Coordinators Meeting  December 7, 2010

Grading – one of THE most controversial issues for teachers Define what the following grades mean without using numbers, percentages, etc. A - B - C - D - F -

What purpose do grades serve?  Provides feedback to parents and students  shows progress  global communication btwn educators  predicts success later  accountability for students  assess student knowledge of standards  motivation  ranking or placement  Sort kids?  Define what a student knows and can do?

Why do we Grade?  Provide Feedback  Document Progress  Guide Instructional decisions  Motivate Students  Punish  Sort

Problems with Most Traditional Grading Systems  DON’T REFLECT ACTUAL LEARNING!  Often not connected to learning  too vague - range often too broad  OPEN TO INTERPRETATION (different things to…)  not good at communicating what we want it to  insufficient and inaccurate  SUBJECTIVE  provides additional proof of failure  high anxiety that stifles effort  parent pressures to perform

The Normal Curve vs. Success Orientation Standards based environment?? Sorting students or ensuring that they learn?

Grading To Communicate (article)  Grades are often a commodity rather than a reflection of actual learning  A system of sorting (>100 years old) rather than getting everyone across the bar (Standards)  We must first recognize that we have an enculturated system that promotes the disconnect  Info recall (academic bulimia) – lowest level of learning (Bloom)  Compliance vs. Learning–willingness to cooperate vs. understanding - know & be able to do

Grading To Communicate  Need focus on essential “learnings”  Expect grades to promote learning? Then they must reflect learning – mastery of essential know and able to do.  Assignment of points – averaging – HW and Extra Credit are all suspect practices in standards based classrooms (and ALL common and valued practices by educators)

Grading To Communicate  Non-academic factors should receive separate grade – count less than academic factors– “knows and can do”  Define important learning - conceptual understanding, application; analysis; evaluation (Bloom higher levels)  Decide on appropriate evidence of learning  How many points is this worth?  …just some thoughts.

Sorting vs. Learning  Norm Referenced = sorting, categorizing, lining up in order  Criterion Referenced = focus on actual learning that has occurred, specific to the learning

Teaching is NOT Adversarial !

engage Kids will only engage and put forth effort if there is a likelihood of success. They need to know that they can be successful and that you will help them get there.

 Kids (and teachers) need to know what the learning targets are.  Formative Assessments – of target learning - should inform instructional decisions. We too often use them as “gotcha” and for sorting the “haves and have nots.”  Don’t EVER assess and not use that information for an instructional purpose. There is NO POINT!

OTHER Important Issues in Grading  Equity of access  Ability vs “all can learn”  Gatekeeping  Imposes strict time constraints  Late work  Subjectivity  Modifications adaptations

Research to increase student engagement (e.g., Brewster & Fager, 2000)  Highlighting ways that learning can be applied in real- life situations;  Helping students feel that their schoolwork is significant, valuable, and worthy of their efforts;  Allowing students to have some degree of control over learning;  Assigning challenging but achievable tasks;  Stimulating students ’ curiosity about the topic being studied; and  Designing projects that allow students to share new knowledge with others.

Provide balance – no matter what your subject area  Reading, writing and math are very important, but cannot be the only purposes of schooling  Citizenship Education, The Arts, Logical and Critical Thinking, Tolerance, Problem Solving, Practical Life Skills, etc

Appropriate challenge of highly capable students  Identify who they are – it may change for different topics, subjects  Never give them MORE work  Give them different work – higher order thinking, depth (enrichment)  Plan for options  Promote more independence and critical thinking

The ZERO! An “Interval” Problem

Some Grading Issues (Grade Distribution) A B C D F TOT Teacher X # % Teacher Y # %

Grading - Calculations Tell me about Student #1, #4, #5, #6? How would YOU give them a final grade?

Averaging – The MOST common method Is “accurate” – but is it FAIR? How about what it communicates?

Median Calculation Better? Why?

Delete Lowest Score Then Average Thoughts?

Which accomplishes what purpose of grade reporting? Other Options??

GRADING RECOMMENDATIONS  Get rid of averaging (norm referenced stat = sorting)  Never give a zero -translate to a 50 for calculations only  Criterion references are the only acceptable method of assessing “learning”  Get rid of extra credit – especially extra credit for unrelated or “non-learning” activity  Allow re-dos to help kids improve quality of “learning”– “if it is worth doing….”  Homework is for practice of what has already been learned  Use grades to provide a description of student learning - less for quantifying compliance

Grading (formative assessment) - Item Analysis Number Wrong  Impressions?  Possible explanations for # 9?  Where do you draw the line? 8? 7? 5?

What the Research says... Grades have some limited value as rewards, but NO value as punishments. Mathematical precision of the calculations do not make the grades more accurate, fair, objective, interpretable or reflective of true learning.

Recommendations for practice...  Use assessment and grading to enhance teaching and learning  Begin with clear definitions of specific learning targets  Use grades to provide a description of student learning - less for quantifying compliance  Avoid the use of zeros unless you drop the lowest score

An Aside...  Check your use of ‘weighting’ of assignments - be careful how you use gradequick.

When you make a difference in a child’s life, HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Grades & Feedback  Students tend to ignore feedback when accompanied by a grade or overall judgment (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2004) “A numerical mark or grade does not tell you what to do: if it is high, you’re pleased but have no impetus to do better, if it is low it might confirm your belief that you are not able to learn the subject.” (Black & Harrison, 2001)