What would you say if you could create online gradebooks for all of your classes in seconds? And not only this, but you could also have them automatically shared with teachers, guardians and students?🤔 With a K-12 school management software solution, like DreamClass, you get all of the above! And you may as well enjoy having school performance records, such as student official transcripts, automatically created for you! Amazing, isn’t it? Want to learn more? Read on!
Should you change the way you manage gradebooks and student performance?
Still wondering if this is really that necessary? Well, no; unless you’re dealing with issues like the following:
Still using paper-based gradebooks
Due to this, every school year you have to prepare paper-based gradebooks from scratch. And your workload includes tasks such as transferring data from your paper gradebooks to a legacy/enterprise system you may be using to manage your school. Or, perhaps, copying and sharing performance documents with school administrators; if you’re a teacher. And not only this, but you’re also repeating all these tasks, in case you should find any errors. Not to mention, you should also be extra careful so as to make sure paper gradebooks won’t be lost.
You’re swamped in Excel worksheets
The challenges are pretty much the same if you’re using Excel sheets or online documents. You’re probably working on ready-made Excel sheets or templates you have created on your own, trying to get the most of the grade calculations performed for you. And though having all grades gathered in one Excel sheet may be helpful, still, there’s work that needs to be done on your part. You need to:
- update student lists,
- make sure formulas properly calculate grades the way you prefer,
- have Excel sheets shared with administrators, teachers,
- print and share gradebooks with students and guardians etc.
Using an obsolete system
Last, but not least, if you’re using a grading tool or a gradebook software solution that does not offer sophisticated functionality, you won’t make grading tasks work like a charm.
Do any of the above scenarios resonate with you, regarding how you manage gradebooks in your school? If yes, then stay with me. In what follows we’ll find out more about the different ways DreamClass, our K-12 school management software solution, helps you manage student performance records more efficiently.
Online gradebooks with DreamClass: why you’re missing out
With DreamClass’ online gradebooks and performance-related functionality you can manage school academic performance on the class and the student level. More specifically, you can create gradebooks at the blink of an eye, in the way we describe below. Also, you can create student assignments, work on results (pending, passed, not passed with timestamp) and on final grades, with only a few clicks. And all of this is feasible by making the most out of ready-made forms, created to best fit your school’s needs. Here’s an overview of the performance-related tasks you can complete, nearly at lightning speed:
Create online gradebooks, in seconds
Create a grading structure that meets the needs of each one of your classes. Organize grades in levels, using grade columns; and store grade points for tests, assessments etc. Use category grades to create grade bundles and group grade columns, such grading points for tests. And, finally, use calculated grades to make calculations on all grade columns and create the grade totals for the gradebook of the whole class. Calculations may take the form of averages or weighted averages; and you may, as well, transfer grade totals to your final grades – an additional performance structure created for you.
Clone grade columns, to speedup gradebook creation
Online gradebooks in DreamClass, our K-12 School Management Software, come with extra sophisticated gradebook functionality, such as the aforesaid, and help make gradebook management so much easier.
Make the most out of multiple grading systems
Different classes or different assignments may require different grading systems. That’s why online gradebooks in DreamClass support various grading systems, such as numeric selector (0-100), numeric selector (0-10), numeric (0-100), value selector (A-F) and Pass/Fail.
Map grade ranges with colors and make gradebooks easy to read
Use color-coded formatting in your gradebooks, to highlight grade values and make it easier for teachers, students and guardians to “read” the grades. You may map grade ranges to specific colors; and not only this, but you may also map these ranges with specific grade values, making transformations from one grading system into another a breeze.
Use gradebook templates to replicate existing gradebook structures
Create gradebook templates in advance defining the calculations(function) that will be performed on the grades you’ll fill in. Reuse gradebook structures you have created, by massively applying gradebook templates on specific courses of different school periods; or programs you may run in your school.
Create totally customizable student transcripts, in seconds
DreamClass does not only offer you online gradebooks. With our totally customizable student transcripts, containing detailed performance information, you no longer need to create transcripts from scratch. You can shape up your student transcripts by adding/removing performance items, such as absences per course, total absences, number of lesson hours per course, total lesson hours, total units, average grades etc. This only takes a few clicks and student transcripts are ready for you to print and share with students or guardians.
Massively notify students or guardians on gradebook updates
Send students or their guardians an email with a link to view their grades from their portal, keeping everyone in the loop.
Enjoy exportable gradebooks
Export the gradebook structures you’ve been working on in DreamClass, in CSV or txt files. This is really helpful if you ever need to file them for archiving purposes; or if you need to share them in that form with other team members or further work on them.
Want to create online gradebooks for all of your classes, with only a few clicks?
With DreamClass, you’ll track student performance with no hassle at all; and, by making the most out of online gradebooks, you’ll make relevant tasks less time-consuming. Not only this, but you’ll also improve home-school and parent-teacher communication; a win-win situation for your whole school community. Needless to say, here, giving parents the option to check on students’ grades and/or helping students self-monitor academic performance, cannot substitute for a real dialog between parents, students and teachers. Besides, grades offer a great opportunity to open communications between guardians and teachers, so as to help improve children’s academic performance.
Want to see whether online gradebooks in DreamClass match with your school needs, in practice? Give it a try, for free.
Wondering if you can afford changing how your school manages gradebooks and student performance? Have a look at our pricing plans, here.
