Transferring Students Between Classes

Overview

Students can be moved from one class to another in Axiom while maintaining accurate grade and transfer records. It involves adding the new class to a student’s schedule and then populating two date fields: the “Date Withdrawn” field on the “from” class and the “Late Date Enrolled” field on the “to” class. If all that is needed is to move a student from one class roster to another, those steps are the only ones required. However, Veracross has the ability to transfer assignment grades if moving between two classes with the same course and teacher (i.e., a section transfer).

Important Terms To Know

• Course: a curriculum of study independent of year offered or teacher (e.g., Biology, Classical Literature, Physical Education)
• Class: a year-, time-, and teacher-specific instance of a course (e.g., Biology taught in the third block of the 17-18 school year by Ms. Jones)
• Class Enrollment: the record of a student’s placement in a class (e.g., all class enrollments for a particular class constitute the class roster)
• Assignment Grades: Grades entered by the teacher in the gradebook
• Posted Grades: Term grades (e.g., quarter grades, trimester grades) that appear on report cards

Read more about:

• courses, classes, and class enrollments
• assignments
• posting grades

Simple Move From One Class to Another

To simply move a student from one class to another with a different course and teacher without copying assignment grades:

1. Navigate to the student’s Schedule, Schedule – ALL, or Classes tab.
2. Click Add Record to add the class to which the student is moving.
3. Populate a “Date Withdrawn” on the old class and “Late Date Enrolled” on the new.
4. Click Update. See “Results of the Transfer” below.

Section Transfers

A section transfer — moving a student between two classes of the same course and with the same teacher — is a special type of transfer because assignment grades are automatically moved from the withdrawn to the newly enrolled class when the enrollment update is made.

Tip: To confirm that two classes have the same teacher and course, run a Find Classes query and confirm that the course and teacher match.

Grades can only be moved automatically one time, i.e., when the new class is added (inserted) into the student’s schedule. The critical piece to this trigger is: Do not click Update until both the “Date Withdrawn” and “Late Date Enrolled” fields are populated with identical dates.

1. Navigate to the student’s Schedule, Schedule – All, or Classes tab.
2. Click   Add Record to add the class into which the student is moving. Do not click Update.
3. Add identical “Date Withdrawn” and “Late Date Enrolled” to the “from” and “to” classes.
4. Click  Update.

Results of the Transfer

The following happens regardless of the type of transfer:

• The student is withdrawn from the “Date Withdrawn” class, though they remain in the gradebook for ten days to allow the teacher time to finalize any assignment grades.
• The withdrawn class is excluded from the report card and transcript.
• The student is enrolled in the “Late Date Enrolled” class and appears on the roster.
• Assignments in the new class are created for this student in the gradebook with assignment statuses based on whether they are due before or after the student’s enrollment
  • Prior to enrollment: “Not Required to Complete”
  • After enrollment: “Pending”
• Grade records will be created for the new class enrollment in the current grading period in the nightly scripts. Run one of the “Create Missing Grade Records” procedures from the Action menu on the System homepage to create them immediately. Both are operative for the current academic year.
  • Create Missing Grade Records – Current Grading Period: modifies only the current active grading period.
  • Create Missing Grade Records – All Grading Periods: This version is handy if you are working with classes from a previous grading period that need grade records.

Section Transfer Results

• Assignment grades (regardless of their completion status) with “Applies to All Sections” checked are moved to the new class.
• The teacher needs to manually enter assignment grades that did not transfer (most likely because “Applies to All Sections” was not checked). Alternatively, if the teacher does not want any past assignment grades entered for this student, they can mark existing assignments as “Not Required to Complete” and create a transfer grade (see below).

Transfer Grade and Transferring Posted Grades

After a student is moved from one class to another, there are three options for managing their earlier work in the prior class:

1. Do nothing additional. If it was a section transfer, the student’s assignments moved to the new class. Otherwise, the student is simply in the new class with assignment statuses set to “Not Required to Complete” if before the transfer date and “Pending” if on or after the transfer date.
2. Create a transfer grade in the gradebook. Adds a single transfer grade to the gradebook in the new class for the teacher to manage and take into account as they see fit. This does not affect posted grades.
3. Transfer posted grades. Moves the posted (term) grades from the old to the new class and becomes part of the posted record of the new class. This does not affect the gradebook.

Note on Qualitative Grades: Because qualitative grades (rubrics) often vary from class to class, qualitative grades are *not* transferred in the Transfer Posted Grade procedure outlined below.

Note on Multiple Transfers in One Day: The system uses the course and subject to determine correctly identify the “from” and “to” classes.

Tip: It is recommended to fully complete one transfer — including and creation of a transfer grade and transferring of posted grades — before moving to the next.

Creating a Transfer Grade in the Gradebook

A transfer grade is used to represent a student’s work in a previous class with a single assignment grade. It can be created for a student’s new class enrollment if no assignment grades were transferred from the withdrawn class. Creating a transfer grade is not required and depends on when a student transfers and the preferences of the teacher.

To create a transfer grade:

1. A class transfer must have already happened. The old and new classes must have identical “Date Withdrawn” and “Late Date Enrolled” dates.
2. Navigate to the student’s Schedule, Schedule – All, or Classes tab.
3. Navigate to the class enrollment record of the new class by clicking on the Enrollment ID (first column) or the  View Record button (penultimate column).
4. On the class enrollment record, click the  Action menu and select Create X Transfer Grade (where X is the Active Grade Period).

Results of Creating the Transfer Grade

In the current (new) class, a new assignment is created with an assignment type “Transfer Grade,” viewable by the teacher in the “assignments” portion of the Gradebook and in students’ Grade Detail report. This new assignment is given the value of the calculated grade from the old class, weighted by the amount of time they were in the class according to this formula:

(E/T) x 100
E=days enrolled in the class during the grading period
T=total number of days in the grading period

Factoring Transfer Grades into Grade Calculation

After calculating the transfer grade, the system calculates the class grade with the following formula:

(Weighted_Sum_of_Non-Transfer_Grades x (1 — Transfer_Weight)) + (Transfer_Grade x Transfer_Weight)

where

Transfer_Weight = Transfer_Grade/100

Example

John has a weighted sum of non-transfer grades of 88.5 and a Transferred Grade of 20. In this situation, John’s grades would be as follows:

88.5 x (1 – 0.20) + (20 x 0.20) = 74.8

Transferring Posted Grades

Posted grades — term grades, as distinct from grades in the gradebook — can be transferred to the new class if the student moved to the new class after one or more grading periods have elapsed and the posted grades received in the withdrawn class should count towards the overall grade in the new class.

To transfer posted grades:

1. A class transfer must already have happened. The old and new classes must have identical “Date Withdrawn” and “Late Date Enrolled” dates.
2. Navigate to the student’s Schedule, Schedule – All, or Classes tab.
3. Navigate to the class enrollment record of the new class by clicking on the Enrollment ID (first column) or the  View Record button (penultimate column).
4. On the class enrollment record, click the  Action menu and select Transfer Posted Grades from WD Class To This Class.

Results of Transferring Posted Grades

• All posted grades in the “from” class are moved to the “to” class.
• Because qualitative grades (rubrics) often vary from class to class, qualitative grades are *not* transferred in this procedure.
• The system ensures that there are no duplicate posted grades (e.g., two posted grades in the same grading period). If duplicates are found, an error message is displayed.

Example Scenarios

Example 1: Simple Move

A student switches from a physics class to a math class on the third day of school. They simply need to switch rosters; no assignment or posted grades need to move with them.

1. Follow the “Simple Move” directions above. There is no need to create a transfer grade or transfer posted grades. The student will be withdrawn from physics and enrolled in math as if they are a new student in the class. The student will appear immediately on the math roster and will remain in the physics gradebook for ten days. A grade record for the current grading period will be created in the overnight script.

Example 2: Section Transfer

A student switches to a different section of Spanish II with the same teacher. Assignment grades should move over with them (in the gradebook) and so should their first quarter posted grade.

1. Follow the “Section Transfers” directions above. The student will appear immediately on the new roster and will disappear after ten days from the old gradebook. Assignment grades are transferred to the new section, and a grade record for the current grading period will be created in the overnight script.
2. Since the student is enrolled in a class with the same course and teacher, no transfer grade is needed; the teacher will simply see the student on the class’s roster.
3. Follow the “Transferring Posted Grades” directions above. The student’s first quarter Spanish II grade will be moved to the new section.

Example 3: Non-Section Transfer

A student switches from AP Physics to College Prep Physics in the third quarter. The classes are both in the physics subject area but are instances of different courses, therefore regardless of the teacher, this is considered a non-section transfer in Veracross. No assignment grades will be moved, and the decision to create a transfer grade and transfer posted grades will depend on the situation.

1. Follow the “Simple Move” directions above. The student will be withdrawn from AP Physics and enrolled in College Prep Physics as if they are a new student in the class. The student will appear immediately on the new class’s roster and remain in the old gradebook for ten days.
2. Since no assignment grades moved with the student (as they are different courses), the teacher in the new class may want to see a transfer grade in the gradebook. If so, follow the “Create a Transfer Grade” directions above. The teacher of the new class will see a single transfer grade in their gradebook for the student, and they are free to take it into consideration however they would like.
3. Since College Prep Physics is a fundamentally different course than AP Physics, posted grades should not be transferred.
4. Since the transfer came late in the year, both class should likely be reflected on the student’s report card and transcript. To do this, set “Exclude From Report Card” and “Exclude From Transcript” back to “No” on the withdrawn class enrollment record.