Improving Instruction and Student Scores Through Standards-Based Grading Presented by Sarah McPartland, President, Benchmark Grading

1. Improving Instruction and Student Scores Through Standards-Based Grading Sarah McPartland President and Co-Founder, Benchmark Grading Former Educator, Vancouver Public Schools

2. Are your teachers’ grading practices moving students towards success ?

3. “ If our grading systems don’t guide students towards excellence, it's time for something completely different .” -Patricia L. Scriffiny

5. Purpose of Grading To assign grades that fairly and accurately reflect students’ achievements and level of performance on specific standards/skills.

7. All units are of equal weight . Guskey, R. Thomas & Jane M. Bailey: Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. California: Corwin Press, 2001 Student Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Average Score Grade Deleting Lowest Score Grade 1 59 69 79 89 99 79% C 84% B 2 99 89 79 69 59 79% C 84% B 3 77 80 80 78 80 79% C 79.5% C 4 49 49 98 99 100 79% C 86.5% B 5 100 99 98 49 49 79% C 86.5% B 6 0 98 98 99 100 79% C 98.8% A 7 100 99 98 98 0 79% C 98.8% A

8. Which method provides the most accurate summary of each student’s achievement and level of performance? Do all seven students deserve the same grade ? Would it make a difference if we knew the content of each unit assessment was cumulative ? (Unit 5 includes material from all five previous units.) Would that make grading easier? » » »

9. 1. Alex 5 F 5 F 14 C 14 C 12 D+ 16 B 80 B 146/200 73% C 2. Anna 4 F 4 F 15 C+ 13 D+ 13 D+ 18 A 100 A+ 167/200 83% B 3. Fred 5 F 5 F 13 D 15 C+ 14 C 16 B+ 88 B+ 156/200 78% C+ 4. Mya 5 F 1 F 16 C+ 16 C+ 13 D 19 A 95 A 170/200 85% B 5. Zeek 8 B+ 7 C+ 17 B+ 18 A 16 B+ 20 A+ 100 A+ 186/200 93% A

12. Standards-Based Grading

13. Standards-Based Grades are: Grades or marks that are directly connected to a set of identified standards .

14. Screen Shot from Benchmark Grading Grade Book

15. Screen Shot from Benchmark Grading Grade Book

16. Grades are connected to a specific standard, allowing the teacher to view student progress over time . The teacher now has the benefit of identifying learning trends on specific skills within their student population and adjust their instruction based on the results they see from their grades . » Standards-Based Grading »

17. The four step process of Standards-Based Grading according to Guskey & Bailey.

18. Step One Team of educators identify the major learning goals or standards* students are expected to achieve at each grade level or in each course of study. * The state has done this for us, and districts that are forming PLCs are continuing this process. Guskey, R. Thomas & Jane M. Bailey: Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. California: Corwin Press, 2001

19. Step Two Performance indicators* of those standards or learning goals are established. * Teachers decide what evidence best illustrates students’ attainment of each goal or standard. Guskey, R. Thomas & Jane M. Bailey: Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. California: Corwin Press, 2001

21. 1.3.2 Understand and apply content/academic vocabulary critical to the meaning of the text. 2.1.5 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies before, during, and after reading: predict and infer from grade-level informational/expository text and/or literary/narrative text.

22. 2.1.7 Apply comprehension strategies during and after reading: summarize grade-level informational/expository text and literary/narrative text.

26. Educators develop reporting tools* to communicate teachers’ judgment of students’ learning progress and culminating achievement in relation to the learning goal or standard. * e.g., report cards, progress reports, teacher-created documents Step Four Guskey, R. Thomas & Jane M. Bailey: Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. California: Corwin Press, 2001

27. Screen Shot from Benchmark Grading Grade Book

28. Graph shows progress on standards Benchmark Status Graph from Benchmark Grading Grade Book

30. What we can do to support teachers who are interested in standards-based grading ?

32. Start discussions with your teachers about the purpose of their grades . Talk with your teachers about a student’s first attempts at a skill. Should the first attempts be calculated in the final grade? Create definitions for each grade that is given in a class so the teacher, student, and parent have an understanding of what the earned marks mean. What you can do: » » »

33. 4 –Advanced (Consistently Meets or Exceeds Standard) Student demonstrates superior performance. Student shows in-depth understanding of complex concepts and skills and is able to apply their knowledge and skills to develop new understanding and solutions. 3-Proficient (Meets Standard) Student shows consistent understanding of the subject matter and is able to apply this knowledge to real world situations. Student can extend their understanding by making meaningful connections among important ideas or concepts and is able to provide evidence to support inferences and justifications of solutions. 2-Basic (Making Progress but Not Meeting Standard) Student shows partial mastery of essential knowledge and skills and partial success in tasks using this knowledge. Student is approaching acceptable performance, but has not yet achieved it. This student makes simple connections among ideas and provides limited support for their solutions and inferences. 1-Developing(No Progress or Very Little Progress) Student shows limited mastery of essential knowledge and skills. This student may require assistance in applying the knowledge and skills. This level indicates unacceptable academic performance. Sample Grade Definitions

34. Advanced : The student can perform the skill/standard with no significant errors on a continual basis and can apply the skill/standard to above grade level work. Proficient : The student can perform the skill/standard with no significant errors on grade level work and on a continual basis. Basic : The student makes some significant errors when performing the skill/standard but shows some evidence of understanding of the standard/skill. Developing : The student makes significant errors when applying the skill/standard that they can not complete the work. Sample Grade Definitions

35. A : Showed consistent evidence of understanding the grade level standard. B : Showed evidence of understanding the standard on an almost consistent basis. C : Showed some evidence of understanding the standard but not on a consistent basis. D : Showed little evidence of understanding the grade level standard. F : Showed no evidence of understanding the grade level standard. Sample Grade Definitions

36. An A means the student has completed proficient work on all course objectives and advanced work on some objectives. A B means the student has completed proficient work on all course objectives. A C means the student has completed proficient work on the most important objectives, although not on all objectives. The student can continue to the next course. A D means the student has completed proficient work on at least one-half of the course objectives but is missing some important objectives and is at significant risk of failing the next course in the sequence. The student should repeat the course if it is a prerequisite for another course. An F means the student has completed proficient work on fewer than one-half of the course objectives and cannot successfully complete the next course in sequence. www.ascd.org, Seven Reasons for Standards Based Grading,Patricia Scriffiny, October 2008, Volume 66 #2 Pgs:70-74,www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership?=/Oct08/Vol66/num2/Seven_Reasons_For_Standards-Based_Grading.aspx Sample Grade Definitions

38. Guskey, R. Thomas & Jane M. Bailey: Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. California: Corwin Press, 2001 O’Connor, Ken: How to grade for learning: Linking Grades to Standards 2nd Edition. Illinois: Skylight Press, 2002 Remember, a teacher ’ s professional judgment will always play a role in grading.

39. Resources Free online Standards-Based grade book: http://www.benchmarkgrading.com Books: How to Grade for Learning: Linking Grades to Standards by Ken O’Connor Developing Grading and Reporting Systems For Student Learning by Thomas R. Guskey and Jane M. Bailey This presentation will be available online and linked from the BenchmarkGrading Facebook page. Sarah McPartland: [email_address]