EZ-Grade is a powerful tool for teachers. It keeps track of students, grades, absences, and more. Using EZ-Grade is as simple a entering scores into your regular gradebook, but as powerful as using a modern spreadsheet and database combined. View student information simply by pointing at the student's name and clicking the mouse. Rearranging the entire class is as easy as dragging the students names into the order you choose. Never pick up a calculator for grades again! Just adjust the grading scale to meet your standards and let EZ-Grade do ALL the calculations for you. Teachers are human, and human beings make mistakes, so EZ- Grade is very forgiving. The user is always given multiple opportunities to correct mistakes during input; however, unlike many electronic gradebooks, error correction does not stop there. EZ-Grade allows all data to be easily edited at any time, even weeks or months after it was entered. With EZ-Grade there is no such thing as a fatal mistake! Teachers keep a gradebook with them in class, not a computer, so EZ-Grade allows you to choose from a variety of printout options. From a simple grade summary to a complete gradebook page listing which includes data for EVERY student and EVERY assignment in one compact comprehensive printout. EZ- Grade is preset for Epson compatible printers and is easily configurable to ANY printer. EZ-Grade printouts go way beyond simple grade records. The program allows the teacher to print personalized progress reports for one, some, or all students in the class. These reports inform the students and parents of academic progress and pinpoint areas of weakness. Now here's another place where EZ-Grade leaves other gradebook programs behind. Not only do progress reports relate student grades, but they also allow you to make specific recommendations for ways to improve the student's scores. Yet, you do not have to do any extra work because you enter your recommendations only once, and EZ-Grade does the rest. You can even add up to ten of your own extra criteria to the progress report to adjust it to your needs. EZ-Grade is designed for flexibility. Class sizes can be as large as you choose, being processed in data files of 60 students. One class record can contain up to 90 grades per grading period. Dropping a score from a students grade is no problem, just enter a negative value for the score and it will automatically be dropped from his or her total and the student's possible points will be lowered by that amount. Teachers must keep track of more than just grades, and EZ- Grade is there to help with complete attendance recording and statistics. The program also keeps track of student phone numbers, and if you have a modem it will even dial a student's home for you automatically at the click of a button! In short, EZ-Grade is THE electronic gradebook for the Atari ST. It allows you to focus the incredible power of your ST computer on the time consuming chores of teaching. Maybe the reason it can be so powerful, yet so easy to use is because the programmer is first and foremost a teacher. Order your copy now! EZ-Grade User's Manual Additions/Corrections: Page 37 Should Read; Drop Low Scores The Drop Low Scores option provides another popular method of curving grades. When this option is chosen, EZ-Grade will ask which grade area from which you wish the low scores to dropped. Choose the area by moving the mouse pointer to the correct grade type and clicking the left mouse button. EZ-Grade then finds the lowest score in the given area for each student in the class, and drops that score from the student's totals. This has the same effect as manually entering a negative value for the given grade. Note that different grades will be dropped for different students, depending on where the lowest score is to be found. The low score is determined by finding the grade with the lowest percentage. If two grades have the same percentage score, the grade with the greatest possible points is dropped. Grades are only dropped if doing so raises the student's cumulative total. A special note about the progress report; If you do not wish to have your home phone number information included on progress reports, simply delete your home phone number using the Configuration option from the Modify menu. Version 1.11 Additions/Changes: User Interface; The user interface has been improved cosmetically over version 1.01 with nicer screens and dialog boxes, but the functionality is unchanged. Progress Report Extra Criteria; It is now possible to add up to ten extra criteria to the standard EZ-Grade progress report. These criteria are optional and can be edited using the Extra Criteria option listed in the Modify menu. Each criterion will be printed with boxes which can be checked for excellent, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory performance. This allows the progress report to be personalized even further than before, and should make it more compatible with many standard report cards. (If you are upgrading from EZ-Grade version 1.01 or before, you will find unwanted empty quotes listed as progress report extra criteria. These can be deleted by using the Extra Criteria option from the Modify menu. Be sure to save the new set-up after you have made the necessary changes.) Append Grades; The File menu now includes a menu item labeled Append Grades. This option allows you to add all the grades in one EZ- Grade class data file onto the end of the file currently in memory. This makes it possible to keep a separate file for two or three grading periods then merge them at the end of the semester. To append a data file choose the Append Grades option and confirm that you do wish to append a file. (NOTE: Since the new data will be added onto the end of the currently loaded file, it is a good idea to always load the oldest file first and append the later data files onto the end. This will insure that the grades appear in the correct chronological order.) EZ-Grade now allows you to decide what to do with the absence data which is currently loaded into memory. You can KEEP the current data, and ignore the absences listed in the data file on disk which will be appended. Most commonly you would choose to MERGE the absence data from both files together to get the total absences over the given period. The third option is to REPLACE the currently loaded data with that listed in the file on disk which you are going to append. Next, the specific data file to be appended is selected using a standard GEM item selector box. The data will then be appended and all grades will be recalculated. (SPECIAL NOTE: Grades will be appended only for those students listed in the roster of the currently loaded class. This means that it would be necessary to add the name of a student to the roster before appending grades if he or she is listed in a data file which is to be appended, but not in the currently loaded roster. This case only occurs when the class roster has changed from one grading period to another.) Version 1.12 Additions/Changes: Print Progress Reports; When printing student progress reports, the user is now given the option of addressing the reports to either the parents or the students. Addressing reports to the parents would be most appropriate for the public school teacher; whereas, student addressing would be more suitable for the college instructor. Version 1.21 Additions/Changes: Phone Numbers; The Enter menu now has an option labeled Phone Numbers. This option allows you to enter the home phone number for each student in your class. Entering the numbers follows the same procedure as entering class absences or grades. (It is also possible to enter a phone number for a student by clicking the left mouse button while the pointer is in the upper right corner of the Student Data Screen, above the current date.) If phone numbers have been entered, they will appear in the upper right corner of the Student Data Screeen. Phone numbers can be edited from the Student Data Screen by positioning the pointer over the phone number and pressing the left mouse button, then making the desired changes, followed by the ENTER or RETURN key. If you have a modem connecting your computer to your local telephone system, EZ-Grade can automatically dial a student's phone number for you. Just place the mouse pointer over the word "Phone:" in the upper right corner of the Student Data Screen, then press the left mouse button. EZ-Grade will dial the phone for you and tell when to pick up the receiver. Baud Rate; The Baud Rate option in the Modify menu generates a detached menu with 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600 baud settings. If you own a modem and wish to have EZ-Grade automatically dial your students, use this menu selection to configure EZ-Grade to your modem. If your modem works at various baud rates, it is generally best to choose the highest baud setting. Save a new configuration file if you wish EZ-Grade to always use the selected baud setting. (This menu item always displays the current baud setting.) Tone/Pulse Dialing; As the name implies, choosing the Tone/Pulse Dialing option in the Modify menu toggles between pulse and tone dialing modes when using EZ-Grade's automatic phone dialing feature. Tone dialing is faster, but is currently not available in certain parts of the country. Check with your local phone service if you are unsure about the availability of tone dialing in your area. Save a new configuration file if you wish EZ-Grade to always use the chosen dialing mode. (This menu item always displays the current dialing mode.) Phone Number List; The Phone Number List option in the Print menu creates a listing of the class roster, with grade level data if appro- priate, and the telephone number for each student. The listing can be printed in draft or near letter quality mode. Version 1.30 Additions/Changes: Assignment List; The Assignment List option in the Print menu prints a complete list of assignments for individual students. The listing includes the description for each assignment the student is responsible for, as well as its possible points, the student's raw score, percentage, and letter grade. This information is also printed for the student's current point total in the course. The procedure for printing the Assignment List is the same as that for printing a Progress Report. (See the EZ-Grade owner's manual, pages 48 - 50.) Version 1.40 Additions/Changes: Student Comments; It is now possible to enter up to 70 characters of additional information about individuals in the form of Student Comments. This feature allows EZ-Grade to keep track of counselors, identification numbers, social security numbers, etc. for each person in the class. To view the comments for a given student, just move the mouse pointer to the student's name on the Main Data Screen, then press the right mouse button. The Student Comment Window will appear. Click on the close box of the Student Comment Window with the left mouse button to finish viewing. There are two methods for entering Student Comments. The Enter Menu now contains a Comments option which will allow the user to input comments for the entire class sequentially by class roster order. Simply type a given comment and press the RETURN or ENTER key to move on to the next student. Student Comments can also be entered by moving the mouse pointer inside the Student Comment Window (see above) and clicking the left mouse button. Pressing RETURN or ENTER sets the new comment in place. A listing of Student Comments can be printed by choosing the Student Comments option from the Print menu. The printout will include the Student Comments for everyone in the class. Version 1.41 Additions/Changes: Find Comments; The Find Comments option in the View menu expands the database capabilities of EZ-Grade by allowing you to search Student Comments for any given character string. Choosing the Find Comments option generates a dialog box where the desired search string can be entered. (The search procedure is case sensitive; upper and lower case letters are considered differ- ent.) After typing the characters you wish to search for, press the RETURN or ENTER key and each Student Comment entry containing the given string will be displayed. Press RETURN or ENTER to move to the next matching entry. Click on the close box of the current entry to cancel the search. Version 1.50 Additions/Changes: Grading Scale; The grading scale has been expanded to include the option of F+ grades. The default grading scale is unchanged and does not use the F+ grade; however the option can be activated at will by entering the cut-off point for F+ grades using the Grading Scale option in the Grades menu. (Your current files will be unaf- fected by this change unless you choose to activate it.) Grade Categories; It is now possible to edit the grading areas to which grades must be assigned. All categories except Extra-Credit can be edited from the Customize Grade Categories Screen. The cate- gories (up to 15 characters), their four letter abbreviations, and their one letter symbols can all be edited. The Grade Categories option in the Grades menu calls the Customize Grade Categories Screen where the grading areas can be edited by pointing at the given field and clicking the left mouse button. After editing the grading areas EZ-Grade will give you the option of saving the changes in a new configuration file. Version 1.60 Additions/Changes: Sorting By Comments; The class can be sorted by Comments entered by the in- structor. This feature could be used to separate a class into grade levels, counselor groups, etc. This is option is available for both Print Sorting and View Sorting. (Students with no Comments will appear at the end of the list in class roster order.) Progress Report Comments; Progress Report comments are now stored separately in each class data file. This allows different classes to have customized comments. Status Report/Grade Summary Printing; These printouts now offer an option of printing with Comments instead of EZ-Grade ID Numbers. If printing by Comment is selected, the first six characters of each student's Comment field will be used in place of the student's name or EZ-Grade ID Number on the printout. This provides a printing solution for individuals wishing to use their own ID numbering system. Simply enter the custom identification numbers into each student's comment field, then print using the Comment option. (Text can be used in the customized ID numbers if desired.) Version 1.61 Additions/Changes: Save A Class / Save As... To increase efficiency and reduce the opportunity for errors, the GEM file selector has been eliminated from the Save A Class file option and a separate Save As... file option has been added. The Save As... option provides a GEM file selector for saving the current file under a different name or path and is identical in function to the Save A Class option prior to EZ- Grade version 1.61. Version 2.00 Additions/Changes: Rainbow TOS EZ-Grade should now be Rainbow TOS compatible and uses the new GEM file selector boxes if Rainbow TOS is installed. Program Size EZ-Grade version 2.00 is approximately 50 kilobytes smaller than version 1.61. This means 50 k more room on the program disk as well as 50 k more RAM space. The latter should come in quite handy for 1/2 megabyte ST owners, as it will allow for more desk accessories to be loaded while EZ-Grade is operating. Program Speed EZ-Grade users with large class sizes or high numbers of recorded grades should notice a speed improvement over previous versions of EZ-Grade. The exact amount of improvement depends on individual circumstances and will vary. Command Line EZ-Grade now checks the standard GEM command line for instructions. This means that EZ-Grade can now be installed as an application for ".EZG" files. See the ST owners manual for more information about installing applications. Data Fields Characters in a data field can now be cleared by pressing the ESC key. This provides compatibility with most other GEM applications. Printer Configuration It is now easier to enter ASCII codes into the Printer Configuration fields. To enter a given ASCII code simply hold down the ALTERNATE key while entering the decimal code on the numeric keypad. Student Data Screen The bug which caused the NEXT PAGE button to sometimes stick has been corrected. Data Path The EZ-Grade.cfg configuration file now includes the current data path where class files are found. Thus, the Save Set-Up option now records the data path. This allows EZ-Grade to more easily deal with classes stored in specific folders or on data disks. New Grade The New Grade option now offers the user a choice of two grade entry methods; IN ORDER and RANDOMLY. The IN ORDER option is identical to the grade entry method prior to version 2.00 of EZ-Grade where the grade for each student is requested in class roster order. The RANDOMLY option bypasses asking for each student's grade in class roster order and goes straight to the Check Scores screen, where student grades can be entered in any order. Demo: This EZ-Grade demo comes with a sample data file. Just load the file and have a look around! Almost everything on the screen can be modified by clicking on it; however, you may need the proper screen to do it. For instance, you can change a student's grade while viewing it, but to change the description of the grade would require a trip to the modify menu to bring up the correct editing screen. To Order Please Contact: Integral Software 2721 Embassy Row Indianapolis, IN 46224 317-297-7369 Sug. Ret. $49.95 (Commodore Amiga 1MB RAM Version Sug. Ret. $59.95) Registered owners can upgrade to version 2.00 by sending their original disk with $10.00 to the above address. Please send comments or suggestions to... Integral Software Attn: Brent McKim 6211 Beachview Drive #65 Indianapolis, IN 46224 Or leave Email on GEnie at address B.MCKIM