Review of the website MyGradeBook.com
Site Options
When you first sign in on the My Grade Book site, you can select the class you want to work with and enter grades for each student. You can manually type in student information through the student tab, or upload it from your computer through the toolkit tab. By running the wizard through it steps again, you can enter a second group of students. There is an attendance page, where you can take attendance by using a list or you can upload pictures and set up a seating chart.
The quizzes page allows you to import your own quizzes or choose a quiz from the sites library. Questions can be entered as true/false questions, multiple choice, essay, fill-in-the-blank, survey format, or any combination of these. You can then share the quiz with other teachers using My Grade Book or students can log in with their password and take quizzes from the site. You can choose to show the correct answer after each question if you want immediate feedback for the students. The question order is random, so that if a student needs to repeat a quiz, the order is not predictable. Students can retake tests up to 99 times to practice a particular skill. The site will automatically record student’s scores.
The grading summary allows you to select a student or grading period and you can further customize your report by category. So, for one student you can get a list of all of their grades across a subject or for a particular grading period. You can define your own grading scales and grading periods, and can also apply non-numeric scoring options. Grades can also be overridden within the grade reporting system. The grading system allows users to quickly view missing scores, attendance and assignment summaries, as well as individual student quiz question responses. Scores can be viewed by class, student, or by the individual quiz. In all, there are almost 50 different report options to utilize.
Parents are provided a class password and a student specific password so that they can access the site. Teachers can automatically generate new passwords for all students. Students need this to take quizzes and view assignments. It allows parents to view:
- individual grades
- teacher comments
- attendance
- assignment descriptions and due dates
- class announcements and policies
- a class calendar
- links to any school websites that are important
Price and Recommendation
The site offers a free 30-day trial, and you do not have to provide a credit card to access the trial. I signed up for the free trial and the site was easy to use. If you join with a group, the price is better. Examples of the tiered pricing includes:
- 1 License: $49.95 per year
- 2-9 Licenses: $39.95 per user/year
- 10-19 Licenses: $37.95 per user/year
- 20-50 Licenses: $36.95 per user/year
Standard email support is available for free. There are one time fees for additional services, such as on-site training for teachers ($995) or a WebEx training session ($350). The set up was easy to follow and directions were clear and concise. I could not figure out the workbook options. You run a search for available workbooks using an ISBN number; I entered my son’s text information but was unsuccessful.
The quiz section that took some time to figure out; but once I played with it I was able to develop a math quiz. Searching through the “Public Library” option did provide quiz options to import, but I had a hard time finding out how to view the quiz I had imported. I did assign it to my son, and we were able to view and take the quiz.
Overall, for the price, the site was very user friendly and accessible. It allows teachers to access grades from anywhere, meaning they do not have to lug their grade book home every day. It is all in one place and the site promises to be safe and secure. I definitely feel that it is worth looking at the free trial to see if it is something that you could implement into your classroom.
