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“It’s about giving them hope.” DC Everest’s Journey Towards Implementing Best Practices in Grading and Assessment
“Those who implement changes in assessment, grading, and professional practices and
policies risk not only confrontation, but also
unpopularity, social isolation, public humiliation, and
ultimately their livelihoods.”
~Dr. Douglas Reeves
Introduction
•Why “giving them hope”?
• This presentation is simultaneously about teacher leadership and making the essential shift from teaching to learning
Key Questions for Today•With SO MUCH going on in education, what was compelling about a conversation about grading? How did the conversation begin?
•What was our timeline and what helpful resources/examples/artifacts might assist in your journey?
•What are the results? What has changed for students and their learning?
Electronic Version of Our Presentation
• http://dcegrading.weebly.com/
• Our most recently updated presentation and other handouts/resources can be accessed electronically by participants via the above link.
Local Issues
Public School Competition
New StateAccountabilitySystem
Political Polarization
Shifting Demographics
Act 10Changes
EducatorEffectiveness
“NAEPizing”the WKCE
RtI
Smarter, BalancedAssessmentSystem
New SIS
Common Core
Leadership Context: Coherence
Coherence at the Local Level: DCE Levers• Changing demographics• Superintendent/Board goals about “all students”• Continued emphasis on use of UbD and “40-year” learning• Elementary math curriculum change• Board/leadership collaborative discussions about challenges in
front of students and teachers• Literacy focus across all content areas• Strong PLC focus on common assessment and curriculum revision• M.S. grouping pilot and related professional development(Wormeli)• RtI mindset regarding increasing our support and simultaneously
raising our expectations• Enter CCSS: curriculum and assessment, expectations, intervention
conversations continue to evolve
• Grading: the high-visibility statement about what we value in learning that connects curriculum, instruction and assessment
Teacher leaders, leading change… “It’s ALL about learning!”
FROM:Teach, Test…Move
OnTO:Teach, Test…NOW WHAT?
Research Base
• Reeves/Guske (assessment and grading)
• DuFour (PLCs)
• Hattie (meaningful impact…feedback)
Your student’s semester performances are listed below. What is this student’s final grade?
Reality Base: 10,000 Teachers Can’t Be Wrong! (Reeves)
1. C2. C3. MA
(missing assignment)
4. D5. C
6. B7. MA8. MA9. B10.A
Teacher Leaders: Leading Change
“Much of what teachers do is
because that is the way it was
done to them; this is no longer
good enough. It is my hope that
this book will lead teachers to
examine critically their grading
practices. Some of the ideas in
this book challenge long-held
beliefs and practices and create
considerable cognitive
dissonance.”
“Much of what teachers do is
because that is the way it was
done to them; this is no longer
good enough. It is my hope that
this book will lead teachers to
examine critically their grading
practices. Some of the ideas in
this book challenge long-held
beliefs and practices and create
considerable cognitive
dissonance.”
Education?
It's not just gardens that need to be tended...
Everything in education, from
● Attitudes● Buildings● Curricula● …● Zeitgeist Must. Be.
Tended.
“G”“G” for Grade
Small acts of
leadership compound
Infect the supercarrier
s
Bridge more than bond
Trust in trust
Elementary Beginnings
• Prior to 2007, K-5 math report card focused on math facts, accuracy, and work completion
• Teachers struggled to make report card descriptors fit with our Everyday Mathematics program
• Most importantly, the report card failed to inform students or parents what students knew and understood about math
Teachers Asked Themselves...What Was the Purpose of a Grade?
• Informed students of their skills, knowledge; aids them in goal setting
• Informed parents of his/her child’s performance level
• Gave teachers an opportunity to reflect on their teaching in regard to their students’ learning
Getting Everyone on Board
• Fall of 2006: Elementary grade level leaders led inservice on reporting math grades
• All grade levels submitted ideas which followed a similar theme using EDM math strands
• Grade level leaders presented grade level ideas to principals and adminstrative teams for approval
Parent Buy-In• Parents positive comments about the
information included in new standards-based report card for math resulted in rewriting all areas of the elementary report card to reflect more detail in all subject areas.
• Report card grading belief document developed
• New elementary RC was written by committee of K-5 teachers over the summer
Grading Belief Statements Adapted to DCE K-12, February 2010
• We believe that report cards should be a reflection of a student’s knowledge and skills based on assessment of grade level expectations and ideally criterion referenced.
• We believe the evaluating and reporting of students’ proficiencies should be consistent by grade level or department throughout the district.
• We believe proficiency reports should indicate students’ level of performance on key curricular concepts for the current grading period.
• We believe proficiency reports should be a communication tool between teachers, students, and parents, be conducive to teacher input and provide ease of parent interpretation.
• We believe assessment must be based on standards and key course objectives. Multiple measures of assessment must be used which can include performance based assessments and daily observations.
• We believe homework should reflect current learning objectives and be at most, a minimal part of the grade.
• We believe an effort grade should be separate from academic performance and reflect the student’s initiative, behavior, drive, and perseverance.
• We believe modifications and accommodations should be made for any student to allow optimal success in demonstrating knowledge of subject matter. These modifications and accommodations should be documented on the proficiency report.
Turn and Talk
• How close might these belief statements be to your current thinking?
• How about for your “most respected” teachers?
From Elementary Beginnings to Secondary StepsDistrict Grading and Assessment Task Force• Developed our skills, knowledge, experiments, and experience:• Conferences: Tomlinson, Wormeli, Minnetonka, Marzano• Book Studies & Conversations: O’Connor, Hattie, Marzano• Teacher-Led Mini Inservices for each other and colleagues• Team, PLC, and Department Discussions • Sharing resources, examples, and attempts
• Gained strategies, resources, and confidence to not only support each other but also to connect with colleagues who may not have a similar mindset
Fostering Change• As more colleagues joined the conversation, we
realized we needed a more strategic and accessible method to “infect” our assessment culture
• Grassroots Development Process: What do teachers need most?
• How can we bridge to other teacher leaders?
• How to we support our colleagues to encourage best practices?
•What can we do to reduce toxic practices?
• Synthesized and focused our goals
• Touchstone: “We want to fairly and accurately communicate what students know and are able to do.”
5 Key Targets for Teacher Learning• Target Area #1—Prerequisites: Mindset,
Assumptions, Curriculum, Assessment
• Target Area #2—Practices to Reconsider: Practice Experiences, Late Work, Zeroes
• Target Area #3—From Percentages to Criterion- Referenced:
Assessment in Action
• Target Area #4—The Gradebook: Organizing by Learning
• Target Area #5—Manageability: Practical Strategies for Busy Teachers
Professional Development Day Proposal
Our overarching goal is to cultivate an environment where learning is first and foremost. To make this a reality a certain mindset, and some concrete skills/tools, are necessary. Currently recognized best practices in grading encourage us to evolve our practices towards a standards-based approach. Professional development, time, and other support will be essential in making this transition successfully.
• Bring in an outside resource as a keynote presenter
• Include 11 breakout-sessions lead by DCE teacher leaders
• Provide collaborative time for departments/teams
• Identify and provide ongoing resources to support these efforts "after the day"
Professional Development Day
Link to our complete handout: https://
www.box.com/s/08k472gzcszifu0ukld6
Link to our resources:dcegrading.weebly.com
Keynote:Jeff
Erickson
11 Break-Out Sessions by 30 DCE Teachers
“We all are in this together.”
Bottom Up Meets Top Down
From “Grass Roots” to “Grass Fire”
Educating our Board
Teacher Leader Perspective: “What we need to grow”• Empowerment and encouraged
experimentation• Permission to pioneer, to make mistakes• Books, conferences, “mini-conferences”
in-house: timely and accessible• Connections with others looking to
change/grow• Time, time, time with these ideas, each
other
School Board Policy
Turn and Talk
• Who are your teacher leaders? Your bridge builders?
• What do they most need to flourish and how can this assist in advancing student learning beyond individual classrooms?
Positive Impacts on Students and School Culture• In a very challenging political and economic time we’ve made
huge, positive changes * (implementation data regarding toxic practices, spread of 4-point scale)
• Assessments more often measure achievement; grades are becoming more closely connected to achievement and are not a “well kept secret.” (RtI and CCSS essentials!)
• We have raised our expectations of students…and of ourselves. Failure is not an option and students are expecting/asking for/demanding practices that emphasizes learning. Conversations are about learning…it’s about “getting it”, not “when you get it”: training “learners, not workers.” *(re-assessment plans across secondary buildings, potentially, student perception)
• Teacher leaders: positioned to help us continue moving forward.
One 7th-Grade Student’s Perspective:
Do you believe your teachers are more concerned about your grades or your learning?• “Your learning—they want you to know and be able to know things for the future.”
Do you believe your parents are more concerned about your grades or your learning?• “My grades—they want me to get good grades for college.”
Pitfalls…What We’d Do Differently
• Time: 2.5 years to where we’re at, and we’ve got a long way to go
• Outdriving our headlights: rapid fire spread beyond a core group and growing pains
• Parent education* (discussion of how quickly we moved and how this is a step we need to get taken care of)
• Technology (discussion of current limitations and how that causes frustrations)
One Parent’s Perspective:
Helpful Resources• http://dcegrading.weebly.com/
• O’Connor’s How to Grade for Learning
• Marzano’s Formative Assessment & Standards-Based Grading
• Popham’s Everything School Leaders Need to Know About Assessment
• Wormeli’s Fair Isn’t Always Equal
• Hattie Visible Learning and Dweck Mindset
• Model District to check-out: Minnetonka, MN
Questions and Contact Information
Barbara Lawrence 3rd Grade Teacher, Rothschild Elementary, [email protected]
Leslie Jeffers 7th Grade English, DC Everest Middle, [email protected]
Chad Brecke Technology Education, DC Everest Junior High, [email protected]
Mike TeukeHigh School Science, DC Everest High School, [email protected]
Casey Nye Principal, DC Everest Middle, [email protected]
Thank you!
