If you would like to use a grading scheme that your institution has not created on the account level, you can create a new grading scheme for your course. View examples of common grading schemes.

Note: Your grading scheme will not take effect until it has been enabled for the course.

You you can create new grading periods for all courses within your institution. Grading periods can only be created at the account level.

Concluded grading periods should never be edited and reused for future terms. Future terms should be added to a new grading period set, with dates defined specifically for the future term. 
Retaining concluded terms and their associated grading periods ensures accuracy in grading reports.

Grading Periods

Grading periods are created within a grading period set and associated with a term. All courses associated with the term automatically inherit the grading periods created for the term. Each term can only be associated with one grading period set, but multiple terms can be in the same grading period set. Multiple terms can be added to a grading set if the courses in the terms use the same grading periods. Grading periods can be added to the grading period set in any order and are organized by start date. Start and end dates cannot overlap in a grading period.

Grading periods can also be weighted. When this option is enabled, the overall grade for each term is calculated by taking the final grades for each grading period and applying each grading period’s weight.

In the course grading scheme, instructors can view the grading periods associated with the course term.

Close Dates

You can also add a close date to grading periods, which allows you to extend the time that instructors can edit grades after the grading period has ended. By default, the close date is the same as the end date. However, the close date can be edited to any date after the end date.


At the course level, Canvas validates assignments against closed grading periods in Canvas. Currently, Canvas only validates assignments against closed grading periods in the Gradebook and SpeedGrader. Other feature areas will be validated in upcoming releases. For current limitations associated with the close date feature, please view the Close Dates for Grading Periods document in the Canvas Community.

Multiple Terms and Grading Periods

If your institution requires different grading periods to be active at the same time, you can create additional terms and add them to a new or current grading period set. For instance, if your district needs grading periods for both semesters and quarters, you can create a new term for each school and place the terms within different grading period sets—one created for semesters and one created for quarters. In the Terms page, each term will display its associated grading period.

All courses in a term are associated with the grading period. If your institution requires some courses in a term to not be associated with a grading period, you must create a separate term for those courses that is not associated with a grading period.

Notes:

• Once a term is associated with a grading period, the name of the grading period displays with the term in the Terms page.
• Sub-accounts and courses display grading periods in a read-only state; changes can only be made at the account level.