The document discusses moving middle school grading practices towards standards-based grading. It outlines concerns with the current grading system and key principles of standards-based grading including separating academic and non-academic factors, focusing on individual learning goals, and increasing formative assessment and student involvement. The goals for the upcoming year are to implement these practices and have grades better reflect student learning and mastery of standards.
2. How did we get here? And were is this going to take us? Image used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com
3. Principles of Learning All students can learn, and they learn at different rates and in different ways; they can learn from making errors and takings risks; students can create and understand goals. General Belief Statements About Learning
4. Late Assignment? Automatic 50% reduction in points. Don’t get it the first time? Maybe someone can work with you at home. You don’t quiz/test well? You must not know the material. Feedback on assignments? I will get it to you when I have time. What was happening was not reflecting our beliefs… Image used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com
5. 2008-2011 District teachers attended Marzano grading consortiums Discussions at the Leadership Team level Elementary and Middle School scoring guide development and implementation after Park Hill Standards were “unpacked” Standards-based Elementary report cards issued 2012-2013 Middle school standards-based report cards will be issued Timeline/History
6. Grades mean different things Grades are aggregated – feedback is not specific or standards-based Assessments/Assignments may not have reflected learning goals Grades do not motivate learning, but grades may motivate work completion Variability in and between Middle Schools Additional Concerns
7. Building Involvement in creation of Middle Level Plan Image used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com So that our students have college and career readiness, it is our belief that our teaching and assessment practices should reflect the time in which we live.
8. What do we want grades to be? Image used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com
9. Consortium Other Current Research (O’Connor, Marzano, Popham, Stiggins, Guskey, Black & Wiliam, etc.) Key resources consulted Book Studies
10. As it relates to accuracy and grades meaning different things: “A grade should give as clear a measure as possible of the best a student can do. Too often, grades reflect an unknown mixture of multiple factors.” Tomlinson & McTighe What some of the research says…
11. As grading relates to motivation and using of grades as punishment: “No studies support the use of low grades or marks as punishments. Instead of prompting greater effort, low grades more often cause students to withdraw from learning.” - Guskey & Bailey Further research
12. As to grading by specific learning goal: “…reported that providing students with specific information about their standing in terms of particular objectives increased their achievement by 37 percentile points.” John Hattie Other academic research
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14. “The re-testing stuff actually makes you study if you don’t understand it the first time. I really don’t like that my teachers make me re-test after school, but I guess I like having more chances to learn something.” –7th grade Congress student “When Mrs. Lee makes me track my assessment results, I can see what I am good at and what I don’t get at all.”-8th grade Lakeview student “I like that some of my teachers let me re-take in different ways. I have taken some quizzes using the clicker and that is easy.” -7th grade Lakeview student What some students say…
15. Key Strategies of Standards-Based Grading Image used under a Creative Commons license from Madison Area Technical College.
21. Increasing student involvement and ownership through Web 2.0 Tracking sheets available through Googledocs so students can create virtual folders.
22. Increasing student involvement and ownership through Web 2.0 Increase differentiated instruction through Class Wikis and Blogs—completing assignments sitting in desks with pencil and paper doesn’t have to be the only way to show master of an objective.
23. What is the role of the librarian in standards-based grading?
24. The librarian as a grader? Not all assessments have to be completed with pen/pencil and paper! Image used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com
25. The librarian as a motivator? Gaming…it’s not just for playing anymore. Images used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com
26. What about books? Images used under a Creative Commons license from http://wylio.com
27. Middle Level Grading Goals for the upcoming year: Image used under a Creative Commons license from Madison Area Technical College.
28. "Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in a different time. " Rabindranath Tagore
29. Black, Paul and Dylan Wiliam. “Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment.” Phi Delta Kappan80.2 (1998): 139-148. Print. Guskey, Thomas and Jane Bailey. Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Students Learning. Thousand Oaks: Corwin. (2000). Print. Hattie, John. Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Related to Achievement. New York: Routledge. (2009). Print. Marzano, Robert. Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006. Print. Marzano, Robert. Formative Assessment & Standards Based Grading. Bloomington: Marzano Research Laboratory, 2010. Print. O’Connor, Ken. A Repair Kit for Broken Grades: Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades, 2nd Ed. New York: Pearson, 2010. Print. Tomlinson, Carol and Jim McTighe. Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Learning By Design. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006. Print. Works Cited
Notes de l'éditeur
Belief and Principle statements, initiated by teacher input, timeline and history of consortiums, book studies in buildings and at district levels, leadership team and ad hoc group input, 2-year plan to have standards-based report cards at the middle school level (already completed at the elementary level)
This is a harsh picture, but many of us educators felt trapped by the rigid assessment parameters. With a changing world and changing economy, we cannot (literally) afford to let our students fail.
Elementary and middle level educators, as well as principals and asst superintendents, took part in the consortium
Sixty-five teachers from Plaza, Lakeview, and Congress Middle Schools have been or are currently members of the grading, standards-based consortiums; these teachers serve on building leadership teams and as Cadre Coaches and expressed the initial desire in implementing a new, student-friendly grading system that supports the BSIP and CSIP plans. These teacher leaders understood the times of education are changing, and so should the system that assesses our students.
Accurate, meaningful, consistent, and support learning
Separate academic vs non-academic grades;focus on learning goals with students tracking their own progress; homework/classwork is still assigned and students are still expected to complete it, however, homework and classroom participation play 20%; late work is accepted within a reasonable time; students are allowed to reassess—with teacher disretion. This is a tool in your teacher toolbox that we can use to truly help students learn and succeed.
This is an example of the non-academic portion of the 6th grade center grade card which was first implemented in 2010-2011. The elementary grade card first seperated academic and non-academic in 2009-2010. Middle schools would like to implement this grade card in 2012-2013.
Byseperating out learning goals, it is our hope that students (and parents) have more feedback as to what skills are mastered and what skills need more focus.
Students have been expected to track their progress after homework assignments and quizzes and tests. The progress is tangible and students can see where they are strong and where they need help.
Ad additional goal of this new grading system is increased communication between teacher and student in the form of increased feedback.
Web 2.0 has given teachers and students an incredible opportunity—learning does not have to stop when the afternoon bell rings. With Googledocs teachers can upload tracking sheets so students can create an “online” notebook and to keep track of their progress.
Web 2.0 has given teachers and students an incredible opportunity—learning does not have to stop when the afternoon bell rings. With Googledocs teachers can upload tracking sheets so students can create an “online” notebook and to keep track of their progress.
The first step in ensuring that students have access to information to continually research, work, and learn is through 24/7 access of resources, such as databases and online encyclopedias. Continual access to this information allows students to master learning goals in all subjects.
Because the librarian is often expected to be a “media specialist,” she can encourage teachers to implement new strategies to help with student assessment, such as “clickers.” These clickers provide immediate student feedback, keep students engaged, and are a great way to collect feedback or conduct formative assessments.
Gaming has evolved from Pong to multi-level, multi-dimensional, interactive games. In today’s schools gaming can be used as an enhancement to the curriculum, a small group collaborative project, or even a student motivator.
The librarian has immediate access to more books than any other person in the school; the librarian is also the person that probably knows the most about these books (reading levels, ease of information, author purpose, etc.). In a school where Standards Based grading is in full force, it is expected that students are learning and excelling at different levels. The librarian will be a key resource in helping students locate books that can help them achieve their learning goals. The librarian can also serve as a liaison between the student and teacher when discussing reading levels and personal reading interests. Finally, in a standards based grading system, the librarian can help teachers work through grading problems by researching standards based successes in other districts, as well as recommending new professional literature.
We have to be prepared for the Common Core Standards that the state has adopted—students are expected to be College and Career ready. One way to do this is to implement Standards-based grading so that students have more than one opportunity to master an objective. With standards-based grading we hope to report achievement to communicate more clearly about learning, focus on instruction of learning goals, provide feedback to students based on learning goals, build assessments based on standards, make assessments for formative, and support differentiated timelines for learning. In other words, it is time we change the way we teach our students—that change may prove difficult, challenging, or even confusing, and we may encounter roadblocks, but it needs to be done for the sake of our children.
