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Switching from Semester to Trimesters, using a new Grade Translation for upcoming Academic Year 24-25, and Grade Plans creations

Tere Somoza

Hello Blackbaud community,

I was wondering if anyone out there has changed from Semesters to Trimesters from one Academic Year to the next, and what are the repercussions that this might have on issues like Grade Plans, GPA calculations, etc. I have already setup my Trimester terms with the dates we've chosen to define each term. However, not sure how this will impact the GPA calculation and not sure if I have to create new Grade Plans. On top of this we are also changing our Grade Translations for next school year and am not sure how this works. Do I just create a new Grade Translation and all courses for the 24-25 year will use this translation or is there a place where I need to specify which grade translation to use? Will all three school divisions use this new grade translation, and what happens with the courses from previous academic years? Will they stay with the old grade translation or will they reflect the new one? Any insight into this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Tere

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Jo Giesecke

@Tere Somoza Hello Tere, I just went through this last summer and insisted our school pay for a consultant. (We also created all new report cards.) You will need to add new grade plans and grade plan groups. You will need to create all new courses because the length of the course cannot be changed once it has been offered. There were so many steps involved that needed to be completed in a specific order, that I am VERY grateful to have a consultant help with it.

I don't know if this was helpful, but it is a very involved process. Best of luck!

Tere Somoza

@Jo Giesecke
Thanks Jo. I was afraid the process was more complicated than my HOS thought. I have already created all classes, but my biggest concern are the Grade Plans and how the CUM GPA will calculate considering that previous years used a different Grade Translation on top of changing to Trimesters. Thanks for the help, though, I appreciate any I can get.

Kathy Coghlan

@Tere Somoza

We did this last year and what I did not realize is that Blackbaud can not calculate a cumulative GPA combining semesters and trimesters. Your GPA will calculate from when you start trimesters only. Same with cumulative credits. The system will not add up credits at the end of the year. Your semester credits will sum, then your trimester credits will appear, but there is no way to get “Total Cumulative Credits” after you switch.

I love teaching in trimesters, but the transition in Blackbaud was tricky.