FAIR GRADING PRACTICES

PRESENTED BY: KIMBERLY BRUNSWICK

DIRECTOR OF CONTENT

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

The subjective process of determining a student’s knowledge or understanding of a given topic, regardless of behavioral influences.

FAIR GRADING - DEFINED

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SUCCESS - DEFINED

Deep understanding or high levels of proficiency are achieved only as a result of trial, practice, adjustments based on feedback, and more practice.

What will you do?

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STEP THREE

STEP FOUR

WHAT ARE THE UNDERLYING PERSPECTIVES ON GRADING?

1. Grading is not essential for learning.

2. Grading s complicated.

3. Grading is subjective and emotional.

4. Grading is inescapable.

5. Grading has a limited research base.

6. Grading has no single best practice.

7. Grading that is faulty damages students AND teachers!

GRADING FOR LEARNING

• Brain-Based Research

• Multiple Intelligences

• World Economy

• Standards

The questions that p______ face as they raise ch______ from in_________ to adult life are not easy to an_______. Both fa______ and m_____ can become concerned when health problem such as co______ arise any time after the e_________ stage to later life. Experts recommend that young ch______ should have plenty of s______ and nutritious food for healthy growth. B______ and g_____ should not share the same b_______ or even sleep in the same r_____. They may be afraid of the d______.

What do they really mean?

The questions that poultrymen face as they raise chickens from incubation to adult life are not easy to answer. Both farmers and merchants can become concerned when health problem such as coccidiosis arise any time after the egg stage to later life. Experts recommend that young chicks should have plenty of sunshine and nutritious food for healthy growth. Banties and geese should not share the same barnyard or even sleep in the same roost. They may be afraid of the dark.  

Some things are not what they appear to be….

STANDARDS DO NOT DEFINE…

How teachers should teach

All that can or should be taught

The nature of advanced work beyond the core

The interventions needed for students well below grade level

The full range of support for English language learners and students with special needs

Everything needed to be college and career ready

A curriculum

CCSSO STANDARDS ARE….

•“New” - standards are going to be introduced to all grade levels and subject areas

•“Changing” - some standards will shift grades dramatically

•“Rigorous” - in most cases, they are much more dense

•“Replacing” - some familiar and comfortable standards are simply gone

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TAXONOMIES - MATHEMATICS

New Bloom’s DOK SECMemorize Facts

Remembering Recall Definitions & Formulas

Understanding Skills & Perform Procedures

Concepts

Applying & Strategic Demonstrate Understanding

Analyzing Thinking of Mathematical Ideas

Evaluating Extended Conjecture, Analyze

Thinking Generalize, Prove

Creating Solve non-routine problems/

Make Connections

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TAXONOMIES - ELA AND READING

New Bloom’s DOK SEC

Remembering Recall Memorize/Recall

Understanding Skills & Concepts Perform Procedures/ Explain

Applying & Strategic Thinking Generate/Create/

Analyzing Demonstrate

Evaluating Extended Thinking Analyze/Investigate

Creating Evaluate/

Integrate

RESEARCH

….student’s need to practice a skill approximately 24 times to reach 80% competency….

Marzano

Classifying Targets

ProductsThe ability to create tangible products, such as term papers, science fair projects, and art sculptures that meet certain standards of quality and present concrete evidence of academic proficiency.

ReasoningThe ability to use knowledge and understanding to figure things out and solve problems.

PerformanceThe development of proficiency in doing something where it is the process that is important such as playing a musical instrument, reading aloud, speaking in a second language or using psychomotor skills.

KnowledgeMastery of substantive subject content where mastery includes both knowing and understanding it.

•Realistic, complex performance tasks, immediate feedback, and incorporate accommodations for a range of students

•Better measure higher-order thinking skills so vital to success in the global economy of the 21st century

•Students must analyze and solve complex problems, communicate clearly, synthesize information, apply knowledge, and generalize learning to other settings

NEXT GENERATION OF ASSESSMENTS

Skill 1 Skill 3Skill 2

Remembering

Understanding

Applying &Analyzing

Evaluating

Creating

Skill 4

Skills Taught vs. Assessment Given

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ASSESSMENT?

RESEARCH

The United States Department of Education indicates that 40-70% of the current materials on the market are inappropriate for the new Common Core State Standards or out of the order that they will be tested.

THINGS MUST CHANGE

1. Identify desired results,

2. determine acceptable evidence of achievement and then

3. plan learning experiences and instruction around what we have discovered.

1. Grades should have meaning.

2. We need to challenge the status quo.

3. We can control grading practices.

4. Standards-based grading reduces meaningless paperwork.

5. It helps teachers adjust instruction.

6. Teaches what quality looks like.

7. It’s a launch pad to other reforms. Patricia L. Scriffiny

Expecting Excellence

SEVEN REASONS FOR STANDARDS-BASED GRADING

“ Fair does not mean equal; …”

William Patterson

Ken O’Connor

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Bob Marzano

Thomas Guskey

Doug Reeves

Mixed Bag

“ …to treat them (children) the same is actually unfair…

we need to see fairness as equity of opportunity to

achieve.”

Ken O’Connnor

For at least one hundred years, teachers at almost every grade level have been using grades of some type – letter grades, percentage scores – as the overall indicator of student achievement. Students, parents and community members also have assumed that these omnibus grades are reliable measures of student achievement. …

In short, Americans have a basic trust in the message that grades convey – so much so that grades have gone without challenge and are, in fact, highly resistant to any challenge. As education reporter Lynn Olsen notes, the use of grades is ‘one of the most sacred traditions in American education … The truth is that grades have acquired an almost cult-like importance in American schools. They are the primary shorthand tool for communicating to parents how children are faring.’”

From Robert Marzano, Transforming Classroom Grading, 2006 (ASCD)

“Grading requires careful planning, thoughtful judgment,

a clear focus on purpose, excellent communication skills, and an overriding concern for the well-being of students…..”

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DOUG REEVES“If you want to make just one change

that would immediately reduce student failure rates, then the most effective place to start would be challenging prevailing grading practices.”

“…the most effective grading practices provide accurate, specific, timely feedback designed to improve student performance.”

MIXED BAG?

…teachers and principals state they learned “next to

nothing about tracking performance for the purposes

of ensuring progress. Jane E. Pollock

Who lives in

your school?

“If expectations aren’t being explained to kids, how can we expect them to meet them?”

Linda Ham, PrincipalMaplewood Elementary

Indianapolis Indiana

Focus on the Student

Feedback to learner

Fair Grading

Proven Gains31

FEEDBACK

“If we just grade assignments and never use that information to help inform our instruction, we have wasted our students’ time and we have reinforced to students the false notion that the only reason they are learning the material is to take a test.”

Robyn R. Jackson

Students who can identify what they are learning significantly outscore those who cannot.

– Robert Marzano (2005)

RESEARCH

HODGEPODGE

exams work habits projects

homework effort portfolios

participation quizzes attendance

neatness compositions labs

observations reports attitude

WHAT CAUSES THE GREATEST DISCREPANCIES?

Scale

Categories

Evidence

Outliers

HOW WOULD THEY DO IN YOUR CLASS?

Test

CHomework

CHomework

MAQuiz

DProject

C

Test

BHomework

MAQuiz

MAHomework

BTest

A

SCALES

• Percent

• Rubric

• Mixed

100 POINT SCALEAssignment Name

Max Points Earned Points

Score

Test 1 100 0 0%

Test 2 100 70 70%

Test 3 100 80 80%

Test 4 100 85 85%

Final 200 180 90%

Total: 600 415 69%

Congratulations, Tony! You have earned a D.

100 Point Scale

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Assignment Name

Max Points

Earned Points

Score

Test 1 5 0 0

Test 2 5 2.5 2.5

Test 3 5 3.5 3.5

Test 4 5 3.5 3.5

Final 5 4.5 4.5

Total: 5 not 25 2.8 2.8Using level scoring Tony earns a C mathematically. A full letter grade higher than using the 100 point system.

Rubric or Level Scoring

CATEGORIES

• Total Points

• Homework/Tests/Quizzes

• Formative vs. Summative

• Academics vs. Employability (21st Century Learning)

EVIDENCE

• Average

• Trend

• Last “?” Grades

• All of the Above

TREND OR FOE

Power Law formula: Tony earns 93% - up from 80% when a 50 was substituted for a 0 and is actually higher than any one score!

Assignment Name

Max Points

Earned Points

Score

Test 1 100 50 50%

Test 2 100 70 70%

Test 3 100 80 80%

Test 4 100 85 85%

Final 200 180 90%

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OUTLIERS

• Homework

• Behavior

• Effort

• Participation

• Attitude

• Missing Assignments

PROCESS CRITERIAAssignment Name

Max Points

Earned Points

Score

Test 1 100 80 80%

Test 2 100 80 80%

Test 3 100 75 75%

Test 4 100 80 80%

Final 200 165 83%

Total: 600 480 80%

Congratulations Tony! You have earned a B.44

ZERO POLICY OPTIONS

Alternatives

Effects Comments Counter

Use 50% instead of 0

78% - C+/B- How can you do that, they did nothing, you can’t say they knew ½ the material.

It’s not about whether they knew ½ the material, it’s about the scoring being mathematically unfair.

Drop the 0 altogether and use the rest of the data

80% - B The student deserved the 0 because they refused to do the work.

Grading should not be punitive, it should be a representation of what is known.

Use Incompletes Would act like the drop, however, you can’t complete a class with “x” incompletes.

Students won’t be motivated if they see a “B*”…

If they have “x” Incompletes, don’t show a grade until you have the data.

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ANY CHANGE?

Test

CHomework

CHomework

MAQuiz

DProject

C

Test

BHomework

MAQuiz

MAHomework

BTest

A

ROBYN JACKSON

“If we just grade assignments and never use that information to help inform our instruction, we have wasted our students’ time and we have reinforced to students the false notion that the only reason they are learning the material is to take a test.”

What will you do?

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Defining Your Next Steps

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Research

Make Decisions

Follow Through

WHY 6-12 MONTHS?

“For if you continue to do what you’ve always done,

you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Roland Barth (Learning by Heart)

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