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Product Features
1) The
Gradebook - An Overview
2) Security
3) Assignments
4) Assignment Categories and Weights
5) Grades
6) Attendance
7) Seating Chart
8) Primary Admin Tools
9) School/District Attendance Tools
10) Reports
11) Database Manager
12) Tools and Settings
13) Parent Connection
14) Student Connection
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The Gradebook - An Overview
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What is GradeSpeed™? Click
here for an interactive video tour of the gradebook.
GradeSpeed™ is a very
powerful, yet user-friendly web based gradebook solution for school districts.
Its reporting features and configuration abilities are second to none,
while the teacher gradebook control panel is incredibly easy to use. All
important functions can be completed with just a couple clicks of the
mouse.
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The teacher gradebook
was designed to be as efficient and easy to use as possible. There is a
navigational “ribbon” at the top of every page, allowing for
easy access and simple navigation between features.
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GradeSpeed™ allows student grades to
be transferred automatically within the school district.
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Nearly everything in GradeSpeed™ is configurable
- from assignment types and weights, to reporting, to conduct codes, to
the grading scales in use... everything can be easily tailored to the
district's exact needs.
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Administrators and teachers can access GradeSpeed™
from a PDA or cell phone! Since GradeSpeed™ is web-based, any internet-capable device can be used to
access the application.
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GradeSpeed™ offers support for both
English and Spanish progress
reports, report cards, conduct codes, assignments, and more.
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GradeSpeed™ is built on
Microsoft’s .NET framework. .NET provides the fastest and most
stable environment for web-based applications.
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GradeSpeed™ has existing interfaces
with 45+ student information systems, ranging from the “big names”
to home-grown applications.
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GradeSpeed™ was the first gradebook
software solution to interface with Chancery SMS.
- Use the
"virtual keyboard" when logging in to avoid a potential keylogging device from intercepting your
password.
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GradeSpeed™ has a very powerful user permissioning system. The system administrator can
decide exactly what every person in each role needs to have access to...
and what they don't.
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GradeSpeed™ notifies users
immediately if their account has been accessed by an unauthorized
computer. Upon logging in, a dialog box is displayed that details the
exact time of infiltration as well as the IP address of the computer used
to access the user’s account account.
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GradeSpeed™ generates automatic,
restorable backups of all the data within teacher gradebooks. Every 2
hours and every time a teacher logs off, the application takes a
"snapshot" of all the data inside the gradebook and stores it
in a restorable backup. If a teacher is suspicious that the data in
his/her gradebook has been compromised, the gradebook may be restored to
an earlier state.
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GradeSpeed™ integrates with
Microsoft's Active Directory and Novell eDirectory
via LDAP to simplify user access and increase security. Users will be
able to log in via their network login credentials.
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GradeSpeed™ and ParentConnection, our
parental access module, work over a secure connection - supports SSL.
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Teachers can easily create and manage
unlimited assignments.
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GradeSpeed™ offers support for
English and Spanish assignment
titles.
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Teachers can associate state standards with
created assignments. Administrators can then monitor these associations
with a State Objective Report. The appropriate state standards are
automatically loaded by default.
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Classes may be grouped together so that
they receive the same assignments. GradeSpeed™ will even
“intelligently” group classes together. This prevents tedious
entry and re-entry of assignments to like classes.
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GradeSpeed™ offers support for rubric
assignments. Furthermore, administrators can create rubrics and push them
out to teacher gradebooks.
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Documents can be attached to individual
assignments and made available in ParentConnection, our parent portal.
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Assignment
Categories and Weights
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Nearly everything within GradeSpeed™
is configurable. Assignment categories such as "homework,"
"tests," "quizzes," etc… may be set up and
assigned specific weights. Weights can be defined by percent or multiple.
Furthermore, individual assignments can be weighted within their
respective categories.
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Administrators can set required categories
and weights for different subjects at the district or campus level or
simply let teachers configure their own.
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Categories may be color-coded for display on
the main gradebook page.
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GradeSpeed™ uses intelligent
algorithms when dropping low grades. The total number of low grades to
drop from each category may be specified, as well as a maximum amount of
assignments to be dropped across categories. The application can be
configured to drop grades that will most adversely affect student
averages, even if the grade may not be numerically the lowest. For
example, if a student gets a homework grade of 40 and a test grade (which
weighs more heavily on the student's grade) of 60, the 60 will be dropped
if it would lower the student's grade more than the homework assignment.
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The software also provides automatic
category handling for grouped courses. For example, all
"biology" classes can be assigned the same category settings.
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The GradeSpeed™ gradebook has a very
simple, easy-to-navigate interface. It's very intuitive. New users will
have no trouble logging right in and using it immediately.
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Teachers can enter grades very quickly. The
arrow keys may be used to scroll through student grades. There is also an
option to specify the behavior of the “Enter” key, allowing
for efficient 10-key grade entry. This makes it very quick and easy to
enter grades.
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Student attendance can be viewed directly from
the main gradebook page. Everything is laid out intuitively within the
teacher interface for ease of use.
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Student grades may be entered by student or
by assignment.
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GradeSpeed™ supports virtually any
grading scale - 0-100, A-F, E/S/N/U, or even a custom grading scale required
by district policy.
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Teachers can print out progress reports
directly from their gradebooks, or they can be generated at the
administrative level.
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Teachers can take attendance very easily –
just a single click per student!
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Teacher attendance submissions are posted
to the district’s SIS within
90 seconds. Office changes to attendance are pulled from the
SIS to GradeSpeed™ within 15 minutes. So teachers and
administrators see nearly real-time attendance records.
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GradeSpeed™ will pull in administrative
changes to attendance data from your SIS. Therefore, attendance clerks do
not necessarily have to learn a new system.
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The attendance clerk can make changes to
daily attendance after it's submitted by teachers. Once the change is
made, teachers can see the changes reflected in their gradebook, the time
of the change and the name of the administrator who changed it.
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If teachers record attendance directly in
the district SIS rather than in GradeSpeed™…
- ...GradeSpeed™
will still pull the attendance records from the SIS. Our software
currently interfaces with 45+ SIS packages.
- ...attendance
records will be available in ParentConnection, our parental access module.
- ...teachers
will be able to view attendance and run attendance reports from the
gradebook.
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The GradeSpeed™ Seating Chart is a
free-form, drag and drop tool for teachers that allows them to arrange
their desk layout within the seating area of the classroom.
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Student images may be displayed as well, which
is very handy for learning students' names as well as for substitute
teachers.
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Attendance can be taken from the Seating Chart.
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The Seating Chart can easily be printed for
substitute teacher use or for use during standardized testing.
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GradeSpeed™ Monitor is an advanced schedule
viewer. Student grades and comment codes, along with real-time detailed
progress reports can be viewed. Data may be displayed per-student,
per-activity group, or per-teacher.
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The View Gradebooks feature allows administrators with
sufficient permissions to view any teacher's gradebook. This is ideal
for principals and support personnel.
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School/District Attendance Tools
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Attendance is posted to the SIS within 90 seconds and
office changes to attendance are pulled from the SIS to GradeSpeed™
within 15 minutes. So teachers and administrators see nearly real-time
attendance records.
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Using the teacher components of
GradeSpeed™ reduces the load on the district’s SIS environment.
This makes it run noticeably faster.
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Using GradeSpeed’s powerful reporting
features, all facets of teacher and student progress can be monitored.
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Teacher Verification tools are available
for teachers to electronically “sign off” on their grades and
attendance records at the end of each cycle - before they're printed on
report cards or exported into the SIS.
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Daily Attendance Summaries allow office
administrators and attendance clerks to view attendance records for defined
criteria over a specified time period.
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Students and teachers may be assigned to
Activity Codes, opening up a whole new world of reporting possibilities.
For example - administrators can see when band members are going to be
missing a school day for a function; and coaches can oversee all football
players' grades and make sure everyone will remain eligible for the
upcoming season.
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GradeSpeed™ boasts possibly the most
powerful reporting features in the industry. The “canned”
reports are second to none, and should fulfill 99% of the needs of the
district. However, custom reports can be created to extract data directly
from the GradeSpeed™ database – in any combination. Custom
reports can be created by either using a simple SQL query or the new
Ad-Hoc Query Designer tool. This utility allows custom reports to be
created with no SQL
knowledge required using a visual query
builder.
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Built-in reports for teachers include:
Grade List
Category Averages
Conduct/comments
Assignments
Missing Assignments
Class Roster
Grade List (paper saver)
Attendance Roster
Failure Report
Honor Roll Report
GradeSpeed™ Monitor
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Administrators have even more helpful
reports available to them. Administrators can see...
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...which teachers have not turned in attendance.
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...which teachers are not keeping their
grades up to date.
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...the failure rate among students per teacher. This is
extremely helpful for spotting teachers whose failure rate is higher than
normal when compared to others.
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...eligibility reports. These reports,
based on the specified criteria, will generate a list of students who are
ineligible to compete in sporting events or participate in other
extracurricular activities.
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...report card data. Administrators can
print report cards directly out of GradeSpeed™. Generic or custom
report card templates can be used.
- Custom reports
can be generated using the standard report viewer that's built in to
GradeSpeed™, or the Crystal Reports/SSRS viewer. They can also
be saved as an Excel file that pulls fresh data every time it's
loaded.
- With
our proprietary "Report Card Template Designer"
application (in conjunction with Microsoft Word 2003), custom report
cards can be created to mimic template designs approved by the
district. GradeSpeed™ also has an easy to read, generic report
card template available.
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Within the database manager, codes and
other settings may be configured (for many districts, many of these
settings will be automatically extracted from the SIS via the schedule
interface). Things like:
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Activity codes (ex. "Band,"
"Football," "Chess Club," "FCA" or any
other activities utilized at the district). Having designated activity
groups allows teachers and administrators to monitor the progress of
students involved in those activities.
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Attendance codes
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Attendance times
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Comment codes
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Conduct codes
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Individual course properties. Basic course
configuration settings are made here, including required category weights
(if any), alternate calendars, exam weights, etc…
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Grade conversion. All grading scales
utilized at the district are defined here.
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Student characteristics. Here,
administrators can create a custom list of characteristics that is
visible on all student profiles. For example, this list can include
things like "dyslexic," "at risk," "gifted and
talented," and other general characteristics or traits. Teachers can
specify which of the custom characteristics each student displays. Once a
teacher has selected any appropriate characteristics, all of the
student's other teachers can see them as well.
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Report Card Standard Definitions. In
districts using GradeSpeed’s Custom Report Cards module,
standards-based report cards can be distributed to grade levels assessed
by benchmarks or standards rather than standard grading.
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All global and campus-specific tools,
settings and preferences can be modified from one central location for
ease of use.
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Supports all necessary grading cycle
calendars - 6 week, 9 week, etc...
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Trigger notifications may be set up for
administrators. They may be notified by email, text message or phone call
when a student has a drop in performance,
receives an attendance event or is involved in a disciplinary incident.
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ParentConnection
is the GradeSpeed™ parent portal. Parents can create an account and
log in to see their student's grades, attendance, discipline incidents,
report cards and other valuable information. Parents can also set up
their own Trigger notifications. They may be notified by email, text
message or phone call when a student has a drop in performance,
receives an attendance event or is involved in a disciplinary incident.
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Parents can sign up for a ParentConnection account or
administrators can create accounts for them.
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Parent accounts can be auto-approved by the
application or require manual administrator approval. This helps prevent
fraud and unauthorized access.
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ParentConnection
works over a secure connection - supports SSL.
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Inside the ParentConnection interface,
parents have access to a "school calendar" that can display any
upcoming district-wide or school-specific events. Attendance events also
display on the calendar.
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StudentConnection
is the GradeSpeed™ student portal. Here students can be allowed
access to the same areas that parents see. They may also submit their
course requests for the next school year. Courses can be organized to
give students recommendations on what they should take based on current
year data.
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Requires only a minimal one-time setup.
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The approval process for course requests
is quick and painless.
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