1. Standards-Based Assessment from Dr. Thomas R. Guskey
Grading for Learning
Standards-Based Assessment
from Dr. Thomas R. Guskey
How confident are you that the grades students get in your class are:
Consistent, Accurate, Meaningful, and Supportive of Learning?

2. Essential Questions:
What are the major reasons we use report cards and assign grades to students’ work?
Ideally, what purposes should report cards or grades serve?
What elements should teachers use in determining students’ grades?
(For example, major assessments, compositions, homework, attendance, class participation, etc.)

3. Grading Elements: popularity?
Major Exams/Compositions
Class Quizzes
Reports or Projects
Student Portfolios
Exhibits of Student Work
Laboratory Projects
Student Notebooks or Journals
Classroom Observations
Oral Presentations
Homework Completion
Homework Quality
Class Participation
Work Habits and Neatness
Effort Put Forth
Class Attendance
Punctuality of Assignments
Class Behavior or Attitude
Progress Made

4. Purposes of Grading:
Communicate the Achievement Status of Students to Their Parents and Others
Provide Information for Student Self-Evaluation
Select, Identify, or Group Students for Certain Educational Programs
Provide Incentives for Students to Learn
Document Students’ Performance to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Instructional Programs
Provide Evidence of Students’ Lack of Effort or Inappropriate Responsibility.

5. 1 = teacher 2 = parent 3 = student
What does a 79 mean?
That the student has mastered some aspects of a particular learning goal?
That the student has mastered none of the learning goals but is performing where expected in relation to a given point of the grade- level year?
That the student has mastered more aspects of the learning goal than some of his peers and less than others?
That the student sometimes demonstrates mastery of the learning goal but not consistently?
That the student can demonstrate the learning goal on tests but does not regularly do his homework/classwork, or come to school on time, or stay on task in the classroom?
That the student has only had the opportunity to demonstrate proficiency on basic features of a learning goal but the teacher predicts s/he could not demonstrate mastery at a higher level.
# participants 1,2, 3 #1’s answer this question as a teacher. # 2’s as a parent, # 3’s as a student; Follow with Handout, grading formulae
1 = teacher 2 = parent 3 = student

6. Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Letter Grades
Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Brief Description of Adequacy
Generally Understood
Require Abstraction of Lots of Info
Arbitrary Cut-Offs
Easily Misinterpreted

7. Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Percentage Grades
Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Provide Finer Discriminations
Increase Variation in Grades
Require Abstraction of Lots of Info
Increased Number of Arbitrary Cut-Offs
Greater Influence of Subjectivity

8. …although not so mathematically precise.
Old School
…although not so mathematically precise.

9. (…are we communicating Mastery of the Standards to the students?)
Unit1
Unit2
Unit3
Unit4
Unit5
Average
Median
Delete Lowest 1 59 69 79 89 99
79.0 C
84.0 B 2 3 77 80 78
80.0
79.5 4 49 98
100
98.0 A
86.5 5 6
98.8 7
Discuss what the zero does to the grade…discuss what the implications are for the test grade compared to the final grade? Listen to teacher comments….end with “Are we communicating the students mastery of the Standards?”
(…are we communicating Mastery of the Standards to the students?)

10. Conclusions from Research on Grading:
Checking is Diagnostic
Grading is Evaluative
Grading and reporting are NOT essential to instruction. (Frisbie and Waltman 1992)
No one method of grading and reporting serves ALL purposes well.
Regardless of method used, grading and reporting remain inherently SUBJECTIVE. (Ornstein 1994)
Grades have some value as rewards, but no value as punishments. (Selby and Murphy 1992)
Grading and reporting should always be done in reference to learning criteria, never on the curve. (Johnson and Johnson 1989)

11. Research on Student Motivation
“…students succeed academically only if they want to succeed and feel capable of doing so. If they lack either desire or confidence, they will not be successful. Therefore, the essential question is a dual one: How do we help our students want to learn and feel capable of learning?”
Rick Stiggins, 1992

12. Questionable Grading Practices: Giving Homework/Daily “Grades”
Straight Averaging to Obtain a Course Grade
Giving Zeros for Missing Work or Work Turned in Late
Practicing “Gotcha” Teaching: Taking Credit Away for Infractions

13. Why Change?
“The answer is quite simple: grades are so imprecise that they are almost meaningless.”
Marzano, R. J., Transforming Classroom Grading, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 2000, 1

14. How Do I Move Toward Standards-Based Assessment Practice?

15. Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Report Cards?
Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Traditional
Checklist of Skills
Related to assessment methods
Related to standards
Norm-referenced
Criterion-referenced
Mix of achievement, attitude, effort, and behavior
Achievement only
From formative and summative assessments
From summative assessments only
Everything marked included (averages)
More recent information only (reassessment w/o penalty)
Teacher decides and announces
All aspects discusses with and understood by students
Huge variation in assessment quality
Derived from quality assessments
Google

16. Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
(checklist of skills)
Standards-Based Grading Compared with Traditional Grading
Clear Description of Achievement
Useful for Diagnosis and Prescription
Often Too Complicated for Parents to Understand.
Seldom Communicate the Appropriateness of Progress

17. Questionable Grading Practices: Giving Homework/Daily “Grades”
Straight Averaging to Obtain a Course Grade
Giving Zeros for Missing Work or Work Turned in Late
Practicing “Gotcha” Teaching
Are there alternatives to these Practices?
Can you defend any of these Practices?
Are there things you should be doing more of? Less of?

18. Where to Go from Here? Adapt Don’t Adopt. Start Small.
Do Some Research.
Work Together.

19. For More Information How to Grade for Learning by Ken O’Connor
Fair Isn’t Always Equal by Rick Wormeli
Transforming Classroom Grading by Robert Marzano