Saturday, November 27, 2010
Grading
Our department at school has been having an ongoing conversation about how to grade students. Should we rely heavily on tests or on assignments? Should students be given a list of topics they need to master and be responsible for those topics and not receive a grade at all? Should students who can show mastery of academics but do not finish or turn in assignments receive the same grade as those who do? Elementary schools in the area have begun using a report card without letter grades. Each student receives a list of what was expected to be mastered and then a rating of whether proficiency has been attained. One of the problems with that is when they arrive in junior high and begin receiving grades they do not have the same meaning. We have many 7th graders who are struggling with completing assignments on time and keeping up with grades because they have never had importance. Beginning 7th grade is always a struggle especially with changes in expectations from teachers and organization but perhaps such an extreme difference in grading is not the best for students.
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Several years ago, I helped elementary school teachers and administrators in the initial stages of standards based grading. It was an interesting undertaking--an eye opening experience. At first I was a doubter about the idea of mastery versus non mastery and how a teacher would evaluate students' work. There was a lot of debate on how to prepare students for junior high where they would encounter a letter grading system. When I started teaching 7th grade, I decided to require mastery on some assignments and quizzes. I got tired of the apathy students had towards their grades. Many would settle for mediocrity. I look at certain skills I want the students to learn and master then evaluate them on those skills. If they achieve mastery, I will post their grade. If they don't, I will post it as a zero until they demostrate it. For example, I require 90% mastery on spelling quizzes. If a student doesn't reach it, I allow them to retake it as many times (within reason) until he or she reaches 90%. I do the same on writing assignments. I look at certain skills, I assess them on those things. If they don't demonstrate that skill, I give them a zero until they revise their work. At first, I thought this approach was harsh, but I found that the only motivator was a 0 for a grade. If I simply gave them the actual grade there was no motivation. What has been the parents' response? Positve. Very, very have few actually complained. Once I explain what I am doing and trying to achieve, the parents have liked it.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and great reply by Chris. My school has been debating this same issue for a while now. It is tough, deciding how to grade. The first parent teacher conference I sat in with a student opened my eyes a bit and has had me contemplating it for 5 years now. This issue was a very intelligent kid had literally done nothing in class but had mastered all of the concepts. He was getting an f in a few classes. The parent was very mad that we were failing his son. The father was a doctor. He said my kid can read and do all the math and science already, he has proven it through tests. The student had failed to turn any work in. The asked are you grading on work or mastery? I was ticked at him for questioning what we were doing but he got my gerbils turning the wheel upstairs if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteI still don't have any exact answers but I do grade more on mastery than the other stuff. The mastery is worth quite a bit of points and the other stuff is worth not nearly as much. I don't know if that is the right way to do it but that is what I am doing now.
I have this same conversation with many students and parents. I would not have a problem grading based only on mastery. The problem comes when a student does not do the assignment and thinks it has been mastered. It is a rare student who can pay attention, not do any of the work, and show mastery of the concept. If I gave this option to my students at large and did not count any of their daily math assignments I would have mass failing. I don't know what the answer is but I think we need to come up with some sort of combination of mastery tests and at least a basic demonstration of mastery on a daily level.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has posed many good ideas and experiences. I am a firm believer in separating content knowledge/mastery from work and social behaviors we expect students to learn while gaining their 'education'. An idea to consider further is the role of formative and summative assessment. Technically, a student has all year to master the grade-level content. We try to push them to do it by certain 'benchmarks' throughout the year to make it less overwhelming (think of trying to do all of your AAA's the last week of class!). But, truly, they should have all year to demonstrate 'mastery' of grade-level material.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteAs a sixth grade teacher, I have struggled with the same question. It has been a question that my team and I have debated back and forth over the past several years. We still offer grades to the students on their report cards, but we understand the importance of helping them build good habits of completing work on-time and turning them in. We place a large emphasis on completing assignments and half of their grade is based on completing the work and turning it in. We hope that this in helping them to prepare for jr. high the next year. I think it does encourage students to complete their work because it is not just based on mastery but in taking the responsibility to complete a task.
Garrett