Grading Practices EDU 300 | Newberry College | Jennifer Morrison

Grading Practices What do grades mean? What are your experiences with grades? What are the problems with traditional grading practices? What are four different grading practices/systems? What are the pros and cons of each?

What does this grade mean? 5 95 C

Lines of Opinion When you were a student, how did/do grades make you feel? (horrible  excellent) How important are grades to learning? (not important  vital) What would happen if we stopped using grades? (peace  chaos)

Grades only makes sense… when you know the scale. in comparison to others. Traditionally, grades… are about control. are about comparisons. create competition.

What’s the problem? Student makes an A in Math and “fails” the end of course standardized test Student behaves badly all year long and fails the course Student does absolutely no work but aces the tests and makes a C for the year In a class, students generally attend and do class work, then 75% of them fail the course

Show learning (standards and objectives) Show effort Motivate students to learn more Encourage students to enjoy learning Encourage high expectations Reward and encourage hard work Create commitment to life-long learning Set a standard for comparison What do we want grades to do?

We are going to look at 4 grading systems. What are the pros and cons of each? Grading by Standards (Marzano, Wiggins) Median Grading “Not Yet” Grading (Power of I by SREB) No Grades

Grading by Standards Robert Marzano Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work Traditional grades give poor feedback and are high variable Recommends focusing measurement on standards (+ life skill topics like participation, work completion, behavior, and working in groups)

Grading by Standards Recommends targeted assessments of many types evaluated with 4-point scoring scale 4.0 Advanced – In addition to Score 3.0 performance, in- depth inferences and applications that go beyond what was taught 3.0 Proficient – No major errors or omissions regarding any of the information and/or processes (simple or complex) that were explicitly taught 2.0 Basic – No major errors or missions regarding the simpler details and processes, but major errors or omissions regarding the more complex ideas and processes 1.0 Below Basic – With help, a partial understanding of some of the simpler details and processes and some of the more complex ideas and processes

What does standards-based grading look like?

“Not Yet” Grading Southern Regional Education Board, (Power of the I) Giving zeroes and accepting poor work creates a culture of low expectations. Students learn that they have the option of not turning work in. Failure to turn in work is #1 reason for middle school and ninth grade failure. Instead of a zero, give incomplete and follow up with consequences and extra help.

Median Grading

Median Grading Russell Wright, “Success for All: The Median Is the Key” Phi Delta Kappan, May 1994 In work world we focus on using our strengths; students must show proficiency on a wide range of tasks “The median is actually the statistically correct measure of central tendency for ordinal data.” C students work harder

No Grades Alfie Kohn, “From Degrading to De-Grading” High School Magazine, March 1999

What’s Due?