Question about Canvas and grades

[Anonymous]

My son is new to MCPS, in high school. I don't understand his grades on Parent Vue or My MCPS Classroom/Canvas. Any insight is much appreciated.

1) Canvas grades don't match ParentVue. I assume there is a lag?
2) Some teachers have nothing loaded in Canvas. I assume everything was turned in on paper, but other classes still list them in Canvas even if it's a paper assignment.
3) The "calculation of totals" (grades) is disabled. Is there a way to change that? Or a reason they do that?
4) Some teachers list assignments under assignments and some list them under modules. Is there any particular reason for the distinction?
5) Many assignments have no grade next to them. Are teachers going to catch up on this tomorrow? One half day doesn't seem like enough time.

My son has ADHD but not a 504 (working on it). The Canvas dashboard is actually really helpful to him, to help keep him organized. But we can't figure out when teachers use it, or not. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

1. There is (or can be) a lag between when grades are entered in Canvas and show up in ParentVue.

2. Some teachers use Canvas more robustly than others do/some schools are more laissez-faire about teachers using it in their own way vs. standardizing everything.

3. Don't know.

4. Same as #2.

5. Probably starting tomorrow and over the next several days.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately teachers only have interim and quarter grade deadlines. Some teachers are very on top of their grading and entering, others wait until the last day. Some teachers load all lesson plans/materials into Canvas, others barely use it. They seem to have wide latitude about these things. The grades in Canvas are unweighted. When they get loaded into parentvue/synergy they are weighted. Those are the actual grades. The haphazard design of this double portal makes it even more difficult to see if your child is caught up on all assignments. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is new to MCPS, in high school. I don't understand his grades on Parent Vue or My MCPS Classroom/Canvas. Any insight is much appreciated.

1) Canvas grades don't match ParentVue. I assume there is a lag?
2) Some teachers have nothing loaded in Canvas. I assume everything was turned in on paper, but other classes still list them in Canvas even if it's a paper assignment.
3) The "calculation of totals" (grades) is disabled. Is there a way to change that? Or a reason they do that?
4) Some teachers list assignments under assignments and some list them under modules. Is there any particular reason for the distinction?
5) Many assignments have no grade next to them. Are teachers going to catch up on this tomorrow? One half day doesn't seem like enough time.

My son has ADHD but not a 504 (working on it). The Canvas dashboard is actually really helpful to him, to help keep him organized. But we can't figure out when teachers use it, or not. Thanks.

HS teacher here.
1) ParentVue/StudentVue (Synergy) is the official gradebook. Grades/assignments can be created and entered there, without there being a corresponding thing in Canvas. Not everything done in Canvas will be for a grade. There is a lag to grade things in general. When it is in Canvas, the teacher decides when to sync (push) the grades to Synergy. For example, I might enter grades in Canvas and use the messaging system to email kids who are missing the assignment or need to redo it. I may wait a couple days to get and enter that late work, before I push it to Synergy gradebook.

2) My high school made a policy that all assignments had to be created in Canvas (even if on paper) so due dates show up on the Canvas calendar. Other HS may not have that policy. Check the policy for your school. You could just email the teacher to ask what their process is.

3) The Canvas grades are deliberately turned off because they aren’t the master gradebook. Synergy is. (Personally, I make sure my Canvas grades match Synergy, but everyone does.) Also, canvas has a “what if” feature that allied kids to see what would happen if they improved a grade (retook a quiz for example). However, kids were changing grades to make their overall grade look good and then showing their parents the fake grade saying they had caught up or whatever. Then parents were surprised at report card time.

4) Canvas has different types of “things” - assignments, quizzes, pages, files, and discussions. These are each their own thing and have their own tab, which most teachers hide from student navigation. Modules are folders to organize the things and allow the ability to set dates to unlock an entire module, set prerequisites in a module (such as, you have to complete a practice quiz with a certain score, before being allowed to take the real quiz). At a minimum, teachers usually put things in order in the module and there may be resources a student should complete before doing an assignment. Teachers can also unpublish a module after it’s complete, so students only see current things. I personally hide the assignments tab and only show modules for students. By the end of the semester, there are too many assignments in some random order under that tab.

5) Some assignments might be ungraded (for example, a class worksheet was handed out electronically.) In Canvas, these won’t get a grade and they won’t be put into Synergy. Across the county, each department has some naming convention that assignment are supposed to use. For example in science, 90% all tasks assignments have to start with SUM: or FA: and 10% practice starts with PA:. Any other name in my Canvas means it isn’t a graded assignment.

[Anonymous]

Forgive phone typos in the above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is new to MCPS, in high school. I don't understand his grades on Parent Vue or My MCPS Classroom/Canvas. Any insight is much appreciated.

1) Canvas grades don't match ParentVue. I assume there is a lag?
2) Some teachers have nothing loaded in Canvas. I assume everything was turned in on paper, but other classes still list them in Canvas even if it's a paper assignment.
3) The "calculation of totals" (grades) is disabled. Is there a way to change that? Or a reason they do that?
4) Some teachers list assignments under assignments and some list them under modules. Is there any particular reason for the distinction?
5) Many assignments have no grade next to them. Are teachers going to catch up on this tomorrow? One half day doesn't seem like enough time.

My son has ADHD but not a 504 (working on it). The Canvas dashboard is actually really helpful to him, to help keep him organized. But we can't figure out when teachers use it, or not. Thanks.

HS teacher here.
1) ParentVue/StudentVue (Synergy) is the official gradebook. Grades/assignments can be created and entered there, without there being a corresponding thing in Canvas. Not everything done in Canvas will be for a grade. There is a lag to grade things in general. When it is in Canvas, the teacher decides when to sync (push) the grades to Synergy. For example, I might enter grades in Canvas and use the messaging system to email kids who are missing the assignment or need to redo it. I may wait a couple days to get and enter that late work, before I push it to Synergy gradebook.

2) My high school made a policy that all assignments had to be created in Canvas (even if on paper) so due dates show up on the Canvas calendar. Other HS may not have that policy. Check the policy for your school. You could just email the teacher to ask what their process is.

3) The Canvas grades are deliberately turned off because they aren’t the master gradebook. Synergy is. (Personally, I make sure my Canvas grades match Synergy, but everyone does.) Also, canvas has a “what if” feature that allied kids to see what would happen if they improved a grade (retook a quiz for example). However, kids were changing grades to make their overall grade look good and then showing their parents the fake grade saying they had caught up or whatever. Then parents were surprised at report card time.

4) Canvas has different types of “things” - assignments, quizzes, pages, files, and discussions. These are each their own thing and have their own tab, which most teachers hide from student navigation. Modules are folders to organize the things and allow the ability to set dates to unlock an entire module, set prerequisites in a module (such as, you have to complete a practice quiz with a certain score, before being allowed to take the real quiz). At a minimum, teachers usually put things in order in the module and there may be resources a student should complete before doing an assignment. Teachers can also unpublish a module after it’s complete, so students only see current things. I personally hide the assignments tab and only show modules for students. By the end of the semester, there are too many assignments in some random order under that tab.

5) Some assignments might be ungraded (for example, a class worksheet was handed out electronically.) In Canvas, these won’t get a grade and they won’t be put into Synergy. Across the county, each department has some naming convention that assignment are supposed to use. For example in science, 90% all tasks assignments have to start with SUM: or FA: and 10% practice starts with PA:. Any other name in my Canvas means it isn’t a graded assignment.

Thank you. I really appreciate the time you've taken to explain -- it helps a lot.