GRADING PLANS

SO WHAT? What do grades mean Who uses them Different perspectives on grading *from text if not in class*

Approaches to Grading Criterion-referenced (percentage or contract) Norm-referenced (ranked)

Things to Consider School policies and practices Effort Attitude Participation Illness Late work What counts

Good Grading Plans Start at beginning of year/semester Students know criteria Valid and Reliable data/assessments Summative vs Formative Achievement focus Meaningful Inputs

TWO BASIC METHODS PERCENTAGE SYSTEM –Identify categories –Find Means per category –Weight categories –VERY FLEXIBLE –Math “intensive”

TWO BASIC METHODS POINT METHOD – identify what is included –assign points for all assignments –add points at end –NOT FLEXIBLE –Math “easy”

PERCENTAGE SYSTEM Identify what categories will be included Determine weight for each category Summative > Formative Turn grades into % Find mean for each category Multiply weight by mean % Add categories

EXAMPLE – 4 th Grade Math Learning logs/journals (daily) (F) Independent practice (daily) (F) Paper Unit tests 3) (S) Performance tests (weekly) (S) Unit project 3) (S) Cooperative Group Work (F)

Example cont’d (9) Performance Tests - 30% Direct, authentic, most often of S (3) Unit projects – 25% Direct, authentic, less isolated skills than test (3) Unit Tests – 20% Overall unit test, connects to benchmakrs

Example Cont’d Cooperative Group Work – 10% Have to convince peers you can do it Learning logs/journals (daily) (F) – 10% Reflective component to learning Independent practice (daily) (F) – 5 % Primarily isolated skills – check that it gets done but not relevant toward grade

YOUR FINAL Given assessments, create a % method grading plan Given a grading plan and grades, calculate grades From text & class – you will have to make a recommendation about what type of grading (standard of comparison) AND what should be included as part of a grade