Define Family and Student Portal Preferences

Define the Family and Student portal preferences for your school.

To define Family and Student portal preferences:

  1. Log on to the School view.
  2. Select School > Setup > Preferences. The Daily Attendance preferences page appears.
  3. Click the Category drop-down to select Family/Student Portal. The Family/Student Portal preferences page appears.

    School Family/Student Portal preferences

  1. Use the table to enter information in the fields:
  2. Field Description
    General

    Show semester averages

    Select this checkbox to display the semester running average for students in the Student and Family portals. Semester running averages calculate based on the assignment grades within each of the terms inside of it, not on the average for each term.

    Aspen uses the column header Semester # for semester running averages. For example, Semester 1 is the column header for the running average for S1.

    Note: Only school years with an even number of grading terms can use semester running averages.

    Show overall cumulative averages

    Select this checkbox to show the overall cumulative average for students in the Family and Student portals. The overall cumulative average includes all grades and scores entered by the teacher since the beginning of the class, regardless of term.

    Aspen calculates the overall cumulative average using the average mode specified in the teacher's Gradebook.

    Grades calculation for standards

    Select one of the following average modes to use for the Student and Family portals:

    • Trend: The Power Law Trend equation appears. This formula references each score you enter for a student, and predicts the next score a student would receive if evaluated for that standard again.
    • Average: The standard arithmetic mean (or average) equation appears. This formula is the average of all the scores entered for a standard; sum of scores divided by number of scores.

    For more information on standards-based grading modes, see "Using the Standards-Based Gradebook as a Teacher" in the Staff View and Teacher Gradebook user guide.

    Show cumulative standard summary

    Select this checkbox to show a cumulative standard summary, instead of a term-based standard summary, on the Academics page.

    Allow curriculum maps in portal

    Select this checkbox to allow a read-only version of a class section's curriculum map to appear in the Family and Student portals (if the Show in Portal option is selected for the section in the teacher's Gradebook).

    Display only letter grades in portal

    When this preference is enabled, letter grades (without numeric values) will appear for all scores and averages in the Family and Student portals, in both desktop and mobile Aspen.

    Note: For a letter grade to appear in the portals, a grade scale must be attached to the transcript definition (District view, Grades > Transcript Definition > Columns). The grade scale must have a letter in the Code field and a corresponding number in the Value field (District view, Grades > Grade Scales > Grades). When enabled, this preference overrides the Entry mode selected for an assignment in the teacher's Gradebook.
    Academics

    Term performance display mode

    This preference determines what appears on the Classes page (Academics tab) in the portals and on the Classes screen in the New Portal for mobile devices. Term Average is the default; or select Cumulative Average.

    Note: To display the student's cumulative average, the School Grade preference Overall cumulative average must be enabled. In addition, the teacher's Gradebook preference Cumulative average must be enabled so the cumulative average appears in the Gradebook.

    Average summary display mode in detail

    		This preference determines what appears in the Average Summary grid on the class details page in the portals (Academics > Details). Display category average by term is the default, Or, select Display category cumulative average to show the overall average for each category since the beginning of the class, instead of by term.

    Allow adjusted value indicator in portal views

    This preference appears in the School view if your district (root organization) has enabled it.

    Enable this preference for the Indicates adjusted value icon  to appear next to the Posted grade in the Student and Family portals (Academics > Details > Average Summary section and on the Grades widget on the homepage) and in the Staff view (Student > Academics > Details > Average Summary section).

    The icon indicates that the posted grade displayed in the Student and Family portals does not match the Gradebook-calculated average in the teacher's Gradebook. These values might be different if the teacher marked some assignments private, or if they manually adjusted the quarter grade average in the Gradebook. When the user hovers over the icon, the message "Indicates adjusted value" appears.

    This field is disabled by default.

  1. Click Save.