Understanding Standards Based Grading in PowerSchool

How will grades be converted for GPA?

The GPA scale for Santa Fe Public Schools will remain the same as any other school in the state of New Mexico; grades from other schools will transfer to our system and our grades will transfer out. A GPA looks exactly the same in a traditional grading system and a standards-based system.

For transcript purposes, high schools will convert their standards-based grades to a traditional grading system as follows:

Grades will be converted to A, B, C, D or F at the end of each semester for Grades 7-12 courses only. Student GPA will be calculated based on letter grades for courses which is consistent with how GPA is calculated normally. Course GPA will be calculated using the following conversion: A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.0, and F=0.0. GPA will continue to be weighted for AP classes, and will use the following conversion: A=5.0, B=4.0, C=3.0, D=2.0, and F=0.0.
PowerSchool will output a student’s raw score based on their performance in the priority standards for the class. The raw score is an average of student overall performance on reported standards. This raw score can be used to determine a student’s letter grade in a course by using the conversion chart below. These numbers are not GPA calculations.
Letter grades indicate the following:
1. An “A” means the student has completed proficient or advanced work on all course essential standards.
2. A “B” means the student has completed proficient work on almost all course essential standards.
3. A “C” means the student has completed proficient work on most of the essential standards and is progressing on standards and is not at significant risk of failing the next course in the sequence. The student can continue to the next course.
4. A “D” means the student is approaching proficient work on a majority of the course essential standards but is missing some important objectives and is at significant risk of failing the next course in the sequence.
5. An “F” means the student has not shown growth on a majority of the course essential standards and should not advance to the next course in the sequence.
Credit will be granted for grades D and above with appropriate GPA points attached to those grades.
Middle school students taking high school-level courses will have their grades converted to a traditional letter grade using the above criteria for their high school transcript.
Transfer students will receive credit for grades as they were recorded by the sending school. High school counselors will review incoming transcripts

	Powerschool Raw Score
A	3.00 - 4.00
B	2.50 - 2.99
C	2.00 - 2.49
D	1.00 - 1.99
E	0.00 - 0.99

How to View Standards-Based Grades and Assignments in the PowerSchool Parent Portal

Follow this guide for the steps needed to view standards grades in the PowerSchool Parent portal. This is not the report card, but can be used to view your student’s records in the teacher gradebook.

If you need help or have questions about your student’s grades, please contact your child’s teacher or visit the Santa Fe Public Schools website for more information at sfps.info.

Log in to the PowerSchool parent portal with your parent or student account credentials.
Once you are logged in, click on the ‘Grades and Attendance’ link.
On the ‘Grades and Attendance' page, click on the ‘[ i ]’ link under the current quarter to view your student’s gradebook entries for a course on the ‘Class Score Detail’ page

On the ‘Class Score Detail’ page, view information about the class, and for your student’s assignments.
Each assignment will be listed with details, such as the due date, gradebook category, and more.
Click on the small blue bar chart icon to view the ‘Student Score Detail’ page.

Note: View the ‘Legend’ at the bottom of the page to understand what each icon means.

Red box highlighting Legend in Powerschool

Click on the ‘View’ link to expand the view for an assignment.
The list of standards being assessed for the assignment will display with a score for each standard:

Red box highlighting list of standards box

To view a list of your student’s current standards grades, click on the ‘Standards’ tab from the ‘Grades and Attendance page.
Click on a class to expand the menu and view the standards being graded.

Once the menu expands, a list of standards that have been graded will appear for the class. Click on a grade to view more details.

The ‘View Standards Final Grade’ window will appear for your review. Note: Click on the ‘Grade Scale Details’ link to view the grading scale(s) for the class.
To view the Report Card for your student, click on the ‘Student Reports’ link in the left navigation menu.
Click on the link for the report you wish to view. The report will pop up on a separate page.