Grading Practices EDU 300 | Newberry College | Jennifer Morrison

1. Grading PracticesEDU 300 | Newberry College | Jennifer Morrison

2. 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?

3. What does this grade mean? 5 95 C

4. 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)

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

6. 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

7. What do we want grades to do? • 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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

11. What does standards-based grading look like?

12. “Not Yet” Grading Southern Regional Education Board, www.sreb.org(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.

13. Median Grading 0 75 90 85 70

14. 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

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

16. What’s Due?