1. Redefining Fair: How to Plan, Assess and Grade for Excellence in Mixed-Ability Classrooms
Damian Cooper
(905)
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

2. Session Outcomes
We will consider “Five Imperatives” that should guide teachers’ work:
Curriculum must be meaningful, coherent and relevant.
Instruction must be responsive to students’ needs.
Assessment must be informative.
Grading must blend consistency with professional judgement.
Communication about learning must be truthful and transparent

3. Time to Talk About Challenges
Think.Pair.Share
What is my burning
question about
meeting the needs
of all students in
diverse classrooms
and schools?

4. Mission: to sift and sort students
Mean

5. Mission: excellence from ALL
Proficiency
50%

6. Time to Talk About Mission
What is the mission in my classroom/school?
How do students in my classroom/school know this?

7. Five Imperatives: #1.
Curriculum must be meaningful, coherent and relevant.

8. We must begin with the question, “What constitutes essential learning for students in the 21st. century?”

10. A Meaningful & Relevant Curriculum for the 21st. Century
Robert Sternberg, 2004

11. “Backward Design” Program Planning
Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings/skills
Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings/skills
Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understanding/skills possible
Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

12. Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings

13. “Backward Design” Program Planning
Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings and skills
“What evidence would show ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that students have achieved the desired understandings?”
Adpated from Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

14. Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings/skills

15. Matching Curriculum Targets with Assessment Tasks
Worth being
familiar with
Assessment Types
Traditional quizzes & tests
-paper/pencil
Performance Tasks & Projects
-open-ended
-complex
-authentic
Oral Assessments
-conferences
-interviews
-oral questionning
Important to know and do
Enduring understandings/
Essential skills
Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe,
Understanding by Design

16. Triangulation of Data: Classroom Assessment
Performance task
-state & local standards-based assessment to measure how well students are meeting state or district standards. Usually a 4-point rating
-Norm-referenced tests are comparative. Use percentiles or standard scores.
-both of these types of assessment have little potential for immediate intervention because too much elapses before results are available. Results also typically provide insufficient data to address specific areas of need.
-classroom assessments: least reliable but have the advantage of formative assessment to enable teachers to make immediate interventions
Valid & Reliable Picture of Student Achievement
Oral defense/
conference
Written test data
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

17. Inquiry Questions Engage Students
Consider how these INTU questions differ from the corresponding “topics” :
Topic
INTU…
Testing Consumer Products on Animals
I need to understand both sides of the debate concerning whether it is right to test consumer products on animals.
Video Gaming
I need to understand whether video gaming is helpful or harmful to learning for teenagers.
Downloading Music
I need to understand the arguments for and against downloading music made by consumers, record companies and artists.

18. Student Guidelines for Locating and Gathering Information
1. You must draw information for your INTU from the following
sources:
• at least four print sources—books, newspapers, magazines, brochures
• a student-developed public opinion survey administered to a sample of peers and adults (sample size to be negotiated with your teacher)
• at least four Internet sources
2. You will receive an orientation to these sources from the school librarian before beginning your project.
3. All of your sources must be recorded on the Note-Taking Sheets provided by your teacher.

19. Inquiry Questions Engage Students
Consider how these INTU questions differ from the corresponding “topics” :
Topic
INTU…
Grade 1: Seasonal change
I need to understand why it’s cold in Canada in winter, but much warmer in Florida.
Grade 10: Canada at War
I need to understand whether killing is acceptable in time of war.
Grade 11: Distributions of Data
I need to understand whether the mean, the median, or the mode is the best statistical representation of my learning in math class..

20. Time to Talk About Assessment
Apply the INTU model to a unit of study in your own program:
Assume the role of a student in your class and, working with a colleague, pose INTU questions that you intend to explore during the unit
Then discuss with your colleagues the pros and cons of the INTU model

21. Understand Canada’s emerging sense of identity since WW1
Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings & essential skills Example: Grade 10 - Canadian and World Studies
Enduring Understandings
Understand the contributions of specific individuals to Canadian culture and society since WW1
Understand Canada’s emerging sense of identity since WW1
Essential Skills
Formulate inquiry questions
Employ the skills of historical research: locate, gather, evaluate & organize data
Interpretation & analysis of findings
Communication of findings

22. Backward Design: Matching Assessment to Curriculum Targets Example: Grade 10 - Canadian and World Studies
Enduring Understandings
Understand the contributions of specific individuals to Canadian culture and society since WW1
Understand Canada’s emerging sense of identity since WW1
Essential Skills
Formulate inquiry questions
Employ the skills of historical research: locate, gather, evaluate & organize data
Interpretation & analysis of findings
Communication of findings
Task: connect an influential Canadian and a historical time period to the broad themes of the course.
You will demonstrate this thinking by answering our ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
How has this historical individual’s impact on a time period helped to shape Canada politically, socially,
and/or economically?

23. Backward Design: Matching Assessment to Curriculum Targets
Discuss with your colleagues how well this video clip exemplifies backward planning.

24. Authentic Assessment Tasks
Students demand relevance
Teachers respond with simulation and role-play
Authenticity is key –
change a book report into a book review, a word problem into a real-world challenge!

25. Danny’s Grade 9 Applied Math Class

26. Time to Talk About Assessment
What might a “G7” kind of task look like in your classroom? i.e. an end-of-unit or end-of-term task that requires students to synthesize their learning and it apply it in innovative ways? OR
Discuss the essential skills that Jeff can assess through the G7 task that could NOT be assessed through the written examination.
Evaluate the quality of the G7 task, using the Checklist for a Well-Designed Performance Task.
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

28. Grading Co-operative Group Tasks
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

29. “Backward Design” Program Planning
Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understandings/skills possible
What learning experiences and instruction will promote understanding?
What prerequisite (enabling) knowledge and skill must be learned if understanding is to occur (and the performance is to succeed)?
Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

30. Time to Talk About Planning
Do I/my teachers collaborate with my course colleagues to agree upon essential learning?
Do I/my teachers collaborate with course colleagues to agree upon the assessment tasks students must produce as evidence of essential learning?
Do I/my teachers communicate clearly to students what comprises critical evidence of essential learning?

31. Five Imperatives: #2.
Instruction must be responsive to students’ needs. i.e. differentiated

32. What is Our Goal as Educators?
How about:
To have all students working at or above grade level?
Demonstrating proficiency or excellence?
Doing so independently?
But not all students respond to the same instructional approach …

33. The “zone of proximal development” Lev Vygotsky
What do students currently know and what can students currently do?
Where do I want them to get to?
How big is the gap?
How do I ensure the gap is just right to challenge students in a way that maximizes learning?

34. Differentiation Student Characteristics
Students differ in readiness, interest, and learning profile.
Readiness is a student’s entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill.
Interest refers to a child’s affinity, curiosity, or passion for a particular topic or skill.
Learning profile has to do with how students learn best. It may include information such as multiple intelligences, learning styles, and learning barriers and aptitudes.
Halton DSB - January 2010

35. Diagnostic Assessment
Activate prior knowledge
Assess current skills and understanding in 3 ways:
-through written work
-through performance assessment and observation
-through oral assessment: questioning, conferencing, discussion, etc.

36. Grade 1.

38. Cloze Procedure
When Britain called on Canada to go to war against Germany, thousands of Canadians rushed to enlist. Most, in fact, were born. Tensions had always in Canada whenever a call from Britain made seem more like a resource than an autonomous The call to battle reawakened tensions that been simmering since the War and the Naval

39. Time to Talk About Readiness to Learn
Readiness is a student’s entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill.
How do I currently determine students’ readiness to learn?
i.e. how do I determine their academic strengths and needs?
How could I improve my assessment of students’ readiness to learn?

40. Assessing Students’ Readiness to Learn

41. Differentiating Instruction
Teachers need to fully understand accommodation, modification, and substitution
To develop skills, simplify the content e.g. Simpler texts, less depth/breadth, etc.
To master content, present using a different mode suited to student’s strengths e.g. Graphics, audio, video, manipulatives, etc.
For slides 32-34, provide headings only & space for notes.
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

42. Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction
Examine the data from diagnostic assessments to group students according to their strengths and needs
Use mini-lessons followed by practice to address these needs
Identify individual students who are most “at risk”

43. Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction

44. Mini-Lesson Format to Introduce Specific Needs

45. Purposeful Grouping of Students
Heterogeneous groups provide support and help to consolidate new learning
Homogeneous groups deepen learning for those who’ve “got it”, and enable the teacher to provide specific instruction to struggling learners
Flexible grouping ensures that all students work in their “zpd”

46. Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction

47. Time to “Talk About Assessment”
To what extent do I examine the data from diagnostic assessments to group students according to their strengths and needs? OR
Discuss and apply the use of mini-lessons, followed by practice, to address these needs

48. Personal Reflection
What was your most significant learning from this today?
What do you plan to do with this learning?

49. Five Imperatives: #3.
Assessment must be informative.

50. When the classroom culture focuses on rewards, gold stars, grades, or class ranking, then (students) look for ways to obtain the best marks rather than to improve their learning. One reported consequence is that, when they have any choice, (students) avoid difficult tasks. They also spend time and energy looking for clues to the “right answer”.
“Inside the Black Box”, Black & Wiliam, 1998

51. “…assessment which is explicitly designed to promote learning is the single most powerful tool we have for both raising standards and empowering lifelong learners.”
Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box, 1999, University of Cambridge School of Education

52. Assessment for Learning
“Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.”
Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

53. Assessment as Learning
“Assessment as learning is a metacognitive process in which students take ownership for improving their own learning. It involves students setting learning goals as well as monitoring, reflecting upon, and adjusting their own learning, often in response to feedback from the teacher and their peers.”
Earl, 2003

54. Assessment of Learning
“Assessment of learning includes those tasks that are designed to determine how much learning has occurred after a significant period of instruction. The data from such assessments is often used to determine report card grades.”

55. Differing Assessment Purposes
Assessment for/as Learning
Tryouts
Practices
Assessment of Learning
Games
Playoffs

56. Time to Talk About Assessment
How does Andrew use assessment data to improve the learning of his students?
What was your reaction to Andrew returning the test to his students, indicating the number of incorrect responses, and having them try again?

57. Tiered Assessments
Design grade level, to demonstrate proficiency, independently
Adapt or modify task to increase challenge: less structure, more choice, greater sophistication, etc.
Adapt or modify task to reduce challenge: more structure, less choice, less sophistication, etc.

58. Tiered Assessments
Tiered Assignment: Grade 5 Science Strand : Life Science: Human Body
Enduring Understandings: students will understand how the different body systems are interconnected
Essential Skills: research, organization, communication
Overview of Task:
Students will select a specific disease of the human body to research. They will present their findings using one of several presentation media. The research and presentation task has been tiered to suit different strengths and needs of students
Assessment Criteria: a common rubric is provided for all versions of the task.
Research: posing questions, locating and using resources to answer questions, organizing materials to answer questions
Communication: selection of appropriate medium, clarity of material, quality of product presented, ability to respond to questions
Content: accuracy, depth, vocabulary, level of understanding

59. Tiered Assessments
Tier One Task: (designed to provide evidence of proficient achievement at grade level)
The teacher provides a list of possible diseases to be researched. (alternatively, students may select their own disease to research). The teacher provides a list of presentation methods, including written report, oral report, Powerpoint presentation, etc. Students are provided with templates that guide them through the research process, as well as templates relating to each of the presentation methods. Students work in pairs, assigned by the teacher, to support each other as they conduct research, organize their findings, and prepare their presentations.

60. Tiered Assessments
Tier Two Task: (designed to provide an additional level of challenge)
Students work as a group to brainstorm the following: range of diseases they will research; all possible sources of information; range of media they will use to communicate their findings. They will serve as resources for each other throughout the project, collaborating as necessary to accomplish the task.

61. Tiered Assessments
Tier Three Task: (scaffolded task designed to provide struggling students with an appropriate level of challenge)
Students work under the direct supervision of the teacher. Using one disease, she works closely with students to model each step in the research process. Following each modeled step, she has students complete the same step independently, using a second disease that she has selected. She repeats the same modeling/independent work process for each step in the preparation of students’ presentations. The presentation medium is tailored to each student’s profile.

63. Differentiating Assessment
Content standards: learning outcomes
Performance standards: rubrics
Student products & performances
Assessment conditions
Must be within student’s “ZPD”
Keep consistent for all students
May be adapted to be within student’s “ZPD”

64. Time to Talk About Assessment
Does tiering have application to the students I am teaching?
Select one assessment task and work with colleagues to tier it.

66. Assessment for Learning
“Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.”
Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

67. Components of Assessment for Learning (Cooper, 2007)
Do I routinely share learning goals with my students so they know where we are heading?
Do I routinely communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on a task?
Do I routinely have students self and peer assess their work in ways that improve their learning?
Does my questioning technique include all students and promote increased understanding?
Do I routinely provide individual feedback to students that informs them how to improve?
Do I routinely provide opportunities for students to make use of this feedback to improve specific pieces of work?

68. To what extent are these evident in Kim’s class?
Do I routinely share learning goals with my students so they know where we are heading?
Do I routinely communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on a task?
Do I routinely have students self and peer assess their work in ways that improve their learning?
Does my questioning technique include all students and promote increased understanding?
Do I routinely provide individual feedback to students that informs them how to improve?
Do I routinely provide opportunities for students to make use of this feedback to improve specific pieces of work?

69. Time to Talk About Assessment
To what extent are these 6 “Look For’s” evident in your classroom or school?

70. Clear Learning and Performance Targets
Most students can hit the target if they can see it clearly and it stays still for them. Rick Stiggins

71. Learning Skills, Learning Goals and Success Criteria
-specify what behavioural skill is essential during a given task, and the “looks like/ sounds like …” indicators associated with that skill
Learning
Goals
-specify in student-friendly language what skills, knowledge, understanding must be learned
Success Criteria -specify on a rubric or checklist the essential elements and quality indicators of a performance or product

73. Setting Behavioural Expectations

74. Time to Talk About Learning Skills
Do my words and actions communicate the importance of learning skills to students?
How do I assess learning skills?

75. Math Class
Learning Goal: You will demonstrate that you understand the relationship between the numerator and the denominator in a fraction.
At the end of the lesson, Linda points to the poster on the classroom wall and asks her students:
What did you learn in this lesson today?
Linda told me that the most effective AFL strategy for her has been to write the learning goal for each day’s lesson on the board.

76. Effective Learning Goals
Are derived from the curriculum
Identify what is to be learned, NOT activities
Identify essential learning
May be framed in age-appropriate language
Usually involve application of learning to new contexts

77. Learning Goals Ineffective Effective
I can figure out the meaning of words in the short story, “Across Three Millennia”
I will extend patterns using coloured counters
I will know what the following organizations are: the UN, the World Health Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation
I use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words
I will use my understanding of attributes to identify and extend mathematical patterns
I will be able to debate the pros and cons of Canada’s participation in major international organizations

78. Effective Learning Goals
I will demonstrate that I understand the relationship between the numerator and the denominator in a fraction.
I will use re-reading and context clues to make inferences about an author’s intended meaning in a text
I will apply my understanding of rhythm, melody and chord patterns to interpret the intended mood of a musical composition
I will use my understanding of thermal energy transfer as well as my environmental awareness to design an original product for human use

79. Time to Talk About Learning Goals
Are they derived from the curriculum?
Do they identify what is to be learned, NOT activities?
Do they identify essential learning?
Should they be framed in age-appropriate language?
Do they involve application of learning to a new context?

80. Communicating Success Criteria
Rubrics to describe what quality looks like
Checklists to enable students to monitor their own progress
Anchors to show students what quality looks like

81. Developing a Quality Rubric
Clear target: process, product or performance
Clear audience: student, teacher, parent
Clear purpose: coach and judge
Captures essence of performance or product: success criteria
Informs students how to improve: quality descriptors related to Provincial Achievement Chart
Student involvement:
criteria – yes; indicators - no

83. Learning Goals, Success Criteria & Rubrics
Process Learning Goal:
- use the stages in the writing process effectively to produce an “op-ed” piece for a newspaper.
Process Criteria:
- Prewriting
- Drafting
- Revising
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Conferencing

84. Process Criterion: Prewriting
Descriptors

85. Persuasive Writing Product Rubric

86. Learning Goals, Success Criteria & Rubrics
Product Learning goal:
- produce a camera-ready, “op-ed” piece for a newspaper.
Product Success criteria:
- Content
- Communication
- Organization
- Conventions

87. Product Criterion
Criterion
Descriptors

88. Involving Students in Identifying Success Criteria
Learning Goal: students will apply the elements and principles of design to create an original sculpture to express a particular concept or idea
Homework Task: locate an image of a publicly-displayed sculpture and bring it to class
Identify Success Criteria:
in small groups, examine the various images and discuss how the design elements help to convey the artist’s intended concept or idea
Reach class consensus about a manageable number of criteria
Teaching Team Develop Rubric by writing indicators for each criterion at 4 levels

89. Differentiating Assessment
Content standards: curriculum expectations
Performance standards: rubrics & checklists
Student products & performances
Must be within student’s “ZPD”
Keep rubric consistent for all students but adapt checklist to be within student’s “ZPD”
May be tiered to be within student’s “ZPD”

90. Partial Research Process Rubric

91. Research Process Checklist

92. Adapted Research Process Checklist

93. Using a checklist to ensure that student work meets minimum standards

96. Anchors and Exemplars Anchors Exemplars
Student work samples “anchored” to the 4 levels on a rubric
Level 4 anchors representing “exemplary” work

97. Time to Talk About Success Criteria
Do I collaborate with my colleagues to identify the success criteria for every assessment of learning task?
Do I challenge students to identify the success criteria essential to work samples and real-world products and performances?
Do I collaborate with colleagues to develop rubrics and checklists based on success criteria?
Do I ensure that the descriptors for each criterion are aligned with local performance standards?
Do I use multiple anchors and exemplars linked to these performance standards?
Do I present students with achievement targets that are within their ZPD?

98. Time to Talk About Targets
Do I collaborate with colleagues to agree upon performance targets for students?
Do I routinely communicate performance targets to my students?
How?
Do I use these targets with students to help them improve their work

99. Make self and peer assessment routine practice in your classroom…

100. Self Assessment

101. Make self and peer assessment routine practice …
Teach and model assessment skills
Provide weekly opportunities to practice the skills
Focus the assessment only on what was taught
Use descriptive feedback - what’s good; what’s not; what to do to fix it – NOT scores
Assessment FOR learning ONLY

102. Effective Oral Questioning
Instead of the quiz show with teacher as quizmaster, try …
“No hands”, “Think.Pair.Share”, etc.
Avoid judgement when students respond to questions. i.e. …
Instead of “Well done!” or “Nice try”,
how about … “Who agrees with Ken?
Who disagrees? How do we resolve this?”
Goal: demand that ALL students think!

103. Feedback that Moves Learning Forward
The best learners consistently attribute both success and failure to internal, unstable causes. They believe: “It’s up to me” (internal) and “I can do something about it” (unstable). … learning in classrooms will be considerably enhanced if students embrace this idea. Dylan Wiliam
In Embedded Formative Assessment, Dylan Wiliam, Solution Tree, 2011

104. Possible Response to Feedback
Response type
Feedback indicates performance exceeds goal
Feedback indicates performance falls short of goal
Change behaviour
Exert less effort
Increase effort
Change goal
Increase aspiration
Reduce aspiration
Abandon goal
Decide goal is too easy
Decide goal is too hard
Reject feedback
Ignore feedback
In Embedded Formative Assessment, Dylan Wiliam, Solution Tree, 2011

105. Types of Feedback Descriptive More Effective
Descriptive feedback tells the student how to improve his/her learning
More effective feedback asks the student what to do to improve his/her learning
Purpose: to improve learning by indicating to the student what needs to be improved
Purpose: to improve learning, by moving student reasoning to the next level

106. Feedback that Moves Learning Forward
Teacher: What part don’t you understand? Student: I just don’t get it. Teacher: Well, the first part is just like the last problem you did. Then we add one more variable. See if you can find out what it is, and I’ll come back in a few minutes.
In Embedded Formative Assessment, Dylan Wiliam, Solution Tree, 2011

107. Peer Feedback: Music Class
Students had been practising in groups of 3, playing a 3-part jazz composition. At the end of the lesson, each group performed and the teacher required peers to assess what they heard. Here is some of the conversation:
Rachel: Holly went too fast.
Sam: You all need to listen more to each other.
Teacher: Now, who hasn’t given any feedback yet? Tam, tell Emma’s group how they did, and remember to be specific.
Tam: Emma’s fill was really good. Everyone was in good time.
Teacher: Are you sure about that, Tam? (Tam hesitates….)
Michael, what did you think about Emma’s group?
Michael: They all started out together, then Freddy seemed to get lost, but then they finished together.
Teacher: Good feedback, Michael. Emma’s group, do you agree with what Michael said?

108. Do NOT combine feedback with scores
Oral & written feedback tell students how to improve – marks DON’T
Establish classroom routines that create opportunities for teacher & peer feedback
Provide feedback ALONE on formative assessments; do NOT include marks

109. Feedback that Moves Learning Forward
Feedback is ONLY formative when it is used by the learner to improve performance
Must direct student’s attention to what’s next, NOT how well or badly student has performed
Effectiveness depends on degree of mindfulness, so …
Feedback must cause thinking
Less is sometimes more
In Embedded Formative Assessment, Dylan Wiliam, Solution Tree, 2011

110. Characteristics of effective feedback
Needs to cause thinking: don’t provide the “answer”
Must not be evaluative
Must direct students towards improvement
Must make reference to specific quality indicators (a rubric or checklist)
Must include an expectation that it will be implemented
Must include strategies for checking that it has been implemented

111. Demand that feedback be acted upon …
Include feedback logs in student work books, binders, etc.
Hold students accountable for showing you “before” & “after” work
Focus student conferencing around feedback and how to act upon it …

112. Five Imperatives: #4
Grading must blend consistency with professional judgement.

113. Clarifying Terminology
Mark:
a score, letter or rubric level assigned to an individual piece of work
Grade:
a letter or percentage value assigned as a summary of learning, either for a subject as a whole, or for a strand within that subject
Adapted from Ken O’Connor, 2009

114. The Grading Dilemma …

115. The Grading Dilemma …

116. Time to Talk About Grading
From the perspective of a parent or student, write down four adjectives that describe quality grades. Now share these with your colleagues. Which adjectives were common to all of you?

117. Conditions for Quality Grades
Accurate
Consistent
Meaningful
Supportive of Learning Ken O’Connor, 2008

118. Grades are Accurate when they …
Separate achievement from behaviour
Balance measurement with professional judgement
Adapted from Ken O’Connor, 2008

119. Accurate Grades Learning skills must be assessed
They be must reported on separately from achievement
They must be seen as being of equal value to achievement
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

120. Professional Judgement
Decisions made by educators, in light of their professional experience, with reference to public standards and guidelines.

121. Grades are Consistent when they …
Are based on clear performance standards
Are based on clear and public policies, guidelines, and procedures
Adapted from Ken O’Connor, 2008

122. Performance Standards are Unclear

123. Performance Standards are Clear
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

124. Grades are meaningful when they are based on a valid sample of critical evidence:
No diagnostic evidence
Includes a variety of modes to allow for differences in learning style (write, do, say)
Includes multiple (3+)pieces of evidence for each learning cluster
Provides evidence of the essential learning in the subject
Tasks represent polished work:
Not practices or early tries
Feedback has occurred previously and been implemented

125. Grades are Supportive of Learning when they …
Distinguish between formative and summative assessments
Emphasize more recent evidence
Adapted from Ken O’Connor, 2008

126. Grades that are Supportive of Learning
The key question is, “What information provides the most accurate depiction of students’ learning at this time?” In nearly all cases, the answer is
“the most current information.”
If students demonstrate that past assessment information no longer accurately reflects their learning, that information must be dropped and replaced by the new information. Continuing to rely on past assessment data miscommunicates
students’ learning.
Powerful quote from Tom Guskey.
Guskey, Thomas R. (Editor), Communicating Student Learning:
The 1996 ASCD Yearbook, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1996, 21

127. Time to Talk About Grading
With your colleagues, review the grading practices at your school.
To what extent do they blend consistency with professional judgement?
To what extent are the grades you assign accurate, consistent, meaningful, and supportive of learning?

128. Five Imperatives: #5.
Communication about learning must be truthful and transparent

129. How would you respond to the following question:
“Damian, how do I explain to the parents of a special needs student with an IEP that the “A” she has received is for a modified program and that it doesn’t mean the same as the “A’s” received by other children in the class who are working at grade level?”

130. What Parents Want to Learn from a Report Card
Learning outcomes
(incl. IEP ref. if applicable)
Rubric levels
Anecdotal comments
Learning Skills Data
Grade level at which student is working
Achievement level at which student is performing
Level of independence
Attitudes and Behaviours
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

131. Reporting Student Achievement
Given that it’s a crude summary of lots of information, what do we want the report card grade to represent?
The recent trend in
a student’s
achievement.

132. Can a report card communicate both achievement and progress?
The Grading Dilemma …
Can a report card communicate both achievement and progress?

134. Communicating with Parents…
When describing achievement, reference appropriate standards:
NOT other students
NOT siblings
Local performance standards
Avoid all labelling of students: there are NO “A” students or “Level 4” students, only “A” performances and “Level 4” performances.

135. Report Card Comments

136. Discrepancy between Observed and Reported Behaviours
Observed: Frequently flashes the teacher.
Reported: Willingly participates in “Show and Tell”.
Observed: Runs a gambling ring at recess.
Reported: Can count up to 100; understands number concepts; applies this knowledge in real-life situations.
Courtesy, Sue Amos

137. Discrepancy between Observed and Reported Behaviours
Observed: Looks at other students’ work during tests.
Reported: She is forging ahead.
Observed: Touches himself inappropriately during story time.
Reported: A self-motivated, tactile learner.
Courtesy, Sue Amos

138. Some final thoughts... “Change is a process, not an event…
beware the implementation dip.” (Fullan)
Don’t work alone. Collaboration will help you problem solve and will improve the quality of your initiatives.
Be proactive - communicate with parents and students before changing your practice.
Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012

139. Commitment to Action Spend a few moments reflecting on today ….
What was your most significant learning?
What specific actions do you plan to take immediately and/or between now and June 2013?
Who will be involved?
What results would you like to see from these actions?
How will you assess the effectiveness of these actions?

140. Damian Cooper, Plan~Teach~Assess, 2012