The Cycle Grades page allows you to review and enter end-of-cycle and end-of-semester grade data, including cycle and semester averages, working final grade, override grades, exams, citizenship grades, and comments. When all data has been entered correctly and is ready to post, you must submit the cycle and/or semester grades to the campus administrator.
For self-paced courses, see the Self-paced courses section at the bottom of this page.
From the Grades menu, select Cycle Grades.
The Cycle Grades page is displayed allowing you to review and enter end-of-cycle and end-of-semester grades and submit the grades to Administration when they are ready to post.
The Semester
field displays the current semester by default. Click 
to view another semester.
In the Course
Section field, click to select
the course section for which you want to enter cycle and/or semester
grades.
Click Retrieve Data. The semester/cycle grades table displays all students currently enrolled in the course section.
Students are sorted by last name, unless you have specified a custom sort order on the Arrange Student Order page.
You can use the following keys to navigate the fields:
Press ENTER after you enter each grade to move down the list to the next student. Press SHIFT+ENTER to move up the list. You can also press the up and down arrow keys to move up and down the list.
Press TAB to move across the list to the next assignment. Press SHIFT+TAB to move back to the left.
The ID field displays the student's ID. Click the student ID to view the student's profile.
The Name field displays the name of the students in the course.
If the course is set up to post alphabetical grades, and the Show averages as alpha field on the Assignment Grades page is selected, alphabetical cycle grades are displayed. Otherwise, numeric cycle grades are displayed.
Withdrawn students are not automatically displayed. To see withdrawn students in the list, select Show Withdrawn Students. A withdrawn student has the message "withdrawn" and the withdrawal date displayed by his name. The withdrawal date may be the student's withdrawal date from school or his withdrawal date from the class.
To hide withdrawn students, clear Show Withdrawn Students.
No data is displayed for future cycles.
No Show students are not displayed.
Once saved, failing grades are highlighted in pink.
Note: For transfer students, the prior cycle grades are entered at the campus level.
The columns can be sorted according to your preferences.
Closed cycles/semesters
For cycles and semesters that are closed, the following applies:
For closed semesters, the posted semester grades are displayed under the Posted Sem: # heading, where # is the closed semester. Click Expand Previous Semester Detail to view all data for the closed semesters, including the cycle grades, semester exam grades, and semester averages. If you are currently in the first semester, the Posted Sem # heading is not displayed.
Semester averages may or may not be displayed depending on your semester exam pattern and number of semesters.
A previous semester average is not displayed for one-semester courses or two-semester courses that use semester exam pattern 2.
For four-semester courses that use semester exam pattern 2, the previous semester average is displayed.
For four-semester courses that use semester exam pattern 1, the three previous semester averages are displayed.
Click Collapse Previous Semester Detail to hide data for the closed semester.
Posted cycle grades for the current semester are displayed under the Posted Cycles heading below the cycle numbers. If you are currently in the first cycle of a semester, the Posted Cycle heading and cycle numbers are not displayed.
If a cycle or semester is closed, the average is pulled from the grade course record and is display only.
For data on a posted cycle, click the cycle average. A dialog box opens to display the posted cycle average, citizenship grade, and report card comments for the cycle. Click Close to close the dialog box.
If an override grade was entered for the cycle or semester grade, the override grade is displayed.
Current cycle
For the current cycle, the following applies:
Current cycle information appears under the Current Cycle: N heading, where N is the cycle number.
Current cycle information includes the following:
The Average/(Auto Grade) field displays the student's working cycle average, which is based on the data entered up to this point on the Assignment Grades page. This value is recalculated as assignment grade data is entered or changed for the student. The average becomes the student's cycle average, unless the cycle grade is pre-posted or an override grade is entered in the Override field (either by the teacher or an administrator).
If the grade in this field is an auto grade, the grade is displayed in parentheses in a lighter shade than a working cycle average. The auto grade is not displayed if the student has a working cycle average.
For more information on calculating averages, view the Help for Weighting Type on the Administer Categories page.
The Override field allows you to override a student's working cycle average with a different grade (e.g., if the student's working cycle average is 69, you may give the student a cycle grade of 70).
If the student's cycle grade is preposted, the pre-posted grade is displayed in this field. You cannot override a pre-posted cycle grade.
If you post an override grade for a student even if there are no categories for the course, the weighting type is automatically set to percentage.
The Citizenship field allows you to enter the student's citizenship grade for the current cycle. Valid grades are E, S, N, U, A, B, C, D, and F.
Notes:
The campus may have the citizenship grade set to automatically give all students a default grade. If so, you only need to enter a grade for students whose citizenship grade differs from the default.
For iTCCS users, if the campus does not give citizenship grades, or if you are not allowed to post citizenship grades, the Citizenship field is not displayed.
The Report Card Comments field allows you to enter up to five one-character comment codes to specify the comments you want to print on the report card (e.g., Excessive Talking and Finishes Work On Time).
For a list of valid report card comment codes and descriptions, click Show Comment Legend. The comment legend is displayed on the right side of the page allowing you to view valid codes. To hide the comment legend, click Hide Comment Legend.
Last cycle
During the last cycle of a semester, the following applies:
End-of-semester information is displayed under the Semester Grades heading.
End-of-semester information includes the following:
The Exam field allows you to enter the student's semester exam grade. If the student is exempt from the exam, type E.
To fill all blank exam grades with E (exempt), click Fill Exempt Exams. All blank grades for the exam are changed to E.
If the student has a pre-posted exam grade, it is displayed in the field and cannot be changed.
Note: Some campuses may have a grade conversion value for E. If your campus uses E as a grade, the numeric value for the grade of E is used for the semester exam, instead of exempt, for calculating the semester average. In this case, you cannot use E to indicate that the student is exempt from the exam.
The Average field displays the student's working semester average, based on the data entered up to this point. The value is recalculated every time you access the page, click Calculate Semester Averages, or save grades.
The Override field allows you to override a student's working semester average with a different grade.
For campuses that do not have semester exams every semester (e.g., a four-semester campus that has semester exams at the end of the second and fourth semesters), the semester averages are only calculated if there is a semester exam for the current semester.
During semesters that have semester exams, the following applies:
The Exam field is displayed.
The Average field displays the average of the cycles since the last semester that had an exam. The semester exam is included in the calculation according to campus settings.
If the current cycle is the last cycle of the semester, the Exam and Average fields are displayed under the heading Semester Grades. Otherwise, the working semester average is displayed under the heading Semester Average.
When you view a previous semester that has a semester exam, the Exam and Average fields display the posted grades.
During semesters that do not have semester exams:
The Exam field is not displayed.
The Average field displays the average of the cycles since the last semester that had an exam.
When you view a previous semester that does not have a semester exam, neither the exam nor the semester average is displayed.
If a final grade has been posted for the course, the grade is displayed under the Working Final Grade heading.
If it is not the last cycle of the semester, the Semester Average field displays the student's working semester average using the data that has been entered up to this point. The value is recalculated every time you click Calculate Semester Averages and every time you save grades.
If the semester is closed, the Semester Average field displays the average from the grade course record.
If a cycle grade is blank, the semester grade is not calculated.
For the final grade, the following applies:
Final grade information is displayed under the Working Final Grade heading.
The working final grade includes the posted semester average for any previous semesters and the working semester average for the current semester.
If a posted semester average exists for the current semester, the posted semester average is used in the final grade calculation. If there is no posted semester average for the current semester, but an override semester grade exists, the override grade is used in the final grade calculation.
The working final grade is recalculated if a semester exam is administered or an override grade is entered for the current semester.
For students who were enrolled in a different section of the same course during a previous semester, the working final grade includes the posted semester average for the other section (TxEIS only).
The working final grade is not displayed for campuses that use the semester grading concept.
For situations where a student has been enrolled in more than one section of the same course during the first semester, and another section of the course during the second semester, the following applies:
If a semester average exists for only one of the first semester course sections, the semester one average is used to calculate the working final grade.
If a semester average exists for both of the first semester course sections, the system does not determine which average to use for the first semester. In this case, a question mark (?) is displayed for the semester one average and the working final grade.
Note: If the student was enrolled in one section of a course during semester one, and another section of the same course in semester two, the average for each semester is used to calculate the working final grade.
You must save your grades before you exit this page. Otherwise, your changes will be lost.
Important Note: Saving grades is different from posting grades. You can only post your grades once at the end of the cycle, as described below; however, you must save any changes every time you visit this page. This allows you to leave this page and return as you enter cycle grades data.
In the PIN field, type your four-digit PIN.
Click Save.
If your changes are saved successfully, the page reloads, and a message is displayed indicating that the cycle grades were saved successfully.
If you enter an invalid grade, the grade is highlighted in red, and an error message is displayed at the top of the page. You must correct the error before you can save any changes.
If you type your PIN incorrectly, the system notifies you that you provided an invalid PIN. You must provide the correct PIN to continue.
If you change any data on the page and then attempt to leave the page without saving the changes, a warning message is displayed. This includes attempting to change the Semester or Course Section fields before you save changes.
To print the cycle grades displayed on the page, click Print. The Print dialog box opens allowing you to select your printer and settings. Click Print to continue, or click Cancel to cancel printing.
After you enter cycle and/or semester grades data for the course, review your input carefully, and save all changes. Once the data is posted by the campus administrator, you cannot change any data. If you discover an error after grades are posted, you must contact the campus administrator to correct any errors.
After grades are posted and the cycle is closed, you can make changes to the grades and view the working cycle average (e.g., for a student who missed the last few days of a cycle due to illness); however, you cannot post any changes. Instead, print your changes and submit your printout to the campus administrator.
When you are satisfied with your input for the cycle grades, notify the system that you are ready to post.
Click Mark grades as Ready to Post. This link is only displayed for current cycles that are open for posting.
In the PIN field, type your four-digit PIN. The field is disabled for inquiry-only users.
Click Continue to indicate that your grades are ready to post, or click Cancel to cancel the action.
If your changes were saved successfully, the page reloads, and a message is displayed indicating that the cycle grades were successfully sent to be posted. The message "[READY]" is displayed in the Course Section drop-down list next to the course.
If you typed your PIN incorrectly, the system notifies you that you provided an invalid PIN. You must provide the correct PIN to continue.
You can submit your grades more than one time if you make a change shortly after mark the grades as ready to post; however, once the data is posted by the campus administrator, you cannot change any data.
Notes:
The campus administrator can run a report to determine which teachers have posted their grades and which teachers have not yet posted their grades.
If the campus option is set to include exam grades in the semester average, a warning message is displayed if you do not enter an exam grade.
For self-paced courses, the following applies:
A modified version of the Cycle Grades page is displayed to accommodate cycle grade data for self-paced courses.
If assignment grades are recorded for the self-paced course, the average (based on the assignment grades) appears under Cycle Average. The use of assignment grades is optional for self-paced courses.
The final grade must be manually entered in the Override field, regardless of the data in the other fields.
The semester grades for self-paced courses are automatically posted when they are saved. Type your PIN, and then click Post. If your changes are saved successfully, the page reloads, and a message is displayed indicating that the grades were saved successfully.