American (US)
This page describes grading in US-style schools, in the United States and in American international schools, and how to build it in MarkBook. There is no national grading law in the US. States, districts and individual schools set their own percentage bands, weights and GPA rules, so treat the tables below as the common pattern and replace the numbers with your school's policy.
The structure of the year
| Structure | Periods | Report cards |
|---|---|---|
| Semesters | Fall and Spring | Two semester grades; often a mid-semester progress report |
| Quarters | Q1, Q2 (Semester 1), Q3, Q4 (Semester 2) | A quarter grade each quarter, plus semester grades |
| Trimesters | Three terms | Some elementary and middle schools |
In high school the grade that counts for credit and GPA is usually the semester grade. A common rule: Semester grade = 40% Q1 + 40% Q2 + 20% semester exam. Without an exam, the semester grade is the average of the two quarters.
Letter grades and percentage bands
The most common scale, with plus and minus:
| Letter | Percentage | GPA points (4.0 scale) |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 97–100 | 4.0 (some schools 4.3) |
| A | 93–96 | 4.0 |
| A− | 90–92 | 3.7 |
| B+ | 87–89 | 3.3 |
| B | 83–86 | 3.0 |
| B− | 80–82 | 2.7 |
| C+ | 77–79 | 2.3 |
| C | 73–76 | 2.0 |
| C− | 70–72 | 1.7 |
| D+ | 67–69 | 1.3 |
| D | 63–66 | 1.0 |
| D− | 60–62 | 0.7 |
| F | 0–59 | 0.0 |
Without plus and minus: A 90–100 (4), B 80–89 (3), C 70–79 (2), D 60–69 (1), F below 60 (0). Many schools use 70% or 60% as the lowest passing grade; D is often a pass for credit but not for a prerequisite. Some schools use a 10-point scale and others a 7-point scale (A 93–100, B 85–92 …).
GPA
The grade point average is the mean of the GPA points of a student's courses, usually weighted by credits.
| GPA | How it works |
|---|---|
| Unweighted (4.0) | Every course uses the table above |
| Weighted (5.0) | Honors courses add 0.5 and AP / IB / dual-enrollment courses add 1.0 to each letter. An A in AP Calculus is worth 5.0, a B is 4.0 |
Schools report a semester GPA and a cumulative GPA on the transcript.
Standards-based grading
Many elementary schools, and some secondary schools, report on each standard instead of a single letter:
| Level | Common wording |
|---|---|
| 4 | Exceeds the standard (advanced) |
| 3 | Meets the standard (proficient) — the goal |
| 2 | Approaching the standard (developing) |
| 1 | Beginning / well below the standard |
Some schools add half levels (2.5, 3.5) or "NE" (not enough evidence). The final level for a standard is often the most recent or the most consistent evidence, not an average.
Weighted categories
In a traditional US gradebook every assignment belongs to a category, and each category has a weight:
| Category | Typical weight |
|---|---|
| Homework | 10% |
| Quizzes | 20% |
| Tests | 40% |
| Projects / labs | 20% |
| Participation / classwork | 10% |
The quarter grade = the sum of each category's average × its weight. A category average is usually points earned ÷ points possible.
Setting it up in MarkBook: a high school with quarters
The plan: a Number column per category in each quarter, a calculated quarter grade, a semester exam, and calculated semester and final grades. A letter-grade column lets the teacher record the official letter.
1. Reporting periods
Run the Setup Wizard: Start from scratch, Curriculum American, phase High school. It installs the attainment scale A–F (A 4, B 3, C 2, D 1, F 0; from 90, 80, 70, 60%).
For quarters inside semesters, set the periods up under Configuration → School year → Reporting periods: make Semester 1 and Semester 2 as terms with dates, and add Q1 and Q2 inside Semester 1, Q3 and Q4 inside Semester 2, each with a due date. Marks are entered in Q1 to Q4. See Terms & Checkpoints.
2. A letter scale with plus and minus
Configuration → Assessment → Attainment scales → Add new attainment scale. Grading type Label marks, Name Letter grades +/−. Add the 13 rows of the first table, with the GPA points as the Weight (points): A+ 4.3, A 4.0, A− 3.7 … D− 0.7, F 0. (If your A+ is worth 4.0, use 4.1 so that every weight is different, and say in the description that it counts as 4.0.)
For honors and AP courses, duplicate it as Letter grades Honors (+0.5) and Letter grades AP (+1.0) and choose that scale for those subjects on the template's Template content tab.
3. Category columns
In Configuration → Assessment → Markbook Templates → Columns Configurations, press New value type for each category. All Number, Repeated in every reporting period:
| Name | Short label |
|---|---|
| Homework | HW |
| Quizzes | QZ |
| Tests | TST |
| Projects | PRJ |
| Participation | PART |
Teachers type the category average as a percentage, 0 to 100. To keep each assignment, see Assignment Types, which shows a column per assignment averaged into the category.
4. Quarter, exam, semester and final grades
| Name | Short label | Data type | Where does this column appear? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 Grade | Q1G | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Q2 Grade | Q2G | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Q3 Grade | Q3G | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Q4 Grade | Q4G | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Semester 1 Exam | EX1 | Number | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Semester 2 Exam | EX2 | Number | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Semester 1 Grade | S1 | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Semester 2 Grade | S2 | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Final Grade | FIN | Calculated | Only in the final reporting period |
| Report Letter | LTR | Grade label (Letter grades +/−) | Repeated in every reporting period |
5. Build the template
On the template's Template settings tab:
- Reporting period zone: add HW, QZ, TST, PRJ, PART, Q1G, Q2G, Q3G, Q4G, EX1, EX2, S1, S2 and LTR.
- In the Live preview, keep each column only where it belongs: Q1G in Q1, Q2G in Q2, Q3G in Q3, Q4G in Q4; EX1 and S1 in Q2; EX2 and S2 in Q4. Click every other cell of those columns to disable it.
- Final period zone: add FIN.
- Set the formulas on the Advanced tab, each with Show as Number and Decimals 1:
| Column | Formula |
|---|---|
| Q1G, Q2G, Q3G, Q4G | 0.1*HW + 0.2*QZ + 0.4*TST + 0.2*PRJ + 0.1*PART |
| S1 | 0.4*Q1G + 0.4*Q2G + 0.2*EX1 |
| S2 | 0.4*Q3G + 0.4*Q4G + 0.2*EX2 |
| FIN | avg(S1, S2) |
- Press Save value types.
Why four quarter columns? A formula reads the columns of its own period. S1 lives in Q2 but needs the Q1 grade too, so the Q1 grade must be a column that exists only in Q1.
If your weights do not add up to 1, divide: (1*HW + 2*QZ + 4*TST + 2*PRJ + 1*PART) / 10 gives the same result.
6. Letters and colours
A calculated column shows a number, not a letter. Two ways to see the letter:
- Colour the percentage. Edit each calculated value type, turn on Colour-code this column by its value, and add bands: up to 60 red (F), 60 to 70 orange (D), 70 to 80 yellow (C), 80 to 90 light green (B), 90 and up green (A).
- Record the letter. The teacher picks the official letter in Report Letter in Q2 and Q4. Reports then print it, and a scale conversion can print its GPA points beside it.
7. Standards-based grading
For elementary report cards, use learning outcomes: each standard is a row, judged on a judgement scale. Create the scale under Configuration → Assessment → Judgement scales: Value type Number, values Beginning 1, Approaching 2, Meets 3, Exceeds 4. See Learning Outcomes Overview. For a few standards per subject, judgement-scale columns on the template work too.
GPA across courses
MarkBook works out grades within a subject. It does not currently work out a GPA across all of a student's courses or a cumulative GPA.
Worked example
Jordan, Grade 11, Algebra II.
| HW | QZ | TST | PRJ | PART | Quarter grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 92 | 85 | 78 | 95 | 100 | Q1G = 9.2 + 17 + 31.2 + 19 + 10 = 86.4 |
| Q2 | 88 | 90 | 84 | 90 | 95 | Q2G = 8.8 + 18 + 33.6 + 18 + 9.5 = 87.9 |
Semester 1 exam EX1 = 81.
S1 = 0.4 × 86.4 + 0.4 × 87.9 + 0.2 × 81 = 34.56 + 35.16 + 16.2 = 85.9: a B on the plus/minus scale (83–86), coloured light green. The teacher picks B in Report Letter, worth 3.0 GPA points (3.5 if the course were honors).