Making Standards Based Grading Work in Your World Language Classroom

1. “NO MATTER HOW LOFTY OUR ESPOUSED EDUCATION GOALS, OUR GRADING PRACTICES REVEAL WHAT WE TRULY VALUE.”-Tony Winger“What we know today does not make yesterday wrong.It makes tomorrow better.”-Carol Commadore

2. Making Standards Based Grading Work in Your World Language Classroom Participants will be given an overview of basic principles of Standards-Based Grading and practical ideas about how to communicate clearly with students about their strengths and weaknesses.  We’ll discuss ideas from A Repair Kit for Grading; 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor.  Examples of teacher-created standards-based scoring guides for speaking, writing, listening, reading, grammar, and vocabulary assessments will be shared.  Explore how to make your class about learning and not just grades!

3. Where are we coming from? • Rockwood School District / Eureka High School • All Spanish teachers / PLCs incorporate the same standard-based grading practices. • RSD has a grading and reporting policy that is a work in progress. • Disconnect between grading and reporting system • Our focus is on Standards Based Grading and Feedback – NOT Standards Based Reporting. • We are not experts. We are learning everyday. Our practice is constantly evolving.

4. 3. What power does a grade have? • Think • Pair • Share

5. What are the 15 fixes for broken grades? • Ken O'Connor, a.k.a. The Grade Doctor, is an independent consultant who specializes in issues related to the communication of student achievement, especially grading and reporting. • Rockwood School District has used Ken O’Connor’s book as a starting point for book studies and common language about standards based grading. • Please refer to your packet for an overview of the 15 fixes – our presentation is based on these ideas. • Suggestion: Do a book study with your colleagues.

6. 1. Which of the following are reflected in grades in most classrooms in the U.S.? • how well students behave in class • how well students can take tests • if students are responsible and do their homework • if students participate in class • what students know and are able to do • group work and projects that students do • student attitudes towards the class • all of the above

7. 2. What do you think grades should reflect? • how well students behave in class? • how well students can take tests? • if students are responsible and do their homework? • if students participate in class? • what students know and are able to do? • group work and projects that students do? • student attitudes towards the class? • all of the above?

8. 3. What do we think grades should reflect? We believe grades should reflect what students know and are able to do.

9. What should count in a grade? What shouldn’t count in a grade? Vocabulary Assessments Grammar Assessments Speaking Assessments Listening Assessments Reading Assessments Writing Assessments Work that is graded Work that shows what a student knows and is able to do Participation Behavior Homework completion If you brought your book to class Extra credit for extra work Extra credit for bringing in a box of Kleenex, etc. Attendance Group work grades

10. Ehsspanishgradebookcategories and weights

11. What do we do about Non-academic behavior issues? • Failure to complete assignments • Turning work in late • Coming to class unprepared • Attitude problems • Not working up to potential • Falling asleep in class

12. What do we do about Non-academic behavior issues? We deal with them as BEHAVIOR issues with behavioral consequences. • Talk to the student • Behavior modification tools (getting planner signed, reward system, physical proximity, seating chart adjustment, etc.) • Phone call or e-mail home • Mandatory academic tutoring • Detention

13. How is it fair to make the entire grade based on assessments only? • We believe that ALL students can learn, just not always at the same rate. • Students need to be held accountable for learning the material. • Students who do not demonstrate proficiency are given opportunities to learn the material and re-assess. • See “Contract for Reassessment, Delayed or Make-up Assessment”

14. Opportunities for re-assessment • Designed for students who do not demonstrate proficiency (not prepared to move forward in their learning) • Same format with different prompts or words. • Must be done outside class time – generally before or after school • Students must complete additional practice prior to reassessment. • 2nd grade counts – most recent evidence of what students know and are able to do

15. How do you decide what to assess? • Unit Plan (backward design) • Based on district curriculum / national standards • Unpack the standards for each unit • For each assessment…. • Reflect on which specific skills should be tested • Create assessments on which students demonstrate those skills • Create a rubric that communicates the differences between performance levels • Gradebook categories are not the same as the national standards.

16. Taking the mystery out of assessment • Share unit goals with students at the beginning of the unit. • Share rubrics with students before assessments.

17. Taking the mystery out of assessment • Share unit goals with students at the beginning of the unit. • Share rubrics with students before assessments. • Provide practice and feedback before the assessment (practice quiz, skills practice, etc.) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-cReXuRm8

18. What should be assessed in a World Language classroom?

19. Use quality assessments • What should be assessed in a World Language classroom? • What are some of the problems with using assessments produced by textbook companies? • What do quality assessments look like? • Are the purposes for your assessments clear? Are they clear to the students? • Do your assessments match the goals you have for your students?

20. small changes • Start thinking in terms of Performance Standards and not just letter grades (and get your students to start thinking that way too)! • Integrate some ideas from Standards Based Grading and Reporting into the constraints of your district’s grading system (must give letter grades, percentage cut offs for letter grades, quarter grades, grading policies, etc.)

21. Possible Titles for Performance Standard Levels How to Grade for Learning, Ken O’Connor, 2002, page 72

22. EHS WL Department Titles for Performance Standard Levels • Same as MAP test • Used by some Language Arts teachers in our school  common language for students • Each gives a description of the student’s performance / ability related to the standard

23. Link to Percentages

24. Set the bar high, but help them reach it • Use clear standards/goals/performance expectations • when creating, • explaining, • giving, • grading assessments • Practice assessments, modeling, talking about the scoring guide – these are all key steps to encouraging student success.

25. Intro to scoring guides (see GOLD packet) • PALs rubrics from Fairfax County • This was our starting point for using descriptive standards-based rubrics department-wide • http://www.fcps.edu/DIS/OHSICS/forlang/PALS/rubrics/ • Various levels, Speaking, Writing, Interactive Tasks • Note: The lowest grade is a 50% (not a zero)

26. Why use 50% as the lowest grade? • A grade below 50% for work that was completed involves inappropriate mathematics. With the common grading scale where 59 and below is an F, there are • A=11 points (90-100) • B=10 points (80-89) • C=10 points (70-79) • D=10 points (60-69) • F=60 points (0-59) • The range for an F is six times greater than the other grades. • Using 50% as the lowest grade “evens things out.” • A=11 points (90-100) • B=10 points (80-89) • C=10 points (70-79) • D=10 points (60-69) • F=10 points (50-59)

27. Do I have to do math?

28. writing rubric

29. speaking rubric

30. reading rubric

31. Reading text

32. Listening rubric

33. Grammar rubric

34. Vocabulary comprehension quiz rubric

35. Vocabulary production quiz rubric

36. Vocabulary production quiz – full rubric

37. Comments from our students… What do students think of Standard-Based Grading and Reporting?

38. Do you think it’s easier to get an “A” using the standard-based scoring guide? Why? Why not? • Yes, I know exactly what must be done in order to be successful. • I don’t know if it’s easier to get an “A”, but it is definitely easier to understand your mistakes. Instead of just having a problem marked wrong, you understand what you did wrong and are able to learn from your mistakes and understand what you need to work on instead of making the same mistakes over and over.

39. Do you think it’s easier to get an A using the standard-based scoring guide? Why? Why not? • Yes, because you are given more points for doing things right. There is more focus on what we do well rather than what we do wrong. • Yes, it’s tests more what you’ve learned instead of the little things you haven’t.

40. What effect do the standard-based scoring guides have on your motivation to succeed? • I’d rather be advanced than just have an “A”. • I like it a lot more because it says exactly what is expected, and is not so mysterious about what you have to do. I like getting advanced.

41. What do you think your grade reflects in Spanish class? • That you are getting better at Spanish when you get “Proficient” or “Advanced”. • How well you understand the material you learn for the language and then how well you are able to apply what you’ve learned to put it all together.

42. What do you think your grade reflects in Spanish class? • With the delayed assessment or re-take option, I don’t have to worry about a bad day ruining my grade. Some days you just can’t perform as well on a test for some reason, like if you aren’t feeling good, but with these options, you don’t have to worry about one of those days ruining your grade. This results in my grade accurately depicting what I really know.

43. What is your take-away?With Whom can you discuss these ideas?

44. Jenni Highfill highfilljenni@rockwood.k12.mo.us Denise Pahl pahldenise@rockwood.k12.mo.us Kim Lackey lackeykimberly@rockwood.k12.mo.us Eureka High School, Rockwood School District Making Standards Based Grading Work in Your World Language Classroom