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************************************************** **** THE PROGRADE SYSTEM USER'S MANUAL ***** ************************************************** CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRADE SYSTEM II. SETTING DISKS UP TO USE THE PROGRADE SYSTEM III. INITIALIZING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM IV. RUNNING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM V. NAMING THE CLASS FILES VI. ENTERING STUDENT NAMES VII. DELETING STUDENT NAMES VIII. ENTERING GRADES IX. CALCULATING GRADES X. RECALCULATING THE VALUE FOR A GRADE XI. MODIFICATIONS XII. REPORTS XIII. SAVING FILES XIV. GETTING OR CREATING ANOTHER CLASS XV. SCALING XVI. ENDING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM XVII. PROGRADE PLUS INTRODUCTION XVIII. RUNNING PROGRADE PLUS XIX. QUICK PLUS XX. INITIALIZE (BEGIN) PROGRAM XXI. COPYRIGHT --- I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRADE SYSTEM THE PROGRADE SYSTEM was designed by a teacher -- it does what teachers want a grading program to do. It is FAST and EASY TO USE: a major factor in the design of THE PROGRADE SYSTEM was the minimization of the number of keystrokes required to make the program work. With THE PROGRADE SYSTEM you will spend no more time recording grades than you would spend using a gradebook, and averaging your grades at the end of the quarter or year will take just SECONDS ! THE PROGRADE SYSTEM will accept letter or numerical grades and lets YOU decide the letter grade numerical equivalents. THE PROGRADE SYSTEM lets you enter grades in ANY order -- any assignment for any student at any time. It accesses most student records with a single keystroke ... that's fast!! THE PROGRADE SYSTEM calculates weighted grades or unweighted grades, points, percents, or letter grades. And every floppy disk can store dozens of class files each with up to 35 students, 45 assignments per student. THE PROGRADE SYSTEM was designed to PROVIDE INFORMATION and to provide it FAST. Students need to know where they stand; once quarterly grades or a "scan of the gradebook" is often not enough. With THE PROGRADE SYSTEM, you know each student's grade average every single time you enter a grade. It's effortless to "keep on top" of a student's grades. No more of that extra calculating that so often does not get done. THE PROGRADE SYSTEM provides summary reports to suit your needs: class averages, analyses of any assignments or of class averages, comparisons of grades, ranked or alphabetical class lists, printed copies of all grades, averages of all tests, homeworks, etc. And it will provide individual progress reports with averages for all assignment categories. Your students and their parents can KNOW where they stand at all times, and you can, too. Computers are intended to SAVE time, to make work easier. THE PROGRADE SYSTEM is a USER'S PROGRAM. You load THE PROGRADE SYSTEM and THE PROGRADE SYSTEM works for you. At times, THE PROGRADE SYSTEM will even seem to think for you. This is because THE PROGRADE SYSTEM was designed by a professional teacher to meet professional teachers' needs. --- II. SETTING DISKS UP TO USE THE PROGRADE SYSTEM PREPARATION OF PROGRAM DISK: The PROGRADE SYSTEM disk is ready to use. NEVER DELETE, ALTER , OR RENAME ANY FILES ON THE DISK OR YOUR PROGRAM MAY MALFUNCTION. DO NOT PLACE A WRITE PROTECT TAB ON THE PROGRAM DISK!! Simply follow the commands on the disk label. The original program disk must be in Drive A: when the ANY of the programs start from the master menu, when you request on screen help, or when you view the manual to the screen. It is easiest to use the PROGRAM DISK in DRIVE A: and the DATA disk in DRIVE B: (The program will also work with a single drive, but there will be some disk switching required because of this. Be certain that when you are using the MASTER MENU that the PROGRAM DISK is in your drive and when saving or getting grades, the DATA DISK is in the drive). NOTE: TO AVOID THE REPEATED "INSERT DISK WITH COMMAND.COM" MESSAGE YOU NEED TO PLACE YOUR COMMAND.COM FILE ONTO THE PROGRAM DISK. THIS IS DONE AS FOLLOWS: Place the DOS DISK in DRIVE A: and type COPY COMMAND.COM B: <enter> Have the program disk in DRIVE B: or place it in A: when told to insert the target diskette. Once the COMMAND.COM file is on the PROGRADE disk, you will not longer see this message. HARD DISK OR VIRTUAL DISK USERS: Prepare to use the PROGRADE SYSTEM as follows. Place the PROGRAM DISK in DRIVE A: and type HARD <enter> Then, use the menu to CHOOSE DISK DRIVE C FOR DATA (fastest) or DISK DRIVE A (or B if you have one). Then use the menu to save the changes. Then use the menu to end. To run the programs, type C: <enter> (if you are not already in drive C) CHDIR \PROGRADE <enter> PRO <enter> Hard drive users who do not use drive letter C should follow the instructions in the READNOW file found on the program disk. UTILITY DISK: No preparation is required. The UTILITY disk contains the PROGRADE SYSTEM manual. If you print the manual, you will be asked to place the UTILITY disk into a specified drive at a specific time. To use the sample grade files provided ON the UTILITY DISK, use the UTILITY disk AS IF IT WERE YOUR DATA DISK. The disk also contains other files. .TXT files are for word processor use. .EXE files are programs. ENJOY! PREPARATION OF YOUR OWN DATA DISK: Simply format a blank disk for use as a data disk. Be sure that whenever you are saving a file that this Data Disk is in the Data Drive which you specify in the initialization section (see section III). Also, be sure that you use the data disk one time with the MAIN PROGRAM before using it with QUICK or PROPLUS. --- III. INITIALIZING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM The purpose of the initializing section is to set certain variables for THE PROGRADE SYSTEM to use each time it runs. The initialization needs to be done only once, but may be redone at any time. To initialize the program, simply get to DOS, put the program disk in Drive A, and type PRO <enter>. Then choose the BEGIN program. The menu that appears will provide you with the following choices (see section XX of this manual for details): SCREEN COLOR SELECTIONS NAME GRADE CATEGORIES PRINT MANUAL / TUTORIAL AUTOMATIC SAVE - HOW OFTEN VIEW MANUAL ON SCREEN SAVE CHANGES TO DISK AND END GRADE WEIGHTING OPTIONS DEFINE LETTER GRADES CHOOSE DISK DRIVE FOR DATA END BUT DONT SAVE CHANGES PROGRESS REPORT COMMENTS ADJUST TREND CALCULATIONS HARD DRIVE LETTER ORDER/REGISTRATION IV. RUNNING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM THE PROGRADE SYSTEM is easy to run. Once you have read section II and have initialized the program (see section III), and once you are in DOS, simply type PRO <enter> and the SYSTEM MASTER MENU will appear. From this, choose the program that you want. Alternatively, you can run the programs by typing their individual names: PRO for the main program, QUICK for the quick printed grade reports or progress reports , PROPLUS for the supplementary program, and BEGIN for the program to initialize options. The first time you run PROGRADE, you should go through each menu option in the BEGIN program (see section III). ERROR MESSAGES If an error message occurs while you run the program, check first to see that you have the correct DISK in the computer, that the PROGRAM disk has not been altered in any way, that there is NO WRITE PROTECT TAB on the program disk, and that if you are getting a file, that you are using the filename that is ON THE DISK. If you are entering NAMES or ASSIGNMENTS and see the "NAME REJECTED", your entry is either too long, or uses non-allowable characters. V. NAMING THE CLASS FILES When prompted by THE PROGRADE SYSTEM to enter the classname (filename), you may use any DOS acceptable filename (i.e. up to 8 characters in length; acceptable characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, ()@#$%&!-_'`^~) DO NOT USE SPACES OR ANY OTHER CHARACTERS NOT LISTED HERE. ALSO, DO NOT USE "DEMO" IN YOUR FILE NAME. DO NOT USE ANY EXTENSIONS (e.g. .GRD) ON GRADE FILES; THIS WILL CAUSE THE BACKUP SYSTEM TO MALFUNCTION. An organized approach to filenaming should be used right from the start. For example, FRIQ191 could indicate FRENCH I, QUARTER 1, 1991. --- VI. ENTERING STUDENT NAMES TO ENTER THE NAME OF A NEW STUDENT: Once you get the program running and have chosen a classname (see Sections IV and V) enter the names of students at the NAME entry area. Then, simply type the desired student name in one character at a time: USE ONLY A-Z. Because of PROGRADE'S name recognition feature, other names may appear as you type in the first few characters. This is normal. Keep typing in the name, check it, and touch enter (return) when the name is correctly entered. Before touching enter, you may use BACKSPACE once to erase an incorrect entry and start all over. After you touch enter, if the program has not already stored this name, it will respond with NEW NAME Y/N? Typing N will return you to the NAME entry area and the name will NOT BE STORED. Typing Y at the Y/N? will cause the program to ACCEPT and STORE the NEW NAME. It will then rearrange all names (if any) and grades in its memory to make room for the new name. TO ENTER AN ENTIRE CLASS LIST: Proceed as above. If the program brings you to the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area, touch enter to return to the NAME entry area. Although the last name with which you worked will still be there, begin typing in the new name and proceed as before. TO ACCESS THE RECORD OF A PARTICULAR STUDENT: Simply begin to type in the student's name! BUT ... as soon as THE PROGRADE SYSTEM recognizes the name, it will print to the screen the entire name. Usually you will only need to type a single letter of the name to achieve complete recognition. If, after typing ONE character, the computer recognizes the wrong name, simply type in ONE or TWO MORE characters. Don't backspace. As soon as the correct name does appear, stop typing in the name and touch enter. The average and the grades that appear after you touch enter are those of the student whose name remains on the screen. You may now enter grades or use the menu selections to access other parts of the program. You may also use the up and down arrow keys to move from one name to another. NOTE: THE PROGRAM CANNOT HAVE TWO IDENTICALLY NAMED STUDENTS IN THE SAME FILE. YOU MUST DETERMINE SOME WAY TO DISTINGUISH THE TWO NAMES BEFORE ENTERING THEM. THE PROGRAM REQUIRES UPPERCASE LETTERS. NAMES CAN HAVE A LENGTH OF 15 CHARACTERS AND MAY INCLUDE SPACES APOSTROPHES, AND PERIODS, BUT NOT COMMAS. IF ON FIRST ENTERING A SHORTER NAME LIKE DODD ACCESS TO ANOTHER STUDENT SUCH AS DODDMAN OCCURS, THEN SIMPLY TYPE A SPACE AFTER DODD . --- VII. DELETING STUDENT NAMES TO DELETE A STUDENT AND ALL GRADES FOR THE STUDENT: First access the student's record (see section VI). In the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area, type the letter Z <enter>. Once you DELETE a student this way, there is NO WAY BACK! The grades for this student will no longer be available for ANY reason. Perhaps you should delete the student only from averaging calculations (see following paragraph). TO DELETE A STUDENT FROM AVERAGING FUNCTIONS: Should you wish to keep a student's record but not count his or her work toward class averages, then proceed as above, but type the letter M instead of Z. Then choose option 3 from the Modification Menu. (SEE SECTION XI.) You can still access grades, add or change grades for this student, but the student's grades will not be used in any averaging functions. One reason to do this would be a student who leaves the school part way through a course. VIII. ENTERING GRADES FIRST TIME YOU ENTER A GRADE FOR AN ASSIGNMENT: After accessing a student's record, type the assignment number and the grade for the assignment for this student in the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area. For example, if the grade for assignment 6 is 88, then type 6.88 <enter> The number after the period is the grade for this student. Don't forget the period. Do not use decimals in the grade itself and do not enter grades less than -398 or that total more than 9999. If this is an assignment that has not been entered before, then THE PROGRADE SYSTEM will prompt for a description of the assignment (example: SOUND TEST), grade category (example: T for TEST), and maximum grade value (examples: 100 or 25 NOTE: DO NOT USE A VALUE LESS THAN 1.0). TO ENTER A GRADE FOR THE SAME ASSIGNMENT AS THE LAST ASSIGNMENT ENTERED: Simply enter the grade with NO PERIOD. For example, if you had just entered ASSIGNMENT 6 for SMITH, you can now enter ASSIGNMENT 6 for JONES without specifying ASSIGNMENT 6. Just type in the grade itself. This speeds entry of a class set of grades. Should a paper for ASSIGNMENT 5 show up, though, you must use the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE format to tell THE PROGRADE SYSTEM to place the grade in ASSIGNMENT 5. (example: 5.83) Then use the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE format again to return to ASSIGNMENT 6 entries. If you continue to enter the grades for one assignment, you do not need to specify the ASSIGN. NUMBER. TO ENTER A LETTER GRADE (A,A-,C+, ETC.) be certain that you have preset the numerical grade equivalents using the initialization program. Once this has been done, a letter grade may be entered at any location where a number grade can be entered. For example, you could enter 5.B- or simply C+ if the assignment is the same number as the previously entered assignment. If you enter a letter grade, all grades for the assign should be letter grade entries. --- IX. CALCULATING GRADES THE PROGRADE SYSTEM continuously averages grades. You don't need to do anything. To see details on an individual's grades or on the entire class' grades, use the reports section at any time. X. RECALCULATING THE VALUE FOR A GRADE You can recalculate a grade for any assignment at any time. For example, you may enter an assignment with a maximum value of 10 (8 out of 10, 6 out of 10, etc.). Later, you may recalculate all grades for this assignment so that they reflect a maximum of any other value, such as 100. (The above grades would then be 80 out of 100 and 60 out of 100.) You may later return to the original value. You may want to do this to deemphasize or emphasize a certain assignment's grades if using an unweighted point system. To recalculate grades, access any student's grades, type M for MODIFICATION MENU, and choose #9. XI. MODIFICATIONS To get to the MODIFICATION MENU, type M in the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area. The MODIFICATION section makes it possible to "change your mind". Easy modifications include correcting a student's name (OPTION 5), or changing any assignment description, category, or maximum value (ALL FROM OPTION 4). The MODIFICATION MENU also lists several modifications to grade status. With these techniques, you can make an assignment "not count" for a particular student or for the entire class, for one assignment or for all assignments. The NO GRADE status leaves a grade recorded, but does not COUNT the grade in ANY averaging. This could be used to EXCUSE a student from work or for students who were not present for an extended time. It would also be used to "DROP" a grade from a student's average, or to "NOT COUNT" a certain assignment for all students. The NO GRADE status is easily reversible. However, OPTION 6 and OPTION 7 will not alter grades for students who have NO GRADE on ALL GRADES already. In this situation, use option 8 first. Also, read the menu choices carefully; the choices, though similar in appearance, are quite different in function. Always check your NO GRADE changes using the reports section before issuing averages . A "*" will appear in the name of students whose grades do not count, and a "*" will appear near any grade that does not count. MODIFICATION MENU options 6,7,8 reverse the NO GRADE status, returning to grades that do count. Option 11 scales grades. See section XV on scaling. Option 12 changes the weighted grades status. Option 9 changes the maximum value for a grade (see section X.) The Eliminate an Assignment section (option 10) will totally remove all grades for a particular assignment for all students. Use this section CAUTIOUSLY: THERE IS NO WAY BACK. Use it only to DESTROY and to KEEP NO RECORD of a certain assignment. DO NOT USE MODIFICATIONS TO CHANGE A GRADE: USE THE MAIN SECTION. --- XII. REPORTS TO ACCESS THE REPORTS SECTION: Simply type R at the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area, followed by enter. The reports menu will then appear. ALPHABETICAL LIST WITH AVERAGES: This report lists all students in the class alphabetically, along with their percent average and their total grade. RANKED CLASS LIST WITH AVERAGES: This report will list all students in rank order, with the student with the highest grade listed first. The student's rank in class, percent average, and total grade are also listed. This section is excellent for quickly spotting all low or high grades in the class. LIST ALL GRADES TO PRINTER: This section provides a printed "gradebook". It puts all grades for the class out to the printer. If you are still suspicious about magnetic grading, then use this section as often as you wish. INDIVIDUAL GRADE REPORTS: This section produces individual grade reports. Separate averages are provided for each grade category (TEST, QUIZ, READING, MATH, LANGUAGE, ETC.) The specific categories to be analyzed are determined once by you in the initializing program (see section III). Use this section to provide reports directly to students or parents or simply to keep yourself more informed. It is quite easy using this section to find "test- phobics" or "homework-phobics" and then to work to remedy the situation. To terminate the grade reports at any time, touch E. To print reports for an entire class, use the QUICK PLUS program. LIST ALL ASSIGNMENTS: This section lists all assignments as well as the average number of points earned in the class for each assignment and the per cent average for each assignment. Also shown is the grade category (HOMEWORK, TESTS, MATH etc.) for each assignment. (A category followed by the letter L indicates that the assignment has been used for LETTER GRADE entry. Assignments can be listed in order by ASSIGNMENT number, or can be grouped into the categories for easier comparison. This section could be used to quickly compare class averages on assignments or tests, to detect class trends in grades (homework or test grades slacking off for class overall, for example) or simply to check category or maximum values for any particular assignments. --- LIST ALL NO GRADE ENTRIES: This section lists all student's names and assignments for which a NO GRADE status has been chosen. LIST ALL GRADES FOR ONE ASSIGNMENT: This section lists the grades for a particular assignment for each student in the class. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF GRADES: The statistical analysis section will provide the mean, median, standard deviation, maximum, and minimum grades for any assignment or for the total class averages. This section can be VERY helpful!! Don't be afraid of it. THE PROGRADE SYSTEM does the work! The standard deviation is an excellent guide to the variability of grades. The teacher's attention should be drawn to any assignment with a very low or very high standard deviation compared to the standard deviations usually seen for this teacher for this category of assignment. A comparison of the mean and median can also be enlightening. A high mean and a lower median indicates that some students have exceptionally high grades in comparison with the class. The reverse indicates some very low grades. Either situation may require some special attention. TO CONTINUE ONCE A REPORT IS DONE: TOUCH ENTER. TO PRINT A REPORT TO THE PRINTER. Run the report and use the print keys on your computer terminal to print the screen. The screen is designed to provide an organized printed report. AFTER YOU PRINT A REPORT FROM THE MAIN PROGRAM OR FROM PROPLUS, YOU SHOULD TOUCH ENTER TO GET THE 1 LINE MENU. ON THIS MENU, YOU MAY TOUCH F TO OBTAIN A FORM FEED, PROVIDED THAT YOUR PRINTER IS ON. THIS IS USEFUL IN BEGINNING YOUR REPORTS AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW PAGE. --- XIII. SAVING FILES The initialize program will set THE PROGRADE SYSTEM to save your data periodically. Additionally, the program will save your data before you switch files or end the program. You may also save the file at any time using the SAVE function (type S in ASSIGNMENT.GRADE area) It is suggested that you keep 2 DATA disks, one for EXTRA copies. You can save a file onto as many disks as you wish by simply changing formatted disks before saving. Total ease of mind can be achieved by using the REPORT section to print all grades periodically onto paper. PROGRADE will protect your data in two ways. As soon as it reads any file, it will save a copy of the file with a ".BAK" extension. If an accident or error were to harm data in the file as you work on it, the ".BAK" file would contain data from BEFORE the program ran, and would serve as a safety net. DO NOT EVER LOAD A ".BAK" file directly into PROGRADE. Make a copy of it first using your DOS and giving the new file a new name without the .BAK extension. Then LOAD ONLY THE COPY. If necessary, seek assistance from someone who knows about computing, as the "BAK" file should not be destroyed. PROGRADE'S second file protection is to make "EXTRA" file copies that have the ".EXT" extension and that contain identical data to the current working copy. These should be saved on a SEPARATE data disk. Note that "EXT" files only serve as a safety net if the original DISK is harmed; they do not contain "OLD DATA", but are just extra copies of what you have just done. It may be a good idea to keep the EXTRA and original disks in two separate locations. Treat these disks with the same security precautions as you would use for your written gradebook. THE BEST WAY TO SAFEGUARD YOUR DATA IS TO MANUALLY COPY YOUR GRADEFILES (USING DOS OR BATCH FILES) DIRECTLY TO YET ANOTHER DISK. (see your DOS manual on copying files and on batch files) THIS WAY YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE AN OLD COPY OF THE FILE. --- XIV. GETTING OR CREATING ANOTHER CLASS To switch to another class, simply access any student's record and type G in the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area. The current grade file will automatically be saved and you will be prompted to provide the file name that you wish to get or create. To see the names of the files that are currently on the data disk, simply type L in the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area. XV. SCALING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM will scale any or all assignments either UP or DOWN. Choose M at the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area to get the MODIFICATION MENU and choose option 11 for scaling. THE PROGRADE SYSTEM provides two distinct methods of scaling. The first ADDS (subtracts) a certain percent of the total (say 5% or 10%) to each student's grade for that particular assignment. This procedure benefits students with lower grades more than those with higher grades. The second method MULTIPLIES each student's grade by a certain factor, to increase (decrease) that grade by say 5% or 10%. With this method, all students are scaled an equal PER CENT of the GRADE THEY ALREADY HAVE. A student with a zero grade would gain nothing. Give careful consideration to which scaling procedure to use. An example follows. ORIGINAL ADD TO SCALE 10% MULTIPLY TO SCALE 10% 24/100 34/100 26/100 68/100 78/100 75/100 89/100 99/100 98/100 To scale grades downward, enter a negative factor such as -10. XVI. ENDING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM To end the program, enter E in the ASSIGNMENT.GRADE entry area. Your file will automatically be saved. To override the automatic save, you may end with CTRL-BREAK, but all your work will be lost. --- ************************************************** ********** PROGRADE PLUS ********** ************************************************** XVII. PROGRADE PLUS INTRODUCTION PROGRADE PLUS provides additional operations that can be performed on grade files. Use the regular PROGRADE SYSTEM program to routinely make and modify grade files. Use PROGRADE PLUS for its slightly more sophisticated analyses of a class' grades. For example, PROGRADE PLUS allows you to compare grades for any two assignments. PROGRADE PLUS can clone your grade file so that you don't need to type in a class's names a second time for the next grading period. PROGRADE PLUS will also provide more detailed individual grade reports, provide histogram diagrams, and compare variability of grades. Finally, PROGRADE PLUS allows you to combine averages from several quarters, semesters, or grading periods; and along with exam grades, to calculate a year grade. XIII. RUNNING PROGRADE PLUS Be sure that you have initialized THE PROGRADE SYSTEM using the initialization program (see section III). Also, be certain that a grade file already exists on your data disk. If you are working with PROGRADE PLUS, be sure that you save any file that you are working on; then exit from the regular program. To run PROGRADE PLUS, use the MASTER MENU or get to the DOS and type PROPLUS <enter>. When PROGRADE PLUS runs, it will require you to pick a file on which you will be working first. NOTE: YEAR FILES END IN .YR REGULAR FILES, WHICH YOU ARE CHOOSING NOW, DO NOT! DO NOT ENTER A FILE WITH A .YR EXTENSION AT THIS POINT IN THE PROGRAM. CLONE A GRADE FILE: This section will create a new copy of your file with ALL GRADES AND ASSIGNMENTS DELETED. All that will be placed in the new file will be student names from the old file. The old file will not be changed. Use this section at the beginning of a new grading period or quarter. Be careful not to save to any file NAME already in use on the data disk, as this would destroy the old file by overwriting it with the new clone. USE A NEW NAME! COMPARE ANY TWO ASSIGNMENTS: This section will compare the grades for an entire class for any two assignments. The method used is the Pearson product moment correlation for measures . A linear regression is also calculated that relates the values on one assignment with those on another. With consistent class performance overall, you will find a high correlation between assignments. A low correlation may require some assessment. COMPARE VARIABILITY OF GRADES: This compares the variability of student performances, one with another, and ranks the students based on this VARIABILITY. Students with highly VARIABLE grades, either low or high, will be ranked high with this section. --- DISPLAY DISTRIBUTION OF GRADES: Use this section to create a bar graph display of any assignment from a grade file or for the averages in a grade file. The display may result in an approximate normal distribution. RANK STUDENTS BY ASSIGNMENT CATEGORY: This section provides a rank listing of students based on the average in a single category, such as TESTS, HOMEWORKS, READING or MATH. Trends are printed based on information set in the initialization program. DETAILED INDIVIDUAL GRADE REPORTS: This section will provide more detailed grade reports on individual students. It will analyze the student's average for all assignment categories, as is done in the regular PROGRADE SYSTEM program. In addition, this section uses a scanning routine to search for increasing, decreasing or consistent grades for each student in each category. To terminate the grade reports at any time, touch E. See Section XII on beginning grade reports at the top of a new page. SEND AVERAGES TO YEAR FILE: This section will take the averages (only the averages) from any grade file and place them into another file called a year file. Use a separate year file for each separate class. COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 AVE DESCRIP Q1 Q2 MID Q3 Q4 FIN PERCENT 20 20 10 20 20 10 ADAMS 87.5 88.9 68.5 87.4 86.4 71.6 84.1 ALLEN 88.9 77.5 76.5 77.1 77.0 45.9 76.3 ... ZEDRON 61.7 63.5 71.6 81.5 82.3 76.8 72.6 Using this section, you can take the averages from several different grade files for the same class (one file at a time) and combine them to calculate a final year's average. To transfer averages, choose a year file to which grades will go, the column number, and the percent of the final grade. It is IMPERATIVE that you have used the exact same student names in each grade file that you combine into a single year file. It is also possible to use the year file section to monitor the progress of grades during a particular grade period. Ignore the AVE and PERCENT values and enter the averages to a year file periodically. EXAMPLE after one quarter: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 AVE DESCRIP Q1 PERCENT 20 ADAMS 87.5 ALLEN 88.9 ... ZEDRON 61.7 --- EXAMPLE after second quarter: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 AVE DESCRIP Q1 Q2 PERCENT 20 20 ADAMS 87.5 88.9 ALLEN 88.9 77.5 ... ZEDRON 61.7 63.5 ENTER EXAM GRADES TO YEAR FILE: This section allows you to enter exam grades (or other grades) into the year file. This exam grade will then be used to calculate the year average. You are NOT REQUIRED to use an exam grade, however. To enter exam grades, choose the year file to which grades will go, the column number, and the per cent of the final grade. EXAMPLE after exam grade added: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 AVE DESCRIP Q1 Q2 MID PERCENT 20 20 10 ADAMS 87.5 88.9 68.5 ALLEN 88.9 77.5 76.5 ... ZEDRON 61.7 63.5 71.6 AVERAGE YEAR FILE: Once a year file is fully prepared using the two previous sections, you may average for the year by choosing this option. Later, you may reaverage at any time. Be certain that the percents for the columns sum to 100. Until they do, the average that is displayed is NOT the correct final average. This section will also show the year file (with grand average) to the screen, from where it may be printed. Finally, this section will display a histogram based on the grand average. CHOOSE A NEW GRADE FILE TO WORK ON: Use this choice to access a different grade file before you put its average in a year file or before you analyze its grades using PROGRADE PLUS. --- ************************************************** ********** QUICK PLUS ********** ************************************************** XIX. QUICK PLUS REPORT PROGRAM QUICK PLUS is designed for quick processing of grade reports. With it you can print grade reports or progress reports all of your classes at one time; you can also print summary reports or class lists. You can specify printout for certain grade ranges, for example all reports with averages 65-75%. Finally, you can add individual comments to reports and can add a general comment to all reports. Run QUICK from the MASTER MENU or simply type QUICK. Once at the menu, choose the preview option to see grade reports on the screen before they are printed; use this option also to add a comment to an individual student's grade report. Choose the print option to print reports without screen preview. Be certain that the date is correctly set via your DOS system before running QUICK PLUS, or reports will be incorrectly dated. QUICK PLUS will request upper and lower limits for grade reports. Only reports with averages within these limits will be screened or printed. For example, to print all students with averages below 65, specify a lower limit of 0 and an upper limit of 65. To print all reports, specify 0 and 100. To print only "A" grades, specify 90 and 100, and so on. QUICK PLUS will also request up to ten filenames to analyze. Type in up to 10 filenames, one at a time, each followed by the enter key. QUICK PLUS will scan through all files requested without additonal information. Finally, QUICK PLUS will give you the option of printing a full page PROGRESS REPORT with up fourteen extra comment lines (see section XX), the standard GRADE REPORT, a summary report, or class lists. Many teachers use the full page reports occasionally and the standard and summary reports on a more frequent basis with students. The lists have many uses. You can type absolutely anything at all in the PROGRESS REPORT 14 line section. See the BEGIN PROGRAM to set this area up. To enter a comment on a report, choose the preview option and then touch C when a student's report appears. Then simply type in the comment you wish to appear on the report, followed by enter. NOTE: RETURNING TO THE MAIN MENU AT ANY TIME WILL ERASE ALL THE COMMENTS. The PRINT ALL choice will terminate the preview mode and begin printout of all previously specified reports. --- ************************************************** ********** BEGIN PROGRAM ********** ************************************************** XX. INITIALIZE (BEGIN) PROGRAM To run the initialize program, get to the DOS system, place the program disk in drive A, and type BEGIN <enter>. Or, access the program from the MASTER MENU. The initialize program options are: SCREEN COLOR SELECTIONS: Use this section to choose colors to use on the screen. PRINT MANUAL TO PRINTER: Use this section to print this manual to the printer. Be certain that the printer is ready and on line. You may also use your word processor to load, view, and print the manual file (PROGRADE.TXT). The word processor must accept ASCII files. Another choice is to use DOS commands. (For information about using TYPE and MORE, see your DOS manual.) HANDS ON TUTORIAL: Use this section to print a hands-on tutorial to the printer. VIEW MANUAL ON SCREEN: Use this section to view the manual on the screen; a menu is provided. GRADE WEIGHTING OPTIONS: Use this section to cause THE PROGRADE SYSTEM to calculate all averages using WEIGHTED grades. By using WEIGHTED grades, you can specify that certain categories (TESTS, HOMEWORKS, LABS, etc.) count a certain percent toward the average. For example: TESTS 50% OR READING 25% HOMEWORK 25% MATH 25% QUIZZES 15% SCIENCE 25% LABS 10% LANGUAGE 25% If you don't use weighted grades, THE PROGRADE SYSTEM will add all the grades that a student has and divide by the total of the maximum values of all assignments; this will give the average. Here is an example using weighted grades: ASSIGN GRADE MAX. VALUE 1 TEST 90 100 2 TEST 80 100 3 HOME 70 100 4 QUIZ 60 100 5 LAB 50 100 With weighting as follows (TESTS 50%, HOMEWORK 10%, QUIZ 20%, LAB 20%) the weighted average would be: 71.5. The weighted average is NOT (90+80+70+60+50)/5 or 70.0; that would be an unweighted average. --- Here is an example using unweighted grades: ASSIGN GRADE MAX. VALUE 1 TEST 90 100 2 TEST 80 100 3 HOME 7 10 4 QUIZ 6 10 5 LAB 5 20 The unweighted average would be (90+80+7+6+5)/240 or 188/240 or 78.3. This particular unweighted average emphasizes test grades, because the maximum value for tests is 100 compared to 20 for the lab and 10 for the other work. CHOOSE DISK DRIVE FOR DATA: Use this section to choose the disk drive on which THE PROGRADE SYSTEM will read and save data files. For two disk drives, it is best to use B for data and A for the program disk. For a one drive system, also set B for data. This method will give you the most clear prompts as to when to change your disks. Thus, it's best to use B for data whether you have ONE OR TWO drives. Other drive letters can be acceptable, depending on the system configuration. NAME GRADE CATEGORIES: Use this section to define grade categories, such as TEST, QUIZZES, HOMEWORK, LAB WORK, ORAL PRES, VOCAB, BOOK REP, etc. Elementary level teachers could use categories such as READING, MATH, LANGUAGE, and so on. A code letter, probably best the first letter of the category, is also to be chosen. You can define 10 categories or less. These categories are then used by some of the averaging functions in the main PROGRADE SYSTEM program. Give the categories careful thought. Once you have created a grade file, you can add categories, but do not delete any. AUTOMATIC SAVE - HOW OFTEN: Use this section to tell the PROGRADE SYSTEM program how often to automatically save your grade file as you work on it. SAVE CHANGES TO DISK AND END: Use this section to save all the instructions that you have made with the initialize program. Each time the main PROGRADE SYSTEM program is run, it will automatically check the instructions that you have saved. DEFINE LETTER GRADES: Use this section to define numerical equivalents (example 92.5) for the letter grades (example A-). Allowable letter grades are: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F+, F, F-. Numerical values should reflect a 0-100% scale. However, do not enter the % sign. If you do not enter a value for a certain letter grade, this letter grade will be given a value of zero. Default values for grades are: A+ 98, A 95, A- 91, B+ 88, B 85, B- 81, C+ 78, C 75, C- 71, D+ 68, D 65, D- 61, F+ 58, F 55, F- 51. If you wish to accept the default values, do not access this section at all. --- END BUT DONT SAVE CHANGES: Use this section if you think that you have altered the instructions in a way that you do not wish to save. ADJUST TREND CALCULATIONS: It is a matter of judgement what is "consistent" or "variable" or even "increasing". Use this section to fine tune the trend calculations in PROGRADE PLUS to suit your judgement. Choose a higher percent to make it less likely for PROGRADE PLUS to indicate a trend up or down; the change in a student's grade must EXCEED this percent to show a trend. HARD DRIVE LETTER: Use this section only if your hard drive is not letter C. It will reset the entire program series to use another letter, such as G. PROGRESS REPORT COMMENTS: Use this section to save comment lines; these lines will be printed by the QUICK program PROGRESS REPORT option. You may use up to 70 characters on each of fourteen lines. All lines will appear on all QUICK PROGRESS REPORTS. Many teachers use a checklist (see below), but any text at all is acceptable. ____ Please contact me at the school for a meeting. ____ Work has improved considerably. ____ Homework needs more attention to detail. RESTORE INSTRUCTIONS Should you accidentally alter and save the initialize instructions to a point where THE PROGRADE SYSTEM malfunctions, you can restore the DEFAULT instructions by getting to DOS, replacing the program disk in Drive A, and typing RESTORE. ABOUT THE ~ FILES The ~ files are used to distinguish the program disk from the data disk and to contain information necessary to the functioning of the programs. NEVER COPY OR REMOVE THESE FILES FROM ANY DISK or the program my not function and your data may be harmed. ABOUT THE CODE FILES The CODE files contain information that you have saved using the initialize program. DO NOT COPY OR REMOVE THE FILES FROM ANY DISK or the program may not function and your data may be harmed. --- XXI. COPYRIGHT THE PROGRADE SYSTEM COPYRIGHT 1989 BY WILLIAM E. PEACE THANK YOU FOR USING THE PROGRADE SYSTEM! THE AUTHOR REQUESTS A $45 FEE FOR USE OF THE PROGRAM. PLEASE BE FAIR AND CONSIDER THE AUTHOR. If you use the PROGRADE SYSTEM for long, you will notice several things. First of all, your students may show an improvement in their performance because of the prompt feedback that the SYSTEM can provide. Parents may praise you for the thorough reports that you can provide. And your family and friends will rejoice -- no more end of the term "grading" -- it's always done and up to date with little effort. Please -- the author worked long and hard writing and having this program field tested. He is an educator like yourself, and is asking for your help. Send what you can; it will be truly appreciated. Please -- it is a violation of copyright law to use this program without registering. And even more-- it's just not fair to the author. Think about how much benefit YOU get weekly from this program! Registered users who update their program will receive professionally packaged software, diskette case, printed manual, and most recent program versions automatically sent. In addition, registered users can earn a $10 finder's fee by convincing any other user to register also. Details of this program are sent upon registration. PLEASE USE THE ORDER/REGISTRATION FORM IN THE BEGIN PROGRAM TO PROPERLY REGISTER OR TO OBTAIN UPDATED VERSIONS. Thank you from the author, WILLIAM E. PEACE P.O. BOX 627 SOUTH DENNIS, MA 02660 Your comments and suggestions are more than welcome. MS-DOS IS A TRADEMARK OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION PORTIONS OF THE COMPILED PROGRAMS ARE FROM COMPILERS COPYRIGHTED BY THE MICROSOFT CORPORATION. --- ERROR CODES 4 OUT OF DATA -- Your data files may have been damaged. 7 OUT OF MEMORY -- You need additional memory in your computer. 24 DEVICE TIMEOUT -- Check printer: online? all cables connected? 25 DEVICE FAULT -- Some input/output device was not ready. 27 OUT OF PAPER -- Check paper in your printer; check if it's ON. 53 FILE NOT FOUND -- Insert disk with this file; check the filename 57 DEVICE I/O ERR -- Check all inputs/outputs. Formatted disk in? 61 DISK FULL -- Use another formatted disk. 62 INPUT PAST END -- Your data file may have been damaged. 64 BAD FILENAME -- Use correct length and characters in filenames 67 DIRECTORY FULL -- 255 files maximum in a directory. 68 DEVICE UNAVAILABLE-- Some device is not on line. 70 DISK WRITE PROTECTED-Do not use write protected disks. 71 DISK NOT READY -- Put the disk in the drive and shut the door. 72 DISK MEDIA ERROR - Use another disk; defect on this disk or drive 75 PATH ERROR -- Do not use pathnames with PROGRADE. 76 (see 75) This is to prevent you from misplacing files. For information on other errors, consult any DOS manual or contact the PROGRADE SYSTEM.