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Grade Center: Change Grading Scale

To display a grade as Pass/Fail, letters A/B+/B/etc, or custom symbols, you need to employ a Grading Schema. A Grading Schema defines the values of letter grades and customized grade symbol sets. For example, a student’s score on a quiz is 88 out of 100. According to the predefined Grading Schema, 87%-89% range equals B+. If you choose Letter to display a grade, a student will see B+.

A predefined grading schema, Letter, is automatically included in a course. The Letter grading schema shows up in the Primary and Secondary Display when you add/modify a column or a calculated column. The predefined values of letters can be changed.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to: Predefined Letter Grading Schema in Blackboard

Screenshot of schema

Add a grading schema

  1. Click Manage in the Action Bar of the Grade Center.
  2. Select Grading Schema from the Action Link menu.
  3. Click Add Grading Schema.
  4. Enter a Name for the Grading Schema.
  5. Enter a Description for the Grading Schema. The description will appear on the Manage Grading Schema page and can assist with identifying the Grading Schema.
  6. Enter the Schema Mapping information. By default, a new grading schema has two ranges of percentiles from 50% to 100% and from 0% (zero) to less than 50%.
    • Click the Insert New Row button to enter additional display values.
    • In the column Grades Scored Between, type a lower number for each percentage range. The upper level of the range will be adjusted automatically.
    • In the column Will Equal, type the corresponding Display Symbol (Passed, Failed, A, B+, etc.).
    • Click the Remove Row button to remove the row you don’t need.
    • Click Submit.
    • Click OK to return to the grade Center.
Note
  • The name of a Grading Schema appears in the drop-down menu for Primary Display and Secondary Display when adding an item to the Grade Center.
  • A Pass/Fail schema might be set up like this: A grade with percentage between 70 and 100% is displayed as Passed. A grade with percentage between 69 and 0% is displayed as Failed.
  • The dash symbol “—“ cannot be used as an entry. The dash represents a Null value.
  • Each Display Symbol must be unique in the Grading Schema.
  • The percentage range for each grade value must begin with the lesser value listed first. The values must also overlap. For example A = 90 – 100%, B = 80 – 90%, C = 70 – 80% and so on. Ranges must be set up in this way to avoid gaps that could occur when a score falls in between numbers in the range. The range of 80 – 90% includes all grades up to but not including 90%. The top range does include 100%.
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Modify a grading schema

  1. Click Manage in the Action Bar of the Grade Center.
  2. Select Grading Schema from the menu.
  3. Click Modify next to a Grading Schema.
  4. Make any changes to Name, Description or Display Symbols and their corresponding percentages.
  5. Click Submit. Once submitted, all columns using the Grading Schema are updated to reflect the changes.
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Copy a grading schema

  1. Click Manage in the Action Bar of the Grade Center.
  2. Select Grading Schema from the menu.
  3. Press the Copy button next to a grading schema.
Note
The new grading schema has a “Copy of” prefix followed by the name of the original schema.

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Remove a grading schema

  1. Click Manage in the Action Bar of the Grade Center.
  2. Select Grading Schema in the menu.
  3. Click Remove next to a Grading Schema.
  4. Click OK to confirm removal.
  5. Click OK to return to the Grade Center.
Note
Instructors may remove the default Grading Schema only if they have made modifications to it.
Instructors may remove any Grading Schemas they created as long as the schemas are not in use. Grading Schemas currently in use do not have a Remove button.
Removing a Grading Schema cannot be undone.

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Display a grade using a grading schema

  1. Click on the column header.
  2. Select Modify Column in the drop-down menu. Modify Column page will open.
  3. Next to Primary Display, select the name of the Grading Schema you want to use.
  4. Next to Secondary Display, select an additional format for the grade to be displayed in the Grade Center.
Note
Students can see their grade only in the format specified for the Primary Display.

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