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Grading and Reporting on Student Learning

What is it? A system of

assessing and reporting that

describes student progress in

relation to standards. When a

student demonstrates mastery

of a standard, he/she can begin

on the next level of standards

for that subject. The focus is

LEARNING!

What’s CC all about?

Common Core State Standards provide

teachers an opportunity and a challenge: to

help students UNDERSTAND what they are

learning and APPLY and TRANSFER what they

learn…. That equals DEEP LEARNING. It

means ALL learners have to learn to think in

complex and creative ways.

Step 1: Teach Up

TEACHING UP is rooted in Carol Dweck’s “Growth

mindset” and how a person’s willingness to work hard

encourages and informs hard work. Teachers with

growth mindsets believe the brain is malleable and can

become smarter. Teaching Up means planning

instruction for the broadest range of learners. It includes

aiming high and building scaffolding to help all kids reach

the top.

Teachers think of the most thought-provoking, interesting

lessons to ensure kids want to invest energy in a

complex question, issue, and/or master skills for success

with critical content!

Step 2 – Learning TargetsThe key to challenging CC curriculum is understanding

the role of standards in curriculum and what it means

to use them to engage student thinking and promote

understanding. Standards are IMPORTANT in designing

curriculum, but they are NOT the curriculum!

To decide which standards are most important,

determine what a student should know,

understand, and be able to do as a result of a

segment of learning. Be thoughtful in selecting

standards that will contribute most to student

understanding of critical content. These become our

learning targets or essential skills!

Step 3: Designing Lessons

To create lessons that are responsive, we reflect on our learners. We use three questions to guide the process:

1. How can I deliver learning targets for my students so they engage, make sense of, and use what they learn?

2. In what order will it make most sense for students to encounter, practice, and apply what they are learning?

3. How long is it reasonable to spend on each segment of teaching/learning, knowing there must be flexibility?

So….Determine which Standards to cover?What to know

What to understandWhat to do

Step 4: Assessing Formatively

Assessment FOR learning – to monitor development of student knowledge, understanding, and skill.

Formative Assessments - * sample student learning rather than assess thoroughly

* are short

* rarely graded

* Give great teacher feedback

* Give opportunity for kids to analyze results using clear guidelines, rubrics

* Lead to instructional adjustment

Step5: Refining Instruction

When we refine instruction we ask ourselves, “What approach to tomorrow’s lesson will help me best serve each student?” The answer is a three-part process:

1. Recall targets of the assessment – if we don’t have clarity on what we are measuring we can’t instructionally get useful information from formative assessment responses.

2. Determine patterns in student responses. This is where you can cluster students based on what they know or don’t know.

3. Decide what comes next – again, find patterns in student responses and cluster students for practice targeted at their next steps in learning.

Step 6: Scaffolding and Extending Challenge

Effective challenge for students

stretch them beyond the

comfort zone and requires

teacher support, peer support,

and/or both.

Step 7: Assessing Summatively

Assessment OF learning:

Summative assessment comes after

kids have had appropriate time to both

encounter and make sense of new

knowledge, understanding, and skill.

They ARE usually graded.

Step 8 Leading and Managing for Success with Challenge

Managing routines includes:

• knowing how to start and stop a class smoothly

• when and how to move around the room to complete tasks effectively

• how to tune in assignments, get help, etc.

Why Change Practices?

Douglas Reeves states, “If you want to

make just one change that would

immediately reduce student failure rates,

the most effective place to start would be

challenging prevailing grading practices.”Grades SHOULD

provide accurate,

specific, and timely

feedback designed to

improve student

performance.

Change often happens TO us.

Think about Technology…

It evolves to address a need for improvement.

Why can’t we have the same philosophy about change in education?

Small Group Discussions on Chapter 1 from

GRADING SMARTER NOT HARDER by Myron Dueck

Chapter 1: Grading:• How does Behavior-Based Grading

Contribute to Statistical Sabotage? What are common grading practices at your school?

• What are some possible solutions for addressing incomplete work?

• What is wrong with using zeroes?

• What could be a solution for late work?

Three commonly used grading policies

• Use of zeroes for missing work

• Using the average of all scores

• The single project, test, lab, etc., that will make or break the students.

How SHOULD Grades be Determined?

1. Examine student performance on assignments and assessments

2. Give more weight to recent

information in the unit or quarter

3. If necessary, discuss content with student to shed

light on his/her progress

4. Eliminate the use of zeroes.

NEXT MONTH…..

Chapter 2: Homework

“Why do you keep asking for my homework? I never have it done and I don’t think I ever will!”

Between now and then…

Have a conversation with your staff about current beliefs and practices with grading.

Learning Goals/Targets and Success Criteria

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/formative-assessment-example-ela-sbac15 minutes

Questions to think about while watching the video:

How does the teacher involve her students in establishing the learning and success criteria?

What observations does the teacher make during the discussions?

How does the teacher help kids assess their own learning?

To help students truly understand and OWN the goal, it is very helpful to have students help create the SUCCESS CRITERIA, which helps describe how students will know when they have MET the learning goals! The video shows a formative assessment lesson on effective collaborative discussions. She wanted her students to understand the success criteria of 1. Asking each other questions, and 2. Adding on to what other students said. 

 Learning goals and success criteria truly shift ownership of learning.