"Grading Smarter, Not Harder" Week 3 Review: Grading

We are use to the old tradition way of grading and reporting, usually the 4 point scale, A, B, C, D, F.  This 0-100 point scale poses a big problem many of us don't usually recognize.  According to Thomas R. Guskey's On Your Mark (2015) the shift to percentile grades during the late 19th and 20th century was gradual.  Few educators questioned it and it was adopted through the American educational landscape.  In 1912 a couple of researches in Wisconsin found the use of percentile grades were not reliable and accurate indicators of student achievement.  Both Dueck and Guskey have looked at the 0-100 point scale and have concluded that this structure implies a 60 point difference between a D and an F.  All other have a 10 point difference between each letter grade.  What an academic penalty we are giving students.

(Guskey, 2015; On Your Mark)

Myron Dueck and Thomas Guskey both agree that his huge range of failure grades puts students at a disadvantage.  Even if a student received a zero on an assessment, it will take about 9 perfect scores to make up the percentile difference to reach a passing mark.  ( More on zeros later.)

Dueck goes on to share what he calls, "The Four Conditions for Punitive Action."  He calls it CARE guidelines.  Care, Aims, Reduction, Empowerment.
Care:  When students opt to ignore assignments, penalties may serve to make teachers feel as though they've addressed the issue, but they do not increase student accountability or responsibility.
Aims:  Punitive grading does not complement the overall aim to measure learning outcomes, increase student confidence, and provide an environment of fairness and equity.
                               measure evidence of learning or capacity against a set of standards.

                               behavioral penalties do not relate directly to learning outcomes (in fact both Dueck and Guskey agree on this as well).

                               "lates" and zeros do not inspire academic confidence.

                               punitive grades diminish fairness and equity



Reduction: an estimated 20% of people are chronic procrastinators (Marzano, 2003).  They have trouble meeting deadlines, struggle with organization, and feel frustrated and discouraged by lates and zeros.

Empowerment: factors that affect students' abilities to succeed in school lie outside of their control.

• poverty:  22% of U.S. Students; "Nobody Chooses to be Poor."
• Ability:
• learning disabilities
• gaps in learning due to:
• school transfers
• health issues
• inadequate mentoring
• truancy
• lack of background knowledge
• Confidence:  lack of...
• prevent students from attempting assignments
• surrender at first sign of difficulty
• easier to avoid the work rather than take a hit to their self-esteem.
• may lack confidence to even ask for help.
• Environment:
• lower income families
• more likely to have violence, negligence, too loud or busy
• may wait unit late evening when it is more conducive to complete their homework.
• substance abuse and emotional struggles
• parents

Behavior-Based Grading Contributes to Statistical Sabotage

"zeros can blue the extent to which students demonstrate improvement or master of the material." Dueck, 2016)

Strategies for Addressing Uncompleted Work

possible solutions...

• Strategy #1:  Use Incompletes and Interventions Rather than Zeros
• Step 1:  Set Due Dates and Time Spans (provide flexibility and choice)
• Step 2:  Use the Late or Incomplete Assignment Form (see my copy here)
• Students plan a strategy for completing the assignment.
• Students see what interventions are available in the school to help them.

                     It is a catalyst for them to obtain the help they need.

• Step 3:  Implement intervention strategies (and do so in a timely manner)
• homework completion centers during lunch or afterschool
• Saturday school
• In-school suspension where students receive support from teachers.
• Step 4: When necessary, assign incompletes.  Turn incomplete into numerical value when necessary.
• converted into numerical value after 2 weeks
• consider all variables that you believe is the best reflection of the student's evidence of learning.
• conversations with student
• quiz scores
• partial completion of assignments
• test score pattersn
• attendance
• benefits in the classroom:
• Students have to work hard to achieve a zero
• The system results in accurate grades
• Students results improve
• Responsibility and accountability are increased.
• "zeros do not encourage responsibility but rather erode it." (Dueck, 2016)
• Interventions can be personalized and equitable.
• Strategy #2:  Institute Two-Tiered Testing
• 2 different test
• 1 for test-day
• 1 less user-friendly one for the make-up test

                       or

                          deliver same test differently on scheduled test day than on make-up test.

• On Test-Day
• lottery aspect: students choose one of the numbers they picked from a hat on which learning target to answer.
• choice helps students reduce their stress.
• contributes to student confidence.
• Be clear to students taking the test on scheduled test day will be granted more favorable conditions.
• 2-tiered system benefits:
• sends message to students that it is in their best interest to complete the test on the scheduled test day.
• make-up test students still receive grades based on entirely on evidence of learning.
• teacher doesn't spend time assessing legitimacy of each absence.
• harder for students to cheat taking the make-up; different format.
• students who get more time to study by taking later test receive slightly more challenging test format; only fair.
• Strategy #3: Match Consequences to Behaviors
• "students do not perform better when they know it counts." (Guskey, 2011)

 

Figure 7.1: Summary grades tallied by three different methods.  Source: Guskey, 2002a, p. 776.

Please comment below your thoughts on grading.