Three platforms, three slightly different ideas about what a "grade" is. Infinite Campus shows posted and in-progress grades by term. Canvas shows a running total you can experiment with. Google Classroom shows an overall grade only if the teacher has turned it on.
Here's where the grades are in each one and what the labels mean, using each platform's own documentation. The PowerSchool version is on its own page.
Infinite Campus grades
Infinite Campus grades sit in the Grades tool, documented in the Infinite Campus knowledge base. Students use the Campus Student app or portal and parents use Campus Parent, and Infinite Campus notes the web portal and the apps show the same information.
To check a grade: open the menu, choose Grades, pick the term at the top, and find the class. Districts that use the tool describe the same layout. Columbia Public Schools and Moore Public Schools both explain that:
- Posted grades appear in bold, and grades still being updated are labeled In-progress.
- You can view a single term or the whole year using the options at the top.
- If the district has enabled it, your cumulative GPA shows at the top of the Grades tab.
- An arrow next to a grade expands it into the categories that make it up, and expanding a category shows every assignment in it.
- Grade Book Updates lists everything scored or changed in the last 14 days.
- Report cards are under Documents, not Grades.
The In-progress label is the one that confuses people. It's a live estimate from the work graded so far, not a final grade. It moves every time an assignment is scored, and a missing assignment can drag it down until the teacher enters something.
Canvas grades and What-If grades
In Canvas, grades are under the Grades link in the course navigation. Instructure's student guide explains that the Grades page shows every assignment's score, along with scoring details, comments and rubrics where the instructor has enabled them, and that you can filter by grading period if the course uses them.
Two settings on that page change the number you see:
- Calculate based only on graded assignments. Checked, your total ignores anything not yet graded. Unchecked, ungraded work counts as zero, which is why a total can look alarming early in the term.
- Some details, including the total grade itself, can be hidden by the instructor. A blank total doesn't mean you have no grade.
Canvas also has a built-in grade calculator called What-If grades. Instructure's What-If guide explains that you can enter a hypothetical score on any assignment, graded or not, and watch the course total recalculate. Click a score, type a number, and the total updates. You can revert it, and you can view saved What-If scores you've tried before.
Two limits worth knowing from the same guide: What-If grades aren't available when a course uses weighted grading periods, and in the Canvas app your What-If scores aren't saved.
For anything What-If can't do, work the numbers outside Canvas. Enter your current total and the final's weight into the final grade calculator and it tells you the score you need, including on a course with weighted grading periods where What-If is switched off.
Google Classroom grades
Google Classroom is the simplest of the three, and the most likely to show you nothing. Google's Classroom help explains that you check your grades from your classwork view, where you can also see due dates and any work that's late or missing, and filter by class.
Whether you see an overall grade for the class is the teacher's call. Google's Classroom developer documentation describes three options a teacher can set: an overall grade calculated from total points, an overall grade weighted by category, or no overall grade at all. It also notes the teacher chooses whether students can see the overall grade. Missing assignments are treated as a zero by default until the teacher marks them complete or excused.
So if you only see grades on individual assignments and no class total, nothing's broken. Add the assignment scores up yourself, or put them into the weighted grade calculator with the category weights from your syllabus.
The three at a glance
| Platform | Where grades are | Running total? | Can test a what-if? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinite Campus | Menu, then Grades, pick a term | Yes, labeled In-progress until posted | No, use the calculators |
| Canvas | Grades link in the course | Yes, unless the instructor hides it | Yes, What-If grades (not with weighted grading periods) |
| Google Classroom | Classwork view | Only if the teacher turns it on | No, use the calculators |
Weighted categories, percentages or points.
When the portal can't answer the question
Every one of these tools answers "what's my grade right now." None of them answers "what do I need." For that:
- The final grade calculator takes your current grade and the final's weight and gives the score you need.
- The weighted grade calculator rebuilds a class grade from categories and weights when the portal only shows assignments.
- The GPA calculator turns term grades into a GPA when the portal doesn't show one.
- The grade calculator scores a single test from questions right or wrong.