Final answer:
A spreadsheet program is the best tool for keeping a running, averaged record of student scores. It enables automatic calculations, comparisons, visual representations, and provides comprehensive data management throughout the academic year.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best tool to use to keep a running, averaged record of student scores throughout the year is a spreadsheet program. These tools allow you to collect data as numbers, and offer powerful features to calculate averages, generate reports, and represent data visually. For example, when you record that quiz score, you can set up formulas to automatically update the average as new scores are entered. This is particularly useful when comparing and identifying which student has the best score relative to their peers, as it provides a numerical justification for their performance.
To manage this, you would enter each quiz score into the spreadsheet, and use built-in functions to calculate the ongoing average. If you have categories like homework, quizzes, tests, and final exams, you can calculate a separately weighted average for each category if needed. Additionally, data can be sorted from lowest to highest, and differences between scores can be meaningfully analyzed, as seen in ratio scale data. Instructors can also use histograms, dot plots, and other graphical tools within the spreadsheet to provide visual representations of score distributions or changes in performance over time, thus enabling a broader understanding of class performance on a categorical basis such as grading scale (A, B, C, D, or F).