1. TRANSFORMING CLASSROOM GRADING

2. *Click here to view video

3. Van Buren County, Michigan
Van Buren Intermediate School District
Lawrence, Michigan

4. VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Van Buren County is a rural, agricultural area
Population = 79,000
Square Miles = 725
11 School Districts throughout the county
Schools Range in size from 50 to 300 students per grade level
Average distance from each school to the Van Buren Intermediate School District = 17 miles

5. VAN BUREN TECH 900-1000 Students 25 State-Approved CTE Programs
Middle College Program
27 Program Instructors
8 Program Assistants
4 Production Managers
6 Highly Qualified Math, English, Science Teachers
3 Career Guidance Coordinators
3 Job Placement Coordinators
1 Specialized Instruction Coordinator
3 Specialized Instruction Assistants
1 School Social Worker
1 Middle College Coordinator
2 Early College Mentors
3 Administrators
6 Administrative Assistants
VAN BUREN TECH

6. WHAT SHOULD THIS GRADE BE?
Here’s the situation
A student received the following marks on ten
assignments over the course of a semester.
C, C, missed, D, C, B, missed,
missed, B, and A
As an individual, decide on the final grade you would give this student. Then converse at your table

7. “Imagine a high school football game in which a pass is thrown and the receiver lunges for the ball and tumbles into the end zone. One official signals touchdown, another signals incomplete pass, and yet another scratches his head in bewilderment. The fans would be enraged at the unfairness and lack of consistency among the referees viewing the same performance.” So why don’t we have consistent policies for grading classroom work? - Doug Reeves
SPORTS
ANALOGY

8. To illustrate the inaccuracy of using zeros, Gruss (2005) suggests that we try to calculate the average temperature over five days, with temperatures of 85, 82, 83, and 86 degrees the first four days of the week. However, because the temperature on the fifth day was either not reported, or was turned in too late, a zero was recorded. As a result, the average temperature for the week is equal to 67 degrees, a figure that does not accurately reflect the weather for that week. If those temperatures were grades, a student would have failed after consistently earning B’s and C’s.
WEATHER
EXAMPLE

9. “Because of these inconsistencies, students can get honor grades or fail not because of work ethic, organization, class attendance, and the quality of teaching, but because of differences in teachers’ grading policies.”
Robert Marzano

10. GRADING GOALS Eliminate the Power of the Zero on a 100 point scale
Accurately & Consistently Provide Performance Feedback
Differentiate Between Content Knowledge & Other Factors
Use Grading Systems that are Fair & Supported by Research
Eliminate Factors Erroneously Influencing Grades

11. VB TECH GRADING TIMELINE
Grading Concerns Identified
Grading Committee Established
Grading Professional Development/Research
2009-Present Grading Committee Researching Best Practices
Point Scale Pilot
Move to 12 Point/50% Scale
Point Scale Pilot Grading Pilot
Rubric Writing Professional Development
Move to Rubric-Based Grading System
Move to Employability Skills Rubric
Move to Reporting 3 Grades
Future to be continued...

12. GRADING WITH RUBRICS
“Because the emotional attachment to the zero is so strong, I have given up advocating that 50 points should represent the lowest grade. What I do think we can do to preserve some level of sanity in our grading system is to return to a 4-point system. A’s no longer equal 100 points, but 4 points. If there is a need for greater specificity, then we can choose an infinite number of digits to the right of the decimal point and thus differentiate between the and to our heart’s content. But at the end of the day, in such a system, the F is a zero – one point below the D. It is fair, accurate, and some people believe, motivational. But at least the zero on a four-point scale is not the mathematical travesty that it is when applied to a 100-point system.” - Marzano

13. *Click here to view video

14. GRADING WITH RUBRICS
Rubrics promote learning - Identify desired levels of performance
Rubrics help teachers - focus on learning, not teaching
Provide consistency in grading practices
Coordinate instruction & assessment
Promotes higher order thinking skills
Provides transparency to grading process

15. RUBRIC SCALE/WORD BANK
4 - Advanced
3 - Proficient
2 - Progressing
1 - Beginning
0 - No Evidence
*Click here to download a copy of the word bank.

16. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS *Click here to download a copy of the rubric.
Every 2 weeks.
*Click here to download a copy of the rubric.

17. REPORT CARDS
*Click here to download the report card key.

18. VISION/FUTURE GOALS? Standards-Based Grading Recency of Evidence
Remediation Practices

19. Profiles of Two Students’ Scores on Four Topics

20. Parachute Packing Example
Which student would you want packing your parachute?
Parachute Packing Example
*Adapted from How to Grade to Learning (O’Connor, 2002)

21. QUESTIONS?

22. Robert Smith
Director/Principal
Van Buren Tech
(269)
Cindy Philip
Administrator
Van Buren Tech
(269)
CONTACT INFORMATION