Version 1.9.7+ --
The values/order in the standard letter scale appear to be reversed (as in F=11, D=10, ...A+=1). I've searched in the tracker and the forums and don't see anyone else reporting this. And I can't find where I would reverse the order.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Meg
The scale is probably defined incorrectly. Scales should be defined from negative to positive, that is, letter scale should be defined F,E,...,A,A+ and then the corresponding values in the gradebook would be 1,2,...,10,11 (depending on the number of items in the scale. 'Standard scale' is not necessarily built-in; with enough privileges you can make your custom scale shared throughout the site and thus "Standard"; and so incorrectly defined scales may become the standard. 
To work around this scale you can define your own custom letter scale (with the correct order) and use it in your course. hth
To work around this scale you can define your own custom letter scale (with the correct order) and use it in your course. hth
Thanks Itamar, appreciate it. We don't really have a need for a custom scale--we just need to fix the standard one (or remove it all together) as it is causing confusion for those who happen to select it. Some faculty choose this option because they don't know about the option to show a letter grade in the gradebook.
If that scale is already used in some activities in some courses there may be no easy way to remove it because of internal links, at least until you move to a new server. Try changing the scale's name to something like: Please don't use me orelse all your grades will be deleted!, and hopefully people will get the hint.
Hi Meg!
It's Susan (I work at Cap and we met at the IT4BC event).
Sounds like someone with Admin capabilities created this scale? A "Teacher" does not have the capability to create a Standard scale - unless you guys modified your role.
From what I can see you can only delete a custom or standard scale if no one is using it so why don't you try doing some sort of db query to find out who is using it, or better yet, who might have created it (do you have many users with this capability??)
And then, get them to remove it from their activities and then you should be able to delete it.
Sounds a bit convoluted but can't think of anything else...
It's Susan (I work at Cap and we met at the IT4BC event).
Sounds like someone with Admin capabilities created this scale? A "Teacher" does not have the capability to create a Standard scale - unless you guys modified your role.
From what I can see you can only delete a custom or standard scale if no one is using it so why don't you try doing some sort of db query to find out who is using it, or better yet, who might have created it (do you have many users with this capability??)
And then, get them to remove it from their activities and then you should be able to delete it.
Sounds a bit convoluted but can't think of anything else...
Hi Susan,
I just read your post about doing a db query on trying to find who uses a particular scale that we want to get rid of. Any suggestions on how to do that db query are much appreciated.
-Martha
The db queries I used in mysql on moodle 2.2+ follows:
1. find the id of the scale in the mdl_scale table:
mysql> select * from moodle.mdl_scale;
2. For example let's say the id of the scale is 10, in the forum activity it is referred to as -10. Why there is a negative sign I have no idea. So to list the specific courses and forum posts that use a scale:
mysql> select course,name,scale from moodle.mdl_forum where scale = -10;
+--------+--------------------------+-------+
| course | name | scale |
+--------+--------------------------+-------+
| 372 | Forum name | -10 |
+--------+--------------------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.05 sec)
3. In the moodle site as admin, I use the course id (372) in the end of my course site url to find the course. Find the "forum name" in that course and change the scale, so I can delete the used standard scale.
There may be a general SQL query to find all the activities using a particular scale, but I've not tried one yet.
Just to add to Susan's suggestion, if you somehow manage to get everyone who is using or has used this scale to remove it, they have to go to each activity and reset the grading method of the activity. Of course, that will reset all the grades in that activity so they should backup first (or you do that for them) but I don't know whether and how they will be able to reconstruct the grades. Then, the gradebook must be updated or else the scale will still be linked internally. So if some of these activities are locked in the gradebook they need to be unlocked.
Thanks Susan and Itamar. Sounds like a clean up job for the end of the semester. This must be a relic that has been in the system for a while. I honestly thought it was part of the standard scales that come with the install.
Thanks for clarifying this for me.
Cheers
Thanks for clarifying this for me.
Cheers
As far as I am aware, the only standard scale that comes with a Moodle install is the "Separate and Connected ways of knowing" scale. And then there are the letter grades. Both can be managed via your Site Administration block.
You can reconstruct the grades by exporting the gradebook and re-importing via cvs file. Best to test this theory out first before you try though 
Of course, but the activities themselves will remain ungraded.