1. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com 2014 New Mexico Assessment Conference Assessment Best Practices to Drive Instruction Tom Hierck @thierck thierck@gmail.com Grading Practices for Secondary Schools

2. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Outcomes/Objectives Participants will: -recognize the need to critically examine established grading practices; -appreciate the complexity of grading; -identify the purposes of grading; -analyze the value of guidelines for grading; and -consider implications of standards-based grading for reporting student achievement.

3. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com What are the main purposes of grading?

4. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Purposes for Grading Communicate the achievement status of students to parents, (students), and others. Provide information that students can use for self-evaluation. Select, identify, or group students for certain educational paths or programs. Provide incentives to learn. Evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs Guskey, Thomas R. (Editor), Communicating Student Learning: The 1996 ASCD Yearbook, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1996, 17

5. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “ Grades are not inherently bad. It is their misuse and misinterpretation that is bad. ” Guskey (1993)

6. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Developments That Make Change in Grading Systems Imperative The growing emphasis on standards and performance assessments makes current practices inadequate Parents and community members are demanding more and better information about student learning progress Advances in technology allow for more efficient reporting of detailed information on student learning There is growing awareness of the gap between our knowledge base and common practice in grading

7. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com [Artist Unknown [Artist Unknown]

8. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com What are report card grades based upon...... in a typical classroom?

9. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Typical Grading Practice Sources Policies and practices experienced as students Personal philosophies of teaching and learning District-, building-, department-, or grade-level policies on grading and reporting What was learned about grading and reporting in undergraduate and teacher preparation programs

10. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Typical Sources of Grading Evidence Homework Completion Homework Quality Class Participation Work Habits and Neatness Effort Attendance Punctuality of Assignments Class Behavior or Attitude Progress Made

11. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Typical Sources of Grading Evidence Major Exams or Compositions Class Quizzes Reports or Projects Student Portfolios Laboratory Projects Students ’ Notebooks or Journals Classroom Observations Oral Presentations Exhibits of Students ’ Work

12. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Grades are Communicated to… In the elementary grades…  Parents  Students  Other teachers  Administrators In middle and high school…  College admissions office  Scholarship decision makers  Potential employers  Juvenile authorities  Insurance companies

13. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com

14. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Pause + Ponder Should grading be based on "growth over time"?

15. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “ the primary purpose of... grades... (is) to communicate student achievement to students, parents, school administrators, post- secondary institutions and employers. “ Bailey, J. and McTighe, J., “ Reporting Achievement at the Secondary School Level: What and How? ”, in Thomas R. Guskey, (Ed.) Communicating Student Learning: ASCD Yearbook 1996, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1996, 120

16. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Reflecting on Your Grading Practices What are the principles on which your grading practices are based? What were or are the main influences on your grading principles and practices? How do your grading principles and practices compare with those of other teachers in your school? Do the grades awarded fairly reflect the results from which they were derived for each student? If you answered "yes," for which students? Why? If you answered "no," for which students? Why?

17. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com What do “ grades" mean? Take a few minutes and write several Descriptors (point form or sentences) that clearly describe what an A (or 4 or whatever symbol is top of your grading scale) means in your grading scheme. (The word or symbol for per cent MUST NOT appear in your description.)

18. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Questions for Establishing Appropriate Grading Practices Is it appropriate to factor the student's...achievement...intelligence...level of effort or...level of attitude when assigning a grade?

19. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com If all of these are factored into a grade, all with different weights, how can we expect the reader to factor all of those things out and understand what we meant? If you think it’s possible, you are living in a dream world. -Stiggins

20. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Pause + Ponder Should you grade "on a curve”?

21. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Pause + Ponder When is grading counterproductive?

22. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Pause + Ponder How should “extra credit” be handled?

23. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Where Do You Stand? If a student gets a 100% on a pre-test, he should NOT have to do any assignments in the unit of study, and instead, he should do a personal research project related to the general topic of the unit while other students learn the original material. He gets an automatic “A” on the final unit test. Danika is borderline between a C and a B grade. In order to choose one or the other for the final report card grade, it’s appropriate for her teacher to consider Danika’s outstanding attitude, behavior, and high homework completion rate when determining whether to record the C or the B on the report card.

24. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com This quarter, you’ve taught: 4-quadrant graphing Slope and Y-intercept Multiplying binomials Ratios/Proportions 3-dimensional solids Area and Circumference of a circle. The student’s grade: B What does this mark tell us about the student’s proficiency with each of the topics you’ve taught?

25. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Unidimensionality – A single score on a test represents a single dimension or trait that has been assessed Student Dimension A Dimension B Total Score 1 21012 2 10212 3 66 Problem: Most tests use a single score to assess multiple dimensions and traits. The resulting score is often invalid and useless. -- Marzano, Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work, page 13

26. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “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 and Bailey, Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning, Corwin Press, 2001, 34-35

27. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “ There is no reward in punishment. ” Barth, R., Lessons Learned

28. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Adapted from Guskey and Bailey, Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning, Corwin, 2001, 139 Three practices that deserve attention (because of) their potentially harmful effects are: 1.averaging scores to determine a grade; 2.the use of zeros; and 3.taking credit away from students or lowering their grade because of behavioral infractions.

29. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “ Averaging falls far short of providing an accurate description of what students have learned.... If the purpose of grading and reporting is to provide an accurate description of what students have learned, then averaging must be considered inadequate and inappropriate ”. Guskey, Thomas R. (Editor), Communicating Student Learning: The 1996 ASCD Yearbook, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1996, 21

30. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “ Assigning a score of zero to work that is late, missed, or neglected does not accurately depict students ’ learning. Is the teacher certain the student has learned absolutely nothing, or is the zero assigned to punish students for not displaying appropriate responsibility? ” Guskey, Thomas R. (Editor), Communicating Student Learning: The 1996 ASCD Yearbook, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1996, 21

31. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com “In effective schools one of the most consistent practices of successful teachers is the provision of multiple opportunities to learn. The consequence for a student who fails to meet a standard is not a low grade but rather the opportunity, indeed the requirement to resubmit his or her work.” Reeves, D., “Standards are Not Enough: Essential Transformations for School Success,” NASSP Bulletin, Dec. 2000, 11

32. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com If we do not allow students to re-do work, we deny the growth mindset so vital to student maturation, and we are declaring to the student: This assignment had no legitimate educational value. It’s okay if you don’t do this work. It’s okay if you don’t learn this content or skill. None of these is acceptable to the highly accomplished, professional educator.

33. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com The Effect of Zero Mean calculated with 50% instead of 0 = 78.8% Student A 86 0 86 Mean = 68.8% Does this accurately reflect what the student knows and can do? Median = 86% Mode = 86%

34. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Imagine the Reverse… A=100–40 B =39–30 C =29–20 D =19–10 F =9–0 What if we reversed the proportional influences of the grades? That “A” would have a huge, yet undue, inflationary effect on the overall grade. Just as we wouldn‘t want an “A” to have an inaccurate effect, we don’t want an “F” grade to have such an undue, deflationary, & inaccurate effect. Keeping zeroes on a 100-pt. scale is just as absurd as the scale seen here.

35. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com 264 low and high ability year 7 pupils in 12 classes in 4 schools; analysis of 132 students at top and bottom of each class  Same teaching, same aims, same teachers, same class work  Three kinds of feedback: marks, comments, marks and comments Butler Study on Feedback

36. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com [Butler(1988) Br. J. Educ. Psychol., 58 1-14] FEEDBACKGAINATTITUDE Marksnonetop +ve bottom-ve Comments30%all +ve Bothnonetop+ve bottom-ve

37. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Time to Change the Old Paradigm: Grades are NOT compensation. Grades are communication: They are an accurate report of what happened.

38. in-demand eventsinnovative publishing inspired professional developmentwww.solution-tree.com Tom Hierck @thierck thierck@gmail.com Thanks for the gift of your time!@gmail.com