CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

IMPACT GradebookCore Team Support Guidelines

July 7, 2008

Instructional Management Program& Academic Communication Tool

I M P A C TI M P A C T

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Topics

Overview

Prepping Your School

Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Role-based Training Guides

Process Overviews & Help Materials

IMPACT Support Resources

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Overview

This presentation is designed to provide school core teams with a guide for supporting the implementation of IMPACT Gradebook at your school.

Most teachers will not have the benefit of Instructor-Led Training, therefore each school’s core team must take the lead in helping school staff members learn the new tool.

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Overview

This guide includes links to valuable support materials, but does not contain specific detail on functional instruction or process guidelines.

An IMPACT support representative will be onsite for a portion of each day during the first week of class to assist schools using Gradebook for attendance on the first day of school. Core teams should still take the lead role in supporting your school.

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Prepping Your School

Consult with your scheduler to determine the status of scheduling in IMPACT SIM.

Gradebook pulls all scheduling data from IMPACT SIM. This includes the assignment of students to homerooms. If scheduling is not complete, class rosters will not fully import and teachers will be unable to record attendance in the new tool. This is the most important step to ensuring a successful implementation at your site.

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Prepping Your School

Check the ODA system to ensure that all role assignments are accurate

The implementation of Gradebook includes the addition of a new school-based role for technology coordinators. The assignment of this role is essential to schools, as this role will have permissions to assist school administrators with the management of parent accounts once the Gradebook Parent Portal function is deployed.

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Prepping Your School

Call the IMPACT Help Desk if a change to the default standard grading scale is needed.

The default value for each school grading scale has been set to the ‘recommended’ district standard. School administrators can request a change based on a customized local scale. However, during the first year of implementation these changes will be made by the IMPACT team. Schools must contact the IMPACT Help Desk to place a formal request.

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Prepping Your School

Ensure all staff knows how to access Gradebook

As with all other IMPACT modules, the IMPACT Gradebook access button is located on the landing page at http://impact.cps.k12.il.us/applications.asp.

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Prepping Your School

Inform classroom teachers that they will need to establish a Remote Access account

Teachers will be able to use Gradebook from home via a secure Remote Access connection. For instructions on this process, visit http://vpn.cps.k12.il.us.

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Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Gradebook offers teachers a robust set of features. However, in order to stabilize your school, staff must first acclimate to a small set of core functions. At the beginning of the school year, teachers with questions on advanced functions should be deferred until each staff member understands how to perform the following tasks.• Record Attendance• Modify Gradebook categories and weights• Create assignments and record assignment grades• Record marking period grades• Print required classroom reports

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Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Record Attendance

At the beginning of the school year, the most important task for teachers to learn is to record attendance. If the school has completed scheduling, and has assigned all students to homerooms, teachers will have access to all class rosters for attendance. Similar to SIM, student attendance will be set to ‘present’. Teachers will only have to mark tardy or absent students.

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Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Modify gradebook categories and weights

Teachers wishing to use Gradebook for more than marking period grades should begin by confirming their list of assigned classes and then create grading categories for each class. Resource teachers must also be scheduled so that they have access to their Gradebook class rosters.

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Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Create assignments & record assignment grades

Teachers wishing to use Gradebook for more than marking period grades will then complete the initial setup by adding assignments to each category. Teachers must solidify categories before adding assignments. If a teacher deletes a category, he/she will lose all assignments attached to that category. Teachers should also be instructed on how to record grades for each assignment, including how to assign extra credit or a modified scale for an individual student.

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Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Record marking period grades

Schools are required to submit marking period grades in the system in the same manner they do today in IMPACT SIM. It is important that classroom teachers are proficient in performing this task prior to the close of the first marking period.

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Critical Training Elements for Teachers

Print required classroom reports

Each teacher should know how to print basic reports from the system, in particular class rosters.

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Role Based Training GuidesAll school staff members will have access to the training guides distributed during Instructor-Led Training. To view these guides, please visit the Self-Paced Training Materials page at: https://secure.impact.cps.k12.il.us/spt/default.html. The information highlighted below include critical teacher tasks. Core team members should provide this information to staff.

IMPACT Gradebook for School Administrators & Technical Coordinators IMPACT Gradebook for Attendance Clerks IMPACT Gradebook for Grading Coordinators IMPACT Gradebook for Teachers

• Navigating the Gradebook (Page 3)

• Defining Categories (Pages 15,16)

• Managing Assignments (Pages 18-21)

• Grading Assignments (Pages 23,24)

• Entering Marking Period (Progress Report and Report Card )Grades (Pages 29,30)

• Submitting Attendance (Pages 31-33)

• Accessing Reports (Pages 35-42)

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Process Overviews and Help Materials

Additional materials have been posted to the IMPACT Self Paced Training site at https://secure.impact.cps.k12.il.us/spt/default.html. This material includes a FAQ document and a number of online training videos.

Several useful materials are posted on the IMPACT Publications page at http://impact.cps.k12.il.us/publications.asp. These documents provide you with the recommended processes and procedures for using Gradebook.

• Principal Orientation Guide

• Teacher Orientation Guide

• ES Year-round and Multi-track Attendance Use Case

• High School Attendance Use Case

• Elementary and High School Grading Use Cases

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IMPACT Support Resources

IMPACT Web site www.impact.cps.k12.il.us

IMPACT Help Desk Information:• (773) 553-3925• Select option 2 for IMPACT, then option 4 for Gradebook• Hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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