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Categories:

TAC Home 

Obtain System Access

Maintain Assignments

Class Rosters

Enter/Update Grades

Average Calculation

Online Attendance

Printing Reports

Report Cards

Screen Display

Errors

Gradebook Alignment

 

Questions:

  1. How reliable is the intranet as far as being available when it is needed?

  2. Why am I getting a page that says "Error: Access is Denied".

  3. How can I delete assignments from my grade book?

  4. How can I enter make-up grades for excused absences?

  5. How can I transfer grades from one class to another class with the same teacher?

  6. How do you enter the retest scores?

  7. The Business Programming Instructor has two courses during the same class period.  All of the assignments and other scores are completely different for each of the two sets of students.  They are grouped together under one class in the online grade book.  What is the best way for the teacher to handle this situation?

  8. In Making the Grade a teacher can copy assignment titles into other classes by importing, and easily drop grades while protecting some from being dropped.  Is there a way to do this with the online grade book?

  9. How do we excuse some grades for certain students while not for others?

  10. How do we enter letter grades for Work Habits?

  11. Why is the Average in the Grade book not the same as when I calculate it manually?

  12. I am still using Making the Grade since I cannot print out the online attendance.  I have been informed that I can print the online attendance one screen at a time, but I need to have the capability to print the whole nine weeks.

  13. Do elementary teachers have the option of doing hand written report cards or must they use the computer generated ones?

  14. Why do students who never attended my class continue to appear in my grade book?

  15. How can I view withdrawn/dropped students grades in my grade book?

  16. Why don't my student and grade screen stay aligned when I scroll down?

  17. Why can't I access the last student in the grade book?

  18. How do I print individual detail reports for single students and not the entire class?

  19. How do I drop grades while protecting some from being dropped?

  20. Why does my gradebook display an error that does not allow me to view my students?

  21. Students are changing classes but the rosters do not change. Why Not?

  22. Why is TAC not saving my changes to the seating chart. It gives me an error message.

  23. Why is a student on the second page of the Gradebook report not displaying the grades for the assignments.

  24. Is there any way I can view my students grades from first and second quarter?

  25. How do I print individual detail reports for a single student and not the entire class?

 

 

System Access
Question:  How reliable is the intranet as far as being available when it is needed?

Answer:  Currently the district (Technology Center) is installing and securing Gig-a-man which will replace the current T1 lines for faster intranet and internet connection.   This estimated time of completion is 2 or 3 weeks for both high schools and Vela Middle School.  The rest of the district will have access the second semester.

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Question: Why am I getting a page that says "Error: Access is Denied".

Answer: Make sure that you are typing in your username and password correctly. Pent\ is no longer needed.

  • If your absolutely sure that everything is correct, then email or call April.

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Maintain Assignments
Question: How can I delete assignments from my grade book?

Answer: From TAC assessment page click on the HELP icon; step by step instructions are given for the deleting of assessments.

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Enter and Update Grades
Question: How can I transfer grades from one class to another class with the same teacher?

Answer: Print a hard copy and enter grades into the other class.

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Question: A teacher cannot enter new grades if it is after the due date typed into the program causing two problems.  When a student is new into your classroom or had excused absences, and is making up the missed work, how do I enter the student's makeup work?

Answer: If a student makes-up work assigned prior to enrollment date, teachers must use the Import function.
Click for Detail

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Question:  How do you enter the retest scores?

Answer: Teachers can type over the grade with the new result and use the comment bubble to record the previous score if desired. If the two scores need to be averaged to obtain a new score, average the two manually, then enter in the grade.  Notes can be made in the comment bubble indicating both grades.  If teachers would like to keep both grades, change the original test weight to zero, then create a new assignment (possibly called Make Up Test) and enter the new score.  This way the teacher can see both scores side by side; however, the original test will have a weight of zero and not be averaged (this only works when using the Calculation option and NOT Total Points).

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Question:  The Business Programming Instructor has two courses during the same class period.  All of the assignments and other scores are completely different for each of the two sets of students.  They are grouped together under one class in the online grade book.  What is the best way for the teacher to handle this situation?

Answer:  If these are two separate courses, the campus staff should update the master schedule to reflect this and the students would appear in two separate classes.

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Question: In Making the Grade a teacher can copy assignment titles into other classes by importing, and easily drop grades while protecting some from being dropped.  Is there a way to do this with the online grade book?

Answer:  The online grade book does have a copy feature.  Click for Detail

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Question: How do we excuse some grades for certain students while not for others?

Answer: To excuse a student in TAC, use an "EX " (Exempt Grade) where the grade is entered. An EX will exempt the grade from the average.

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Question: How do we enter letter grades for Work Habits?

Answer: To enter a letter grade for Work Habits in TAC, select the Grading Classes tab. Then, highlight the Work Habit class that you would like to enter the letter grade for and click on Interim Progress Report or Report Card tab. Finally, manually enter the letter grade only for the students that it applies to. Click for Detail

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Average Calculation
Question: Why is the Average in the Grade book not the same as when I calculate it manually.

Answer: The final average is determined by taking the average of each category and then adding those averages together and dividing by the number of categories. If you would like the system to add up all points and divide by the number of grades, then click on Total Points, which is located in the "Define Assessments" screen.  Click for Example Click for Detail

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Online Attendance
Question:  I am still using Making the Grade since I cannot print out the online attendance.  I have been informed that I can print the online attendance one screen at a time, but I need to have the capability to print the whole nine weeks.

Answer: Currently Pentamation is working on a solution so teachers have this capability in their classrooms.  In the mean time, the office staff can generate these reports from Pentamation

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Report Cards
Question:  Do elementary teachers have the option of doing hand written report cards or must they use the computer generated ones?

Answer:  This is a campus decision.

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Question: Is there any way I can view my students report card grades from first and second quarter?

Answer:
  You can view a prior marking periods report card grades by clicking on the Grading Classes tab, then highlight a subject and click on the Report Card tab. Use the drop down arrow to the right of the Report Card screen and change the MP to the appropriate one. The screen will refresh with the students report card grades.

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Class Roster
Question: Why do students who never attended my class continue to appear in my grade book?

Answer:  The online grade book class rosters are controlled by the master schedule and campus personnel.  Students who have been assigned to a teacher's class for one or more days will continue to display until the end of the current marking period.

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Question:

How can I view withdrawn/dropped students grades in my gradebook?

Answer:

Click here for instructions

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Screen Display
Question: Why don't my student and grade screen stay aligned when I scroll down?

Answer: Users need to change the Text Size for the screen to stay aligned. 

On you browser:
1.) Click on View
2.) Click on Text Size
3.) Select Smaller
Click for Sample

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Question: Why can't I access the last student in the grade book?

Answer: Users need to change the Text Size for the screen to stay aligned.

On you browser:
1.) Click on View
2.) Click on Text Size
3.) Select Smaller
Click for Sample

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Printing Reports
Question: 8 How do I print individual detail reports for a single student and not the entire class?

Answer: Once in grade book from your home page click on the score link. Next click on the Student Detail button located at the top of the screen. You will be able to run the student detail report and print each students individual page.

Question: Is there a print missing assignment option for individual students?

Answer: From the home page in Gradebook under "My Classes" click on score  then on the Student Detail button                                      Run the report, and print individual students detail.

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Dropping Grades
Question: ****How do I drop grades while protecting some from being dropped?

Answer: In the Define Categories screen, the Drop Lowest field will need to be updated to the amount of grades you would like to drop. The default is set at 0 which means that no grades will be dropped. Click for Detail

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TAC Errors
Question: Why does my gradebook display an error that does not allow me to view my students?

Answer: If the students grades are displaying but the names of the students are not, then the Categories section of the Gradebook is not set up correctly. In most cases teachers are placing the weight percentage where the Drop lowest field should go. The same error can also occur if the Drop Lowest field is set to a particular number, where that amount of grades has yet to be entered.  See Detail of Error

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Question: Why is TAC not saving my changes to the seating chart. It gives me an error message.

Answer: The error has been reported and will be corrected with our next update to TAC. The Photo Attendance can also be used as a seating chart. 


Question: Why is a student on the second page of the Gradebook report not displaying the grades for the assignments.

Answer: This is a problem that is happening to the 26th student of your gradebook and has been occurring for everyone in the district. It has been reported to Pentamation and will be corrected in the next update to TAC. The temporary solution is to run a second gradebook report with the random option. This will shuffle the students and will display the grades for that student whose grades were not displaying on the first report. 

 

Gradebook Alignment
Question: Students are changing classes but the rosters do not change. Why not? 

Answer: 

1. Make sure to always refresh your screen. In most cases this will fix the problem.

 

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