Grading Practices EDU 300 | Newberry College | Jennifer Morrison
Dec 23, 2015
Grading PracticesEDU 300 | Newberry College | Jennifer Morrison
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?
What does this grade mean?
595C
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)
Grades only makes sense…• when you know the scale. • in comparison to others.
Traditionally, grades…• are about control. • are about comparisons. • create competition.
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
• 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
What do we want grades to do?
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
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)
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
What does standards-based grading look like?
“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.
Median Grading
0 75 90 85 70
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
No Grades
• Alfie Kohn, “From Degrading to De-Grading” High School Magazine, March 1999
What’s Due?