This options lets you weight Assignments, Categories, and Grading Periods. However, it ignores weights of Objectives.

Summative — Grades represent the student's achievement by the end of the grading period. For example, if a student's reading fluency started at a 1, then reached a 3 by the end of the term, the report card would show a 3 (as opposed to the average which would be a 2). This is the more progressive approach to standards-based grading, advocated by Dr. Robert Marzano. Notes:

The summative grade is simply the last grade if you have three or fewer assessments in the term. If you have four to six assessments, it's the average of the last two; if you have 7 to 19 assessments, it averages the last three; and if you have 20 or more assessments, it averages the last 20%. If you'd rather just the one "final" assessment determine the grade, set all the other assessments to be worth 0 points (non-credit).

Any weights on categories or assignments are ignored for summative averages, e.g. it uses a straight average of the last three grades. However, if the assignment is worth 0 points (non-credit), it is not counted in the number of assessments.

Also all special marks are ignored, e.g. so missing assignments are ignored, not penalized. And extra credit assignments are ignored too (but extra points added to a regular assignment are not ignored).

The total grade for the subject or strand is an average of the all the objectives. For example, the Reading grade is an average of the summative grades for Fluency, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Inference. (This is different from the Average grading method, which is based directly on the assignment grades, not the objectives.) You may optionally weight your objectives on the screen. For example, set Comprehension to a weight of 2 to make it count twice as much as the others.

If your report card shows cumulative grades, like a Year Total, that is summative too, not an average of your grading periods. Typically it'll be the same as your last grading period, like 4th Quarter, so cumulatives are not required for summative grading. However, if you don't assess every objective every quarter, a cumulative grade is useful to compile all the summative grades into one column regardless of which quarter they were last assessed in. (Note there may be discrepancies. For example, if an objective has just one assessment each quarter, the cumulative will be an average of the last two of the four assessments, so the scores might look like Q1 = 2+, Q2 = 3-, Q3 = 3, Q4 = 4-, Cumulative = 3+.)

Each class may use a different calculation method, for example, so Math uses the summative grade while Character & Study Skills uses the average grade.

The report cards show the same grades as your gradebook only if you have one subject tab for one strand, like Science. But if you have multiple subject tabs and/or multiple strands in the same topic, like Reading, Writing, and Spelling, then the report cards will show different grades than your gradebook.

All assignments should have dates, otherwise if the date is blank it may not accurately determine which assignments are last.

Both — This option uses the Summative grade on report cards, and the Average grade in your gradebook and all other reports. Use this only if you want to keep dual grades, discussed below.


Dual Grades for Standards & Traditional

The intent of standards-based grading is to assess students purely on their abilities, not effort. By definition, this should not include penalties for late or missing work, nor extra credit. For example, if a student does not turn in an essay, that doesn't necessarily mean their writing skills are poor, so it shouldn't affect the grade. Traditional grading, by comparison, is based on abilities and penalties and extra credit. So traditionally you do penalize grades for missing work, which motivates students to complete their work on time to raise their grades. Jupiter allows teachers to keep dual grades for both purposes:

For assessments, like a spelling quiz, check at least one objective as described above. This is calculated into the grades on Report Cards.

For anything that's not an assessment, such as homework completion or binder-checks, do not select any objectives. That way it does not affect the Report Card, but it is still calculated into the general grade, which is seen on Grade Reports, in your gradebook, and online for students and parents. This is the grade students and parents see most often, so it's a useful motivational tool.

If you mark an assessment as missing (e.g., if a student didn't turn in a book report), it does penalize the Average general grade, but it does not affect the Summative report card grade. (This difference occurs only if your standards-based grading is set to "Both". This applies to all Special Marks, not just missing assignments.)

Late penalties are trickier. Most teachers traditionally lower the grade for late work, but that affects the Report Card too. The only way around that is to enter a separate assignment for late penalties (such as an extra credit assignment with negative points). As long as that penalty assignment has no objectives selected, it will not affect the report card.

In sum, the grade on the Class screen includes everything, while the grade on Report Cards is only a subset.


Mixing Grades & Rubrics

If your school uses different grade scales within the same subject, like ABCDF for the overall Reading grade, but 4321 for the objectives like Fluency, Vocabulary, etc., that takes some extra work. First on the screen, define the overall grade scale, like ABCDF. During the quarter everything will be calculated as ABCDF. Then at the end of the quarter, go to the screen to override grades like 4/3/2/1 for the various objectives, effectively overwriting the ABCDF grades. But don't override the overall grade, so it keeps the calculated ABCDF grade.


See also: Assess Standards, Setup Standards, Report Cards
Video: Standards