Grading the Top End

Ty Duncan Senior SpecialistRegion 17 Education Service Centertduncan@esc17.netTwitter@InstructionalLe

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“I haven’t got the slightest idea how to change people, but I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.”

---David Sedaris

What Do Grades Communicate?• Failure?• Laziness?• Lack of Content Understanding?• Perseverance?• Family Support?• Great Teaching?• Great Learning?• “Playing the Game”?• Memorizing?

Student A Student B

HW 1 0 100HW 2 0 100Quiz 1 100 63HW 3 0 100HW 4 0 100Quiz 2 100 54HW 5 0 100HW 6 0 100Quiz 3 100 61Participation 90 90Unit Test 100 58 6 Week Ave. 53.1 80.2

Quiz –daily grade; Test = 3 daily grades

Ms. Smith’s 9th Grade Algebra Class – 1st 6 Weeks

• What do/should grades measure?• How much of a role do/should attitude and effort play in a grade?• What role does/should homework play?• What is the purpose of a report card grade?• Do/Should report card grades and TAKS scores be similar?

Becoming a Great High School

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109052.aspx

Examining Highly Questionable Grading Practice

• The Practice of Giving Students Zeroes• The Practice of Combing Academic Performance with Citizenship and Work Habits

• The Practice of Giving Extra Credit

Becoming a Great High School, pgs 76-83, 2009

• Doing the Wrong Thing Under the Guise of the Real World

• THE REAL WORLD IS LEARNING FROM FAILURE.• Lesson from the Video Game Industry• Have you ever been late to a faculty meeting

or turned in lesson plans late and been fired for it.

• We maybe teaching children a “real world” that simply does not exist.

The Bell CurveNorm-Referenced Tests

• e.g. ITBS, SAT, GRE, LSAT, Stat9, NAEP• Purpose: To sort, select, classify, compare• Information: How one compares with others• Results: reported as percentile (%) rank• Always yields a bell curve• Assumes a non-aligned curriculum

% D

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s tra

ting

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Criterion-References Tests

• e.g. TExES, TAKS, license/certification, teacher-made• Purpose: To determine knowledge of defined criteria• Information: How well an individual performs• Goal is to yield J curve• Assumes an alignedcurriculum• Assumes most people can learn most things in time.

The J Curve

Bloom’s Taxonomy

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

The Structure of Knowledge

Concept Concept

Topic Topic

PrincipleGeneralization

FACTS

FACTS

FACTS

FACTS

FACTS

FACTS

FACTS

FACTS

Lynn Erickson -- Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom, 2007

Facts Topics Concepts Generalizations/Principles

Complexity of Content

Com

plex

ity o

f Pr

oces

sing

Remember

Create

Understand

Evaluate

Apply

Analyze

Facts Topics Concepts Generalizations/Principles

Complexity of Content

Com

plex

ity o

f Pr

oces

sing

Remember

Create

Understand

Evaluate

Apply

Analyze

4th Math

TAKS Question STAAR Question

Facts Topics Concepts Generalizations/Principles

Complexity of Content

Com

plex

ity o

f Pr

oces

sing

Remember

Create

Understand

Evaluate

Apply

Analyze

6th Reading

TAKS Question STAAR Question

Facts Topics Concepts Generalizations/Principles

Complexity of Content

Com

plex

ity o

f Pr

oces

sing

Remember

Create

Understand

Evaluate

Apply

Analyze

8th Social Studies

TAKS Question STAAR Question

Facts Topics Concepts Generalizations/Principles

Complexity of Content

Com

plex

ity o

f Pr

oces

sing

Remember

Create

Understand

Evaluate

Apply

Analyze

Biology

TAKS Question STAAR Question

Grading the Top End

5) History. The student understands the challenges confronted by the government and its leaders in the early years of the republic and the Age of Jackson. The student is expected to:

(E) identify the foreign policies of presidents Washington through Monroe and explain the impact of Washington's Farewell Address and the Monroe Doctrine;

What layers of learning are in this SE?

• 5) History. The student understands the challenges confronted by the government and its leaders in the early years of the republic and the Age of Jackson. The student is expected to:

(E) identify the foreign policies of presidents Washington through Monroe and explain the impact of Washington's Farewell Address and the Monroe Doctrine;

• (5) History. The student understands the challenges confronted by the government and its leaders in the early years of the republic and the Age of Jackson. The student is expected to:

(E) identify the foreign policies of presidents Washington through Monroe and explain the impact of Washington's Farewell Address and the Monroe Doctrine;

• (6) Force, motion, and energy. The student knows that energy occurs in many forms and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems. The student is expected to:

(B) demonstrate that the flow of electricity in circuits requires a complete path through which an electric current can pass and can produce light, heat, and sound;

• 6) Force, motion, and energy. The student knows that energy occurs in many forms and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems. The student is expected to:

(B) demonstrate that the flow of electricity in circuits requires a complete path through which an electric current can pass and can produce light, heat, and sound;

Grading Problems

• Many assignments are not as “objective” as teachers would like.

• Rigorous work is going to take a change in the way we grade.

• Grading a standard and not “work” takes increased teacher sophistication.

• TIME

Assessment

Rubric: A scoring system that allows teacher to place value on components of a given assessment product.

• States the criteria to be examined and assessed;• Usually contains a scale (ex. 1-4) of different points possible per criterion; • Provides students with expectations about what will be assessed and standards that need to be met;• Increases consistency in the rating of student mastery;• Provides students with “road signs” - information about where they are in relation to where they need to be.

A Different Kind of Grade Book8.1.b 8.2c 8.4b 8.5f 8.7d 8.7e 4 Point

Scale100 Point Scale

Ty 3 4 4 3 4 4 3.66 92Larry 4 3 3 2 4 1 2.83 85Tony 2 4 2 1 2 4 2.5 63Frank 1 2 3 4 4 3 2.83 85Oscar 4 2 1 2 1 4 2.33 59Kyle 4 3 3 4 5 4 3.83 96

• Average the 4 point scale and multiply by 25 to create the hundred point number for grade reporting.• This also becomes your targeted intervention document for students who are failing to grasp the content.• The learning is also not complete on this document as I would be willing to go back and change the grade if they demonstrated greater understanding during the six weeks.

Dare to Strike Out and Find New Ground

DEAD POETS SOCIETY-CHANGE YOUR VIEW OF LIFE!!! - YouTube.flv

Ty Duncan

tduncan@esc17.net

806-281-5832

Bibliography

• Tim Westerberg, Becoming a Great High School, 2009

• Robert Marzano, Standards Based Grading and Formative Assessment, 2009

• Rick Wormeli, Fair Is Not Always Equal, 2006

• Marilee Springer, Learning and Memory, 1999

Creating a Compulsory Learning Environment