Standards+Based+Grading

Here are some emails that might get us started on a discussion of standards based grading.

**Message from Joanna forwarded by Jacki to Faraday ** **From: ** Joanna Miller  FYI: For your next coordinators’ mtg could you bring up the fact that this new grading scale does not let us enter a zero? So if someone does not do an assignment at all he earns a “1,” but if he does it and gets half right it is still a “1.” You can enter zeroes only if you use percentages. If you don’t enter a grade at all, the computer does not count that assignment in the average. I don’t think this is fair.   ______________________________________________________________________________________________________   Hi Joanna, Jacki has forwarded me your email about how to enter a grade for a missing assignment. I am about to email Fernando to determine how we can show that an assignment is not complete in the electronic gradebook.  The standards based grading system does not work like a percentage grading system in that it focuses on an evaluation of learning, not completed work. The grade only reflects our judgement on whether or not, or to what degree a student meets grade level expectation or standards for learning, not behavior or work habits. We do not average 1’s, 2’s and 3’s (or 0’s) to find out if a student has met a grade level standard/benchmark. However, we do need to use information about incomplete assignments to determine an effort grade and to write our comments. If a student has never completed an important culminating assessment assignment, we might say that we cannot determine if s/he has met grade level expectations because we do not have enough information due to missing assignments. If a student is missing several smaller assignments we can comment on work habits, responsibility, etc. and give a low effort grade. Does that make sense? I know that this is a big mental switch! Faraday <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hi Fernando, <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How can teachers note down in their electronic grade books if an assignment was never completed? <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I think that 4th grade teachers want to use this to get an average but that is not how standards based grading works. <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A standards-based grading system does not work like a percentage grading system in that it does not focus on completed work, but on an evaluation of learning that has occurred. The grade reflects a teacher’s judgement on whether or not, or to what degree, a student meets grade level expectation or standards for learning. A judgement on behavior or work habits is separate. So, we do not want to electronically average 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and 4’s (or 0’s) to find out if a student has met a grade level standard/benchmark. This is because different assignments/tests evaluate different standards. Even one assignment can evaluate several standards. An average grade would not give us correct information about how well a student met each of them, but instead give us a number that would be meaningless. Can we make sure that the electronic grade book does not average grades? <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We __do__ want to keep track of information about incomplete assignments to determine an effort grade and to write our comments. If a student has never completed an important culminating assessment assignment, we might say that we cannot determine if s/he has met grade level expectations because we do not have enough information due to missing assignments. If a student is missing several smaller assignments we can comment on work habits, responsibility, etc. and give a low effort grade. <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Faraday <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hi Faraday, <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To make an assignment appear as “missing”: <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Cambria,serif;">1. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Cambria,serif;">Right click on the space where the grade is typed and select “Missing”
 * Sent:** Monday, February 28, 2011 5:43 PM
 * To:** Jacqueline Brick
 * Cc:** Jamie Evans; Lori Anderson
 * Subject:** concern re: new grading scale <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">

<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Cambria,serif;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Cambria,serif;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Cambria,serif;">2. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Cambria,serif;">You can also use this system to mark assignments “Late” or “Exempt”. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The 1,2,3,4 grades are only __enforced for FINAL GRADES__. In other words, each teacher may create their own grading scale to grade their assignments. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A teacher may choose to have a grading scale over 100, or over 50, or whatever they’d like, to calculate an average. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But at the end, the COURSE GRADE, will only take 1,2,3,4. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I hope I made it clear, but if any teacher would like a personal explanation, they can come see me or Jennie. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks, <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fernando <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">___________________________________________________________________________________________________ <span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear Faraday, <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you so much for devoting so much time to this. I read all your emails and Fernando’s responses, and I already use the “missing” assignment label. I understand that standards based grading is fundamentally different, and that ASM is moving in that direction, but of course that does not happen overnight. Our SMS system is still averaging all the grades we enter- whether they be in percent form, 1-4 grading scale, or a scale we devise. The students just receive one final grade on their report card in each subject area, which we want to reflect to what degree they are meeting most of our expectations, right? It is so hard to separate handing in work from meeting expectations, since the work itself is our measure of how the child is doing. I think our kids and parents still just look at the “main” grade in each subject and consider the effort grade as a sub-category, as it appears on our report card. Maybe it will take time to re-educate ourselves, students and parents, and to place more emphasis on the “effort” grade, then, if the content area grade is to reflect only the child’s learning and not the work he/she actually produced. I want to find a way to be fair to kids who always turn work in, otherwise it will appear that kids get higher grades just for being “smart!” I hope you see my dilemma. We have been working hard to use standards-based language with our kids with regard to 6 Traits rubrics and other assignments. I have explained that there are not “good” or “bad” grades, but that we are all in the process of learning, etc. I am just not comfortable with entering “missing” labels for kids with lots of missing work, and seeing their final grade come out “meets expectations.” What are other teachers doing? <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks lots, <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Joanna
 * __<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If you would still like to give the student a zero, it is possible: __**