Extra Credit Grading

A couple thoughts on how you can give Extra Credit via the ClassReach Gradebook

Extra Credit can be applied to a student's grades in a couple ways:

1. Extra points applied to a specific assignment 

2. A separate Extra Credit assignment

3. An adjustment to the student's overall average grade for your Course/Section

Extra Credit Points Applied to a Specific Assignment 

Graded items (added via the Grades > Gradebook page) and Homework (added to the Homework page) both are created with a max point value for that assignment.  If you grant a student more than the max points for that assignment, you are giving extra credit.

The Overall Percentage Grade in a section is calculated as the total number of assignment points earned divided by the total number of points possible. 

If you use weighted Grade Categories, then a category's percentage grade is calculated as the total number of assignment points earned divided by the total number of points possible and the Overall Percentage Grade for the section is a weighted average of the category grades.   

See this article for how grades are calculated with weighted categories.

A Separate Extra Credit Assignment

The ClassReach Gradebook gives you the option to create a stand-alone Extra Credit Assignment as either a Graded item (added via the Grades > Gradebook page) or Homework (added to the Homework page) .  When creating either type, choose "Yes" for Extra Credit.  

Note that an Extra Credit Graded Assignment does not show how many points that assignment is worth.  You simply assign the student Extra Credit points that they earn.  Those points are added to the student's earned point total for the Grade Category selected on the Extra Credit Assignment, but it is NOT included in the category's total number of points possible. 

To calculate a category grade average: 

1. Add up the points earned by the student in that category (including extra credit)
2. Add up the points possible for the assignments in that category (excluding extra credit)
3. Divide the the sum of points earned by the sum of points possible for that category

OR, written arithmetically...

(Grade 1 points earned + Grade 2 points earned + ...) ÷  (Grade 1 points possible + Grade 2 points possible + ...)

For example...

There are two tests (96/100 and 85/100) and 1 extra credit assignment (5 pts) in the Test category.  The tests are worth 100 points each.  The category average would be calculated as follows:

Prior to the Extra Credit Assignment:     (96 + 85) / 200 = 90.5%

Including the Extra Credit Assignment:  (96 + 85 + 5) / 200 = 93%

Extra Credit as an Overall Average Adjustment

To incorporate extra credit into the overall grade—not tied to a specific assignment or a particular category—you can utilize an overall grade adjustment.

This is accomplished on the Grades > Averages page by clicking on one of the student's averages - either a quarterly average or the final average, as desired.  In this example, it's the Q3 average.

After clicking the average grade, the pop-up window gives you the option to override the average by entering a different percentage.  It also shows the calculated average.

After saving, you will see the effects of that change...

The calculated average (93%) is lined through and the override average (95%) is shown.  The 95% is also averaged with the other quarterly averages to bring up the Final Average.