TRANSFORMING CLASSROOM GRADING

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Van Buren County, Michigan Van Buren Intermediate School District Lawrence, Michigan

VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN Van Buren County is a rural, agricultural area Population = 79,000 Square Miles = 725 11 School Districts throughout the county Schools Range in size from 50 to 300 students per grade level Average distance from each school to the Van Buren Intermediate School District = 17 miles

VAN BUREN TECH 900-1000 Students 25 State-Approved CTE Programs Middle College Program 27 Program Instructors 8 Program Assistants 4 Production Managers 6 Highly Qualified Math, English, Science Teachers 3 Career Guidance Coordinators 3 Job Placement Coordinators 1 Specialized Instruction Coordinator 3 Specialized Instruction Assistants 1 School Social Worker 1 Middle College Coordinator 2 Early College Mentors 3 Administrators 6 Administrative Assistants VAN BUREN TECH

WHAT SHOULD THIS GRADE BE? Here’s the situation A student received the following marks on ten assignments over the course of a semester. C, C, missed, D, C, B, missed, missed, B, and A As an individual, decide on the final grade you would give this student. Then converse at your table

“Imagine a high school football game in which a pass is thrown and the receiver lunges for the ball and tumbles into the end zone. One official signals touchdown, another signals incomplete pass, and yet another scratches his head in bewilderment. The fans would be enraged at the unfairness and lack of consistency among the referees viewing the same performance.” So why don’t we have consistent policies for grading classroom work? - Doug Reeves SPORTS ANALOGY

To illustrate the inaccuracy of using zeros, Gruss (2005) suggests that we try to calculate the average temperature over five days, with temperatures of 85, 82, 83, and 86 degrees the first four days of the week. However, because the temperature on the fifth day was either not reported, or was turned in too late, a zero was recorded. As a result, the average temperature for the week is equal to 67 degrees, a figure that does not accurately reflect the weather for that week. If those temperatures were grades, a student would have failed after consistently earning B’s and C’s. WEATHER EXAMPLE

“Because of these inconsistencies, students can get honor grades or fail not because of work ethic, organization, class attendance, and the quality of teaching, but because of differences in teachers’ grading policies.” Robert Marzano

GRADING GOALS Eliminate the Power of the Zero on a 100 point scale Accurately & Consistently Provide Performance Feedback Differentiate Between Content Knowledge & Other Factors Use Grading Systems that are Fair & Supported by Research Eliminate Factors Erroneously Influencing Grades

VB TECH GRADING TIMELINE 2009-2010 Grading Concerns Identified 2009-2010 Grading Committee Established 2009-2010 Grading Professional Development/Research 2009-Present Grading Committee Researching Best Practices 2010-2011 12 Point Scale Pilot 2011-2012 Move to 12 Point/50% Scale 2016-2017 4 Point Scale Pilot Grading Pilot 2017-2018 Rubric Writing Professional Development 2018-2019 Move to Rubric-Based Grading System 2018-2019 Move to Employability Skills Rubric 2018-2019 Move to Reporting 3 Grades 2019 - Future to be continued...

GRADING WITH RUBRICS “Because the emotional attachment to the zero is so strong, I have given up advocating that 50 points should represent the lowest grade. What I do think we can do to preserve some level of sanity in our grading system is to return to a 4-point system. A’s no longer equal 100 points, but 4 points. If there is a need for greater specificity, then we can choose an infinite number of digits to the right of the decimal point and thus differentiate between the 3.449 and 3.448 to our heart’s content. But at the end of the day, in such a system, the F is a zero – one point below the D. It is fair, accurate, and some people believe, motivational. But at least the zero on a four-point scale is not the mathematical travesty that it is when applied to a 100-point system.” - Marzano

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GRADING WITH RUBRICS Rubrics promote learning - Identify desired levels of performance Rubrics help teachers - focus on learning, not teaching Provide consistency in grading practices Coordinate instruction & assessment Promotes higher order thinking skills Provides transparency to grading process

RUBRIC SCALE/WORD BANK 4 - Advanced 3 - Proficient 2 - Progressing 1 - Beginning 0 - No Evidence *Click here to download a copy of the word bank.

EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS *Click here to download a copy of the rubric. Every 2 weeks. *Click here to download a copy of the rubric.

REPORT CARDS *Click here to download the report card key.

VISION/FUTURE GOALS? Standards-Based Grading Recency of Evidence Remediation Practices

Profiles of Two Students’ Scores on Four Topics

Parachute Packing Example Which student would you want packing your parachute? Parachute Packing Example *Adapted from How to Grade to Learning (O’Connor, 2002)

QUESTIONS?

Robert Smith Director/Principal Van Buren Tech rsmith@vbisd.org (269) 539-5325 Cindy Philip Administrator Van Buren Tech cphilip@vbisd.org (269) 539-5345 CONTACT INFORMATION