The results of a recent study of college undergraduates (n = 400):

• If I have explained to my professor that I am trying hard, I think he/she should give me some consideration with respect to my course grade -- 66.2% agree
• If I have completed most of the reading for a class, I deserve a B in that course -- 40.7%
• If I have attended most of the classes for a course, I deserve at least a grade of B -- 34.1%
• Teachers often give me lower grades than I deserve on paper assignments -- 31.5%
• Professors who won't let me take my exams at another time because of my personal plans (e.g. a vacation) are too strict - 29.9%
• A professor should be willing to lend me his/her course notes if I ask for them - 24.8%
• I would think poorly of a professor who didn't respond the same day to an e-mail I sent - 23.5%
• Professors have no right to be annoyed with me if I tend to come late to class or tend to leave early - 16.8%
• A professor should not be annoyed with me if I receive an important call during class - 16.5%
• A professor should be willing to meet with me at a time that works best for me, even if inconvenient for the professor - 11.2%

These results, if representative of college-age students, leave me almost speechless. They remind me of a conversation I had with a parent last year. Her son wasn't passing my class---he was rarely able to show any evidence of learning. Mom was convinced that they boy should get credit for the class because he was a nice person. In her mind, the fact that he wasn't a problem (behavior-wise) and did seat time should be enough. I don't know that I ever truly convinced her that it wasn't enough, but what I realized is that I was fighting years of the child (and parent) being rewarded for being nice. How many of this young man's teachers---and how many of the parent's teachers from years ago---had awarded time served for good behavior?

The information at the start of this post comes from an article in Canada's National Post suggesting "Entitled" Students Expect Better Grades (emphasis added).

The paper describes academic entitlement as "expectations of high marks for modest effort and demanding attitudes toward teachers."

It's a hot topic -- and source of much frustration -- among instructors, author Ellen Greenberger, a research professor of psychology and social behaviour at the University of California-Irvine, says.

"I would have trembled with fear before I suggested to some of my revered teachers that I wanted them to give me a higher grade," she says.

Ms. Greenberger's study reveals that students who are academically entitled are more likely to engage in academic cheating, exploit others, shirk hard work and display "narcissistic orientation."

She found virtually no connection between self-entitled attitudes and grades, meaning it's not just weak students trying to wheedle better marks out of their profs, and those who do so aren't reaping the benefits on their transcripts.

"It certainly suggests that these attitudes and behaviours aren't producing the desired effect," she says. "It's just making teachers crazy."

Ms. Greenberg was surprised that parenting appears to have little influence in shaping self-entitled students, with one key exception: students who say their parents often compare their achievements to siblings, cousins or friends are more likely to engage in these behaviours.

What interests me the most about the emphasized areas is how closely they relate to my ideas about some of the behavioral theory behind best practices in grading. If you're an oldtimer here, then I'm about to get into grandma territory---where you've heard the same story so many times you could tell it better yourself. But for you whippersnapper readers out there, the predominant theory about motivation in educational settings is Achievement Goal Theory. From an earlier post:

Without boring you to tears, the basic idea here is that students will pursue one of two goals within the classroom: mastery which values learning for the sake of learning or performance which values learning for the sake of external indicators. These students associate success with how their performance appears to outsiders, doing better than other kids, and achieving success with as little effort as possible. Performance goals lead to a greater amount of cheating, less cooperative learning, and students who pick the easiest tasks available (or are the first to give up when faced with difficult tasks). On the other hand, mastery goals have been linked with the development of new skills, an increased confidence in abilities, the preference for challenging work (and greater persistence in the face of difficulty), and a stronger sense of school belonging. Teachers have an enormous influence on the goal structure of a classroom. Even if kids walk in the door with a performance orientation, teachers can cause them to become focused on mastery goals.

When I read this article about entitled students, I see Performance indicators everywhere. These are students who have been conditioned to believe that the grade is the be all and end all for learning...and they will do whatever they have to for it. One might think that means that they're learning and engaging in significant study along the way---but that is not typically the case. Think about the responses to the survey...the sheer number of students who believe they deserve a B for showing up most of the time or trying hard.

What do we do about these sorts of values, assuming we don't like them? Personally, I think that schools need to take a long hard look at the messages they send students and parents. Are we talking about grades...or are we talking about learning? Do we set up policies and practices that serve to entrain the higher priority on concept mastery...or are seat time and smiles enough? I believe that we can get students and parents to focus their attention on learning if we set those examples. When I read pieces in the New York Times commenting on America's need to reboot, I feel like there is a connection to schools---our entitled society is not only a product of them, it models and encourages their development in our youngsters. Hedgetoad points out that

We aren't inspiring people who want to create. We're producing people who want to be famous and rich. A generation of would-be lottery winners. Not for creating something, but just for being something. I've had several would be famous hip-hop artists in my classes, but none of them want to put any work in actually writing anything. I remember one former student who swore he would be a writer as a job, but couldn't write a complete sentence. And nearly punched the luckless teacher who attempted to point this out. I could go on and on with the stories of student who expected that whatever they wanted would eventually fall into their laps with no effort on their part. Even so-called 'fun' assignments show little effort and generally end up as not much more than coloring pages glued to a poster board.

In reading the blogs of others, I can see educators fighting the same apathy and I can see people finding moments of brilliance. What kind of shift do I need to start to get more moments of brilliance and less apathy? How can my students be inspired to want to learn?

It takes all of us. It means that we as a society have to reflect on both the hidden and overt messages we are giving kids. And it means that we have to change those. We can't say that we value intelligent and creative people---and then set up the rules for school in ways that don't support this. We can't shake our heads and say "Kids these days." as if they are all in some sort of phase that they can grow out of. We created the playing field and we have the responsibility for making things better---not necessarily easier. I hope that we make efforts to do so.

Labels: articles, change, grading

In a standards-based educational system, do grade levels really matter? A school district in Colorado has decided the answer is "No." and beginning next year, there will be no more traditional k-12 system.

A school district in Westminster struggling with declining enrollment and falling test scores will try something revolutionary next year that many say never has been accomplished in the Lower 48.

Adams 50 will eliminate grade levels and instead group students based on what they know, allowing them to advance to the next level after they have proved proficiency.

"If they can pull this off, it will be a lighthouse for America's challenged school districts," said Richard DeLorenzo, the consultant who implemented a standards-based model in Alaska and is working with Adams 50. "It will change the face of American education."

A district of 10,000 students and 21 schools, Adams 50 serves a working-class suburb north of Denver. Seventy-two percent of its students are poor enough for federal meal benefits, two-thirds are Latino, and 38 percent still are learning English.

Two years ago the district was put on academic watch because of achievement troubles; fewer than 60 percent of students graduate on time.

"What we are doing right now is not working," said Superintendent Roberta Selleck, who was hired in 2006 to reform the district. "We think this will be huge."

The new system will have 10 levels instead of the traditional kindergarten through 12th grade model.

Students will be tested this spring to determine their proficiency in reading, writing and math, and will be grouped next year with peers who are learning at the same level.

Next school year, the system starts with students now classified as kindergartners through eighth-graders and will expand into high school one year at a time.

"In a standards-based system, time becomes the variable and learning is the constant," Selleck said. "When a kid can demonstrate proficiency of a standard, they move on. There is nothing magical about a quarter, semester or the end of school. That becomes blurred. Learning becomes much more 24-7."

There's much more to read in the whole article from the Denver Post. I have to admit, I'm rather fascinated with the whole idea. It looks like standards-based grading practices will be used and mastery will be the goal. It's a bit buried in the piece, but Robert Marzano is consulting on this project---and a district could do worse than having him guide things along.

Still, if I may say so, this is one ballsy school district.

I would very much be interested to learn what the district will do with "outlier" students. I'm assuming that just because a 15-year old student is working at a 3rd grade level doesn't mean you put them with 9-year olds---you find the other 15-year olds who are far below their peers and group them that way. What happens to electives? Transcripts for college? Do kids only get the one test a year to determine placement---or is there some way teachers can have kids collect evidence of learning for a broader method of determining level? Would an ELL kid get to "skip" some levels once their language skills allow them to demonstrate the subject matter proficiency they may have had all along? What supports are in place for teachers? Parents?

While I doubt that this sort of model will become the norm in coming years, if it is successful, I wouldn't be surprised to see it adopted by others. I hope we learn a lot along the way.

Labels: articles, change, grading, student learning

I get e-mail from teachers looking for support with grading. The fact is, I'm getting more and more of it, both through the blog address and at work. I won't say that all of the questions and needs are the same, but I will say that the common factor is that nearly every teacher who makes time to write feels like they are an island in the sea of grading.

I hear you.

No, really. This morning, I purchased a new domain specifically for grading and am putting together a Ning as a point of connection for you. It's time you all had some way to find and connect with one another. You have a lot to share and would benefit from being able to find each other. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to discover just how many other islands there are. Trust me, it's not just you floating along out there.

So, stay tuned. Keep those e-mails coming, so I know where to send the invitations to help get the party started.

Labels: grading

I'm housebound again. Good thing I brought home plenty of work to do. My job responsibilities are undergoing a significant change when the new year begins, so I'm trying to finish up various projects now. I also have a few personal projects in the mix...and, of course, I have other things I'm chewing on. So, here are some things I won't be thinking about while working today---but perhaps you'd like to take some time with:

• An article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about how some high schools are starting to drop the practice of determining class rank. As you might imagine, this is a load off of the minds of some kids and parents---but not so much for college admissions. If lack of a stated class rank hurts a student's chances of getting into college, then I don't think we should hurt the kid. But I also have to say that if college admissions hasn't figured out how to select students after 100 years of practice, then maybe they need to take a long hard look at themselves instead of depending on a number.
• Or, perhaps you might be interested in thinking about other ideas related to evaluating students? As Hugh noted, some Canadian schools are dropping grades as measures of student achievement. (How do you like them apples, college admissions officers?) Hugh probes things a bit further in Do We Really Need Grades?
• On the other hand, there is the Gates Foundation, who is looking at supporting a Cash for Grades program. I think the Gates Foundation has made some significant humanitarian efforts, but I am not convinced that they have ever made the right choices with any of their initiatives. (Small schools fiasco, anyone?) They are now looking to pour tens of millions of dollars into various educational efforts in several states. If cash for grades is any indication, they are off to a poor start.
• There has been a lot of rumbling and grumbling in the edusphere about this recent report on students lying, cheating, and stealing (and liking themselves). Most of the educators I've seen posting about this seem unfazed and have something to say about the decline of western civilization. The part that I find interesting however, is that we are not asking why kids don't perceive these activities as being wrong. I'm particularly interested in the "cheating" part---because I think that in the digital environment kids are growing up with is greatly changing what "cheating" means. In an age where you have all sorts of tools available to mash up text, video, and audio, where does cheating start and creativity end? And is this the same as in the past? This is more or less a continuation of the conversation started with Cyberspace and Meatspace, only we have some numbers now to attach to things.

There you have it. The list of things I'm not thinking about while working today. You believe that, right?

Labels: articles, grading

I think that the comfort many teachers find in calculating percentages, averages, category weighting systems, and other mathematical manipulations while grading is a belief that these practices are indisputable. "Your child has a 78% average because..." It's there in black and white. Can't argue with the numbers, right?

I was thinking about this again after the NSTA presentation I did last week. Some of the participants mentioned that they are required by administration to update student scores in an on-line gradebook each week---which automatically calculates an average, etc. How are you supposed to implement best practices when the tools and expectations are "old school"? Excellent questions, with no simple answers. The kind of change they're needing is a systems approach---and I'm more focused on the classroom. There are likely some ways to manipulate the weighting system in those soulless automatons of grading software such that categorizing things as "formative" gives it an insignificant impact. Perhaps there are other workarounds, as well.

The other part of the question that was worth noting was simply the idea of the audience for these automated grades. An on-line grading system bypasses the student for delivering information. I can see certain advantages to that (depending upon the student) and know that other stakeholders (parents, administrators, athletic coaches...) have their own needs for student grades. However, there is no way to guarantee that these outsiders to the classroom understand what the grade represents. I was reminded of two recent articles (one in ASCD and one in the Washington Post) which compared parent tracking of grades to watching the stock market. From the WaPo:

Parents and students in a growing number of Washington area schools can track fluctuations in a grade-point average from the nearest computer in real time, a ritual that can become as addictive as watching political polls or a stock-market index.

The proliferation of online grading systems has transformed relations among teachers, parents and students and changed the rhythm of the school year. Internet-based programs including SchoolMAX and Edulink are pushing midterm progress reports into obsolescence. Prospective failure is no longer a bombshell dropped in a parent-teacher conference. A bad grade on a test can't be concealed by discarding the evidence. A student can log on at school, or a parent at work, to see the immediate impact of a missed assignment on the cumulative grade or to calculate what score on the next quiz might raise an 89.5 to a 90. Report cards hold little surprise...

"You can walk around this building and every kid knows exactly how they're doing," said John Weinshel, a teacher who administers EdLine at the school. "The curtain has been stripped from the wizard. There's no more mystery. The grade book is open."

It's the last paragraph that bothers me. As long as there are zeros for missing assignments, points taken off for late work (or added for bringing boxes of Kleenex and cans of food), averages, and so forth---how does a kid know how s/he's doing? The grade book may be open in terms of scores, but how those scores are derived is still very much a mystery in most schools. I think that schools may be giving themselves a large dose of false comfort in assuming that just because gradebooks are on-line that the grading process is less of a crapshoot to most observers.

Are we afraid of using professional judgment when evaluating students? Why is that? Is it because we, as educators, lack enough training to discern which student work meets the targets...but don't want to admit that? Are there other reasons why we take such false comfort in the numbers representing learning?

Labels: articles, grading

So, I did my presentation at the NSTA conference yesterday. Truth be told, I was a bit bummed about things leading up to this. I knew I had the last time slot on the last day of the convention. Even if it's been a few years since I've gone to one of these events, I remember getting "Conference Fatigue" all too well. By the last day, you're ready to just go home. Meanwhile, I also discovered that my presentation was scheduled way off-site from the conference. Anybody who wanted to sit in was going to have to schlep their way over from the comfort and convenience of the main convention. So, I made 25 handouts, but figured that 10 people sitting in would be a worthy turnout.

That isn't what happened, however.

Instead, I had well over 100 people crammed into the room---sitting in the aisles, up at the presentation table and standing in the doorway straining to listen. I'm not sure how many others turned away when they saw the throng...and I know the fire marshal wasn't poking around because the number of people was well over the posted room occupancy. Wowser.

The experience was very validating---not so much for me personally as for the topic itself. Grading has arrived. When I talked to a few of the attendees about their "hardcore" attitude of staying to the end, they said that this was an area of need for them and I was the only one on the schedule talking about it. Others who chose to stay after the presentation to talk to me mentioned that they were trying to do some of these things at their schools---but it was a lonesome experience. It is indeed hard to implement something like this on your own. I got asked about presenting at other schools. Would I come? Would I talk to more than just science teachers? Would I answer the phone/e-mail if there were questions? Of course. But how sad is that people are all out there struggling on their own little islands of grading.

I had a friend mention earlier in the week that leaders should always be up ahead, peeking around the corner. From my experiences yesterday, I got a good look around the corner at two things in particular. First of all, grading practices are about to reach the tipping point in secondary schools. I expect a lot of growing pains. Secondly, the role of data visualization in all of this is going to play a major role. Every time I pull out microcharts, dashboards, and other tools, people go nuts. I can see them spark---you can see the epiphanies happening all over the room. Makes me smile every time.

What I had to share---and what people needed---does not fit neatly within a one-hour session. An hour is barely enough time to scratch the surface...and, of course, the more resources and knowledge I accumulate, the more I want to share and support. If the economy was better, I would seriously think about hitting the road as a consultant. After all, I can see what's around the next corner.

Labels: grading, staff development

Does a dislike of grading indicate a "symptom" of the lack of fit between what teachers are asked to do and actual practice?

Susan Brookhart's (1994) observation is one of my favourite quotes on grading. I remember it every time I see something on Twitter concerning a teacher who is fussing about stacks of papers or have a conversation with an educator about classroom frustrations. I think about the years I viewed grading with the same amount of disgust.

In the last few years, I've changed my outlook. It doesn't mean the paperwork went away, but the way I used it shifted. Grading became an exciting proposition...and why shouldn't it be? It is a teacher's opportunity to find out what is and isn't working---and get creative about how to reach more students. Those assessments are gifts to be unwrapped: the ultimate surprise party.

I think part of the reason teachers tend to view grading with disdain has to do with the traditional approach: mark answers incorrect, count up points, calculate a percentage. This is incredibly tedious and the bang for your buck is pretty small. Unless you're going to track how many students missed each particular item and then cross-reference that with the standards each item was targeting, who cares that the class average was 82%? That approach really doesn't provide you with anything useful in terms of adjusting instruction. And yet, we're stuck in that mode for the most part. This is the disconnect observed by Brookhart. Actual practice doesn't get us toward the goal of supporting student learning in this case.

Can we change what's happening? We can---but there are really two pieces here that we have to work on. The easy one is getting teachers away from counting points and calculating averages. It doesn't mean that marking papers is going to go away (especially when those marks help kids understand what was done right/wrong), we just don't have to be nitpicky and engender habits in students which cause them to focus on points instead of learning. The second piece of changing practice here is more difficult, because it is the most precious commodity in education: time. It's not that the grading itself is more intensive, it's the opportunity to reflect on what you see and think about what course corrections need to be made. Classroom work is often based on submitting yourself to the tyranny of the urgent---and the simple truth is that students will be showing up again in the morning and you need to be ready. We tend to frontload our thinking that way, as opposed to increasing our focus for after the lesson.

This leaves me wondering about whether or not there are any public schools out there which have been able to restructure their resources so that student contact time is maintained, but opportunities for teachers to plan and reflect are increased. Is the answer smaller class sizes? Four day weeks with students with extended class periods...and one day per week as teacher workdays? Is it possible, I wonder, to assign 1.5 teachers to a group of kids so that every teacher could have some extended release time for planning and collaboration while their partner worked with students? None of these solutions are cheap, but I wonder what the collective costs are in terms of loss of learning for students. How does it impact their earning opportunities over a lifetime? How much extra might society spend building and staffing prisons? Is there a point where things start to break in the direction of schools?

In the end, grading is just one symptom of schools which are in need of better support. Perhaps addressing what we can within this realm is only piece of healing classrooms, but it represents taking one step in the right direction...a place to start.

Labels: grading

A month ago, I posted an assortment of article and other thoughts collected from the edusphere on the subject of grading. Grading practices appear to be a rather hot topic, to which I say "Better late than never." These discussions have been put off for long enough. And now, I have a new collection to share with you. I am sure that I have missed a few---I don't have mad skillz where my aggregator is concerned---but you may still find an idea or two here that inspires you to jump headlong into the fracas. (Or, you can click on the "grading" tag below this post and see the ~70 posts I have on the issue.)

• ASCD considers the issue of grade inflation at colleges and universities. "Teachers considered 'tough graders' risk poor evaluations and low course enrollment from students and losing institutional support from parents. Colleges like Wellesley and Princeton have enforced policies to raise the criteria for high grades, but so far, no widespread action has addressed grading inflation." I'm left wondering if the term grade inflation will still have a place in a standards-based world. I'm thinking it won't, but until then, higher ed is going to have some growing pains.
• In addition, ASCD points out Seven Reasons for Standards-Based Grading, but Jim over at 5/17 is keenly watching the implementation of these practices in a neighbouring district.
• While not specifically addressing grading, Polski3 is wondering about the possible impacts of Pre-Testing in the Classroom. I include a link here only because it does raise the question of what one might do if you discover there are students who are already at standard before you even begin a unit.
• Meanwhile, back at the WaPo Ranch, parents in a second county are claiming that the Grading Bar Is Too High. "A parent-led campaign to overhaul Fairfax County's grading scale has sparked a similar effort in neighboring Loudoun County. The Fairgrade group is seeking to lower the Fairfax school system's cutoff for an A from 94 points to 90 on a 100-point scale, arguing that the higher bar hurts competitiveness in college admissions and scholarships. Now the effort has traveled up the Potomac River as Fairgrade Loudoun tries to make a similar change to the Loudoun school system's 93-point A" Personally, I think the parents are concentrating on the wrong thing here. I'd like them to care more about what the grade represents than nitpicky points.

Take your pick of the litter and click on over to join the fray!

Labels: grading

...is not being talked about. And finally, people around the edusphere are starting to talk about grades: the good, the bad, and the ugly of them all. Here are a few choice posts for you to peruse:

• The WaPo notes that In Grading Levels, The Playing Field Is Seldom Even. Some parents of Fairfax students want the percentages associated with A's, B's, and C's to match those of surrounding school districts so that college entrance opportunities are "fair." But can that really happen where grades are concerned?
• Todd over at Thoughts on Teaching is wrestling with the Rubric to Percentage demon. I've danced with that devil myself here and here. I don't agree with his solution, mainly because a rubric score really represents a range of performance, not a specific percentage; but, I'm glad to see someone else take a stab at it. Every approach helps me refine my own thinking.
• Meanwhile, Corey has decided that Grades are Stupid. In some ways, he's right. He did provide some further explanation of his reasoning, but frankly, it's the others who make the most sense. For those who don't like the idea of the lowest "grade" being a 50, just make the highest grade a 50 and keep your zeros. The goal is to make the scale equitable.
• And Hugh is atwitter over a Historic Board Meeting where standards-based grading practices will finally meet policy. Will it be love at first sight? Go see for yourself.

I am hoping that the grading buzz I've seen in the edusphere this past week is the part of a promising trend. Public education has put off this discussion for far too long. It's not going to always be a pretty road ahead, but it's time we started talking.

Labels: grading

There was a letter in the Washington Post last week about group grading. The parent writing the letter was concerned that her child seems to be the one continually saddled with leading things while the hangers-on benefit from her diligence. Hey---we've all been that kid's shoes, but that doesn't make it okay for this classroom practice to continue.

In the reply, it is noted that for that particular district, it is policy that "Grades must be based on individual demonstration of skill and understanding."; however, it is unlikely that group grading has gone the way of the dodo bird. Why? "Teachers will be less likely to say they are giving grades for group work, but the ones I know have found that, for some students, cooperative projects reveal important skills, such as imagination, leadership and bargaining, for which their final grades will look better than they might otherwise have."

What a crock. The information described there is about behaviors---not learning. (And how exactly does one score "imagination, leadership, and bargaining"?) Even if group grades were acceptable, you will still need to base your evidence on learning targets in order to make a valid judgment.

We know from educational research that cooperative learning experiences can be valuable to students. But, as the name suggests, these strategies are to be used while learning---not for assessment. One would hope that school districts are being vigilant about this sort of practice. We owe it to students and their families to give them the best information possible about individual progress and performance.

Labels: articles, grading

I had an administrator ask me last week how I was able to make such dramatic changes in my grading practices. The question came from someone who is wanting to guide these sorts of changes in her own staff---and, perhaps, has already tried. It's one thing to understand that change can be painfully slow. It's quite another to be faced with staff who don't change at all. She was looking for a catalyst. Maybe in listening to my own story she would find a nugget to use with others. I don't think that I was of great help, but the question has made for some nice reflection.

In terms of grading, what I said was that until a few years ago, I wasn't even aware that there were alternatives. I only had one kind of system used with me during my own schooling. Grading was not something that was discussed during my teacher education courses. And I have yet to have any formal professional development offered to me regarding grading practices. We talk about instruction a lot. We even talk about assessment. Evaluation, however, never seems to come up. I suppose that sounds silly---never to even question the way grading is done. Bertrand Russell said that "In all affairs, it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." While I can be certainly be accused of having some sense of intellectual curiosity about teaching...I never did about grading. How many experienced teachers would say the same, I wonder?

I told the administrator that when I did have the opportunity to do some reading, thinking, and chatting with colleagues, what I found was that these practices were a good match for my own philosophy about the classroom---that what happens there should be about kids. I was a traditional grader for most of my career, but to her, it appeared that this was something that was always part of my teaching life. I think this was because best practices in grading are so congruent with what I believe about education. When I finally stumbled upon them, the only intelligent response was "Duh."

The level of cognitive dissonance around grading practices is jet engine in scale for most teachers. It is too noisy to comprehend. I've seen several who take a look at things and can't talk about it for awhile...and still others who understand what they should do, but can't take that final plunge. They inch toward the edge, making small changes as they go---no more zeros, only considering summative information, and so on. But the full meal deal is too frightening a prospect for them. I don't have an answer for this. Maybe it's okay to go with small changes. Or perhaps we as professionals need to shout "Cannonball!" and just dive into the deep end, pulling our colleagues along with us.

In the end, I didn't know to how to steer the administrator. On one hand, I think she is well within her rights to insist that best practices be used---as long as she is willing to support that with intensive professional development and other help. I don't want to go to a doctor or other professional who justifies doing something the same way as was done 100 years ago for no other reason than "That's how I've always done it." I think our children at all grade levels deserve evaluation of their learning based on a reason better than "That's how my work was graded when I was in school." Using best practices doesn't devalue a teacher's professional judgment---that is still going to be a large part of evaluation. Instead, we can be assured that we are doing the right thing for our students. Jump on in, teachers and admins, to the standards-based grading pool. Take off the water wings. I know you can swim.

Labels: change, grading

Last week, I blogged about Advancing the Gradebook. Maybe gradebooks should be treated like the six million dollar man: The electronic gradebook. A tool barely useful. Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first meaningful gradebook. X will be that tool. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster. You get the idea.

Since my original post, a couple of things have happened. First of all, Paul over at Markscan sent me a link for the software he masterminded and had developed. His goal was to have something which would allow Ontario teachers to comply with the requirement that they use the most recent/most consistent level of achievement in determining grades. The image below is from the website for his software.

The idea here is that formative and summative assessments are different shades (and you can display one or another or both), with the width of the bars communicating the weight of the assessment. There are some good features here. I like the graphical display and the ability to distinguish between types of assessments.

Another thing that has happened in the last week is that I've been in contact with the Microcharts people. They do offer a 15% discount for educators, which is a start. This is a company based in Germany and therefore immune to the NCLB hoopla. I think they're missing a huge market here; however, I do want to give things a try.

Finally, I mocked up something in Excel:

It's not perfect. I did not use conditional formatting or formulas for this---I was more interested in seeing what something could look like at this point. However, I do want to go back and see if I can get the program to reproduce the results.

I have the bullet graph broken down into three colours representing the Response to Intervention levels of intensive (red), strategic (yellow), and benchmark (green). This would allow a teacher to easily see who needs reteaching/interventions and group accordingly. Secondly, I wanted something that shows progress (or at least a range). This is what the horizontal lines on the bullet graph are for. The vertical hash marks on the graph indicate the median scores. In two cases (Linus and Pigpen), we have students who are performing consistently, albeit at different levels. One might not worry so much about Linus (other than wondering if we're challenging him enough), but Pigpen is troubling. An alternative to the graph would be to just use conditional formatting in Excel that would change the colour of a cell automatically depending upon the score entered. You wouldn't need this for every cell. Instead, you could just choose a column to represent the median score of a range of other cells, then have it ready to turn red, yellow, or green depending upon that information. Personally, I would prefer a graph that can also display range. A sense of progress is important to me. Maybe a kid hasn't reached benchmark yet, but if they're growing, that's still good information to have.

I showed this at my presentation this week and one of the participants had a very good question about the time that this would take to set up and use. She was concerned about the "old dog new tricks" impact on more experienced staff members. First of all, I don't think that everyone should have to use the same tool for tracking grades. Reporting is different, since the information has to be integrated and accessible to others, but for day-to-day classroom a teacher needs to find what best suits the way they work. Secondly, I'm thinking that setup in Excel would only need to happen a couple of times a year. Once you know the formulas you want to use, you're good to go.

I'm still pondering the "dashboard" idea for integrating either all of a student's information or all of a classes information into one display. It's still summer for a few more weeks, so I still have some time to play with that.

Any other gradebook ideas to share?

Labels: grading

My standards-based grading and student motivation extravaganza was yesterday afternoon. So many people showed up that the event organizers had to close the session a good 15 minutes before it was even scheduled to start. While this is certainly no testament to me (I only knew 2 people out of the 60 or so who came), it does say something about interest in grading practices. People came in to save spaces at tables more than an hour before the workshop was set to kick off. I find that heartening in a lot of ways because not all of these people were "the choir" for me to preach to. Sure, there were teachers and administrators there who had given standards-based grading a whirl, but others were there to gawk. I'm sure I gave them an eyeful. LOL

I had a middle school PE teacher chat with me for awhile when all was said and done. She said that during the break, she'd seen her supe out in the hallway. The supe asked her how the workshop was going. The teacher replied, "My brain is really fighting with itself. One half completely agrees with everything she says and the other half thinks she's crazy." (Little does she know, eh?) I had a couple of other participants make similar comments. In other words, it is so clear to them that these practices are the right thing to do, but to let go of including behaviors in grading (e.g. not giving zeros for plagiarism and making kids do the work instead) feels just beyond reach. They see the path to walk but aren't sure they have the strength to make the journey.

I spent about 30 minutes talking about motivation---and in particular, achievement goal theory. We as educators often tell students that we value their learning more than their grades---but do we really mean it? I showed them the graphic below and we talked about the idea that while we ostensibly want a "mastery approach" to classroom learning, which of these other orientations did students demonstrate?

Beyond that, we talked about the mixed messages we may be sending through our feedback to students and the posters and bulletin boards on our walls. I had one teacher afterwards say what a chord I struck with that. She realized that she tells kids all the time that she wants them to focus on learning, but when she hands back tests, she makes a big deal about how one class outperformed another. She had never thought about how those two things are really in opposition. There were lots of head nods when I mentioned things like kids throwing away their work the moment you handed it back or the "point whoring" that comes along with kids fighting for every little inch they can get. People started to reflect on that and what messages they may have unintentionally been giving kids about what they (as teachers) value.

I was truly excited to see so many people there. However, the drawback was that I didn't get to have the kind of interactive session I really wanted. Sixty people crammed into a room is not conducive for a Four Corners activity or other movement. Think-Pair-Share gets redundant in a hurry. Poll Everywhere was very well received, but as I'd anticipated, not all adults are comfortable with text messaging (although all thought this would be awesome for the classroom---and parent nights). I quickly ran out of handouts (sponsors had told me to plan for no more than 50---and I thought that even that was darned ambitious), but was so glad that I had my wiki set up so that people knew where they could get everything later. People were darned hungry for information on grading. Who knew?

Labels: grading, staff development

Tomorrow afternoon, it's finally time for me to give my 3-hour workshop on standards-based grading and student motivation. I've worked a large number of hours over the last six weeks to pull together what I think is a kick-ass professional learning experience. Yes, I'm biased...but I also know what typically gets offered at conferences like this. Usually a dry Powerpoint and very little interaction. ("Absolute power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely.")

I constructed a wiki as a companion for the workshop. I did this for two reasons. One was simply to have a simple place for people to get all of the resources, such as a digital copy of the handout and slides (which I'm not handing out), a list of books and websites I reference, and so forth. I want people to be able to focus on the thinking and learning---not the "stuff." They can go back later and easily find the title of a book or a look at a site without having to write down the URL. Also, for any "artifacts" created during the session, I can take pictures with my digital camera and place them on the site. Again, I hope that this will allow people not to have to stress out trying to capture all of the information at once. The other main reason for the wiki is just to allow the participants to contribute to the learning beyond the scope of our time together. I'll bet several people tomorrow will have resources that they want to share. What a great way for them to connect. Their knowledge is valuable and I want them to be able to show that off.

Yes, I do have a PowerPoint presentation, but it is not a series of slides for me to read off of. Some have Poll Everywhere questions with prompts for people to text message their answers. One of my favourites is for a "Pop Quiz!" activity that plays the music from the shower scene in Psycho when it comes up. There are cartoons to provoke some laughter (and discussion) and some simple quotes from the research to guide things along.

There's time built in for participants to talk, to move around, to have quiet moments to think and reflect. I've tried really hard to respect their needs as learners and differentiate the session as much as possible. There is so much I want to say and share, however, I hope that I've designed things such that this session is really about the audience needs. Hard to do when I am so passionate about what I know and want to say.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a great session---that is, people show up and are willing to dive into some good learning. I'm ready to rawk!

Labels: grading, staff development

One of the things ed research has told us is that when teachers have a way to graphically represent the grades they collect (and then reflect on the what they see), student achievement can rise by 26%. In terms of the type of "feedback" teachers are involved in, only one other form increases achievement more (when a teacher has formed a pre-existing rule about when to apply interventions based on data...and then uses it). Considering this, shouldn't we think about gradebooks differently? (For more on types of feedback and their effectiveness, have a look at Chapter One of Marzano's Classroom Assessment and Grading That Works.)

The problem with most gradebook programs is that they don't offer a way to graph the data. I used Excel this year and was happy with it. I liked the flexibility of being able to apply different formulas, hide different data sets, have different worksheets for different pieces of information about kids, and more---including the ability to have the program draw graphs for me. I admit, however, that I used the graphs to look at general classroom trends rather than keeping tabs on individual kids.

But some new options for Excel have me thinking that there could be some very exciting new ways for teachers to think about grades.

First up are Microcharts. This is not a Microsoft product, but is compatible with Excel. The idea here is that you can create a chart within a single cell in your spreadsheet. Here are some examples of the kinds of microcharts that can be made:

As with any data set, different graphs are better than others for communicating information. I think the bullet graphs and bar charts would be most useful. You could even colour code things as red, yellow, green to show the RTI levels of "Intensive, Strategic, Benchmark" to help get a quick glance at where to place your interventions in a classroom, depending upon the standard being measured.

The only drawback (for me) for Microcharts is the price. I might try the free download for a month and see if it really is the answer to classroom needs before I pony up for the full meal deal. Even then, the cost is a bit steep. (Wonder if I could get an educator's discount?)

There are other ways, however, to achieve the same look. Pointy Haired Dilbert recently posted on how to create Bullet Graphs in Excel. One result is shown below. You'll have to imagine student names in the lefthand column and various scores in the middle with the graph on the right; but I think you'll get the idea.

The XLCubed blog showed another way to create In-Cell Variance Charts using a formula. The result is a simple bar chart (as shown below), but could certainly have value for communication. Imagine using these for a progress report or end of term report card. I like this one as a way to actually show growth over time---where a student started at the beginning of the term and what growth has occurred. The bullet chart above is better for showing overall progress toward a goal.

The more I think about all of this, the more I'm getting geeked out about building a better gradebook in Excel. I'd like to think that someone in the software industry is looking at these same things and seeing the same potential for educators that I am---perhaps even writing code for something new. A 26% increase in student achievement is nothing to sneeze at---and if we can get there by having access to pictures of grades, isn't that worth exploring?

If anyone has seen a gradebook program with microcharting features already built in, please do chime in in the comments.

P.S. If I were an administrator or someone in charge of programs, I would definitely look into building a dashboard to integrate the massive amounts of information that regularly flood in. As a principal, what a great way to keep your pulse on what's happening with student learning across a school. The sample below is another business one---but it's not hard to imagine the applications for education.

Labels: grading

So, let's say that Congress agreed to rescind NCLB on one condition: Every teacher in every public school classroom has to use standards-based grading and reporting practices. What would schools say? That they prefer annual testing...or that they're willing to make a k-12 change in how we evaluate students at the classroom level?

Keep in mind that colleges had a similar choice over a century ago. Unhappy with the uneven quality of incoming classes, colleges knew that they had two ways to determine whether or not students were actually prepared by their high schools. In the first scenario, they could insist that transcripts be more meaningful. An "A" at one school in math did not mean the same as an "A" in math from another school. If universities insisted on changes in grading and reporting to reflect what students actually knew and could do, they would be more knowledgeable about applicants. We all know that institutions of higher learning didn't go this route. Instead, they picked option B: develop a standardized test which all applicants would take. The scores from the tests would allow easy comparison among candidates. The SAT was born...as well as the standardized testing movement.

Do we really have no one to blame but ourselves for all of these exit tests and other standardized fair? If I could tell a college (or employer) exactly what skills a student did and didn't master, would they need to know what the SAT score was?

A commentary in Education Week asked if our traditional grading practices be counterproductive? The answer, I believe, is "Yes." It's the basis for my dissertation. Now, I'm not willing to throw out grades and grading---but I believe that our approach has to change. To read the full article requires registration, but here are some highlights:

What is shocking is how rare the following question is asked: Does this grade reflect whether or not the student has actually learned anything?

The problem with our grade-dominated system is that emphasizing grades and grading can distract us from a concentration on what really matters: whether or not students are comprehending and learning the material. A ridiculous, even tragic, amount of time is devoted by too many teachers to disputing grades with parents and students. That time could be better used discussing what the child is learning, or having other productive conversations.

Another problem with a heavy reliance on grading is the underlying assumption that grades are a necessary motivator for students. There are several problems with this contention. Psychological research has shown that students, and people in general, are more likely to lose interest in what they’re doing if they are promised carrots or threatened with sticks. Using grades as a threat or reward for completing or not completing schoolwork is extrinsic, or external, motivation. This type of motivation often results in a decreased focus on the learning objective.

I cringe when I hear students ask, “Is this for a grade?” We should try to eliminate that question in our schools. Don’t we, after all, want students to be motivated by the prospect of learning itself? In classroom environments where grades are pushed, the sad fact is that students will often choose the easiest path to high grades, rather than challenge themselves in meaningful and creative ways. In classrooms where students are intrinsically, or internally, motivated, excellence is more likely to occur.

Most students will want to learn if they are presented with engaging and exciting learning environments and experiences. At the least, I’ve found that more students are motivated to learn when presented with authentic, stimulating learning climates than by the threat-reward bargain of grades. Research shows us that the human brain is wired to enjoy discovery and novel ideas, experiences, and situations. If we focused more on creating ideal learning climates, grades could slowly be pushed aside, and we could concentrate more on the kind of constructive feedback that spurs more student growth. Unfortunately, the pressure of grade competition and comparison is ingrained in our system.

I work in a public school where grading is seen as an important motivational facet and feedback tool. But this is no reason for me to despair, despite the problems I have with the practice. We are changing, little by little. Members of the school’s math department, for example, are actively making strides by recording fewer grades, focusing instead on formative assessments and interacting with students to constantly gauge what they know. As a language arts teacher, one of the most productive paths I’ve found is to de-emphasize grades. Traditional grading is insufficient as I attempt to assess student learning, growth, and development.

Like every other student, I enjoyed receiving good grades in school. But I honestly didn’t care much about the grades in courses I was most interested in. There, what we were doing was for the sake of learning itself. That kind of intrinsic motivation can ultimately lead to the creation of students who display the greatest tribute to public education, a desire to keep on learning, long after they have left the classroom.

I hope that in coming years that we are prepared to turn the tide on testing by showing that our grades are meaningful. I'd like to think that public schools are brave enough to take this thought experiment to its logical conclusion

Labels: EdD, grading

Six months ago, I wrote about what I see as the grail of standards-based grading: how to convert rubric scores to standard A-F grades. The best solution, natch, is not to have to convert them at all. If you have the option of reporting your standards-based scores on the report card, then you're golden. The rest of us have to operate with two different ways of grading and reporting. We must number crunch.

I am a bit torn about this search for some mystical tool for converting between the two systems. The concrete-sequential part of me would love to have some sort of simple formula---something that anyone could use and parents/students/counselors could see. I like the idea of something which maintains the integrity of the scores while communicating a single letter grade. The reality, however, is that grading is messy. No matter how many rubrics, standards, and valid assessment tools you have, we are still human beings evaluating the work of other human beings. Reliability is always going to be an issue.

Knowing all of that, I'm still looking for a way to tilt this Quixotic windmill. Here is where my thoughts have led so far.


There is a rough sort of equivalence. If you think about the continuum above, student performance can either be described along an A - F scale or a 4 - 1 scale. If we plot those, then we think about an F as the lowest possible grade and an A the highest. In Standards-based Land, the lowest possible scores are 1's and 2's while the highest are 3's and 4's. I am leaving percentages out of this for two reasons. One is simply that their only purpose is to rank students and that is not the point here. Here, we want to consider an individual's performance. Secondly, percentages don't translate well to an ordinal sort of scale (if you're the kind of teacher who uses 10-point spreads between A - D and a 60-point spread for an F).

Although I don't have the other letter grades plotted here, we might think of them as being evenly spaced along the line. This idea led me to draft the graph shown below.



Here again, things are a bit messy. I chose not to hatch the y-axis because the number of standards evaluated in any given grading period can vary. I think we could safely say that any performance which included no 3's (evidence of standard performance) would be an "F," and student performances of all 3's (or above) would be an "A," but between that, things get interesting. If you're a school which uses + and - along with letter grades, can we use the number of 1's and 2's as a way to distinguish between a C+ and B-?

I have to think some more about the possible practical applications (if any) of a graph like this. Could a teacher, perhaps, use this to develop some sort of algorithm at the end of each grading period? If four standards had been assessed during a given grading period, could you get to a point where two 3's + one 2 + one 1 = C-?

There are different "end users" for grades. I understand that a college will look at a transcript differently than a parent, student, employer, or other teachers. We all see different things in the alphabet soup at that emerges at the end of a reporting period. As a teacher, my most important goal is that students can explain why they have earned the grades that they have---that they know what their grades represent. I don't have any way to have those conversations with the other stakeholders, but I would like to think that we're all more or less on the same page. Maybe that's the real purpose behind the number-crunching.

Labels: grading

At the end of July, I'm doing a three-hour workshop on standards-based grading for the state. It's my first opportunity to spread the good word. I'm not quite as evangelical as Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, however I'm not so sure that wouldn't be such a bad thing. My passion is at a fairly feverish level, but I think telling people that I'm gonna get medieval on their asses in terms of their bad grading practices might put them off. Besides, I'd look terrible in a 'fro. Therefore, a kinder, gentler approach is more appropriate, I realize, especially since the session is geared toward those who have seen the light and are just looking for some shepherding toward the promised land of grading goodness. Is that enough euphemisms for one paragraph? Shall we move on?

Anyhoo, I'm working on my presentation and things are really starting to shape up. I'm applying a UbD'ish approach to the agenda. The Big Idea is Standards-based grading practices can and should be implemented in all classrooms. There are three Essential Questions to guide the afternoon: What is the role of grading within classrooms?, What does standards-based grading "look like" in practice?, and How can we effect change in grading practices?

Beyond that, the agenda breaks down as follows:

• A problem-based formative assessment to kick things off. I plan to use a scenario based on the truant kid to see what the various "solutions" offered are. This should give me some insight into the various philosophies and roles present. I'll share my solution, which has a nice connection to supporting motivation in the classroom.
• From there, we're headed into examining the first Essential Question via a brief discussion of student motivation and grading in general. (Yes, based heavily on my EdD work.) I think the interesting point to ponder along the way will be "Would we have the WASL if grading practices were standards-based?"
  
• The second Essential Question is where we'll spend the bulk of the time that we have. This is the "Nuts and Bolts" section. We'll start by looking at Communication Tools (equal vs. fair, grading policies, working with various stakeholders...) and then Grading and Feedback (using formative and summative information, 4-3-2-1 scales, wording and delivering feedback, getting students to reflect on improvements). It's off to the land of Record-keeping and Paper Pushing after that, including gradebooks and number crunching (more on this tomorrow). This section ends with Consequences. What do you do about student behaviors now that you aren't including them within the grades for learning? For each of these sections, I am planning various activities for the participants.
  
• Finally, the last Essential Question will be addressed through a discussion of why the use of best practices in grading isn't more widespread and what we can do to change that.
• The summative assessment will be based off the issue I had with a senior this year. This is probably the stickiest thing I've faced, especially since graduation was on the line.
  

Can all this be done in three hours? I think so. I tend to run my professional development at a snappy pace. My goal is for people to have several concrete pieces ready to adapt/use in their own classrooms by the end of the day. The majority of professional development I've seen regarding grading has been in presentation mode ("This is what I think and/or what I did."). Very little is participant focused ("What do you need and how can we get you there?") and I want to change that. At some point, theory needs to become practice. And we shouldn't expect everyone to invent their own wheels.

With that in mind, feel free to let me know if there are aspects to my workshop plan that you think should be added/changed/deleted. I'm really looking forward to delivering this workshop and hoping that this little flock will grow.

Labels: grading, staff development

A couple of days ago, I wrote about a kid who had made some poor choices last month and had been told by other teachers he would fail. Guess what? He passed my class. Here is the e-mail mom sent me yesterday:

I wanted to thank you for giving him a chance to redeem himself. You are the only one of his teachers who was willing to do so. I know he has it in him to do well in school; we just need to find a way to keep him motivated.

Again, thank you for everything and have a super summer.

This e-mail is bittersweet. On one hand, I'm happy that the young man got himself turned around and was able to pass my class. And on the other hand, I'm disappointed in his other teachers. What sort of people give up on kids? Why are those people in schools?

I wish I could reply to this e-mail the way I'd like. I'd tell this mother to pull her kid from this school and send him elsewhere in the district. I'd tell her that because her child is not an AP kid, he will never be seen as anything other than scum by his other teachers and he will continue to be ignored. I'd let her know that the administration of the school will never support the kinds of motivational practices her son needs. I might even warn her about the number of families I know who had children who attended this school and later had to deal with suicide attempts or continual bouts of tears every time high school was mentioned. This school will damage her son if she isn't careful.

Instead, I will keep this little jewel of an e-mail to myself and not send a reply. I'm sure that she's not expecting one. And in the future, I will remember this lesson about grades and wish that this young man holds on to some hope, too.

Labels: grading

One of my goals this year was to implement standards-based grading practices. I won't claim that it was always simple, but I have to admit that it wasn't that big of a shift, either. The biggest changes have to occur in your philosophy. Once you've made peace with the fact that you're not going to use grades as rewards and punishments or reflections of student behavior, other things fall into place. Yes, I did have to bite my tongue several times this year. How often in the past have I taken points off a grade because students didn't clean up a lab station? Or were noisy after finishing a test (while others were still working)? How many times have I exasperatedly explained to a dejected kid that even though they got half credit for their late work, it only raised their average a couple of points? Embarrassingly enough---I've done this a lot in the past. But not this year. A few incidences near the end of the year have served as interesting cases-in-point about my changes to grading practices.

For example, I had a student who missed a lot of class not that long ago. It turned out that he was skipping school and by the time all that caught up to him, well, he had been gone a lot of days. He served a week of in-school suspension for his truancies. Five of his teachers told his parents that there was no way he could pass their classes---all those zeros in their gradebooks couldn't be made up due to unexcused absences. It is their right to have such a policy, but I didn't follow suit. The kid made some bad choices, to be sure. But he had a school applied punishment for that. Why should I kick him with a grade, too? I can't imagine having to come to school for the last month knowing that nothing you would do would matter...that because of something stupid, others were going to make a mess of your transcript and condemn you to summer school for summers to come. Now, it remains to be seen whether or not he will pass my class. He is still missing several assessments, but he has the choice to show me that he has learned the material. It is definitely one of those "lead a horse to water" sorts of deals; however, in the event that an "F" shows up on his report card for my class, it won't be because I destined him to fail. I sleep a lot better that way.

School has been out for seniors for several days, but I have one who is still coming to class. He didn't graduate, due to missing credit for my class and another one. Here again, the other teacher said that no matter what the kid did, he couldn't get credit. I told mom that if he could show me that he'd learned the material before school was out, he didn't need to do summer school (or come back for a year of super-senior work) for science. As with the first case, it is the kid's choice as to what to do...and interestingly enough, he is choosing to get out of bed and come to school for one class while most of his peers are still in bed.

I also have a young lady who plagiarized all the text for a project. She is smart enough to know better and we (as a class) had talked about my expectations for their performance and disapproval of copying the work of another. I know that in college or the workplace, she would be booted out for her poor efforts...but this is not college nor a workplace. My job is to get them ready for those environments. So, I talked to her about what she'd done and why it wasn't acceptable---either for my class or elsewhere. I didn't give her a zero or send her to the office. I did make sure that she understood what her responsibilities were and gave her an "incomplete" in the gradebook until things are properly done. I hope that I've helped her reflect on things and learn a lesson she can apply to future assignments. The result is the same as the more negative approach of giving her a zero and telling her "too bad," it's just that in my newer approach, I haven't excused her from doing the learning. She still has to do the project...and do it right.

There are still some things I need to work out with this grading system. Communication with all stakeholders is a continuing challenge because it is a different way of approaching grades. I think, however, that I finally have a system which is congruent with my beliefs as an educator: what happens in the classroom is about students and their learning.

Update: If you've reached this post from a search engine, you can access all standards-based grading information for this blog (and there's quite a bit) by clicking on the grading label. It's greatly appreciated if you would leave a comment as you look around! Also, I am available for presentations and workshops if you need more resources and information on best practices in grading. Contact me for more information.

Labels: grading

I've been sending out some proposals in order to present at various conferences. I've been marinating in a lot of learning for the last few years. It's time to give back...time to get my name out and about. I presented at WERA this spring...OSPI is on tap for the summer...and now NSTA is letting me join in on the fun in the fall. (I am hoping for ASCD next spring.)

If you find yourself in the Portland, Oregon, area in the fall, come join me for a rollicking good hour around standards-based grading at the NSTA regional convention.

Labels: grading, staff development

Most teachers I know who are working to apply standards-based grading practices in the classroom have a struggle around what a "four" looks like. I have heard arguments that such a level is superfluous, and for the most part, I'm inclined to agree. If the kid can earn a three (i.e. meets standard), then isn't that the goal?

Someone recently pointed me toward a site for Highland Tech High in Anchorage, Alaska. Standards-based grading is the norm there and they have a unique way to define a level four performance. In order to earn a four (i.e. exceeds the standards), one student has to be able to teach another student to mastery. It is a variation on the old med school mantra of "See one, do one, teach one." I like this idea in the sense that it would require a student to have enough of a mastery of a concept that they would be able to apply it in a new context: another learner. I would guess that plenty of teachers have had the experience where you've tried to present/explain/explore a concept with kids...only to have one student pipe up and clear up the remaining confusion for peers. Sometimes learning takes a new way of looking at the information and as teachers, we can't always think of every possibility. My only concern with this model would be any added expectations of the "master" students. I have said over and over again that I do not believe kids should be teaching tools. However, there is a difference between requiring that a student tutor a peer and offering the option of developing their application of learning.

Would this option work for elementary students, too? It might. I think that at the secondary level, you could give more assessment responsibilities to the kids (How do you know that your classmate has met the standard?), younger children might not be ready. I have seen very young children teaching one another, so I think it's possible they might be recruited to help with letter naming or math facts---especially with a protocol. Here again, I struggle with whether or not this would look more like a requirement or an option. Is a first-grader really going to care about a four on their report card...or would a parent care more?

What do you think a four represents?

Labels: grading

The faculty at Stanford Law School voted last week to approve a grade reform proposal that would eliminate letters and replace them with four levels of achievement. The decision came after a long period of discussion among students and faculty that weighed issues such as collegiality, anxiety and fairness. The debate may be spreading to other law schools across the country.

Stanford’s new system — which will award grades of honors, pass, restricted credit and no credit — resembles that at Yale Law School and Berkeley Law School.

Those who support the change at Stanford argue that shifting from the precision of letter grades to broader categories will reduce some pressure and refocus students’ and professors’ energies on classroom learning. Others worry that de-emphasizing students’ GPAs could disadvantage them with potential employers, although that hasn’t proven to be an issue with new Yale or Berkeley lawyers.

“The new system includes a shared norm for the proportion of honors to be awarded in both exam and paper courses. No grading system is perfect, but the consensus is that the reform will have significant pedagogical benefits, including that it encourages greater flexibility and innovation in the classroom and in designing metrics for evaluating student work,” wrote Stanford Law dean Larry Kramer to students and faculty in an e-mail on Thursday.

There's a whole lot more to be found in the Inside Higher Ed article on Stanford Law dropping letter grades. Is it possible that standards-based grading is making its first forays into universities? As you might imagine, there is some trepidation expressed in the article. Maybe Stanford and Yale can get away with doing this because of who they are.

“Good for them, but this fluffy grading is the luxury of schools in like the Top 5 where grades don’t matter as much anyway,” wrote one commenter. “If you went to a 20-something school like I did, you need to be able to show you were in the top-whatever % of your class to get into BigLaw, let alone Federal clerkships.”

Fluffy grading? You mean grading based on learning? Learning which is collaborative and not c