Anyone too busy
to reflect
Anyone
too
busy
on one’s practice is also too
tobusy
reflect
to improve.on one’s
practice is also too
busy to improve.
Robert Garmston
Robert Garmston
MOVING TO A STANDARDS-BASED
GRADING SYSTEM: LESSONS LEARNED
Presented by: Ria A. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Standards-Based Grading
“If the goal of today’s educational system is
to determine when (and if) students have
met course standards, should we not be
keeping achievement records that match
the standards we are expected to teach
instead of records that are labeled test,
homework, book report, class work, quiz,
project, presentation or class
participation?”
--Bruce Oliver
Standards-Based Grading
“How confident are you that the grades
students receive in your school are
consistent, accurate, meaningful, and
supportive of learning?”
--Ken O’Connor
TODAY’S OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
Identify and discuss the steps for
transitioning from traditional grading to a
standards-based grading (SBG) system.
Connect Common Core to process of
planning and implementation of SBG.
Receive and utilize practical resources for
planning and implementation of SBG.
CHANGE
All changes, even positive ones, are
scary. Attempts to reach goals
through radical or revolutionary
means often fail because they
heighten fear. But the small steps of
kaizen ("improvement") disarm the
brain’s fear response, stimulating
rational thought and creative play.
--Robert Maurer
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Change Toolkit. Reinventingeducation.org. IBM (2002)
http://www.reinventingeducation.org/RE3Web/
FIRST VS. SECOND ORDER CHANGE
• Have no doubt, transitioning to
a SBG is a Second Order
Change
- “involves dramatic departures from the
expected, both in defining a given
problem and in finding a solution”
(Marzano et al, 2005) or deep change.
WHY CHANGE (ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S SO HARD)?
The answers are quite simple:
21st Century Learner
WHY CHANGE (ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S SO HARD)?
The answers are quite simple:

WHY CHANGE (ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S SO HARD)?
The answers are quite simple:
 “Grades are so imprecise that
they are almost meaningless.”
Marzano, R. J. (2000)
SMALL STEPS
It is better to take many small steps
in the right direction than to make a
great leap forward only to stumble
backward.”
--Old Chinese Proverb
SO WHERE DO WE BEGIN . . .
Start wherever you are and start
small.
--Rita Bailey
SO WHERE DO WE BEGIN . . .
A vision . . .
. . . is a clearly stated, achievable,
even optimistic organizational
aspiration.
. . . needs to paint a picture of a
brighter, better future for all school
stakeholders (teachers, staff, and
students).
SO WHERE DO WE BEGIN . . .
What is your philosophy of grading or
vision? You may want to consider:
Why we grade students:
Motivation?
Communication?
Honor roll/High Honors?
To get them ready for the next level?
Determine placement?
Accountability?
BEGIN WITH A VISION
Take a few minutes to write a
draft of your philosophy of
grading or vision . . .
In our school/district, a grade represents a clear
and accurate indicator of what a student knows
and is able to do. With grades, we document
the progress of students and our teaching, we
provide feedback to students and their parents,
and we make instructional decisions regarding
the students.
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership responsibilities:
1) Know effects of change and provide
vision
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership responsibilities:
2) Drive and Motivate
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership responsibilities:
3) Know theory and research
SHARING INFORMATION
• Throughout entire process . . . with
EVERYONE
• Continual education/professional
development for EVERYONE
WHO IS EVERYONE?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Board of Education
Administrators
Teachers
Instructional Staff
Staff
Parents
Students
Community Members
Anyone else not mentioned here
who is involved in school/district
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership responsibilities:
4) Take a risk/challenge the status quo
• “Why fix it when it ain’t broken!”
• .
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership responsibilities:
5) Evaluation
• Data
• Hard
• Anecdotal
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership responsibilities:
6) Be like Gumby
• Flexible
• Open to input
STEP 1: DEVELOP A TIMELINE
2010-2011:
Deconstruct Common Core
2011-2012:
Professional Development on
Standards-based Grading Philosophy
Create SBG Committee
2012-2013:
Continued Professional Development
Develop format for report card
“ON TARGET”
Students can hit
any target they
can see and
which stands still
for them.
(Stiggins, R.)
STEP 2: DECONSTRUCTING THE
COMMON CORE
Things to keep in mind:
 Keep the content to what can actually be
taught in the time you have.
Should be written in a way that enhances
classroom instruction and assessment.
Must be measureable
Must be unidimensional
STEP 2: DECONSTRUCTING THE
COMMON CORE
 Begin by creating a content area (e.g., ELA)
committee of teachers and administrators
 Divide the committee into grade bands,
such as: K-2, 3-5, 6-8
Provide resources
Professional development
Technology
STEP 2: DECONSTRUCTING THE
COMMON CORE
Questions to ask:
 What must students know?
 What must students be able to do?
STEP 2: DECONSTRUCTING THE
COMMON CORE
Knowledge
Reasoning
Performance/skills
Products
Reading Standards for Informational Text K–5;
Key Ideas and Details
Grade 5 : Determine two or more main ideas of a text and
explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the
text.
Learning Targets:
Knowledge
Targets
Reasoning
Targets
Understand the Analyze the
concepts of
themes and
main idea and main ideas of a
key details
work
considering its
Identify main audience and
ideas and key
Purpose
details in text
Skill
Targets
Explain how
Key details
support
main Ideas
Summarize
Text
Product
Targets
Grade 3:
Blooms
Grade 4:
Blooms
Grade 5:
Blooms
Reading/Literature: Students will read and respond to a wide
range of writing to build an understanding of written materials of
themselves, and of others.
Use effective reading strategies to achieve their purposes in
reading.
Apply word
3 Use word recognition
recognition skills
skills such as analyzing
such as rereading word structures.
and applying
letter-sound
relationships,
including vowel
sounds, medial
sounds, consonant
blends, and
consonant
digraphs.
3 Apply word recognition 3
skills to increase
vocabulary through the
study of multiple
meanings, context
clues, and word
structure.
Grade 3:
Blooms
Interprets how
illustrations
convey the
meaning of text.
Break down words
into components
such as root
words, prefixes
and suffixes.
Grade 4:
Blooms
Grade 5:
Blooms
4 Analyze how
4 Understand and use
3
illustrations, graphs, and visual aids such as
maps support written
graphs and maps.
text.
4 Infer the meaning of
4 Apply knowledge of
3
unfamiliar words by
sentence and word
examining known words meanings to
and phrases, including
understand unfamiliar
roots, prefixes and
words and clarify
suffixes.
passages.
Find the meaning 3 Apply phonemic
3 Use text format such as 3
of unfamiliar
awareness by
boldfaced print, causewords by
pronouncing and
and-effect and
identifying known understanding
sequence of events as
words and using
unfamiliar words and
aids to comprehension.
phonemic
text.
awareness.
“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt
to provide the conditions in which they
can learn.”
--Albert Einstein
STEP 3: DEVELOP GUIDELINES
• differentiation
• separate behavior and academic grades
• purposeful homework
• formative assessments/feedback
• averaging
• late work/incompletes
• extra credit
• zeroes
• multiple summative assessments
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
Differentiation
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
Separate behavior and
academics
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
 Homework
Purposeful
Graded?
"Think left, and think right, and think
low, and think high. Oh the thinks
you can think if only you try."
~Dr. Seuss
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
 Averaging
“Not everything that counts can be
counted, and not everything that can
be counted counts.”
--Albert Einstein
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
 Late work/incompletes
St. Theresa 6th Grade Comparison
# of late assignments
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
2nd quarter
3rd quarter
4th quarter
Terms
Before New Policy (2003-2004)
After New Policy (2004-2005)
St. Theresa 7th Grade Comparison
170
# of late assignments
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
2nd quarter
3rd quarter
4th quarter
Terms
Before New Policy (2003-2004)
After New Policy (2004-2005)
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
 Extra credit
“Don’t give points for extra credit or
use bonus points; seek only
evidence that more work has
resulted in a higher level of
achievement.”
O’Connor, K. (2010)
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
Traditional
Scale
% Points Total
91-100
81-90
71-80
61-70
Zero-60
10 points
10 points
10 points
10 points
60 points
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(F)
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
 Zeroes
On a traditional scale, the %
range for each level is 10%
Teachers will use “I.D.”
(insufficient data) on the
progress report.
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
 Formative
assessment/Feedback
 Multiple summative
assessments
FORMATIVE/SUMMATIVE FLOW
CHART The Role of Formative and Summative Assessment
Enrichment
Instruction
On New
Unit
Preassessment
Instruction
Formative
Assessment
Further
Instruction
Summative
Assessment
Evidence
For Evaluation/
Grades
Correctives
Need for Improvement
Figure 4.4
Adapted from Guskey and Bailey 2001, p.98
THE POWER OF ASSESSMENT
“You can enhance or destroy
students’ desire to succeed in
school more quickly and
permanently through your use
of assessment than with any
other tools you have at your
disposal.”
Rick Stiggins - Assessment Trainers Institute
Oral
Report
Lecture
Rock opera
Seminar
Debate
Scenario
Play
Slogan/jingle
Interview
Story
Play script
Manual
Telephone conversation
Game
Book
Letter to editor, author, or expert
Survey
Performance
CD-ROM
Skit
Overheads
Poster
Docudrama Invention
Prototype
News program
Puppet Show
Audio/videotape
Demonstration
Scrapbook
Book cover
Manual
Artifact
Chart
Mural
Masks Model Photographs
Matrices
Puzzle
Collection Diorama
Photo essay Blueprint
Brochure
Learning center
Artistic Creation
Illustration
Diagram Display
Cartoon or comic strip Web Construction
Sculpture
Vertical file
Map Mobile
Costume
Project Cube
Pantomime
Proclamation
Annotated bibliography
Advertisement
Timeline
Book review/report
Document
Scroll Pamphlet
Experiment
Slide Show
Visual
Diary
Computer Program
Musical composition
Collection
Booklet
Magazine article
Simulation
Lesson
Report
Questionnaire
Song
Talk show
Written
Poetry
Group anthology
Discussion group
Choral speech
Essay
“What if” story
Newspaper article
Myth/legend
GRADING/ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
Pre-assessment
Analyze the results
Organize
Instructional
groups
Use data to plan and
evaluate lessons and
give feedback
Daily
Instruction
Observe
and monitor
Post-assessment
Analyze the results and
determine next steps
Provide
Focused
Instruction
STEP 3: DEVELOP GUIDELINES
• differentiation
• separate behavior and academic grades
• purposeful homework
• formative assessments/feedback
• averaging
• late work/incompletes
• extra credit
• zeroes
• multiple summative assessments
STEP 4: CREATE STANDARDSBASED GRADING COMMITTEE
• Administrators
•Central Office
•Building
•Teachers
•All content areas
•All grade levels
•Parents
•Students
STEP 5: PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Administrators/Board of Ed
Members
STEP 5: PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
•Teachers
•Opportunities to meet with
grade- level peers
•Work with grade-level peers to
create rubrics for the benchmarks
STEP 5: PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
•Parents
•Start at the beginning
•What is a standard? Benchmark?
STEP 5: PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
•Students
STEP 6: CREATE REPORT CARD
FORMAT
•Committee work
•How many benchmarks?
•Where are 21st Century
skills/behavior included?
•What symbols for proficiency?
•Letter grades? At what levels?
PROFICIENCY SCALE EXAMPLE
4
3
2
1
Meets grade level
expectation with
excellence
Meets grade level
expectations
Progressing towards
meeting grade level
expectations
Not meeting grade
level expectations
WOW
Right on target
Getting there
Struggling
No teacher
assistance needed.
Student understood
concept without
teacher help.
After teacher
explanation and
guided practice,
student understood
concept.
Student is beginning
to understand
concept, but needs
a little more
guidance.
Student does not
understand the
concept and needs
much more
guidance
STEP 6: CREATE REPORT CARD
FORMAT
•Feedback
•Administrators/Board of Ed
•Teachers
•Parents
•Students
STEP 7: PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
•Teachers
•Opportunities to meet
with grade- level peers
•Work with grade-level peers to
create rubrics for the benchmarks
EXAMPLE
LA.S1.B3 Grade 3: Identify the differences between fiction and nonfiction and determine their purpose. (entertain or inform)
4
3
2
Without teacher
help, the
student knows a
fiction text from
a non-fiction
text and can tell
the purpose of
the text.
After description
and guided
practice from
the teacher, a
student can tell
if a text is
fiction or nonfiction and can
explain the
purpose (either
entertain or
inform)
With teacher
questioning, the
student
understands the
concept of
fiction and nonfiction, but still
has trouble
identifying the
purpose of a
text
1
The student
cannot tell the
difference
between a
fiction and
nonfiction text
and has no
concept of
purpose.
STEP 8: ROLL OUT REPORT
CARD
STEP 9: FEEDBACK/EVALUATION
Implement report card for three
quarters/two trimesters
Provide feedback survey/focus
groups for:
Teachers
Parents
Students
5a. Do you feel you are receiving
more information about your child as
a learner from this new progress
report? Why or why not?
7a. Do you feel differentiation
(meeting the needs of every child by
teaching to various skill levels) is
happening in your child's
classrooms? In what ways?
Yes
Yes My children have been given
additional advanced work to keep
them learning & not become bored
w/things they already know. Help is
still available if needed.
No I would to keep scoring the
No Meeting the needs of every child is
traditional way on the A-F scale. I
not possible in classrooms today.
believe it tells the whole picture of
One teacher cannot meet the
my child's performance - not just
needs of 20-30 students each day.
the school work turned in. The new
There are too many levels of
progress report is not "real" world.
students in traditional classrooms
Our bosses aren't going to give us
to keep them all challenged all the
raises if things are done on time.
time. I prefer the "break out"
concept where students of different
levels go to different teachers for
help. They used to do this with the
TAG program.
STEP 10: REVISE/CONTINUE
LAST THOUGHTS . . .
“Education would be so much more
effective if its purpose were to ensure that
by the time they leave school every boy and
girl should know how much they don't know,
and be imbued with a lifelong desire to
know it."
--Sir William Haley,
British newspaper editor and
broadcasting administrator
QUESTIONS?
REFERENCES
Marzano, R.J., Waters, T., & McNulty B.A. (2005). School leadership
that works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
O’Connor, K. (2002). How to Grade for Learning: Linking Grades to
Standards, 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Marzano, R. J. (2000). Transforming Classroom Grading. Alexandria,
VA: ASCD.
O’Connor, K. (2010). A Repair Kit for Grading: Fifteen Fixes for
Broken Grades, 2nd Edition.
Wormeli, R. (2006). Fair isn’t always equal: Assessing & Grading in
the differentiated classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Change Toolkit. Reinventingeducation.org. IBM (2002)
http://www.reinventingeducation.org/RE3Web/