Essential Question What grading guidelines can teachers use and schools adopt in order to avoid toxic grading

practices?

Assessment vs. Grading

Assessment - providing feedback to the student and teacher on what a student knows or is able to do. Grading - providing a formal report of student progress to students and to parents.

Why Do We Grade?
Provide feedback Document progress Guide instructional decisions -------------------------------------------- Motivate Punish Sort students

Purpose
The purpose of grading in the South Western School District is to communicate achievement to all stakeholders.

BRIEF HISTORY OF GRADES

Harvard University 1877 Division 1: Division 2: Division 3: Division 4: Division 5: Division 6: 90 or more on a scale of 100 75-90 60-74 50-59 40-49 Below 40

http://www.antiqueprints.com/proddetail.php?prod=f8410

BRIEF HISTORY OF GRADES

Mount Holyoke College 1897
A: B: C: D: E: Excellent Good Fair Passed Failed = = = = = equivalent to percents 95-100 equivalent to percents 85-94 equivalent to percents 76-84 barely equivalent to percent 75 below 75

http://www.worldmapsonline.com/historicalmaps/kr-1897-alaskaklondyke.htm

Perspectives on Grading from the Experts

Perspective #1: Grading is not essential for learning

Teachers do not need grades or reporting forms to teach well, and students can and do learn well without them.
-Guskey 1996

Perspective #2: Grading is complicated

In order to arrive at grades, hundreds of decisions have been made along the way; the final grade could be very different if any of those choices had been made differently.
-OConnor 2007

Perspective #3: Grading is subjective and emotional

What grades offer is spurious precision, a subjective rating masquerading as an objective assessment.
-Kohn 1993

Grading Practices that Inhibit Learning

1. Inconsistent grading scales

Office of Educational Research and Improvement Study (1994): Students in impoverished communities that receive high grades in English earn the same scores as C and D students in affluent communities. Math was the same: High grades in impoverished schools equaled only the D students performance in affluent schools.

Grading Practices that Inhibit Learning

1. Inconsistent grading scales 2. Worshipping averages

Which Student Would You Choose To Pack Your Parachute?

Average

70 70 70
Adapted from How to Grade for Learning, 3rd Edition (O'Connor, 2009)

Find the Grade

Teacher A A 40 B C 60 D 80 F 90 90 Average: 360 / 5 = 72 360
93100 8592 7784 6976 068

The final grade is a comprehensive assessment of the students understanding of major concepts. What grade best represents the assessment of this students achievement?

Grading Practices that Inhibit Learning

1. Inconsistent grading scales 2. Worshipping averages 3. Using zeros for incomplete work

0 or 60? (F or F?)
100-pt. Scale: 0, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 -- 83% (C+) 60, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 -- 93% (B+)
When working with students, do we choose the most hurtful, unrecoverable end of the F range, or the most constructive, recoverable end of the F range?

Rick Wormeli 2007

Be clear: Students are not getting points for having done nothing. The student still gets an F. Were simply equalizing the influence of the each grade in the overall grade and responding in a way that leads to learning.

Rick Wormeli 2007

Temperature Readings for Norfolk, VA: 85, 87, 88, 84, 0 (Forgot to take the reading) Average: 68.8 degrees This is inaccurate for what really happened, and therefore, unusable.

Rick Wormeli 2007

Grading Practices that Inhibit Learning

1. 2. 3. 4. Inconsistent grading scales Worshipping averages Using zeros for incomplete work Ambushing students

Grading Late Work

One whole letter grade down for each day late is punitive. It does not teach students, and it removes hope. A few points off for each day late is instructive; theres hope. Yes, the world beyond school is like this.

Rick Wormeli 2007

Grading Practices that Inhibit Learning

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Inconsistent grading scales Worshipping averages Using zeros for incomplete work Ambushing students Grading first efforts/homework

Two Homework Extremes

If a student does none of the homework assignments, yet earns an A (top grade) on every formal assessment we give, does he earn anything less than an A on his report card? If a student does all of the homework well yet bombs every formal assessment, isnt that also a red flag that something is amiss, and we need to take corrective action?

Rick Wormeli 2007

Beliefs
Grades should reflect what students know, understand, and are able to do. Teachers should use assessment and grading practices that directly measure student performance. Grades should be based on a variety of high-quality common assessments. Students should be involved in the assessment and grading process.

Proposed Changes
Middle School/High School Separating behavior and habits from achievement

Elementary Reporting reading levels Closer alignment to PA Academic Standards Clearer grading scale Reporting of specials Three report cards per year

Reporting Reading Levels

Instructional Reading Level (shaded column=end of year target) X = indicates reading level obtained

A 1

M N

W X

Kdg.

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade

Closer Alignment to State Standards

Reading Understanding of Fiction Makes and revises predictions when reading Summarizes using all story elements Provides examples and evidence to support thinking Understanding of Non-fiction Identifies and uses text features to aid in comprehension Asks questions to clarify meaning of text Provides examples and evidence to support thinking Analysis and Interpretation of the Text Makes inferences and draws conclusions Makes connections to the text Demonstrates an understanding of text organization (sequencing, cause/effect, problem/solution, compare/contrast) Identifies and understands figurative language (alliteration, simile, metaphor, and personification) Fluency and Vocabulary Reads with fluency Identifies and correctly uses words Decodes unknown words Uses context clues to determine meaning of unknown words

Grading Scale
Academic Performance Descriptors Your child demonstrates a complete understanding of this skill. He/she 4 is able to perform this skill independently and can apply this understanding to new situations. Your child demonstrates a complete understanding of this skill. He/she 3 is able to perform this skill independently. Your child demonstrates an understanding of this skill. He/she needs 2 additional support and practice to perform independently. Your child is in the process of building his or her understanding of this 1 skill. He/she is not yet able to perform independently.

Specials Grading Change

LI BRARY Achievement/Performance Citizenship ART Achievement/Performance Citizenship 1 2 3 4
PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Achievement/Performance Citizenship 1 2 3 4 MUSIC Achievement/Performance Citizenship 1 2 3 4

Citizenship Grading Scale Student consistently demonstrates expected habits and behaviors, 4 participates in all activities, and shows great effort. Student demonstrates, with occasional exception, expected habits 3 and behaviors, participates in most classroom activities, and shows good effort. Student occasionally demonstrates acceptable habits and 2 behaviors, and/or limited participation in some classroom activities, and/or limited effort. Student rarely demonstrates acceptable habits and behaviors, 1 and/or does not actively participate in classroom activities, and/or shows minimal effort.

Report Cards Three Times a Year

Continue to communicate with parents about their childs progress four times a year
1. Parent/teacher conferences in November
Share evidence of student achievement Briefly explain the report card

2. Report cards three times a year

Early December March June

Benefits for Parents

Ensures that grades reflect what their child knows and is able to do, rather than effort, behavior, and attitude. Clearly communicates their childs reading level compared to grade level expectations, and clarifies his or her strengths and weaknesses at that level.

Avoids the mixing achievement and effort, giving parents a distorted picture of both.

Benefits for Students

Ensures that grades reflect what they know and are able to do, rather than whether they do homework or appear to be trying. Recognizes the effort students put forth, regardless of their level of academic achievement.

Benefits for Teachers

Ensures that grades reflect what your students know and are able to do, rather than whether they do homework or appear to be trying. Allows you to clearly communicate a students reading level and recognize his or her strengths and weaknesses at that level.
Provides you with a place to recognize the effort students put forth, regardless of their level of academic achievement.

We must change from a model that picks winners to one that will create winners.
Hodgkinson, Michigan: The State and

Its Educational System