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Navigate the Assessments View of the Gradebook

View all of your assigned assessments in one place, set statuses, add comments, and grade points-based assessments directly.

Written by Brooke Fodor

The assessments view brings every assigned assessment for a class onto a single page, regardless of grading scale, so you can track performance, manage statuses, and enter grades without leaving the gradebook.


🎯 Purpose

The assessments view of your gradebook lets you see all assigned assessments for each class on one page. You can set statuses for individual students or a whole class at once, add comments for students to review, and grade any points-based assessment directly from this view.


🔑 Key Functions

  • See every assessment in one place: All assigned assessments for a class appear on a single page, no matter the grading scale.

  • Grade directly: Enter or edit scores for points-based assessments right inside the view.

  • Manage statuses: Mark assessments as On Time, Late, Excluded, Excused, or Missing for one student or the whole class.

  • Add comments: Leave feedback students can see in their own gradebook or assessment review.

  • Drill into a student: Open a detailed view of any student's assessments, grades, and submission history.

  • Add plus assessments, groups, and notes: Capture work completed outside Otus, organize students into groups, and record notes for report cards.

  • Adjust grading periods and weights: Filter by grading period and apply category weighting to shape how grades calculate.

  • Export and print: Download gradebook data or a Missing Assessments report as a CSV.

ℹ️ Depending on your district's settings, the Assessments View of the Gradebook may be on the right-hand side.


Prerequisites

  • A teacher account in Otus (administrators can also view gradebook data across classrooms).

  • Assessments already assigned to the class you want to view.


🔢 Steps

Access the Gradebook

Step 1: Navigate to the Gradebook module and select the Assessments tab.

Step 2: Use the drop-down menu to specify which class you want to view.

Understand the Total Grade

The total grade appears in two ways, and sometimes three, depending on your district's setup.

Step 1: Review the Points value, which is the total points the student has earned across all assessments in the class.

Step 2: Review the Percentage value, based on points earned vs. points possible.

Step 3: If your district has grade conversion enabled, review the Grade Conversion, which turns the total point or percentage value into a specific level.

❗️If weighting is turned on, only the percentage is visible. Points will not be listed.

Read the Assessment Columns

Each column represents a single assessment. Columns are listed in order of due date. If an assessment has no due date, it sorts by most recently assigned.

Step 1: Scan across the columns to compare assessments side by side.

Step 2: To change the order of the assessments, add or adjust the due date.

💡Tip: Hover over the column title to see the complete assessment name and the due date, if one is set.

Edit Points Earned

Points earned per assessment are listed under each assessment column.

Step 1: Double-click the point value you want to change.

Step 2: Enter the new score.

Step 3: To remove a score, press the Backspace or Delete key, then press Enter or Return.

Set an Assessment Status

Each assessment can be marked On Time, Late, Excluded, Excused, or Missing.

The table below explains when each status applies.

Status

When is the status applied?

On Time

Applied when a student submits the assessment, or the assessment is graded, prior to the due date and time. This status is set automatically.

Missing

Applied automatically when the due date has passed and the student has not submitted the assessment. Missing assessments are not automatically given a zero. A teacher can manually score the assessment with a 0. Teachers can also let students turn in missing work by adjusting the assignment setting.

Late

Applied automatically when an assessment is submitted after the due date. Late means the work was submitted but arrived after the deadline, whereas Missing means it has not been submitted. An assessment is also marked Late automatically when a grade is added to a Missing assessment.

Excused

Applied only when a teacher selects it manually. Any score given to an excused assessment will not count toward the student's total class grade, though the points stay visible in the assessments view.

Excluded

Applied automatically when the Include Score in Final Grade option is enabled under the assigned assessment settings, or selected manually by a teacher. Any score given to an excluded assessment will not count toward the total class grade, though the points stay visible in the gradebook.

💡Tip: You can adjust a status at any time by selecting the current status and picking a different one from the drop-down.

Step 1: Double-click the status field for the assessment you want to change.

Step 2: Choose the appropriate status from the drop-down.

Add a Comment

Step 1: Select the speech bubble on the assessment you want to comment on.

Step 2: Enter your comment. The student will see it when reviewing the assessment or directly in their gradebook view.

💡Tip: If a speech bubble is grey, a comment has already been added. Click the bubble to open and edit it.

Open the Individual Student View

The individual student view gives you a closer look at one student's performance and growth.

Step 1: Click directly on a student's name to open the list of all assessments assigned to them.

Step 2: Review the detailed data for that student, which shows:

  • Letter grade (if your district uses points)

  • Percentage (if your district uses points)

  • Overall Performance for non-points assessments. This represents how many times the student reached each performance level for that grading scale. If you see only one color, only one performance level was earned.

  • Status

  • Type

  • Due date

  • Submission date

  • Comments

Add Plus Assessments, Groups, and Notes

Plus Assessments: To add a grade for work completed outside Otus, click the plus (+) icon and add a Plus Assessment.

Groups: To organize students, select the boxes to the left of each student you want to include, then click the groups icon (the flag symbol) to create a new student group or add them to an existing one.

Notes: To record a note that appears in the student profile and on report cards, select the boxes to the left of the relevant students, then click the notes icon.

💡Tip: The same note can be entered for multiple students at once.

Adjust Grading Periods

If your district has grading periods established, select the one you want under the Grading Period drop-down. The gradebook defaults to the current grading period, and you can switch to a year-long view as needed. If no grading periods are established, the gradebook defaults to the full academic year.

❗️ Not seeing an assessment?

Confirm assessments fall in the right period. The due date determines which grading period an assessment lands in. If an assessment has no due date, the submitted date is used instead.

If an assessment grade appears in the wrong period, change the due date to a date that falls within the desired grading period.

Apply Category Weights

Weighting lets you make certain categories of assessments worth more, which changes how the overall grade calculates.

Step 1: Open the weighting settings for the class.

Step 2: Assign weights to your assessment categories.

💡 Tip: Sometimes it helps to see this in action. We built an example calculation of a raw score versus a weighted grade for your reference. Click here for additional information about weighting grades.

Export and Print Gradebook Data

Export or Print: Click the ellipsis in the upper-right corner and select Download as CSV. The file opens in your spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel or Numbers. Then, choose the print option from that program's menu.

Download Missing Assessments: Click the ellipsis and select Missing Assessments. The download includes a column for each student listing their name, email, SIS ID, and missing assessments.


Otus Live Video

Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on navigating the assessments view of the gradebook.


FAQ & Troubleshooting

Click to see FAQ and troubleshooting details

Why don't I see points in the total grade column?

If weighting is turned on, only the percentage displays. Points are hidden while weighting is active.

Why can't I filter the gradebook by grading period?

Grading periods may not be set up. District administrators need to configure grading periods for each school or site before you can filter by them.

How do I change the order of my assessments?

Assessments sort by due date, then by most recently assigned. Add or adjust an assessment's due date to change where it appears.

A grade is showing in the wrong grading period. How do I fix it?

Change the assessment's due date to a date that falls within the grading period you want.

Can students still turn in missing work?

Yes. Teachers can allow students to submit missing work by adjusting the assignment setting.

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