In this article, we'll show you around the different areas of the marksheet and show you how you can customise the columns and colours shown.
A marksheet is a tool that is used to enter and record marks, comments and evidence for summative or ad-hoc assessments. The user can also add certain student demographic information such as a students age as well as various targets, to use as a reference on the sheet. You can find out more about how to use marksheet to enter and record marks here.
In the examples below, we've used the Academic Unit Marksheet (this is the one we recommend for ease of use), but there are other marksheets available which show data in a slightly different format.
Permissions
- School: View: Assessments: Review - see the mark history on a marksheet.
- School: Action: Assessments: Administer - edit target judgements rules or grade sets for an assessment.
If you don't have the permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.
How the marksheet works
What are the different sections of the marksheet?
All the marksheet sections shown can be found by using the bar below the marksheet to scroll. Each section is explained in more detail below.
Click into the filter bar at the top of the page to edit your marksheet.
You can choose a date range time to view the marksheet from, the group of students and the assessment by clicking the filters at the top of the page. Click the tick boxes to display additional information such as the student's final target, and a column for adding notes.
Bulk actions
Bulk actions allow for faster mark entry and a number of other actions such as creating an intervention group or contacting the guardians of a student. Just tick the boxes next to the students, then click the Bulk action button.
There are also additional bulk actions available to use from the Summative Tracking Marksheet (if you have all the necessary permissions).
Student name and demographic information
This section shows which students they are entering or viewing marks for. You can also include additional columns for reference information, such as the student's attendance (see the How to edit the columns shown in marksheets section).
Academic year information
The academic year section can appear on the left or right side of the marksheet depending on the type of information being displayed:
- Baselines will usually be displayed on the left-hand side as a point of reference
- Targets are to the right
Assessment periods
The assessment periods shown depends on the date that the user has chosen in the filters. The default date of the marksheet is today’s date.
- Dark green means the student is exceeding their target
- Light green means they are working at their target
- Orange means they are working below target
For summative assessments without strands, the Completed Assessment Periods section will display the mark entered for the relevant assessment period.
For summative assessments with strands, the Assessment Period Average or SUM mark will be displayed in this column for the relevant assessment period (depending on the Calculation Method selected when setting up the assessment).
If you have chosen to show the Display grade set in the filters, you can see the mark in the Display gradeset as well as the current mark.
If your assessment has strands, the grade for each strand will be displayed, as well as the weighted average or SUM (depending on the Calculation Method selected when setting up the assessment).
How to edit the columns shown in marksheets
- You can choose to show or hide different columns in all your marksheets here: How to edit the columns shown in all assessment marksheets
- You can also choose certain columns to display on only certain marksheets here: How to set up custom marksheets for different assessments
How the marksheet is colour coded - editing Target Judgement Rules
How do Target Judgement Rules work?
Target Judgement rules determine how mark sheets are colour coded, depending on how your students are doing in their assessments relative to their targets, giving you a clear visual indication of students that might benefit from an intervention. You can set up as many Target Judgements as you need, and can change the names of your Target Judgements to align with the language you use at your school.
For the marksheets to be colour-coded, you will need to have input a mark for the assessment period, and the Year Target, shown here: Adding and locking Targets
What are the default settings for Target Judgements?
Judgement rules are initially set to be the same across all assessments. By default, Arbor automatically calculates whether the student is working Significantly Below, Slightly Below, At or Above their current target.
Significantly Below is between the lowest value on the scale and the midpoint of the lowest value and the target. Slightly Below is between the midpoint of the lowest value and the target.
They will cause the mark sheets to display four colours - orange, yellow, light green or dark green.
For example, if your assessment uses the new GCSE grade set and a student has a current target of 7, the thresholds are as shown below:
Here you can see Arbor's default colour coding. For example, if a student is working at their target (7), Arbor will colour the cell light green and if they are working slightly below their target (grades 4, 5 or 6) Arbor will colour the cell yellow.
The more target judgements you have set up, the more colour steps you will see between orange and green.
Editing the default Target Judgement Rules or adding more
Editing the colours in marksheets or renaming your target judgements
Go to Students > Assessments > Assessment Framework > Targets > Target Judgement Rules > Target Judgements. Select the target judgement to edit the name or change the colour it will colour-code the marksheet with.
For example, you might want to amend them to be called Emerging, Developing, Secure.
Changing the colour will override the colours for all the Judgements in Marksheets and Report Cards. To use your own colours other than the default, be sure to select a colour for every judgement.
Here's an example of how the colour coding can look if you've chosen your own colours.
Adding more Target Judgements
Go to Students > Assessments > Assessment Framework > Targets > Target Judgement Rules > Target Judgements. You can add new target judgments by clicking +Add.
In the slide over, choose the name and where to place the judgement. Then click Add judgement.
Your list will then be updated and you can use this new judgement with all of your assessments.
Changing how Target Judgements Rules work for each assessment
You can adjust the thresholds for each target judgement by going to Students > Assessments > Assessment Framework > Targets > Target Judgement Rules > Assessment Rules.
To see what target judgements have been set up for each assessment, select the assessment from the Assessment drop-down menu. You can add target judgement rules for any assessment that has been added to your Assessment framework. This means you only have to define these rules once for an assessment. They will apply to every academic year that the assessment has been added to the Annual Policy for.
You can use the Bulk Update button to apply the same settings to all your assessments.
Top Tip: Press your Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac) keys to select all your assessments. You can then click any assessments to deselect them.
To set rules for an individual assessment, click the assessment, then on the next page click +Add.
In the slide over, you can adjust the thresholds for your judgements and select between points or grades. You can choose whole numbers or up to 2 decimal places to allow for finer rules. Click Save changes.
This will then be reflected in the mark sheets and on report cards.
How the target and baseline columns work?
Arbor uses several types of targets in our Summative Assessments. Understanding the different types are key when setting up your assessments for the academic year.
In the list below, you can see all the different targets and where they can be used. The pages are:
- The Academic Unit Marksheet
- The Summative Tracking marksheet
- The Baselines & targets page in Students > Assessments > Summative Tracking > Mark Entry > Baselines & Targets
Baseline
This is a student's starting point for any assessment, and isn't a target.
If the student was enrolled in the assessment during the last academic year, their final mark last year will appear as the Baseline this year if you chose to copy this over.
- It can be edited in individually from the Academic Unit Marksheet.
- It can be viewed from the Summative Tracking marksheet.
- It can be edited in bulk or individually from the Baselines & Targets page.
What are the different targets?
In this article, you can see all the different targets, why you would use each one, and where they can be used: What are the different summative assessment targets?
Renaming and viewing the target columns
You can change the names for your summative assessment targets from Students > Assessments > Assessment Framework > Targets. Here you can see all the target names.
To add an alias of a target and rename the column in the marksheet, just click a target. Choose the alias in the slide over, then click Save changes.
To remove the alias, just click the target again and remove all the text in the Alias field.
Where can I view the renamed targets?
You'll be able to view the renamed columns on these pages:
|
Target |
Baselines & Targets |
Summative Marksheet |
Academic Unit Marksheet |
| Year | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (add using the filters) |
| Teacher | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Period | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (add using the filters) |
| School progress | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| School attainment | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Final | ✓ (add using the filters) | ✓ (add using the filters) | ✓ (add using the filters) |
| Aspirational | ✓ (add using the filters) | ✓ (add using the filters) | ✓ (add using the filters) |
Can I choose which targets to display in marksheets?
By default, our Summative Assessment marksheets show the Year Target.
- To change the columns shown in all marksheets, follow these instructions: How to edit the columns shown in all assessment marksheets
- To change the columns shown in certain marksheets, you can set up custom marksheets following these instructions: How to set up custom marksheets for different assessments
Comments
why can I not see any A level Flightpath targets in the assessments and teacher marksheets, even though I have a) manually entered them and b) also done a bulk upload.
The ones I can see are because I have gone into Targets and Baslines and have manually overridden the target per student per flightpath (for a class of 3 A level students - this is 6 columns of targets, so 18 changes in total for 1 A level class in Year 12).
Why do the flightpath targets not appear when I upload the targets? The Year Targets appear but nothing else does?
Hi Mark, this sounds like a more complex query that we'd need to look into further with you! Please get in touch at myteam@arbor-education.com so we can get this sorted!
Thanks Gwyn - although this was posted two weeks ago....in that time the error has been something to do with uploading targets into the Year or Teacher target which creates derived flightpaths - I have sorted this out but the literature above needs to be clearer about the pitfalls of what targets need to be entered on the download sheets as its not that clear and if you have not had any training and just doing it blind - you are going to make lots of frustrating mistakes.
Hi Mark, thanks for your feedback on this article!
I'd love to work with you to improve the guidance here, so please get in touch at myteam@arbor-education.com to put forward your suggestions about how we can make this resource more useful for schools.
If your query is urgent, we'd always recommend webchatting, phoning or emailing us as you'll get a faster response that way.
hi Gwyn,
when looking at a marksheet for a whole department, how can i view the class code/ class teacher. i want to quickly be able to identify from an entire department marksheet as to what student is in what class and what teacher has not completed a marksheet. this was easy in sims and seems impossible to do quickly in arbor.
Hi Jamie, this is possible using Data Collection Policies! Using Data Collection Policies you can see the marksheets each teacher has to fill in, see how much they've completed and send them an email reminder.
Article is closed for comments.