I've been working around an issue in the grade passback from Canvas, but it has recently caused me some major issues. I've recently chatted with Canvas support and will paste the transcript at the bottom of this message for reference.
This problem occurred in the shift from the 2021-22 school year to the 2022-23 school year. It seems as if it happened with some major software changes at that time.
District Background: We are a very strong Standards-Based Grading district where every assignment is to be reported on a 4-point scale. They offer us to have 2 weighted categories in PowerSchool, practice <10% and Evidence>90%, but we aren't allowed to create any other categories.
My Grading: All my Homework goes into Practice. In my evidence, I have quizzes that lead up to a combined assessment. As such, we have always adjusted an assessment to have an individual assignment weighting of 4x.
The issue I am having is if I re-sync the assignment, the name stays, the category stays, the due date adjusts as appropriate, and the score updates, but the xWeight resets back to 1 every time. This didn't happen before the Summer of 2022. In the following canvas transcript, you will see that they claim to be sending the same information, but how we process it in PowerSchool has changed somehow. The grade that comes from Canvas should only adjust the score entry points, not the xWeight as the Canvas grade book doesn't have that info. They only have the overall categories, the individual assignment name, and the individual assignment score. Is there a way to fix this either on your end or on my end? It seems to be an easy programming fix to only update the info that was sent: Student, Assignment, Score, Due Date, etc., and leave everything else as is. You would have the old code from the old software. Is there something I am missing?
Transcript From Canvas Support Chat: " Heather H (1/3/2024, 2:46:14 PM): Hi Tyler! How can I help you today? Tyler (1/3/2024, 2:53:12 PM): Hi Heather, I noticed this last year, but it has become bothersome this year. Previously when I would do a grade sync from Canvas to PowerSchool, I could change the assignment weight in PowerSchool, then when a student submitted the assignment late I could re-sync it and the weight would still be there. Last year, this stopped happening and it's been very annoying. When I re-sync an assignment it erases the point weighting in PowerSchool. Usually, I remember this and students complain that their scores change twice every time I sync, but recently I have forgotten and it got me in a big pickle. Some students and I thought they were passing which surprised me, but I trusted it. Then one student wanted me to follow up on an A that was an A- and I realized that when I resynced I hadn't put the weights back in. Students who thought they were passing were failing. Students who thought they had A's had A-, students who thought they had B's had D's. This is frustrating for me, parents, and students. Is there any way to fix this or adjust the weight in Canvas to sync to Powerschool or something? I'm not sure why this was changed last year. Heather H (1/3/2024, 2:54:34 PM): I can check into this but it may be a limitation of Powerschool. Tyler (1/3/2024, 2:55:45 PM): It worked all the other years. I would sync assignments. Adjust the assignment weights once in powerschool. Continue to resync from canvas with no problem, but now when I re-synch it takes away the weights. Heather H (1/3/2024, 2:56:11 PM): I am looking into this Tyler (1/3/2024, 2:56:28 PM): Thank You, I'm contacting PowerSchool now as well. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:01:51 PM): Still looking Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:03:48 PM): Do you have your categories weighted in Powerschool? Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:07:40 PM): Yes kind of. If my school would let us make our own categories in powerschool I could use that as a workaround as well, but they are strict on only having an Evidence Category and a Practice Category. The weighting I am talking about is on an individual assignment. So like within the Evidence category, I have quizzes and I have assessments. I always adjust my assessments to be weighted at 4x and quizzes remain at the default of 1x. Again, other schools might have let me just grade it out of 16 instead of 4, but again, our school is very strict on using a 1-4 standardard based rubric. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:08:15 PM): Is there a way to weight individual assignments in canvas as opposed to a full category? Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:08:37 PM): Would these even transfer over to powerschool? Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:09:13 PM): Again, it worked as recent as the 2021-2022 school year and every year before that. It was the 2022-23 school year where something changed. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:09:31 PM): No way to weight individual assignments - only assignment groups. If you remove weighting, then the points of the assignment weight against the total value potential. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:09:55 PM): I also can't sync an assignment until there is at least one score on the assignment, but that's less annoying and frustrating. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:10:39 PM): Do you know why the score isn't the only thing that changes on the grade sync? It never used to mess with weighting. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:11:54 PM): The score is different between Canvas and Powerschool and that is interpreted as being a \"changed\" grade - so it updates Powerschool. That is intended. I would ask Powerschool if you can toggle the sync off and that way it won't sync anymore after grades are entered. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:12:27 PM): They may know how to achieve the outcome you want as that's a powerschool issue. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:14:16 PM): The score is and should be the same. If it's reported as a 4 in canvas it's reported as a 4 in powerschool. The weighting doesn't change the displayed score. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:14:59 PM): So, in Canvas you do not have weighted grades but you want weighted scoring in Powerschool - Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:17:27 PM): I wish there was a way to share a screenshot with you. In the assignment in canvas there are the \"categories\" and the \"score\". These have and always transferred as they should. If you open the details on the powerschool side, there is an option to add a weight to an individual assignment. Previously, if I changed that weight, it remained that way. The sync updated the \"score\", but left the rest of the assignment settings the same. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:18:28 PM): Now it is not doing that. It's like it is replacing the whole assignment not just the score. Same thing when I link it to a standard in powerschool, canvas erases the standard when that assignment is resynced Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:19:12 PM): I can see your course and I see the different assignment groups and the two that have weights. This is something occurring in Powerschool. I cannot tell you how to fix that as we don't have access to Powerschool nor do we support it. Something may have changed in Powerschool. Nothing in Canvas would trigger a change in a weight set up in Powerschool. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:19:51 PM): So, Powerschool is responding to something sent over in the sync, and Powerschool Support will know what that is. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:21:09 PM): Has something changed with the grade reporting that is sent to PowerSchool from the 2021-22 school year to the 2022-23 school year? Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:21:27 PM): no Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:21:34 PM): but Powerschool updated their software - Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:21:47 PM): so, likely change that feature - but they would know precisely if that is the case. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:22:24 PM): There were a lot of issues to deal with at the beginning of the school year because PowerSchool upgraded their version and it caused a lot of issues Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:23:07 PM): Sorry Tyler - I wish I new PS better. Nothing changed in Canvas that would trigger that change - we don't offer weighted grades for individual assignments. Tyler (1/3/2024, 3:23:16 PM): Okay. Thank you. I knew there was somewhat of a disconnect between the 2 companies around that time. Wasn't sure who had changed the system. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:24:08 PM): We have to work with PS all the time - it's one of the biggest SIS products in the market. When they make a significant change - a totally updated version - it takes a while to work out the bugs. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:24:31 PM): that's what happened - it's totally fine now, but in July-Aug, it was crazy busy in our SIS team. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:24:57 PM): So, hopefully PS will be able to guide you to set that up so you can 4x the grade without it being changed during a grade sync. Heather H (1/3/2024, 3:26:05 PM): If you do chat back in to Canvas Support after talking to PS, please have their case ID ready."
