ERLC Webinar Series Fall 2009

ERLC Webinar SeriesFall 2009 A Repair Kit for Grading - 15 Fixes for Broken Grades Webinar Session 3 With Ken O’Connor

Welcome and thank you for participating in

ERLC Webinar Series Fall 2009 A Repair Kit for Grading - 15 Fixes for Broken Grades #3 Fixes 7, 8 and 9

Presented by Ken O’Connor Assess for Success Consulting kenoc@aol.com www.oconnorgrading.com

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The Essential Question • How confident are you that the grades • students get in your school are: •  consistent •  accurate •  meaningful, and •  supportive of learning? • If grades do not meet these four • conditions of quality they are • “broken,” i.e., ineffective. 3-6

Grading Issues • Achievement (only) • Evidence (quality) • Calculation • Learning (support) 3-7

Grades are broken when they - • include ingredients that distort achievement • arise from low quality or poorly organized evidence • are derived from inappropriate number crunching, • and when they • do not support the learning process. 3-8

For each Fix • What do you think? - PMI • Where are you/school/district now? • Where do you want to go - • you/school /district? 3-9

HANGOVERS FIXES 1 AND 2 3-10

Fixes for ingredients that distort achievement • Don’t include student behaviors (effort, participation, adherence to class rules, etc) in grades; include only achievement. 2. Don’t reduce marks on ‘work’ submitted late; provide support for the learner. 3. Don’t give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek only evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement. 4. Don’t punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades; apply other consequences and reassess to determine actual level of achievement. 5. Don’t consider attendance in grade determination; report absences separately. 6. Don’t include group scores in grades; use only individual achievement evidence. 3-11

Fixes for low quality or poorly organized evidence 7. Don’t organize information in grading records by assessment methods or simply summarize into a single grade; organize and report evidence by standards/ learning goals. 8. Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear descriptions of achievement expectations. 9. Don’t assign grades based on student’s achievement compared to other students; compare each student’s performance to preset standards. 10. Don’t rely on evidence gathered from assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; rely only on quality assessments. 3-12

Fix #7 Don’t organize information in grading records by assessment methods or simply summarize into a single grade; organize and report evidence by standards/learning goals. 3-13

Fix #7 Traditional Guideline For Grading Evaluation Category Expected % Range 1. Quizzes/Tests/Exams 20-30% 2. Written Assignments 15-25% Creative or explanatory paragraphs, essays, notes, organizers, writing folios or portfolios 3. Oral Presentations or Demonstrations 15-25% Brief or more formal presentations or demonstrations,role-playing, debates, skits etc. 4. Projects/Assignments 10-20% Research tasks, hands-on projects, video or audio tape productions, analysis of issues etc. 5. Co-operative Group Learning 5 -15% Evaluation of the process and skills learned as an individual and as a group member 6. Independent Learning 5 - 15% Individual organizational skills, contributions to class activities and discussions, homework, notebooks 70-130% 3-14

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Fix #7 3-16

Fix #7 3-17

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Fix #7 3-19

Fix#7 Stiggins, et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, ETS, Portland, OR, 2004, 289 3-20

Fix#7 Stiggins, et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, ETS, Portland, OR, 2004, 289 3-21

Fix#7 3-22

Fix #7 “The use of columns in a grade book to represent standards, instead of assignments, tests, and activities, is a major shift in thinking . . . Under this system, when an assessment is designed, the teacher must think in terms of the standards it is intended to address. If a (test) is given that covers three standards, then the teacher makes three entries in the grade book for each student - one entry for each standard - as opposed to one overall entry for the entire (test).” Marzano, R., and J. Kendall, A Comprehensive Guide to Developing Standards-Based Districts, Schools, and Classrooms, McREL, Aurora, CO, 1996, 150 3-23

Fix #7 “Systems that are aligned - curriculum, teaching, and assessment - have a greater chance of success for students.” Glenda Lappan, NCTM News Bulletin, October, 1998 3-24

Fix #7 “The principal limitation of any grading system that requires the teacher to assign one number or letter to represent . . . learning is that one symbol can convey only one meaning.. . . One symbol cannot do justice to the different degrees of learning a student acquires across all learning outcomes.” Tombari and Borich, Authentic Assessment in the Classroom, Prentice Hall, 1999, 213 3-25

Fix #7 French???? Reading A Writing A Speaking F Culture A 3-26

Guideline #1 3-27

Fix #7 3-30

Fix #7 3-31

Shorewood, WI. Standards-Based Expanded Format Report Card 223 3-32 O’Connor, K., How to Grade for Learning, Third Edition, Corwin, 2009, 222-223

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2. Focus on Outcomes (Standards) 2.1 All grading procedures will be linked to curricular goals/standards and/or outcomes as determined by Manitoba Education, C & Y. 2.3 When tracking student results, teacher’s grade books will indicate student achievement by goal or outcome as opposed to by the method of assessment. Source: Sunrise (MB) School Division, Grading Guidelines 6-12 3-34

1.1 Teachers grade and report student • progress and achievement based on Florida • standards/benchmarks therefore the Sunshine • State Standards are the grading variables. • 1.3 Teachers measure student attainment • of standards and assign grades based on • predetermined, consistent grading procedures • in the same courses and across grade levels. • Source: Bay District Schools, FL • Classroom Assessment Guidelines (CAG) 3-35

For Fix #7 • What do you think? • + hand clap • - thumbs down 3-36a

For Fix #7 • Where are you/school/district now? • Implementation • A complete • B almost complete • C partial • D limited • E none 3-36b

For Fix #7 • Where do you want to go - you/school/ district? • Implementation • A complete • B almost complete • C partial • D limited • E none 3-36c

Fix #8 Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear descriptions of achievement expectations. 3-37

Fix #8 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.) Adapted from the work of Scott Marion and Annette Bowling, Wyoming Department of Education NCA/WDE School Improvement Workshop, March 6, 2001 3-38

Fix #8 “Performance standards specify ‘how good is good enough.’ They relate to issues of assessment that gauge the degree to which content standards have been attained. . . . They are indices of quality that specify how adept or competent a student demonstration should be.” Kendall, J., and R. Marzano, Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education, First Edition, McREL, 1997, 16-17 3-39

71 72 Fix #8 O’Connor, K., How to Grade for Learning, Second Edition, Corwin, 2002, 71 3-40

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75 Fix #8 3-42

Guideline #2 76 3-43

75 Guideline #2 3-44 O’Connor, K., How to Grade for Learning, Third Edition, Corwin, 2009, 75

84 Guideline #2a 3-45 O’Connor, K., How to Grade for Learning, Third Edition, Corwin, 2009, 84

Fix #8 For classroom assessment Performance Standards = performance descriptors (school, district, state or provincial e.g., A B C D; 4 3 2 1; E M N U) scoring tools (rubrics, etc) + work samples (exemplars) + commentaries on the work samples Adapted from New Standards Sampler, National Center on Education and the Economy, www.ncee.org OVERALL TASK/ GRADE LEVEL/ SUBJECT SPECIFIC 3-46

Fix #8 “My request is that teachers who share a course discuss the consistency of the grades they issue with the intent of eliminating inconsistencies that would be attributable to significant differences in teachers’ expectations.” Craig Olson, Principal “The numbers told a clear story: . . . The head of the Social Studies department had doled out A’s to 43% of his students, while Joe Goracke was at a miserly 19%. In English, Sara Strege with ninety students in three classes handed out 46 A’s, while one of her colleague’s had awarded two A-’s in a class of thirty.” Burkett, E., Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School, Perennial, New York, 2002, 194-195 3-47

ERLC Webinar Series Fall 2009