Skyward Tech Tip: Unlocking a Closed Grade Period

Have you recently attempted to change a grade from last quarter only to be met with the statement “This Grade Period is closed for Grade Entry“?

This occurs because the date for the end of a marking period or quarter has past and that grading period has been locked in the Skyward Gradebook. Below you will find the process for changing term grades, assignment scores, and other information from past grading periods.

Google Docs Version

Go to your gradebook

Let’s start with the gradebook for the class where you need to make a change.

In this example, we will be adding a score to a missing assignment and removing the incomplete grade from the quarter grade. (Note: The process to open or unlock the gradebook is the same regardless the change you need to make.)

This change will be made for marking period three, Q3. In that marking period column, click on the “Options” dropdown button.

From the Options dropdown, choose “Grade Posting Status for Term QX”, where X is the specific quarter. Again, here we are using Q3.

On the screen that appears, you will choose the button at the right, “Request Grade Changes”.

A popup window will appear prompting you for the reason for your Request to Change Grades. The reason you supply should include information that would be helpful for office staff to use in completing your request. Notice, in this example, that the office will be informed that the gradebook has been unlocked in order to “update missing assignments and remove [an] incomplete” score. Click “Yes” to proceed. (Note: After opening or unlocking the gradebook, you will have two (2) hours with which to make your changes before the gradebook will automatically lock again.)

Next...

Notice this student has a score of “0” for the assignment highlighted below. Click on the assignment score to be changed.

Now, the score has been updated to an 18 out of 20. Next, for this example, the “I” or incomplete grade must be removed from the Q3 column as this student has completed all work for the quarter. Click on the “I” for the incomplete. (Note: The “I” could represent any grade period score that you may wish to change.)

Once you have clicked on the “I”, the grade adjustment screen will appear showing both the grade override (Incomplete) at the right and, to the left, the Skyward calculated score. Removing the incomplete will allow the gradebook to use the Skyward calculated score as the new grade listed for the student. To remove the incomplete, click on the dropdown menu and choose the “-” (dash) as shown at the right. Click “Save”.

 

Once the grade change has been made an additional column will appear in your gradebook. There are now two Q3 columns. The Q3 column on the left represents the current grade that is being (will be) reported. The Q3 column on the right is the grade that was reported on the report card. You might think of it as left/new, right/old.

Now that all assignments have been updated and the incomplete quarter grade removed, we need to finalize these changes. In other words, “close”, “lock”, or “complete grade changes”. Click on Q3 Options. Choose Grade Posting Status for Term QX.

On the screen that appears, choose “Complete Grade Changes”. We are now done.