NHS Biology

1. NHS Biology Our Experiment with Standards Based Grading 2010-2011

2. How did it begin? Where I was at end of last year: • Most of my time spent grading work that was very late, poorly done, irrelevant to students • Only 15 to 20% of students turning work in on time • Many disappointing final grades • Grades did not reflect student knowledge • Felt out of touch with students and their understanding

3. Then along came…. Think Thank Thunk Dealing with the fear of being a boring teacher. Standards-Based Grading is a technique devoted to giving students formative control over their own progress (and grade). It requires, at least, a fundamental change in the behavior of your grade book, …….

4. Manifesto: • Grades are the reporting tool we use to communicate with students, parents, and other academic institutions about the quality of our products. So what would it mean if these were meaningless, inflated, or otherwise uncommunicative? Disaster, that’s what. Short of being alarmist, I would argue that this is what we have going today. Our grades are polluted; an “A” will be given out just to say, “Aw, you showed up today.” I’ve done it. (An F may simply mean you did not jump through the hoops correctly)

5. Manifesto blog clip…. • M: “What do the grades in your gradebook mean to students and parents?”S: “Not much I suppose, I mean the kids took the test, shouldn’t they remember what was on it?”M: “Maybe. But do they?”S: “No.”M: “What if you put your content standards in the gradebook and graded proficiency with specific ideas, rather than indexing by assessment tool?”S: “Well, that would mean that students and parents would have a running record of their student’s understandings of the major topics in the course. They would know where they were proficient and lacking. I could use that information to edit my teaching, and they could use it to edit their studying.”M: “Yup, ‘Quiz 3′ doesn’t mean much, but ‘Can formulate a testable hypothesis.” sure does.S: “OMG. I think I need to go to the bathroom.”

6. The Grade BookDoes my grade book mean anything to anyone other than myself? • Homework is practice. • Grades should be dynamic reflecting student’s current abilities. • Student should be able to self-assess • Larger summative assessments and final become much more meaningful • Entries in your grade book should reflect content standards not assessment titles

7. Thank You, Shawn Cornelly! • I began to read, search, think • Blogged with him and others • Developed some foundational ideas • Began to talk with administrators • Prepared to do my own experiment in secret • And then…

8. What we did: • Grading groups changed from daily work and assignments, quizzes, tests and a final • To: • Summative Formative Assessments 80% • Summative Final Exam 20% • Learning Activities 0% • Formative Assessments 0%

9. What we did: • Began to look at our assignments and activities differently • Not as a topic or unit but rather as an objective • Necessary? Not? • What is this task truly about? • How will it benefit the student’s learning? • What am I truly evaluating?

10. What we do: Formative Assessments-- • Still do most of the same activities • These are seen as “learning activities” to develop the skills and knowledge • May choose only a segment to measure a single objective as formative • Other more specific tasks ( PASS objectives) • Use a 1-4 scale

11. What we do: Summative Assessments--- • Quizzes, Tests • Any assignment that we feel students should be prepared to do successfully – lab reports, free writes, CPS tasks

12. What we do: • Assess progress by objective • Benchmark • Targeted objective(s) assessment • Specific task items on learning activities

13. What we do: • Students may REDO - not just correct work- thereby REMEDIATING THEIR LEARNING.   • Students come in to discuss what they may not have understood previously and then are given the opportunity to demonstrate new understanding and learning.   • The new grade is not merely averaged in but REPLACES previous grade showing new understanding

14. What we think: Grade reflects the knowledge of the student not their effort. • Student’s grades are a more realistic reflection of their learning.   • There are no penalties for being late, messy, etc. • There are no bonuses or rewards.   • Summative assessments are culminating events that measure the skills and objectives being presented in the classroom each day. • It gives the students a more true reflection of what they know. And it provides re-learning opportunities.

15. The Giant Gradebook!! • 25 process skills objectives • 13 content objectives • 30 learning activities • 13 summative assessments • 81 entries!

16. The Giant Gradebook!!

17. The Giant Gradebook!!

18. The Giant Gradebook!!

19. The Giant Gradebook!!

20. What we think: • I feel free!!! • I no longer feel punitive or partial • I feel impartial and objective about student grades.   • I now feel I know much better who actually knows and who doesn’t • It makes instruction more individualized in that there is no test and then everyone moves on. • It let's me accept the fact that we don't all master the content at the same time so I should not take points off for students who take longer. • It gives students opportunities to continue towards mastery with reteaching and support.

21. Does this drive my instruction?

22. Anecdotes: • Upfront, it was an overwhelming endeavor to allow myself mentally to entertain the idea of relaxing my teaching practices & philosophies temporarily to try this thing out. But I am a team player, and I love to learn new things, and I could see the potential, even if I did have some initial concerns...It was hard in the beginning, but I tried it, and ultimately I found that my initial concerns were selfish and had nothing to do with student learning.

23. Anecdotes: • An ESL student, but not part of the program, had an F and had been performing very poorly ( far below 50%) on assessments all semester.  In the final weeks of the semester fearing the very real possibility of failing biology a second time, she began to come in and work with the teacher to review many of the concepts and especially work on assessment skills.  She came in before school, lunch and for an hour or more almost everyday.  She retook assessments and was doing very well.  The more success she saw the more she was there and the more she worked - with the teacher and independently at home as well.  She converted her very low F to a B going into the final!  She had learned enough to do so much better on the final exam that she was able to maintain a C on her final semester grade. She was thrilled as was I.  She was very proud when I introduced her to Dr. Chesley and shared her/our success!

24. Anecdotes: • here is nothing better than having a kid who has been making D’s and F’s make a C and think they have won the lottery! I have about 5 girls I have been working with...I have told them that I know they struggle with self-confidence, with study skills, and with test-taking anxiety. 4 of the 5 have been consistently been making higher scores since I have spent time studying with them, and showing them that with a little time on the front end, their grades are much better. I have also told them that it is OK to re-do....They have also been coming in to Re-Study and Re-take. Iit about makes me cry when I give them their grade and a huge smile breaks out on their face. They did it. They earned it. They know it.

25. Anecdotes: • Students balk a little in the first few weeks, but I can honestly say that now that they are used to it, and I see the “wheels turning” in their heads when they receive a grade....they understand that they got a grade because they knew the material or they didn’t. There is no longer any argument from them. They accept that they are responsible for their learning and for ultimately illustrating this “learning” on their summative assessments. Sadly, some of them still just “accept” the grade with no further action. It takes some of them longer than others to DECIDE to do something about it. But - they ARE slowly one-by -one coming around, in that I mean more of them are coming in for remediation. Another awesome thing I would like to share!! I created a project in which they had to practice study techniques while reviewing certain material previously covered, and expanding on that same topic. At the end of the project, they then had to REFLECT on which study technique they felt was most useful to them. I now see many of them using their DEFAULT study technique to prepare, not only for remediation purposes, but even better, for the inital summative assessment!!! YAY!

26. 7 Reasons for SBG(Educational Leadership Oct 2008/vol 66/#2) • Grades should have meaning • We need to challenge the status quo • We can control grading practices • Reduces meaningless paperwork • Helps teachers adjust instruction • Teaches what quality looks like • Launch pad to other reforms http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct08/vol66/num02/Seven_Reasons_for_Standards-Based_Grading.aspx

27. Formative Assessment • a process that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of core content. • provide students with clear learning targets, examples and models of strong and weak work, regular descriptive feedback, and the ability to self-assess, track learning, and set goals. (Adapted from Council of Chief State School Officers, FAST SCASS)

28. Tools for formative assessment • Non-graded quizzes • pretests • minute papers • exit tickets • written assignments • concept maps • interviews • progress monitoring • performance assessment scoring guides • weekly reports • focused questions • journals • learning logs • learning probes • checklists • surveys • item analyses of summative assessments

29. What now: • Refocus, Rethink, Renew • Simplify the set up of the gradebook • Build targeted formative assessments • How to get more student buy in • Define objectives to students more clearly • Build in feedback system to students • Define limits to remediation • Revise and refine summative assessments • How will this integrate with Common Core • Very much a work in progress

30. The Student Report • 24 of 36 retested an average of 2.75 • 89% said they improved • 83% restudied before retaking • 96% said this process gave them a better understanding of the material • 26% liked activities not counting toward grade • Felt lack of pressure, stress and helplessness • 17% indifferent • 57% were unaware of this policy • 41% said this discouraged them from doing work • Lacked motivation • 88% of the Formative grades aligned well with Summative grades

31. Resources • Classroom Assessment &Grading that Work • R. Marzano • Formative Assessment & Standards Based Grading (Classroom Strategies)– R. Marzano • How to Grade for Learning – K. O’Connor • Fair Isn’t Always Equal – R. Wormeli • Differentiation - Differentiation • Developing Standards-Based Report Cards • T. Guskey, J. Bailey • Science Formative Assessment – P. Keeley