Cohort Director Information & Resources

Explore your course

Log in at learn.leadcma.org and find your module. Take some time to look through the curriculum, lessons, and course structure before your students begin.

Your Welcome page

Your name and email address are listed on the course Welcome page so students can contact you. If you’d like to add a scheduling link for coaching calls, contact Elizabeth and she’ll add it for you.

Your access to the course

As the Cohort Director, you have access to your module because you lead its cohort. You don’t need to be enrolled as a student. You can open any lesson, in any order, and nothing is locked for you. You won’t appear among the students in your gradebook.

Need a walkthrough?

If you’d like a guided tour of LEAD Learn — site navigation, the curriculum, the gradebook, etc. — reach out to Clint to schedule a time.

Please submit your Cohort Gathering dates, times, and meeting links as soon as possible — at least for your first gathering. Use the form below: Submit Your Gathering Dates →

Access the shared Google Drive folder for Cohort Director Gathering notes and recordings: Gathering Notes 2026 → Gathering Notes 2025 →

Before the module begins, reach out to your students and welcome them to the course. Here’s what to include:

• Introduce yourself — share your contact information and preferences (phone, email, text).
• Course start date — let them know when the module begins and share the date, time, and link for your first Cohort Gathering (and others if you’ve set them). Setting dates early helps everyone plan ahead, especially for longer modules that run through holidays.
• Book list — share the link: leadcma.org/books. The book list is also available on the course Introduction page.
• Set expectations:
  • Students must complete a Position Paper and a Project in this module — details are in the course introduction section. Both are worked on throughout the module and fully due at Cohort Gathering 4.
  • Work is due at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the due date. Work turned in within 24 hours of the due date has no penalty. After that, 5% of the score is deducted for each additional day late, up to 25%.
  • Each assignment closes one week after its due date, and the module closes on a set date. Once an assignment has closed, it can’t be submitted and counts as zero.
  • A passing grade is 70%. The Position Paper must also be completed with a score of 70% or higher.
• Encourage them — include a prayer, a blessing, or something that sets the tone for the module ahead.

The Student Policies and Resources page contains the policies your students are expected to follow. Keep this on hand as a reference when questions arise. Student Policies & Resources →

Use the Interactive Journey Map to help students understand the LEAD Program structure and plan their upcoming module enrollments. Go to Interactive Journey Map →

Accessing the Gradebook

1. Log in to your LEAD Learn Dashboard.
2. In the left-hand menu, click LEAD Learn Gradebook.
3. You’ll land on the Course Selector. Click the dropdown and choose your course.
4. The gradebook grid loads automatically. The course selector remembers your last choice, so on your next visit you’ll land right where you left off.

Understanding the Gradebook Layout

The gradebook is organized like a spreadsheet: student names run down the left column, and assignments (quizzes and essay questions) run across the top. Each cell shows that student’s grade for that assignment.

• Rows: Each row is one student in your cohort. Under each name you’ll see the student’s cohort. A student who hasn’t been placed in a cohort yet shows No cohort.
• Columns: Each column is one gradable assignment — a quiz or an essay question within a lesson.
• Cells: Each cell shows the score you gave.
• Cells may display a color dot next to the score:

Green Graded (auto or manual)   Yellow Submitted, ungraded   Orange Late, no submission yet   Red Missing   Blue Excused

Late tags under a score

When work came in after its due date, a small tag appears under the score:

• Late · grace — submitted within 24 hours of the due date. No deduction.
• Late −10% — the late deduction that applies (5% per day, up to 25%).
• Late · waived — you waived the deduction.
• After close — submitted after the assignment closed. It counts as zero unless an administrator accepted it (After close · accepted).
• · 2 cohorts — the student is in two cohorts for this course, so the later of the two due dates is used.

Session and overall totals

Assignments are organized by session — we call these “Cohort Gatherings” — so you can see exactly where each student stands within the course structure. Point values are displayed in each column header. After each Cohort Gathering there is a Session Total column, and the far right shows the Overall course percentage.

The Completed column

In LEAD Program modules, a Completed column appears at the far right. This is the administrative sign-off that a student has completed the module. It is set by the LEAD Program administration, not by Cohort Directors.

Every assignment column header displays a colored status badge. These badges tell you at a glance whether the assignment is open, in its late period, or closed — saving you from answering “can I still submit?” questions.

• Not Open Yet The module hasn’t opened yet. Students can read the lessons, but they can’t start quizzes or upload assignments until the module opens.
• Open The assignment is open and the due date has not passed.
• Late Window The due date has passed, but students can still submit for one week. Work turned in within 24 hours has no penalty; after that the late deduction applies automatically.
• Closed The assignment has closed. Students can no longer submit it, and work that was never submitted counts as zero.
• Varies by Cohort You lead more than one cohort in this course and they’re at different stages on this assignment. To see each cohort’s dates, click the three-dots icon (⋮) in the column header and choose Edit Due Date.

Without filters and search, the gradebook grid can get wide and long. Use these tools to zero in on what you need without losing track of the bigger picture.

Searching

• Search Students: Type a student’s name (or partial name) to jump directly to their row.
• Search Assignments: Type the assignment name (or partial name) to view only assignments that match.

Filtering

Click the Filters button to open the filtering options.

• Sessions: Select a Cohort Gathering to show only its assignments.
• Submission Status: Show only students with work in a given state: Graded, Submitted, Missing, Late, After Close, or Excused.
• Group / Cohort: Appears if you lead more than one cohort, so you can view one at a time.

QuickGrade is your one-on-one grading workspace. It keeps every piece of a student’s submission — their answers, your score, your feedback, and a rubric if one is attached — in a single focused window. No tab-switching, no searching.

Opening QuickGrade

1. Click the three-dots icon (⋮) next to any assignment name in the gradebook grid.
2. Select QuickGrade.
3. The grading window opens: the student’s submission on the left, and scoring and feedback on the right.
4. The student’s name and the assignment name appear at the top.

When the work was submitted

At the top of the submission you’ll see when the student submitted it (Eastern Time), the due date and close date, and whether it was on time or late. If a late deduction applies, it shows the percentage and the score that will count.

Scoring

1. Enter a point value in the score field, or use the rubric to calculate the score. Enter the score the work earned — any late deduction is taken off automatically.
2. For essay questions, you can write a note in the Feedback on this answer box under each answer. This is especially helpful when a quiz has several essay questions.
3. Add overall comments in Feedback to student.
4. Click Submit Grade. The cell in the grid updates immediately.

What your students see

Your score, rubric selections, comments, and feedback all appear for the student in two places:

• My Grades in their Dashboard, marked New feedback until they open it.
• The quiz page itself. When students return to a quiz they’ve submitted, they see their own answers side by side with how each was graded, plus your feedback.

Every LEAD Module uses the same late policy. The gradebook applies it automatically, so you only need to grade the work on its merits.

When the work comes in	What happens
By 11:59 PM Eastern on the due date	On time
Within 24 hours after that	Late, no deduction (grace period)
Each additional day (or part of a day)	5% off the score earned, up to 25%
After the assignment closes (one week after the due date, or the module close date if sooner)	Can’t be submitted. Missing work counts as zero.

• The deduction is taken off the score the student earned, and it applies to automatically graded quizzes too.
• A student who opened a quiz before it closed may still finish it within one hour after the close.
• Students see the deduction on their My Grades page and on the quiz page, along with the score they earned before it.

Waiving a late deduction

If there’s a good reason, you can waive a late deduction for one student:

1. Open QuickGrade for the student’s submission.
2. At the top, tick Waive late deduction.

The full score then counts, and the cell shows Late · waived. Untick it to put the deduction back.

When one student needs more time

Only an administrator can give one student an extension. If a student needs one, contact Elizabeth with the student’s name, the assignment(s), and the new date.

• The date the administrator chooses becomes that student’s new due date for that assignment. Work turned in by then is on time.
• After it, the usual late policy applies to that student: 24 hours with no deduction, then 5% per day up to 25%, and the assignment closes one week after the new due date.
• You’ll see it in QuickGrade under Extended for this student, with the student’s due and close dates.
• The student sees the new date in My Grades, marked Extended.

Grade All is a bulk grading shortcut for assignments where every student receives the same score — for example, a completion-based assignment or a participation grade. It saves you from clicking into each student individually.

1. Click the three-dots icon (⋮) in the assignment column header.
2. Select Grade All from the menu.
3. Enter a score to apply to all students in that column.
4. Click Apply. All students receive that score immediately.

Rubrics bring consistency to grading. When every Cohort Director is working from the same criteria, students get fair, predictable feedback — and you spend less time second-guessing scores on subjective questions.

Scoring with a Rubric in QuickGrade

1. Open QuickGrade for a student’s essay question.
2. View the rubric that has been added for this assignment. If the quiz has several essay questions, each one may have its own rubric.
3. Score each criterion by clicking the appropriate performance level.
4. Use the comment box under each criterion to explain your rating. Students see these comments next to that part of the rubric.
5. The total score calculates automatically from your rubric selections.
6. Add any overall comments in Feedback to student, then click Submit Grade.

Your cohort may run on a different schedule than others in the same course. Due dates are set at two levels: for each Cohort Gathering, from the gathering dates you submit on the Cohort Gathering Schedule form, and for an individual assignment, in the gradebook.

How the dates fit together

• Module open and close — set by the administration, the same for every cohort. Students can’t submit work before the module opens or after it closes. You’ll see these dates at the top of the Session Dates panel.
• Due date — the date of each Cohort Gathering, from your schedule form (or a date you set for a single assignment). Work is due at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on that day.
• Close date — calculated for you: one week after the due date, or the module close date if that comes first. The panel shows it under each due date as Closes.

Due Dates for Each Cohort Gathering

Each Cohort Gathering’s due date is the date of that gathering, as you submitted it on the Cohort Gathering Schedule form.

1. Submit or update your gathering dates on the Cohort Gathering Schedule form.
2. Within the hour, each gathering’s date becomes your cohort’s due date for that gathering’s work, and its close date is set one week later.
3. Students in your cohort see the dates in their My Grades view.

To check a date, click the Settings icon (gear ⚙) in the gradebook toolbar to open the Session Dates panel. A date that came from your form is marked From the Cohort Gathering Schedule and can’t be changed in the gradebook. To change it, update the gathering on the form.

Setting a Due Date for a Specific Assignment

1. Click the three-dots icon (⋮) in the assignment column header.
2. Select Edit Due Date from the menu.
3. A box opens showing your cohort with a date input field.
4. Enter the date specific to your cohort for this assignment.
5. Click Save. This date overrides the session date for this assignment only, and the assignment closes one week after it.

When a student needs to be excused from an assignment — due to an accommodation, an absence, or a documented exception — you can mark it as excused rather than leaving it as a zero or an incomplete.

1. Open QuickGrade for the appropriate assignment.
2. At the bottom of the grading panel, select Excused from the Status dropdown.
3. Click Submit Grade.
4. The cell will display an excused indicator blue dot, and the assignment will be excluded from the student’s grade calculations.

Many quizzes, especially those with essay questions, have a discussion where students can read each other’s answers and respond. Discussions live in the Discussions tab of the LEAD Learn Dashboard.

• A student sees a discussion after they’ve submitted their own answer. Their answer appears at the top under Your Answer.
• Students see answers and comments only from classmates in their own cohort.
• As a Cohort Director, you see the discussions of the cohorts you lead. If you lead more than one, you can choose one from the Group menu. Your comments are marked as coming from an instructor, and only your cohort sees them.

Everything you enter in the gradebook flows directly to the student’s My Grades view in their dashboard — scores, rubric results, feedback comments, due dates, and assignment status. You don’t need to send grades separately.

Scores update immediately

When you click Submit Grade in QuickGrade, the cell in the gradebook grid updates right away. Students see the new grade the next time they open or refresh My Grades, marked New feedback until they’ve looked at it.

Grade the work, not the timing

Enter the score the work earned. The late deduction is applied automatically, and the totals already include it. If you want to excuse lateness, use Waive late deduction rather than adjusting the score.

Per-item dates take priority

If you’ve set both a session date and a per-item date for the same assignment, the per-item date always wins. Students will see the per-item date, and the status badge in the column header will reflect it.

Your cohort, your dates

Due dates come from your own cohort’s gathering schedule, so they’re specific to your cohort. Other Cohort Directors’ dates come from their schedules. If you don’t see dates for another cohort, that’s by design — the gradebook keeps each Cohort Director focused on their own group.

As your final cohort gathering comes to a close, there are a few important steps to complete before your module is officially finished.

1. Student End-of-Module Review

During or after your final gathering, remind your students to fill out the End-of-Module Review form. This form is available to them within the curriculum (as the last assignment), but you can also share this direct link for convenience: End-of-Module Review Form → Student feedback is invaluable to us — it helps The LEAD Program continue to grow and improve!

2. Finish your grading

After the module closes, students can no longer submit work, but you can keep grading. Please finish grading everything your students submitted so the administration can review final grades and sign off on each student’s completion.

3. Cohort Director Module Review

Once all grading for the module is complete, you’ll be ready to fill out your own Module Review Form. This form walks you through three steps in sequence:

• Module Review — your overall reflection on the module
• Student Review — an evaluation of each student in your cohort
• Cohort Director Invoice — your preferred payment information

CD Module Review Form → Simply follow the prompts and you’ll be guided through each section automatically. Once all three sections are submitted, you’re officially done — great work directing this module!