The High School Litter Box: If

Something Stinks, Change It!

How Formative Instructional Practices Changed One School’s Culture & Climate

Presented By: Angie Gentile wl_agentile@warrenlocal.org & Ryan Werry wl_rwerry@warrenlocal.org

Who We Are!!Our School• Warren Local High School• Vincent, OH• Rural Community• ~800 student population• 96% Caucasian

Us• School Improvement

Coordinators• English & Science Teachers• Combined 36 years experience

Our Story• Disconnect between students’ grades and standardized

tests• Students not doing homework• Same students failing over and over in majority of classes• Sound familiar?

Step 1 in Cleaning Up the Litter box: Book Study

• A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor

• Voluntary• Met once a week after school• Read 3 chapters per week• Discussed positives & negatives of each fix

15 Fixes for Broken Grades• Fix 1: Don’t include student behaviors in grades; include only achievement.• Fix 2: Don’t reduce marks on “work” submitted late; provide support for learner.• Fix 3: Don’t give point for extra credit or use bonus points.• Fix 4: Don’t punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades.• Fix 5: Don’t consider attendance in grade determination.• Fix 6: Don’t include group scores in grades• Fix 7: Don’t organize information in grading records by assessment methods; organize by standards/learning

goals.• Fix 8: Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear expectations.• Fix 9: Don’t assign grades based on a student’s achievements compared to other students.• Fix 10: Don’t use assessments that do not accurately assess standards.• Fix 11: Don’t rely on the mean.• Fix 12: Don’t include zeros in grade determination; use alternatives (reassessing, “I” for incomplete).• Fix 13: Don’t use information from practice/homework to determine grades.• Fix 14: Don’t summarize evidence accumulated over time.• Fix 15: Don’t leave students out of grading process.

Now it’s YOUR Turn!• The next step in cleaning the litter box was to examine our own grading

practices.• Instructions:

• 1) Individually, rank the 3 fixes you think would be the most controversial in your school. (5 minutes)

• 2) Turn to a neighbor and discuss your rankings. Are they the same? Which ones are different? (5 minutes)

• Just like you, our staff had a lot of dissenting opinions, so we developed a list of non-negotiables for grading practices. (Look at the end of your handouts.)

Grade Fixes Weren’t Enough!

• Students’ grades still didn’t accurately reflect what we thought they knew.

• Too many students were still falling between the cracks. (at-risk, special ed., economically disadvantaged)

Formative Instructional Practices

to the Rescue!• We became a Race to the Top school.

How Some Feel About RttT!

RttT Brought Batelle for Kids & Formative Instructional

Practices to Us: Yeah!

Definition of Formative Instructional Practices

Formative instructional practices (FIP) are the formal and informal ways that teachers and students gather and respond to evidence of student learning. (Battelle for Kids)

•Clear Learning Targets•Learning ProgressionsCurriculum

•Designing for Accuracy•Assessing with Purpose

Assessment

•Making the Learning Clear•Feedback & Responsive TeachingInstruction

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Focused Learning: Planning for Instruction

Focused Learning

Focused Assessments

Focused Feedback

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Formative Instruction

Components

Focused Learning

Focused Assessments

Focused Feedback15

Step 1: Curriculum/ Focused Learning

• What do we want students to know or know how to do?• This step comes first from your content standards.• Make clear learning targets in student-friendly language every class

period.• Can be stated as “I Can” statements”

Example: I can explain how perspective affects how I comprehend historical text.

Focused Learning

Focused Assessments

Focused Feedback

Step 2: Focused Assessment

How do you know what students know or don’t know?3 Step Process

1. Diagnostic- formal or informal2. Formative 3. Summative

Diagnostic Assessment• Definition: Also known as “preassessments,” these

assessments provide instructors with information about students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions before beginning a learning activity.

• Examples/Resources/ Techniques: Anticipation Guides, Continuum of Understanding, Four Corners, Poll Everywhere, Gallery Walk, KWL Charts

Formative Assessments• Definition: “provides the information needed to adjust teaching and

learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made” (Association for Middle Level Education) ; assessment FOR learning; practice; NOT included in a student’s final “grade”

• Examples/ Resources/ Techniques: observation, questioning strategies, self and peer assessment, quizzes, rough drafts, student and teacher conferences

• Some of Our Favorites: http://pinterest.com/aerbgent/formative-instructional-practices/

Summative Assessments• Definition: “ a means to gauge, at a particular point in time, student

learning relative to content standards.” “Summative assessments happen too far down the learning path to provide information at the classroom level and to make instructional adjustments and interventions during the learning process”(Association for Middle Level Education); assessment OF learning; what appears in the gradebook

• Examples/Resources/Techniques: State assessments, District benchmark or interim assessments, End-of-unit or chapter tests, End-of-term or semester exams, Scores that are used for accountability for schools (AYP) and students (report card grades).

Reassessments• Definition: summative assessments that are given to students AFTER

some type of intervention has taken place; reassessments measure the same standards as the original summative assessment but are NOT the same assessment; reassessment scores replace the original summative assessment score IF the reassessment score is higher.

• Examples/Resources/Techniques: another version of the summative assessment; different way of taking the assessment (oral); rewrite of a paper, smaller group Socratic Seminar, presentation to teacher

Focused Learning

Focused Assessments

Focused Feedback

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Step 3: Focused Feedback • What do we do for students who have not yet

met the standard?• What do we do for students who have mastered

the standard?• How do we communicate to students their

strengths and areas where they need more practice?

What Message Does your Feedback Send?

What message does your feedback send?

Focused

Feedback

Create a feedback friendly culture that engages all

students in the feedback loop.

Learn in a feedback- friendly culture.

Create conditions that support and foster a feedback-friendly culture.

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Formative Instruction Practices

Teachers Students Leaders

Directs attention to the intended learning or learning targets, pointing out strengths and offering specific information to guide improvement.

Occurs during the learning, while there is still time to act on it.

Addresses partial or total understanding.

Does not do the thinking for the student.

Limits corrective information to the amount of advice a student can act on.

Effective Feedback

Putting It All Together

What We’ve Learned from FIP: Data

ChemistryChapters 2 & 11

Comparison of Test Scores Before FIP and After FIP Chapter 2 A B C D F2008/2009Before FIP 13% 10% 10% 8% 60% 2012/2013After FIP 39% 19% 12% 7% 23% Chapter 11 A B C D F2008/2009Before FIP 26% 16% 7% 7% 43% 2012/2013After FIP 35% 24% 13% 6% 24%

What We’ve Learned from FIP: Classroom

Management•Reassessment

•Managing Data

•Classroom Organization

A Final Thought: FIP Me, Baby!