Frequently Asked Questions about STAR Teacher Portal
Roster Attendance Grade-book Other
Q. Is there a way to print out a complete class list, including demographic
information?
A. Advanced query in Star Student would need to be created by AA to export such a report.
Q. Is there a way for teachers to input
demographic data?
A. No, all changes and new data should be sent to school Administrator.
Q. How can I print a class roster or
attendance collection sheet?
A. There are several options:
1. Print from Seating Chart
2. Print roster
3. Export Roster to Excel and manipulate rows/columns (change file type to “Excel Workbook”)
4. Under Attendance, choose Attendance Collection Report; set the date or range of dates; click “Go”
Q. Special Needs student are indicated
in bold print; is that against the law?
A. Only if you show this document to others – it is for teachers eyes only.
Q. If a student checks out after first
period, will he/she be marked absent in the remaining periods?
A.
If a student is absent during the daily
attendance (first time attendance is taken), there will be a green circle with
a check to the left of the student's name for the rest of the day. The teachers
in the following periods will still have to mark the student absent and submit,
every period. All students show Present in all classes unless the office has
documented absences/suspensions, etc. . .
Q. Under “Attendance”, if I mark a
student tardy (“left “ or “entered”) will that affect
daily attendance records?
A. No, just period attendance for the individual class.
Q. Do grades round up automatically?
A. Yes, from .5 grades round up. This setting cannot be changed.
Q. Can I input grades after the
assignment due date?
A. Yes.
Q. If I input grades before the assignment
due date, will they be counted in the overall average?
A. No, the grades will not be averaged in until the due date.
Q. In middle school courses offering
high school credit, how should these classes be weighted differently in the
grade-book?
A. We are not aware of anything teachers must do differently; the guidance department will assure credits are assigned appropriately.
Q. How are final grades averaged?
A. Teacher Portal “help” documents describe how grades are calculated. Grades are calculated and auto-generated into the Final Average from the marking period averages based on the MCPS formula.
Q. Can specialty teachers keep a grade book and have grades uploaded to
students’ report cards?
A. Yes.
Q. How can I save my grade
book as an Excel Workbook file?
A. In “Grade-book”, click
on “Download to Excel”, then change file type to “Excel Workbook”.
Q.
Why don’t I see the
changes I make in my grade book?
A. You need to refresh
the page in your web browser in order to see the changes you have made.
Q.
Can I email progress
reports home?
A. You have two
options:
1. Generate progress reports in grade book and save them as .pdf files. Then click on the student’s email address, compose a brief message, and send the progress report as an attachment
2. Use the group email icon to send an email to all parents telling them that a progress report is being sent home with their students.
Q. How is extra credit applied in the grade book?
A. There are two options
for extra credit:
1. When creating an assignment, use the drop down box to choose “Yes” in the Extra Credit column;
2. Input general extra credit points in the column labeled “Extra Credit” on the main page of “Grade-book” tab.
Q.
How can I set up an
assignment so that its grade does not count for or against the student?
A. Set the weight as “0”.
Q. Can I upload data from Excel into the grade-book?
A. No
Q. Does the grade-book calculate basic statistics for me like
average grade on an assignment and max/min values?
A. By clicking on the class average grade displayed at the
bottom of the assignment columns the program will display assignment
statistics.
Q. In my grade-book, how do I expand the area where my students and grades are so that I can see the entire class at once?
A. You can view more of the grade-book by adjusting the zoom level of your browser, or the screen resolution settings.
Q. Does the Teacher Portal
time-out? After how much time?
A. Yes, it will eventually time out after remaining idle for some time. But we strongly recommend that you not leave the Portal logged in if you are not at your computer for security reasons. If you want to stay logged in, you may lock your workstation with Ctrl-Alt-Del… “Lock Workstation.”
Q. Do I need to log out of Teacher Portal
to exit?
A. Yes, for security reasons it is extremely important to close each session. The log off button is on the teacher portal homepage.
Q. How can I sort classes?
A. Click on “Customize” on the Teacher Schedule page to choose fields by which list is sorted.
Q. How do I access Teacher Portal from
home?
A. There is a link on the Instructional Technology homepage (MCPS home/Technology department/Instructional Technology). There will be a link from the MCPS home page, and schools can add links to their websites.
If you want to paste the link into your browser, it is http://starportal1.montgomery.k12.va.us:7778/portal/page?_pageid=34,44725,34_44730&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
Q.
Can specialty teachers have students divided into individual
classes?
A. Administrators can set that up when scheduling
classes in STAR.
Q.
How do I navigate to
different pages in Portal without closing each window?
A. Pages open in tabs at
the top of the page in Internet Explorer; click on tabs to go from page to
page.