating report cards is to make sure everything has been set up correctly. This requires looking over a report card to double check:

• Course names
• Subcategories
• Grade scales/marking codes
• Formatting
• Printing

As the end of the trimester approaches, your teachers will need to go through the ReportCard input process.  This means an administrator will allow input, the teachers will enter grades into the ReportCards and then the administrator will close input.  From there, you can either print the ReportCards or permission them to be viewed by parents online. Opening up teacher input for 1st Trimester ReportCards will require:

• Changing input for 1st mid-trimester from ‘Allow Input’ to ‘Input Complete’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’
• Changing input for 1st trimester ReportCards from ‘Not Yet’ to ‘Allow Input’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’
• Having teachers go through the 1st trimester ReportCard input process
• Closing the input process by changing ‘allow input’ to ‘input complete’

If your school is printing report cards, keep in mind that you can allow your parents to view them online.  This option will save your school time, money, and the environment.  If a parent signature is needed to verify that they have seen the report cards, then you can create a WildCard field where parents can enter in their initials and the date electronically, letting you know they have viewed the report card. Here are the steps to allow viewing online:

1. Go to ‘Grades’ then ‘Parent View Controls’
2. In the ReportCard column, choose which grade levels will need their ReportCards viewable online and change those grade levels from ‘NO’ to ‘YES’.
3. Click ‘Submit’

You will need to make sure that input has been set to ‘Input Complete’ in ‘ReportCard Input Controls’.  If you would like assitance setting up a WidlCard field, contact HelpDesk and they will be happy to walk you through the process.

Review Your ReportCards! One very important step in creating report cards is to make sure everything has been set up correctly. This requires looking over a report card to double check:

• Course names
• Subcategories
• Grade scales/marking codes
• Formatting
• Printing

The Deposit and Charges Report in Finance has been transformed and we are loving it!  We’ve added search filters to help you pull up the exact information you need. Now you can search by just one family, just one account, just online payments and more!

Here are the steps for how to view the Deposits and Charges Report:

1. Go to Finance
2. Click on the button that reads ‘Deposits and Charges Report
3. Set the filters you need
4. Click ‘View Report’

Here are the various filters you can choose from:

• Deposits or Charges
• Date range
• Parent/staff account or all parents/staff
• Specific finance account or all finance accounts
• Transaction payment type (FDpay, non-FDpay, etc)

You can also choose to check mark the option for Edit mode, which will allow you to change or delete transactions just like before.  Finally, you can also check mark the option for Archives which will pull up any archived transactions within those search parameters.

While Bulletin Boards are an effective tool for keeping the school community connected, they may not be necessary for everyone. For the staff accounts that do not need BulletinBoards, administrators have the option to hide these accounts from displaying in the list of staff in Planner.

Here are the steps to hiding a staff person’s name in the list of staff in Planner:

1. Go to People, then Teachers
2. Click ‘Edit’ next to the name of the staff person who should be hidden from displaying in Planner
3. In the staff person’s account information, check mark the box following the line ‘Hide Bulletin Board:’
4. Click the change button for that staff person

Incorporating an exam score into a semester or final Report Card grade is possible in FastDirect.  The system will calculate the exam scores and depending on your specified percentages, will be calculated into the course’s final grade.  Here is an explanation of how exam scores can be set up in FastDirect:

• The courses that have exams will be given a subcategory that reads ‘Exam Score’
• An exam score percentage is entered into the system to be used for calculating overall grades.  Typically, this percentage is 20%
• On the 2nd and 4th quarters, the teacher will add the student’s exam score to the subcategory
• For the 1st Semester Report Card, the system will provide the teacher will a final grade using this equation: (Q1Q2GPA x 80%) + (Q2exam x 20%) / 100
• A similar equation will be used for the 2nd semester Report Card

Click here to read the FAQ on exam scores

To set up an exam score for a course, please contact HelpDesk to get started.

For parents, viewing a student’s attendance has never been easier! Along with the other viewable reports (grade book, report cards, missing assignments), you can also view your child’s attendance calendar!

Here are the steps for parents to view their child’s attendance calendar:

1. Log into your parent account
2. On the Home screen, scroll down to the options to view your child’s report cards or grade book grades
3. In the column for Attendance Report, click the ‘View’ button

• How can I exclude (hide) a student’s name from my grade book?
• How can I create a staff directory?
• What is File Manager?
•  On the grade scale viewable in GradeBook, what is the meaning of click %?

Helpful FAQs from November 2017:

• Moving a student from one course to another
• Retire an inactive staff account
• Adding grade book events to Bulletin Board and Calendar
• Homeroom teachers can change students from Absent to Tardy

Watch this video tutorial to learn the process for teacher report card input!

• Click here to watch the video tutorial as an MP4!
• Click here to watch the video tutorial in YouTube!