Kickstart Based upon your teaching experience, write a one

sentence definition for each of the following letter grades. What does the letter signify?

A= B= C= D= F=

Take a minute and define each letter. Share out at your table when everyone is finished.

What do these grades tell you about what students learned?

Standards Based Grading

Learning Targets Understand the differences between the

traditional grading system and standards based grading

Identify the key components of initializing SBG in your classroom

Before you leave today, you will: Create your own definitions of mastery Set up your grade book categories and

percentages

Quick Overview Read the article “Seven Reasons for Standards

Based Grading.”

Respond to the text: *: Ideas, concepts, or comments you like. X: Ideas, concepts, or comments you disagree

with ?: Ideas, concepts, or comments you have

questions about

Differences At A Glance Traditional Grading

System Based on assessment methods

(tests, homework, quizzes, etc)

Usually one grade per assessment

Uses an uncertain mix of assessment, achievement, effort and behavior to determine the final grade.  May use late penalties and extra credit.

Everything goes in grade book, regardless of purpose

Standards Based Grading

Based on learning goals or standards

One grade per goal/standard

Measures achievement only OR separates achievement from effort/behavior.  No penalties or extra credit given.

Selected assessments (tests, quizzes, projects, etc.) are used for grading purposes

Adapted from O’Connor K (2002).  How to Grade for Learning: Linking grades to standards (2nd ed.).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

How do I begin? Create meanings for the grades in your classroom. Set up your grade book.

o Determine which standards you will teacho Determine your definition of mastery for each of those

standardso Determine the categories for your grade booko Determine the percentages for each category *

• Assessments/Projects should be worth over 60% • Homework should not be graded at all (Viewed as practice) • Formative assessments can be recorded but should not be

worth anything (0%)

* It works best if you can come to a consensus for each subject area.

Identifying Standards

Choose 7-12 standards for a set time period (usually a nine week time period)

Determine how you are going to teach the standards

Determine the number of times you need to assess students and how you will assess them o Quizzeso Class discussiono Writing prompts

Definitions of Mastery

With your table groups, use your original definitions of the letter grades in conjunction with the article to create your own personalized class mastery rubric.

Finalize your definitions and record them on the papers provided.

There are two copies: o One for your recordso One for administration to review

Categories and Percentages

Identify the categories for your grade book, such as: o Homeworko Classworko Projectso Assessmentso Writing Assignments

Now that you have the categories, identify the worth of each category.

Be sure to put your categories and percentages on both pages.

Assessment What do students really LEARN?

Assessments help us distinguish between teaching and learning

Assessments A valid assessment has 4-6 questions for each

learning goal/standard Students who do not achieve mastery have the

opportunity to retake the test o Determine how many times a student can retake the testo Determine the criteria for retaking the test (tutoring session

or practice assignments) o Determine the maximum points you will allow students to

earn on a retake

Accommodations: Since all students are given opportunities to retake tests, most of your IEP accommodations are met without taking extra steps.

What I know…What I wish I knew when I

started using SBG

Guest speaker from the middle school

What I plan on changing for next year

Guest speaker from middle school

Want more information?

http://www.fwps.org/cur/sbe/staff/resources/philosophy.html (Articles, books, and websites about SBG)

http://www.wera-web.org/activities/WERA_Winter11/4.8%20CCSS%20&%20Standards%20Based%20Grading%20(1).pdf (in depth PDF about standards based grading)