FIAE Chapter 13

Color coding the gradebook is a fantastic way to organize student assessment scores. Selecting different colors for different topics or standards or whatever is being assessed is really helpful in making sure that there is a balance in the way you are assessing students. Making sure that you provide students with plenty of opportunities to demonstrate mastery in one area is good, but you want to make sure that you allow enough time for other areas as well.  I also like the idea of setting up the gradebook by content or topic. This doesn’t affect the way grades are weighted or anything, although it could easily be set up to, but it allows the teacher a comprehensive look at how a student is performing in each of the assessment areas. I don’t think it matters how a gradebook is set up, but how the teacher uses the gradebook. If it is only used to store or hold grades until the end of the marking period, then it is not useful. If it is a tool that allows a teacher to see how a student is doing and what the teacher needs to do to help students make progress, then it is an effective use of the gradebook.  Because online gradebooks are so much easier to work with, they tend to be favored, and I know that I would prefer an online gradebook. You can make changes and then make more changes and then revert to the previous setup without having to worry about rewriting every single grade.