Marquette’s journey toward Standards Based Grading and Best Grading Practices

Rockwood School District Grading Policy (adopted May 20, 2010) Re-Teach/Reassess: When a student scores below proficient on standards essential to continued academic progress, interventions designed to support student mastery of the standard(s) will be implemented. Reassessment will be provided after a student has satisfactorily completed additional formative work. The most recent score will be recorded.

Extra Credit: Extra Credit is not appropriate in a standards- based system as grades must be accurate measures of achievement standards. Opportunities for re-teaching and reassessing shall be available.

Homework: Homework is an important part of teaching, learning, and parent involvement in the Rockwood School District. Student work should always receive feedback to further student learning. Teachers will exclude homework from the course grade if it was assigned for pre- assessment or early learning guided practice. Homework assigned as a summative assessment may be included in the course grade based on curriculum guidelines.

Late Work: Students are expected to submit school assignments in a timely manner. Late submissions will be recorded and reported as a non-academic indicator.

Participation/Active Engagement: Performance requirements as listed in the curriculum document will be reported in the academic grade. All other measures of participation will be marked as non-academic indicators. Performance and participation provides an opportunity for students to develop, practice, and demonstrate knowledge and skills. Performance and participation can provide teachers the opportunity to monitor and assess knowledge and skills based on the standards for the course/subject.

What did this look like after 1 semester? Ho me wor k Reteac h/Reas ses Extr a Cred it Participatio n/Active Engagemen t Late Work Aca dem ic Det enti on Course grad ed reco rded proficie ncy set allowed max score most recent score formative work required allo wed academic indicator cut-off yesnoyesnoyes no%summativeformativeall yesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesno yesnoteacherlunch Theatre x xx 70 x X X xx XUnitx AP Mus Theory x x x Unk x unk x x x x Orchestras x x x75Unk x unk xx x x Vid Production x x x x x x xx Unk x Pub Speaking x x x x x x xx xUnkx Band x x x x x x xx x x World Langxxxxx 70 x x x x x xUnit x Beg Guitar x x x x x unk x x xQuarterx Adv Guitar x xUnk x xxx x x Vocal Musicx x x 85 x x x xx x1 weekx Visual Art x xx 70 x x x x x x1 week prior to end of quarter x

Second Semester Concerns: Inconsistency creating confusion among students and parents and administrators – In late work natural deadlines – In use of academic detentions – In proficiency scores to reassess – In what is allowed to be reassessed

Second Semester Revisions Reteach / Reassess Required: --Reassessment items are defined by PLC (doesn’t have to be everything in the grade book); should be items that are “essential to continued academic progress” -- Reassessment cannot be more difficult than the original exam --All students must do formative work to be allowed to reassess. The amount and how it is graded/recorded (as a non-academic indicator) must be aligned by PLC --Most recent score will be recorded --No retakes on finals

Recommended: – Reassessment should be completed within one week of receiving exam back from teacher – Proficiency should be at 75% or above—we want to set high expectations for our students. If they want to do more formative work, study harder, and prove to us they have mastered the material we should allow them. The reason for 75% is that it is “average” we want our students to be above average—high expectations are our norm – Homework can be used as a prerequisite to reassessment. We believe that we can shift accountability to students if we mandate that the students have completed homework prior to the first assessment in order to be allowed to re- assess. They must put forward a “good faith effort” without being accountable on accuracy since homework is practice. Homework should be recorded as a non academic indicator and be graded on completion. 80% completed by first exam to be allowed to reassess 100% completed PLUS additional formative work prior to reassessment

Homework: Recommended: 1. Use as non-academic indicator and report in IC (0% category) to show student effort/progress. 2. Use Academic Detentions for missing work as this encourages timeliness. 3. Use Homework as a requirement for student reassessment. 4. Homework can be entered as an academic indicator (used as formative assessment) if it isn’t a first attempt at the work and it is used as an evaluation of knowledge.

Late Work Recommended: 1. Must be turned in by unit exam/final summative assessment or natural deadline 2. Will become a 0 if after exam/natural deadline

Current Challenges We are still trying to define what are the standards required for “continued academic success”. How are we holding students accountable and reporting that on a report card? How are we continuing to communicate our policy and practices to parents and students?

Current Successes: D/F data has dropped in the last year – For the class of 2015 there was 25% reduction in F’s from last year 8% reduction in D’s A focus of high expectations on student learning has evolved and affected the culture. We now have many more conversations about student learning than ever before.

Jennifer Sebold