How can a teacher view a student's grades for all courses (not just the teacher's own)?

Question

It's pretty much in the title.  To my knowledge, teachers can only view a specific student's grades in their own class, not other courses.  For example, an AVID teacher or support staff member might want to see a student's grades in Math, ELA, Science, etc.

Is it possible to view ALL grades of a student other than having the student pull up their grades from the Dashboard?  Teachers and staff can do it (view all grades) from our main gradebook (Synergy) but, unfortunately, our staff aren't always on top of the sync process.

Chris · Accepted Answer

Hi @TravisChetock,

The only way people could view grades in Canvas outside the context of courses they are enrolled in specifically would be if they were administrators.  As a Canvas admin for a higher-ed institution myself, I have heard of some scenarios where some schools do enroll their teachers as admins, but I think it's very rare and opens up a whole host of other issues.

We generally wouldn't want instructors to see students grades in other courses here, as it could be a potential FERPA violation for U.S. higher-ed schools.  Additionally when this has come up in the past, it's been mentioned that it could introduce unwanted bias.  For example, if a teacher sees a student god a D in some course last term, they may immediately start treating that student like a low achiever.  They could perhaps grade the student easier, trying to help them graduate, or do the opposite and grade them lower because they know the student has a history of low grades.  Either of those scenarios is undesirable.

We do have some faculty who are advisors and can see more grades through our advising system or through other means, but unlocking that ability for all teachers i Canvas would not be good for us.  Perhaps it could be some kind of option/permission, because I think it has been something K-12 has requested and may have a bigger need for, but I haven't seen Instructure put this on the roadmap as something they are planning to work on in the near future.

Hope this helps to answer your question and give a little background about the issue overall.

-Chris