Posting and Locking Grades

Overview

Grades must be posted and locked in order to be considered “finalized” in Veracross. Teachers can post their own grades in the Teacher Portal (in which case they only need to be locked in Axiom), or grades can be posted and locked in batch in Axiom. This article covers why and how to post and lock grades.

Posting and Locking Grades

It is important to understand the difference between calculated and posted grades, the grade posting and locking procedures, and how grades can be rounded and capped. Each student has a calculated grade, drawn from the gradebook in the Teacher Portal. Broadly speaking, at the end of each grading period, grades need to be posted and locked:

1. Post grades: Grades are posted, either by an administrator via Axiom, or by teachers themselves. They may be rounded or capped automatically if desired.
2. Lock grades: Posted grades can be changed by teachers or administrators. To prevent changes, grades are locked. Schools might do this along with posting, or give a window of time for updates.

Calculated and Posted Grades

Calculated grades are drawn in real time from the gradebook in the Teacher Portal and cannot be modified apart from modifying the grades of the individual assignments in the gradebook. If a school does not use the Veracross gradebook, the calculated grade will always be zero.

In contrast, posted grades are static numbers assigned at the end of grading periods. They are only changed/updated during the posting process or if the grade is manually changed. Posted grades should be considered the “final” or “historical” grades in classes. Once a grade is posted, any modifications to assignment grades will not be reflected in that posted grade; the posted grade must be manually updated or the grades need to be administratively re-posted.

Grades can be posted manually or in batch by using the “Post/Lock Numeric Grades” link on the Action menu of the school level homepage.

Rounding and Capping Grades

Posted grades can be automatically rounded to zero, one, or two decimal places. To do so, set the system parameter “Posted_Grade_Decimal_Places” set to 0, 1, or 2.

Grades over 100 can be capped, as well. For example, a student who earned a grade of 104 in a class would have their posted grade set to 100 if grades were capped. To cap grades, set the system parameter “Cap_Final_Grades” to 1.

Locking Grades

Once grades have been posted, some schools allow for teachers or administrators to make modifications to those grades. This is usually allowed for a short period of time before Report Cards are printed. When a grade should no longer be able to be modified by teachers it should be locked. In order to change a grade once it has been locked, it must be unlocked by someone with the appropriate permissions. If a grade is locked it will not get overwritten if the grades get re-posted.

A grade can be locked by simply checking the “Locked” checkbox on the Grade detail screen.  To lock all grades in batch, perform a locking action using the “Post/Lock Numeric Grades” link on the Action menu of the school level homepage. Locking will lock all records that contain a posted grade, a status, a proficiency level, or a comment. Empty grade records will remain unlocked.

Read more specifics about grade posting and locking procedures.

Read about a suggested timeline for posting, reviewing, locking, and publishing grades.