Color Scales in Evaluations

Color Scales can be used to color Evaluation Scores.  There is a single built-in "NJSMART Summative Ratings" color scale (see below), and additional Color Scales can be added by your district- there is no limit to how many can be defined.

Color Scales are managed on the Evaluations > Setup > Color Scales screen:

The Built-In NJSMART Summative Rating Color Scale

There is a single built-in color scale, NJSMART Summative Ratings.  It has the following breakdowns and color assignments:

The built-in Color Scale has NJSMART's four levels and selects corresponding colors.  You can edit these colors at your discretion - they are not cast in stone:

Creating a New Color Scale

To add a Color Scale to the system, click the button above the list of existing Color Scales on the screen. This brings up the "Add Color Scale" dialog:

Fill in a Code and a Description and click . This creates the scale, but does not add any score/range/color definitions to it.

The new Color Scale is immediately added to the list of Color Scales:

Note that the "# of Items" field is blank for the new Color Scale, indicating it is not yet setup.

You will need to modify the new Color Scale in order to set it up - follow instructions for modifying Color Scales below.

Modifying Existing Colors Scales

To add 'items' to an existing scale, click the button. This brings up the "Modify Scale" screen.

Adding Items

If the Color Scale is new, it will not yet have any entries:

To add a 'Color Scale Item" (i.e. a range paired with a color) click the button. This brings up the 'color scale item' dialog:

Fill in all fields:

• A code for the range (e.g. INEFFECTUAL).  Codes are typically all in CAPS.  They cannot accept spaces or punctuation other than underlines.
  
  
• A description for the range.
  
  
• A display sequence - this is generated automatically and simply puts the 'color scale items' in order in the list.  The first 'color scale item' defaults to a sequence number of 10, the second to 20, etc.
  
  
• Specify the range: 
  • From Value
  • Less Than Value (this is the "To" value)
    
    

Click to add the new 'color scale item' (i.e. ranger paired with a color). This adds the item to the list:

Note that a default color is selected.

You can now adjust the color.  Clicking in either color box ("Text Color" or "Background Color") brings up the color chooser dialog:

Select the desired color and click OK.  Then click Save to store the change.

Repeat this process to add additional 'color scale items' to your scale.

Modifying Items

To modify an existing item in a Color Scale, simply update the editable fields and click :

The "Code" field cannot be changed - to change that you must delete the item and re-create it.

The other fields all can be updated:

• Description
• Seq - This simply places the item in the list of items, which are sorted numerically by their "Seq"uence numbers.
• From Value
• Thru Value
• Text Color
• Background color
  
  

Deleting Items

To delete an item in a Color Scale, simply click the corresponding button:

This will bring up a confirmation dialog:

Click OK to continue a delete the item or Cancel to abandon the operation.