HSTW Presentation

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 15 Fixes for Broken Grades
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.

7. 15 Fixes for Broken Grades
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.

8. 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.)

9. 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)

10. Formative Instructional Practices
to the Rescue!
•We became a Race to the Top school.

11. How Some Feel About
RttT!

13. RttT Brought Battelle for Kids &
Formative Instructional Practices
to Us: Yeah!

14. 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)

15. • Clear Learning Targets
• Learning ProgressionsCurriculum
• Designing for Accuracy
• Assessing with PurposeAssessment
• Making the Learning Clear
• Feedback & Responsive TeachingInstruction
15
Focused Learning: Planning for Instruction

16. Focused
Learning
Focused
Assessments
Focused
Feedback
16
Formative Instruction
Components

17. Focused
Learning
Focused
Assessments
Focused
Feedback
17
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.

18. 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 informal
2. Formative
3. Summative

19. 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

20. 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/ QuizStar

21. 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).

22. 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

23. Focused Learning Focused Assessments Focused
Feedback
23
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?

24. What Message Does your
Feedback Send?
What message does your
feedback send?

26. 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.
26
Formative Instruction Practices
Teachers Students Leaders

27.  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

28. Putting It All Together

29. What We’ve Learned from FIP: Data
Chemistry
Chapters 2 & 11
Comparison of Test Scores Before FIP and After FIP
Chapter 2 A B C D F
2008/2009
Before FIP 13% 10% 10% 8% 60%
2012/2013
After FIP 39% 19% 12% 7% 23%
Chapter 11 A B C D F
2008/2009
Before FIP 26% 16% 7% 7% 43%
2012/2013
After FIP 35% 24% 13% 6% 24%

30. What We’ve Learned from
FIP: Classroom
Management
•Reassessment
•Managing Data
•Classroom Organization

31. A Final Thought: FIP
Me, Baby!