One of many attempts to “fix” the flaws of traditional grading practices, has been the implementation of grading floors. In this video, I provide alternative ways to balance the flaws of the 100 point scale, and traditional grading practices.
This video focuses on practical ways to plan and implement effective formative assessment.
Our Story
Over the past several years, our school has been working to improve our grading and assessment practices. This included identifying flaws in traditional grading practices, and identifying more effective approaches. As a result of this work, we reached a point where marking periods became an obstacle to implementing our practices. More background about the origins of our story can be accessed here and here. Ultimately, we decided to remove marking periods entirely, and transition to a year-long grading period.
Two years ago, after meeting with and getting permission from our Superintendent, our school piloted a “continual grading period” in sixth grade. We gathered a lot of data in our first year, and solicited feedback from students, parents and teachers on multiple occasions. In addition, my assistant principal @Murphysmusings5 and I were lucky enough to get some guidance from grading guru’s Myron Dueck and Doug Reeves. This definitely helped with communication, planning and implementation.
After making some adjustments, last year we implemented our continual grading period into both sixth and seventh grades. Our second year of implementation went a little smoother, and the overall feedback we gathered was increasingly positive.
A Sign of Success
Last year, thanks to the amazing efforts of our teachers, we ended the year with no retentions, and not one student who qualified for summer school. I’ve always disliked summer school, feeling it was a poor approach and ineffective. A few years ago, my former assistant principal @mr_tbloom came up with the idea to “put summer school out of business.” We thought that if we implemented remediation and support programs throughout the year, addressing deficiencies and low grades before they grew too large to overcome, we could eliminate the need for summer school. Last year, that vision came to reality. It wasn’t the elimination of marking periods that led to this success, but rather the hard work and effective grading/assessment practices of our teachers which ultimately helped us reach our goal. However, removing marking periods removed a barrier to those practices, allowing them to be more successful.
The Death of Marking Periods
This year, we are implementing our year-long marking period into all grades in our school (sixth through eighth). We are putting to rest an outdated practice which creates arbitrary timelines for learning, and is an obstacle to effective grading and assessment practices. I am proud of the way our teachers have embraced this change, and excited about the success it has yielded. Our staff showed a willingness to take a risk, and so far, it has paid off. Trying to change traditional, entrenched practices such as grading, is often seen as a daunting, if not dangerous task. However, as leaders and educators we have to be willing to challenge the status quo, take a risk, and embrace change. It won’t always be successful, but when it is, it’s pretty cool.
Do marking periods still serve a purpose in your school? Are they an obstacle to effective grading and assessment practices? What are your thoughts?
Traditional grades are at best, arbitrary, and at worst, destructive to student learning. For those of us stuck in a traditional grading system, there are flaws we need to be aware of, and practical fixes we can implement, to at least improve the system in which we are stuck.
Purpose and Beliefs
Flaws: Most teachers and schools have not established a specific or consistent purpose for, or beliefs about grading. In most schools, the teachers within a building establish their own individual policies, practices and calculations of grades. Due to a lack of quality focus on grading in undergraduate programs, these policies and procedures are usually based on their own educational experiences, personal opinions, and other non-research based factors. This inconsistency creates poor communication and understanding of grades for students and parents.
Fixes: School leaders should work collaboratively with faculty to develop a set of beliefs and/or guidelines about grading. For example, Justin Tarte (@justintarte) shared a “Student’s Bill of Assessment Rights” created at his school. If you are a teacher and cannot push for school wide change, create your own set of beliefs and guidelines and clearly communicate them to students and parents.
In our school, we’ve been using the belief statement: “A grade should accurately communicate what a student knows, understands and is able to do, as related to course learning objectives.” We use this statement to guide guide our work related to our grading practices. In our school, we do not have standards based grading, but we have been working to ensure our grades accurately represent a student’s level of mastery of course learning objectives (which we’ve created for each course, based on state standards).
What Gets Graded?
Flaws: Tradition, and lack of understanding related to student motivation have caused most teachers to create a “kitchen sink stew” of items to make up a student grade. Teachers add a little testing, a touch of homework, a pinch of participation, a sprinkle of attendance, and a handful of “secret ingredients” to create their own, individual grading recipes. Apart from the confusion and inconsistency this creates for students, it also creates an inaccurate reporting of student learning. This links back to the need for a belief statement. If we believe grades should accurately reflect student learning, then adding things like attendance, behavior and work completion make the reporting of actual learning, inaccurate.
Fixes: When discussing or evaluating WHAT we grade, there are a few topics that always seem to come up in discussion. First is the grading of formative assessments (ex: homework; classwork; some quizzes). Since formative assessments are used to provide feedback, drive instruction, and guide student learning, their purpose is not to be included in a grade. Teachers should only be including summative assessments in their grade calculation. Rick Wormeli has stated that a teacher has the power to ultimately decide when an assessment becomes summative. This means that teachers have the power to allow redo’s and retests in order to provide additional opportunities, after an intervention, to reassess. The student’s grade should then reflect the new, and hopefully improved, assessment score. Averaging the first and second scores, or deducting points for attempts, would then fail to meet our previous criteria of reflecting an accurate grade.
The other topic that inevitably comes up is the inclusion of behaviors into a grade. Things such as attendance, participation, work ethic, or taking points off for late work, would lead to an inaccurate reporting of the academic grade. However, these behaviors could certainly be reported elsewhere on a grade report, as they provide important feedback to students and parents.
Weighting
Tom Petty once sang: “The wai-ai-aiting is the hardest part.” Well, when it comes to traditional grading, I find that the “weighting” of assessments is the hardest part.
Flaws: How many teachers participated in education courses or professional development on the practice of weighting assessment items or assessments in general? The answer here is “very few.” So, in a traditional grading system, how do teachers determine the appropriate weight, or “number of points”, to assign to each question, task, or assessment? At best, the answer is “arbitrarily.” Often times, teachers assign a certain number of points based on the type of question or task. Test? 100 points; Quiz? 50 Points; Homework? 2 Points; Multiple Choice question 3 points each. Essay question? 30 points.
When I created assessment as a teacher, I would assign a number of points based on how difficult the question. The assignment of points ignored the amount of course content, or number of objectives I was assessing with a question, task, project or test. On a test, I would sometimes assess a lower level skill, but through the use of an essay question. I would assign it 20-30 points. My essay prompt asking students to compare and contrast the Virginia and New Jersey Plans was really only assessing my students’ ability to recall the similarities and differences of the plans. This was a low level task void of evaluation or analysis. At the time, it seemed good to me. It was an essay question afterall. I imagine other well intentioned teachers have made similar mistakes.
Fixes: This is a challenge! However, teachers in our building have been working to assign a weight, or number of points, to an assessment based on the amount of learning objectives it assesses. For example, if their course has 100 learning objectives for the year, they would assign up to four points for each objective. This allows them to grade the assessment of the objective using a 4 point scale. Therefore, the score of the assessment would be based on the student’s performance on each learning objective assessed. Focus on learning over product. One student may be able to demonstrate mastery through a conversation, another may do best offering a presentation of the content, while a third most accurately demonstrates learning on test. If the points are based on demonstration of mastery, the method in which students demonstrate learning, is not as imperative.
Our teachers have also been discussing the fact that not all our objectives are the same level or rigor. We have been working to evaluate objectives and agree upon a 1.0 or 2.0 weight, based on the level or rigor.
Marking Periods
Flaws: In a previous post (found here) I called for an end to marking periods. I explained that in my situation, a student’s final grade was calculated by averaging the grades from each marking period. Aside from averaging being a bad practice itself, giving each marking period an equal value/weight was misrepresenting the grade report. The final grade certainly did not meet the criteria for being a mathematically “accurate reflection.” Due to weather, standardized testing, field trips and award ceremonies, not all marking periods were created equal.
Fixes: If marking periods are a problem, why not get rid of them? This year we are piloting a “Continual Grading Period” with our sixth grade students. In this model, the entire year serves as one long marking period. This allows teachers to implement best practice in reteaching and retesting without the frustration of arbitrary deadlines. The continual grading period also eliminates the unfair weighting of clearly unequal marking periods. How did we make this magic happen? The steps, process, and reflection on this endeavor will be shared in a later post.
Setting a purpose and beliefs about grading, deciding what gets grading, developing weighting methods, and establishing a fair way to report student learning are key first steps for those of us stuck in the traditional grading system.
What are some other practices or strategies we can use to improve grading practices in a traditional model?
Grading practices can have a major impact on student learning. However, grading is often an overlooked aspect of classroom culture. We must remember that everything we do impacts our relationships with students. Sometimes our grading practices create a culture of grading, rather than learning. We need to make sure our grading practices promote trust, reflection and growth, not a “gotcha” culture of rewards and punishment. The purpose of grading is to accurately communicate learning. They should be used as a communication and reflection tool to promote student growth and learning. Grades should not be for rewarding, punishing, ranking or sorting students.
Creating a Culture of Learning, Not Grading
Most teachers would agree they would like their classroom to be a supportive learning environment. However, many times, their approach to grading sends a different message. For example, when teachers do not accept late work, they are putting the grade in front of the learning. They send the message that the learning demonstrated is not as important as the grade that must be enforced due to the behavior of turning in the work late. When teachers put the importance of behavior in such a high position that the learning no longer matters, they are destroying a culture of learning. Grades should not be used as punishments for student behavior. Too often, teachers hit students with the “grading paddle” as punishment for not following directions on an assignment or failing to follow protocol for submitting work. These behaviors rarely have to do with the learning that is aligned with standards, but instead fall in the category of miscellaneous things teachers choose to grade based on personal preference.
Another example is when teachers assign zeros for students who don’t complete assignments and just move on. Many teachers will argue this practice is done to “teach” responsibility. However, punishing a student with a bad grade for a behavior doesn’t “teach” anything. If this was a successful teaching method, we’d have much more responsible students. No student would ever get a second zero because they were “taught” responsibility. This is just not the case. The reality is that the student who receives the first zero usually follows up with several more zeros because the teacher didn’t hold them accountable to the right thing, which is the learning.
How Re-Testing / Allowing Re-Do’s Improves Learning
If a student fails to demonstrate the knowledge and/or skills on an assessment, and the teacher moves on to the next unit with no additional follow-up, the learning becomes secondary to pacing and grading. Learning must come first. There must be a level of reteaching and reassessing to show the importance of learning the content or skills to students. When teachers just move ahead and plow into the next unit, they send the message that the learning not attained during the previous unit, really wasn’t that important.
How else do grading practices communicate a culture of learning, or grading? Share either view.
Looking to implement effective grading practices, I recommend:
Our school’s journey toward improving formative assessment begun two years ago with our faculty reviewing and discussing a list of Fundamental Instructional Practices (FIP’s). As a group, we chose formative assessment as the practice we felt was the most high-leverage and worth focusing our attention and professional development. Over the course of the next two years, our School Instructional Leadership Team (SILT) made up of 14 teachers and 2 administrators (@MurphyMusings5 and I) began to study, plan, implement, monitor and revise formative assessment definitions, frameworks and planning documents.
Establishing a Common Understanding
After our faculty chose formative assessment, we first had to build our common vocabulary on the topic of assessment. At a faculty meeting we compared summative and formative assessments, including definitions, characteristics, examples and non-examples. We eventually created a summary document we titled a Formative Assessment Overview. As a group, our common initial understanding of formative assessment was that it was something we did (check for understanding), rather than an ongoing process. Checking for understanding would become just one step in this process.
Developing a Framework
Over the next few months we also began to create a Formative Assessment Framework, including a working Theory of Action. This document is still in revision, but the goal is to create a framework to help guide us in the systematic evaluation of implementation. The framework would not be used to evaluate individual teachers, but instead, as part of the Instructional Rounds process which takes a systemic look at school-wide implementation of a specific practice.
Identifying a Process
After initially creating our formative assessment framework, it became evident to our SILT that although we kept referring to formative assessment as a “process”, we actually lacked the identification or formalization of this process.
So now we needed a process. However, instead of attempting to develop this from scratch, we began reviewing books and literature on the topic and we found exactly what we were looking for in the book “The Formative Assessment Action Plan” by Nancy Frey and Doug Fisher. In their book, Frey and Fisher outline a practical four-step process for formative assessment. We immediately ordered copies of their book for our entire SILT and began our work to adapt their process to make it our own. We tweaked the names of the steps a bit, but ultimately stuck with the process. In addition, we worked with our faculty to create and revise a practical planning document that could be used to assist in their thought and planning process when designing formative assessment.
The process to create these documents and develop our understanding of formative assessments involved monthly meetings with our SILT, as well as the devotion of faculty meeting and professional development time. Many of these meetings were led by teachers who were part of our SILT. This was work we believed in and our teacher-leaders invested a lot of time and effort to ensure the high quality results that could be transferred into the classroom.
Back to Basics
After implementing the formative assessment process into classrooms throughout our building, through observations it became apparent that we could not accomplish steps 2-4 to a high degree of quality before we first were able to appropriately set the purpose for learning. Our course curricula lacked clear, specific, student-friendly learning objectives. If we were going to engage students in the formative assessment process, they first had to be able to understand the learning objectives. After modeling and sharing examples of student-friendly learning objectives, including the use of “I Can” statements, we allocated numerous hours of time during faculty meetings and professional development for teachers to write objectives for their courses. This involved reviewing curriculum, pacing guides, unit and lesson plans. Teachers worked together to create “I Can” statements for each unit in their curriculum and began to communicate them to students on a daily basis in their classrooms.
Modeling the Practice
As teachers began to implement the use of student-friendly learning objectives into their classrooms, building administrators modeled steps 3 and 4 of our formative assessment process by giving ongoing, specific feedback to individual teachers so they could continue to improve their practice.
Next Steps
Our next steps as a school include revising our Formative Assessment Framework to better reflect the four-step process we developed. In addition, our faculty survey feedback and observational data show that we need to spend professional learning time on methods and strategies related to Step 3: Feedback and Step 4: Follow-Up.
Reflection
During this two-year journey we have learned so much TOGETHER. I think this is the best outcome from this process and journey. A group of teachers (SILT) took a leadership role in improving instruction, engaged the faculty, and devoted an appropriate amount of time for the work. During this time, our school did not focus solely on formative assessment, but also on Questioning, Grading Practices and other topics. However, our formative assessment work is where we really invested ourselves and has helped us create a culture focused on improving instruction.
How does your school create a culture that focuses on improving instruction?
In many schools, including the one in which I work, teachers have adopted great practices such as ongoing formative assessment, re-teaching, re-testing and allowing students to re-do assignments. However, even with the implementation of these successful grading and instructional practices, the old “learning clock” still counts down to the end of the marking period. It’s like trying to beat the sand timer in a board game. All learning must be complete before all the sand gets to the bottom on the hour glass, or it’s too late. So, why?
Why do we have a system that encourages teachers to race against the clock to jam in one last project or test before the end of the marking period. I would argue, we no longer need these arbitrary time limits for learning in our current system.
With instructional approaches such as standards-based grading, grading for mastery, objective-aligned assessments, re-takes, and re-do’s; Do marking periods create arbitrary time constraints on opportunities for learning? When marking periods are removed, we promote a growth mindset approach to learning, students can continue to strive toward mastery, being exposed to multiple ways of learning, as well as multiple attempts/methods to demonstrate their learning.
With the ability for parents to check grades online, at any time, the need to periodically update parents via report cards no longer exists. I know some will argue that not all parents have access grades online. However, for the sake of this blogpost, I am focusing on the majority. After all, more people own a cell phone than a toothbrush. Another argument against the removal of marking periods is that a new marking period gives students a fresh-start, or a clean slate. However, by implementing some of the practices I mentioned above (re-testing and re-do’s), students are constantly and continually given a fresh-start, and new chance at learning.
Another flaw in traditional marking periods is their equal weight. In our system, each of the four, 46 day marking periods, ends in a grade that is weighted equally. But any teacher will tell you that not all marking periods are created equally. When ten days in the third marking period (22%) are taken up by standardized-tests, how can teachers and students accomplish the same amount of learning as in the second marking period. However, our current system weights all marking periods the same when calculating a student’s final grade.
There is much more to consider when it comes to evaluating grading and assessment practices, however, the removal of marking periods is something worth more consideration.
What thoughts or ideas do you have about traditional grading practices that should be re-evaluated?
Update: Our school is currently (2015-16 school year) piloting a continual, year-long grading period for all our sixth grade courses. We have removed the traditional four marking periods and have one ongoing grading period. So far, so good! More updates to come in future posts.
* This blog post was co-authored by Erin Murphy (@MurphyMusings5; psumurphette.com)
As a former social studies teacher, I loved to design elaborate projects that required students to work together in groups to create something that looked REALLY cool. The students would often spend weeks, inside and outside of school, researching information and working on creative ways to present it to others. Although some of the results of these projects did look REALLY cool, the project itself didn’t really result in much high-level learning. Over time, I learned a few guiding principles to designing projects, which really improved the level of learning for students, and often saved a lot of instructional time. Here are a few things I’ve learned:
1) Identify the specific learning standards, anchors or objectives.
Start with the end in mind. Of course, we’ve all heard of the backward design model. However, this is a crucial question step that will guide the approach to other questions. When choosing objectives, make sure they are higher level objectives. Having students research information on a topic, put it into a PPT, Prezi, Poster, or any other presentation tool, isn’t very high level if they aren’t required to “DO SOMETHING” else with that information. For example, I use to assign a ‘President Project’ which required students to research and present a ton of information on an assigned U.S. President. The presentations looked cool, but all they accomplished were students proving they could find and present information. There was no evaluation, synthesis or higher-level thinking required. It was like a fancy book report. Very little meaningful or challenging learning was accomplished. Instead of having students research information and report it in some way (almost the equivalent of finding a pile of rocks and moving them from one side of the road to the other), have students answer a question based on their research. Have them evaluation the research or synthesize data or information and then answer a question or solve a problem. The big question is: What are students required TO DO with the information? If the answer is just, report it out using a fancy presentation tool, then it doesn’t meet criteria for a quality project.
2) Create an assessment criteria.
What will be assessed? How will it be assessed? How much point value will be assigned to this project? There are a few things to consider here. First, make sure you are assessing the identified learning objectives. Often times, teachers attribute points to cover pages, neatness, effort and other areas that are not aligned with the actual learning objectives. We can teach teach and model these things, but we need to make sure we are assessing and grading are the actual learning objectives. This is not to say that some point value cannot be allotted for things like neatness of a presentation, but it should be a very small percentage, as that usually was not the goal of the learning. If neatness, presentation skills, organization, design, etc will be assessed, be sure you have taught and modeled the skills. We cannot expect students to meet expectations for these elements, if we have not made them clear. It’s not really fair to grade things we don’t explicitly teach.
Second, the number of points should be somewhat relative to the number and level of learning objectives the project assesses. Is it fair to give a 100 point test, which assesses 10 learning objectives, then assign 100 points to a project that only assesses three? This is something to consider when setting a point value. Just because it takes a week, doesn’t mean it must be worth more points. Try to find a balance. A clear rubric can help. Create a rubric that breaks down the assessment of learning objectives and sets values for different levels of mastery. Review the rubric with students and ask for their feedback prior to finalizing. You can also allow students to help create the rubric. I never did this as a teacher, but wish I would have. I learned about this idea last year and have heard of some great approaches and examples. One would be, to start with a project exemplar/model that would normally earn a “C”. Have students give input on what would improve it to a “B” and an “A”. Document and create the rubric based on their feedback. There are other ideas, but that is just one. Discussing, and not just reviewing, the rubric prior to giving to students to begin their projects is extremely valuable to improve clarity of expectations.
3) Set a timeline.
The timeline should be relatively based on the number of specific learning objectives the project will assess, and somewhat on the assigned point value. For example, if it only assesses two objectives, a three-week timeline is probably not appropriate. This was definitely an area in which I grew a lot over time. Some of my early projects would take weeks, yet only measure a couple, low-level objectives. Be sure to consider this when designing a project.
4) Determine Student Groupings.
Should this project be individual? Partners? Groups? Ask yourself, what are the benefits of each option. Make sure there is some rationale for your decision. For example, are there four somewhat equal parts that each student can do, and you can assess individually? If so, place the students in groups for four. When assigning group projects, make sure their are roles for each student that hold them accountable to the learning. This will not always be perfect, but one student should not suffer, or be rewarded, for the work of another. Individual assessment and fair grading are usually some of the biggest challenges to designing group projects.
5) Evaluate the need for Differentiation.
Projects lend themselves to differentiation. Differentiation should be based on student readiness, interest, or learning style. Differentiating the product is a good place to start… When assigning a question for students to answer, or a problem to solve, the available options for students to show their knowledge are many. Allowing students to choose their product is one way to differentiate. As the teacher, you can provide some options, but also allow for student choice. You can also differentiate content by assigning a series of questions, or problems, students can choose to answer or solve. Remember, WHAT (content, process or product) you differentiate should be based on WHERE your students are (readiness, interest, or learning style). A differentiated project increases student engagement, when it is appropriately rigorous and allows for student choice.
6) Stay involved.
Designing a project is hard work. While students work with their groups, it is tempting to spend this time catching up on other things: finally grading the papers put on hold while preparing this learning experience. However, this is when students need their teacher the most. It is imperative that we remain engaged with the students while they work on the project. In the design phase, brainstorm all of the mistakes or stumbles students might experience. Create a list of guiding questions to help keep the students focused and poised for success. If a project will last more than a few days, build in check points. “Elevator Talks” are a quick and easy way to measure group progress. Visit each group individually and randomly select one of its members. That student has approximately one minute – about the length of an elevator ride – to fill you in on their group’s progress. We recommend keeping these talks private, just you and the group. It will be important to model this experience with the class, first. Give an elevator talk about the previous day or a favorite TV show. Be sure to point out that the talk highlights the most important information, but saves the small details.
Designing projects that meet the learning and interest needs of all students is always a challenge. Please share any ideas or insights you may have on the topic.
*This blog post was co-authored by Erin Murphy (@MurphyMusings5; psumurphette.com)
Perfect grading practices don’t exist!
Through our school’s efforts to improve our grading practices, I have come to a few conclusions. First, there is NO perfect grading system. If you are looking for a grading approach that you cannot poke holes in, stop now. Whether it be a 100 point scale, or a 4.0 scale, there will always be a level of subjectivity. Secondly, it is frustrating that we have not yet come up with a way to consistently improve grading outside of the traditional 100 point scale. Standards-based grading has promises, but still some of the same flaws and subjectivity of the 100 point scale. Third, traditional grading may be the biggest farce in all of education. Grades are like hieroglyphics with no translation guide. From one classroom to the next, they have a different meaning. Our district follows the same grading scale to determine a student’s letter grade (ex:94-100 = A), however, they allow a teacher almost complete autonomy in how they determine what criteria get a student to that grade. The sad part is, this is common in most districts. In our school, we will continue working on improving our grading practices (we just uncovered the flaws in the ‘total points’ method), but I wish all schools would have figured out a better way by now. After all, these flaws aren’t new.
My beliefs on grading have been shaped largely by the likes of Rick Wormeli, Doug Reeves and other well-known educational gurus. My goals for grading are for them to communicate learning in a practical and accurate manner. In our world of Student Management/Online grading systems, this doesn’t always come easy. Lately I’ve been working with teachers on trying to fit a standards/objective-based grading approach into our 100 point scale district grading system This has not been easy. We have toyed with ways to convert a 4.0 scale to the 100 point scale, and vice-versa. We have discussed weighting different objectives based on level of skill required. We’ve debated the number of questions to ask in order to adequately assess a student on an objective. We have evaluated marking period timelines and how they limit an objective-based grading approach. We have evaluated a lot!
In the absence of the option to get rid of grades entirely, here are a few of my beliefs about grading which shape my work with teachers to improve our grading practices.
A student’s grade should accurately communicate what a student knows, understands and is able to do, in alignment with standards, anchors and/or objectives.
Summative Grades v. Formative Grades
Summative – grades in which a student has no additional opportunity to show learning.
Formative – grades in which a student has additional opportunity to show learning.
Grading Behavior or Effort
What successes, struggles or challenges have you faced while working to improve grading practices in your classroom or school?
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