By: Amy Bland, Misti Holloway, and Katherine Jones

 Ineffective Grading Practices ◦ Zeros  Effective Grading Practices ◦ Tutoring ◦ Dropping the lowest grade ◦ Opportunities to correct assignments/tests  Assessment for Learning (AfL)

 Zeros—What effect do these grades have on student worth and achievement?  Students are worth more than a zero and we as educators should value their efforts even if a day late.  “The difference between failure and the honor roll often depends on grading policies of the teacher” (Reeves, D.(2008) Leading to change/effective grading practices. Educational Leadership.)  What are we really telling a student they are worth?  Is there any reason to try?  It is difficult to recover from a zero.

Practices vary greatly among teachers in the same school. (Reeves, 2008) “ Giving a zero on a 100 point scale for missing work is a mathematical inaccuracy.” (Reeves, 2004)  Assignment is…  1 day late 90  2 days late 80  3 days late 70  5 days late 60  Never 50  This encourages the student to complete work and not accept being worth 0!  The student would miss school events until the late work is turned in. Consequences are established.  Zeros are not acceptable practice  Our goal is complete work.

“Threats of failure do not work for students” (Reeves, 2204, p. 325). Just 2-3 zeros can cause failure for a semester. 2-3 failures can cause a student to drop out of school ( Reeves, 2004).  Students can lose privileges instead of receiving a zero until work is completed.  The assignment must be completed and turned in for proficiency.  What is the lowest possible grade on the 100 point scale?  The numerical value of a D which is a 60.

 Tutoring/Review Sessions and Materials Study Guides—Structured means for students to determine how well they understand class content Practice Tests—Help review concepts in another structured format  Dropping the Lowest Grade  Opportunities to correct assignments/tests  Process of Completing Corrections

 Assessment procedures that offer more meaningful information and purpose for the practitioner and learner encourage and enhance the learning process (Atkin, Black, Coffey, 2001; Stake, 1998; 1999).  Measures that simply provide ranking information may be counterproductive, as the focus seems to have shifted from learning to test-taking skills (Perlman, 2003).

 The sharing of learning goals/intentions with pupils  helping pupils know and recognize the criteria for success  Providing feedback  marking that helps pupils to identify how to improve  learning self-assessment techniques to discover areas they need to improve  The use of effective questioning to assess progress both the teacher and pupils by  reviewing and reflecting on pupils' performance and progress  setting targets for improvement

 Sharing Learning Goals/Intentions  Clear success criteria-written or verbal  Using consistent feedback and marking strategies  Pupil self assessment and peer self assessment  Using effective questioning  Target setting Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, (2003)

Learn how effectively and easily to use anecdotal notes. Learn the best practices that are aimed at learning targets. Learn to implement summarizes practices that develop critical thinking.

 Atkin, J. M., Black, P., & Coffey, J. (2001). Classroom assessment and the National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.  Black, P., Harrison, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for learning: Putting it into practice. New York, NY : Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education.  Carifio, J. & Carey, Theodore. (2009, Nov/Dec). A critical examination of current minimum grading policy recommendations. High School Journal, 93(1),  Cherepinsky, V. (2011, April). Self-Reflective grading: Getting students to learn from their mistakes. Primus: Problems, Resources & Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 21(3),  Fay, Charles H. & Gordon, Michael E. (2010). The effects of grading and teaching practices on students' perceptions of grading practices. College Teaching, 58(3),  Hadsell, L. & MacDermott, R. (2010, July). Grade dropping: Strategic behavior and student 'satisficing'. American Journal of Business Education, 3(7),  Perlman, C. (2003). Practice tests and study guides: Do they help? Are they ethical? What is ethical test preparation practice? ERIC Document (ED 48D062).  Reeves, D. (2008, February). Leading to change: Effective grading practices. Educational Leadership, 65,(5),  Reeves, D. (2004, December). The case against the zero. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(4), Stake, R. (1998). Some comments on assessment in U.S. education. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 6(14), 1-8.