Set your preferences on the Gradebook tab

Note: Teachers can also set their preferences on the Scores page and on the Class List page by clicking the gear icon . Some of these preferences may not be available to you, depending on your district's and school's settings.

1. In the Staff view, click your username on the settings bar, and then click Set preferences.

2. In the Set Preferences pop-up, click the Gradebook tab.
3. 

3. Use this table to fill in the fields:

4. Field	Description
   Shade alternate lines	Select this checkbox if you want the system to shade every other row of your Grade Input page. Otherwise, deselect this checkbox.
   Track administrator updates	Select this checkbox to have an exclamation point appear next to any grades a staff member in the office changes in the School view.
   Tab direction	Select whether you want the Tab key to move you across a row or down a column when you are entering grades on the Grade Input page.
   Show studies	Select this checkbox if you want courses with a category of Study to appear in your Gradebook.
   Enable gradebook features	Select this checkbox if you want to use the Grade Input page to enter scores for assignments. If you do not select this checkbox, the gradebook only displays post columns (Term 1, Term 2, etc.).
   Assignment column order	Select if you want assignments to appear in Date due (ascending), Date due (descending), or Sequence number order on the Scores page.
   Show points in headers	Select this checkbox if you want to view the number of total points in the column header of an assignment.
   Show category names in headers	Select this checkbox to display the names of assignment categories in the assignment headers.
   Publish assignment statistics	Select this checkbox if you want low, median, and high assignment scores to appear for parents and students when they view grades using the Family and Student portals.
   Show student alerts	Select this checkbox to display alert icons next to student names.
   Enable student details	Select this checkbox to view student demographic information from the Scores page. When enabled, a Student Information icon appears in the Name column. Click it to see demographic information from a student's details page (Student > Details).
   Enable student academics	Select this checkbox to view additional academic information for a student from the Scores page. If enabled, a Student Information icon appears in the Name column. Click it to see academic information from the Academics side-tab (Student > Academics).
   Enable student data	This field appears if your system administrator enables custom fields for your Gradebook. Select this checkbox if you want to create custom fields to collect and view additional information about your students. Example: You would like to create a field to enter the ISBN for every textbook assigned to your students. When this field is enabled, a Student Information icon appears in the Name column on your Scores page. Click it to view your custom fields.
   Show course selection recommendation	Select this checkbox to display the Recommendation column on the Scores page. Staff can only make recommendations during the date range defined by the school.
   Anchor averages	Select this checkbox to left-align average columns on the Scores page. This way, the averages always appear next to the student information, and the assignments appear to the right.
   Grade change tracking days (This field is only appears when you click the gear icon on the Scores page. It is on the General tab.)	This value indicates the number of days past an assignment's due date that the "Changed score" icon  can appear in the Teacher Classes widget. The "Changed score" icon shows that an administrator or other user changed an assignment's score. The default setting is 3 (days). Example: Mr. Parker sets this value to 14. He assigns a special project that is due on May 30, and then records the scores in his Gradebook. On June 2, the principal changes one of the scores. When Mr. Parker logs on to Aspen, the "Changed score" icon can appear in the Teacher Classes widget up to 14 days past May 30. The icon only appears: The first time the teacher views their homepage. In the row of the class with the changed score. On days when the class is in-session. Teachers can also view changed scores by selecting Grade Change at the Display field on the Scores page. Once scores are viewed, the icon does not appear.
   Add Assignments Add to all linked classes by default	This checkbox is enabled by default, so a new assignment that you create for a class will apply to all of its linked sections. (All linked classes are automatically selected in the Also add this assignment to linked classes field on the New Assignment page.) If you deselect this checkbox and then create an assignment that you want to apply to one or more linked class sections, you will have to manually select them on the New Assignment page. Note: This preference does not affect adding assignments in the Planner or the Submit Assignments widget on class Pages.
   Missing Assignments Show missing column	If you create special codes that you enter for missing assignments, select this checkbox to view the Missing column on the Scores page. For each student, the Missing column displays the total number of assignments you have entered those special codes for. The values in this column might help you when determining students' final grades for the term. Note: This column is for your eyes only. Students and family members do not see it in the portals, and office and administrative staff members do not see it in the School or District views.
   Count empty as missing	If you selected the Show missing column checkbox, any assignments that were due before today, and that you have not entered scores for, are counted as missing. Note: You might want to select this checkbox at the end of a term when you have finished entering all assignment scores. Otherwise, the Missing column will include scores for assignments you have not graded yet.
   Show unscored	When this checkbox is selected, you will see all rubrics for the selected term for an individual student, even if no grade is entered. If it is not selected, you will only see the rubrics relevant to the term selected and with a grade entered. Note: Rubric ratings must be set up in Aspen in order for this preference to take effect.
   Averages Default weighting	To indicate to the system how you calculate averages, do one of the following: Select Categories only if you want to weight categories only in your gradebook. For example, assume you create three categories: Homework, Tests, and Quizzes. All homework assignments are worth the same amount, as are all tests and quizzes. To determine student term averages, Homework is worth 25% of the grade, Tests are worth 50% of the final grade, and Quizzes are worth 25% of the final grade. Select Category and assignments if you want to weight both categories and assignments within those categories. For example, a student's homework average is worth 25% of the term grade, but each homework within the category is weighted differently. For example, you weight reading homework assignments 1, and intensive writing homework assignments 3. Select Total points if you calculate averages by dividing the total points a student earns by the total number of points possible. For example, a student receives a 100, 90, and 80 for grades. The student's average is 270/300=90. Select Category total points if you want to use total points for individual assignments within categories that you weight. For example, assume you have a Homework category. The homework average counts as 25% of the student’s final grade. Within the Homework category, you grade each individual assignment using points (HW 1 is worth 10 points, HW 2 is worth 20 points). Note: This value becomes the default average mode for the teacher. Teachers can then assign a different average mode to different course sections in the gradebook using the Average Mode field on the class details page.
   Decimals	Type the number of decimal places you want the system to use for calculated averages.
   Grade scale	Click to select the grade scale you want to use to calculate term averages. If you use a grade scale different than the district grade scale, when you update post columns, the system translates the grades to the district grade scale.
   Semester cumulative average	Select this checkbox to show semester running averages on your Scores page. Aspen calculates semester running averages based on the assignment grades within each of the terms inside of it, not on the average for each term. Students and family can view this column in the Student and Family views. Note: Your school must enable the School Grade preferences (for Show semester averages in the gradebook) for this user preference to be activated. See your Aspen system administrator for details. Aspen uses the column header Semester # (for example, Semester 1) for semester running average columns.
   Cumulative average	Select this checkbox to show an overall cumulative average on your Scores page. The overall cumulative average includes all grades and scores entered since the beginning of the class, regardless of term. Aspen calculates the overall cumulative average using the average mode specified in your gradebook. Aspen uses the column header Cumulative for the overall cumulative average. Note: Your school must enable its Grade preferences for this user preference to be activated. See your Aspen system administrator for details.

4. Click OK.