As a family member, you can access the assessment scores and standards performance for any students linked to your account. The gradebook module allows you to view performance by assessments or by standards. We'll take a deeper look at both views of the gradebook so you are well-equipped to support your students throughout the school year.
Each district can choose to customize the gradebook view, so you may not see both assessments and standards or may not see the same grading scales, grading periods, or mastery settings that we have enabled in our test accounts. Your school district, school, or student's teacher may provide more information about what you should expect to see in your family account. However, we are happy to answer any questions you might have as well. Feel free to reach out using the chat bubble in the lower right-hand corner of your Otus account.
Now, let's get started.
Accessing the Gradebook
When you log into your Otus account, the Gradebook module will appear as your landing page.
At a Glance
❗ If you aren't seeing any grades or grading scales on this page, that may be because of certain district settings. You can still click on a class to see the student's performance.
What is it? | How does it work? | |
Student | This shows each student linked to your family account. | Use the dropdown to select a student or use the arrows to scroll back and forth between students. |
Grading Period | Grading periods are the date ranges or segments that schools use to calculate grades. These often are set according to when report cards are issued. | Select a grading period from the dropdown to filter which assessments are being used to calculate the overall points and standards scores. |
Mastery Setting | This is the calculation that the district has chosen to determine the overall standard score for standards-based assessments. | |
Class | This list is all of the classes that your student is currently enrolled in and the subject that is being taught. | Click on a class to see your student's detailed performance and grades for that class. |
Teacher | Your student's teacher is listed for your reference. |
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Points | This column will show the overall points average for each class if your school is using points for grading. | The overall percentage is determined by dividing the earned points by the total available points for that class. You may see additional information like a letter grade or a total grade conversion that aligns the points value to a level of achievement. |
Grading Scale(s) | Grading scales determine the levels of achievement that teachers are using to evaluate your student's growth in mastering the content (or standards) being taught in each class. | These are created by your school so if you have any questions about the levels of achievement, please contact your student's teacher. |
You can also adjust the grading period and the class directly from the detailed view of assessments and standards.
Understanding the Assessments View
You'll find the assessments view by clicking directly on the class name you'd like to see.
Based on your district settings, your standards view may be on the left. In addition, not all districts choose to use the assessments view. In that case, you will only see the standards view.
What Does All of This Mean?
This page tells you everything you need to know about the work (assessments, homework, quizzes, projects) that has been assigned to your student. On one page, you'll quickly be able to see exactly how your student is doing and how you can best support them.
💡Tip: Sort by any column by clicking on the header column. Click on the Submission column to sort by status and see all of your student's missing assessments grouped together.
1) Class Name
You'll see the class name and the teacher's name.
2) Total Grade
Total grade is presented in a few ways.
Points: This is the total points your student has earned from all points-based assessments in this class.
Percentage: Total percentage based on points earned vs. points possible.
Letter Grade: Some districts enable traditional letter grades as an overall grade option.
Grade Conversion: If your district has this feature enabled, the total point/percentage value will be converted into a specific level of achievement.
3) Assessment Title
The title of each assessment that your student has taken or received a grade for will be listed here. This includes points-based assessments which use points for the score or standards-based assessments which use a grading scale for the standard score.
4) Score
The score is the grade for any points-based assessment.
Overall Score for Non-Points Assessments
🌟 If you see a bar graph with a single color or different colors, that indicates the assessment did not have any points. It was an assessment linked to standards only and was not graded with points. You can hover over each section of the bar graph to see the total number of descriptors (for rubric assessments) or questions were assigned that particular grading scale value.
In this example, you see that there are three different colors or three different grading scale values that were earned in this particular assessment. These grading scale values match the values that have been chosen by your school to evaluate student standard growth.
We hovered over the yellow section to see that 1 descriptor/question earned the Approaching value. In this case, 1 descriptor/question was not at standard and 1 descriptor/question meets.
5) Due Date
The due date is optional and can be set by the teacher when they assign the assessment.
6) Submitted
This is the date your student submitted the assessment from their account.
🌟 If you see no submission for a graded assessment, that indicates the assessment did not need to be submitted by your student.
7) Submission
This column shows whether the assessment is on time, late (submitted after the due date), missing, excused, or excluded.
8) Completion
This column tells you if the assessment is new, turned in, or graded.
9) Comments
Teachers can provide feedback on each assessment. You'll see any comments that were added in this column.
🌟 Click directly on the comment to read the full comment from the teacher.
Understanding the Standards View
Select the Standards tab to view your student's performance grouped by standards.
What Does All of This Mean?
Some schools use different grading scales for different types of assessments. You will see each grading scale with all of the standards that were assessed using that grading scale listed underneath it. Click on Hide to collapse the details for each grading scale. Selecting Show will expand the details for you.
Standards Overview
1) Grading Scale
A grading scale outlines levels of performance that are determined by the district or school. These illustrate how your student is progressing through their understanding of the concepts being taught to them.
If you have questions about what each level means or how your student's level is determined, you'll need to reach out to your administration or your student's teacher.
2) Standards
This is the title and description of the learning standard that each assignment or assessment question is attached to.
3) Last Attempt
This is the date of the last attempt at this standard.
An attempt is any time a student is assessed on that particular standard. Therefore, the last attempt refers to the last time the student was assessed on this standard.
4) Performance
Score: This is the student's score on the standard. This score is based on the current mastery setting (how the score is calculated) selected. You can change the mastery setting by using the filters at the top of the page.
Visual Representation: The horizontal performance bar represents the score based on where it falls on the progression of the grading scale.
The grading scale used in this example has four levels: Exceeds, Meets, Approaching, and Not at Standard.
The student's score is Exceeds, which is the highest out of the 4 options.
The horizontal performance bar is colored fully.
When compared to the score below it of Meets, which is #3 out of the 4 options, that horizontal performance bar is colored 3/4 (or 75%) of the way.
Number of Attempts: This number indicates how many times the student has been assessed on this standard. Furthermore, you can see the details of those attempts by clicking on the standard.
❓ What about the colors?
The colors are another way to visually represent the score. The lowest performance level is always red, while the highest is always blue. Yellow, green, and purple (if there are more than four levels) represent the levels in between.
District-Specific Settings
There are components of the standards view that are controlled by district settings and may change the options you see. Not everyone will see a total grade or grade override.
Do you see a grade at the top right corner of the grading scale details?
This means that your district is also giving students a total grade for each class in the standards view.
Do you see a score appearing in bold with an asterisk (*)?
This means that this grade has been manually adjusted by the teacher.
Filters
You can filter what you see in the gradebook by standard, assessment, and mastery setting.
By Assessment:
Select the dropdown and choose Deselect All. Then select only the assessment you'd like to see.
By Standard:
Select the dropdown and choose Deselect All. Then select only the standard you'd like to see.
Individual Standards View
The graph shows all of the times the student has been assessed on that standard.
You can change the mastery setting (how the overall score is calculated) by choosing an option from the dropdown menu.
Select an attempt from the list to see the exact question or assessment the attempt came from.
If you don't see anything when you click on the attempt, that means the teacher hasn't turned on the setting to allow you review this yet.
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Otus Live Video
Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on how to navigate the gradebook in a Student or Family account. To skip to the information on viewing the gradebook as a Family member, start at minute 4:18 in the video.
Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on how to navigate the gradebook in a Student or Family account. To skip to the information on viewing the gradebook as a Family member, start at minute 4:18 in the video.
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Click to see FAQ and Troubleshooting details.
Click to see FAQ and Troubleshooting details.
In the standards view, can I see all standards for all of my student's classes in one place?
Currently, this is not possible in a family account. Administrators in the school district have the ability to run report cards, which would contain this information. To vote on this feature, click here.
I can see my student’s grades from my Family account, can I see the content of their actual assessments as well?
No. Family accounts do not have access to the student’s Assessments content directly. Family members can only see the results of assessments in the Gradebook.