World History Initiative
Differentiation
Grading and Evaluation
Credit
Differentiation
• Differentiation
– One size does not fit all.
– Different tasks assigned to help different
students reach the same understandings.
– Goal: Every student takes a next step.
– Not everyone will complete the same tasks!
Differentiating for…
• Different Interests
– Those interested in writing song lyrics, sit over
here; those interested in cartooning…
• Different Learning Styles
– Those who wish to see a slide presentation, sit
over here; those who wish to read…
• Different Readiness Levels
– Are you ready to write a paragraph? An essay?
A research paper?
Readiness: Tasks, Projects
• Straight-Ahead
– Instructions guide you from start to finish
• Uphill
– Instructions take you about half-way, then drop
you off to see if you can finish
• Mountainous
– Instructions get you started, but you guide the
task for most of the journey
Readiness: Tests
• Straight-Ahead
– All SOL content, skills, and language
• Uphill
– Mostly SOL content and skills; language may
be slightly above grade-level
• Mountainous
– Content and skills extend beyond the SOL
framework; cognitively demanding diction
Who chooses what?
• Interest: Students choose.
• Learning style: Students choose.
• Readiness level: Prather chooses.
– You may ignore Prather’s choice, but doing so
may affect your grade and credit.
– Bottom line: You should never work beneath
Prather’s suggestion.
Grading and Evaluation
• EVERY single job on the face of the planet
requires its employees to be…
COMPETENT.
Grading Scale
•
•
•
•
•
•
DM: Demonstrates Mastery (95%)
DC: Demonstrates Competence (85%)
SC: Suggests Competence (75%)
NY: Does Not Yet Suggest Competence (65%)
NYx: Does Not Yet Suggest Competence (55%)
Mi: Missing (50%)
• Others:
DC! (89%); SC! (79%); NY! (69%)
3 Equally Weighted Grades
• Performance
– How have you done on tests and projects?
• Process
– How have you handled classroom tasks, daily
routines, participation, and homework?
• Progress
– How have you demonstrated improvement since
the start of the unit?
Performance Scale
DM
Demonstrates
Mastery
Work demonstrates an elevated understanding of the material
and may be used to teach others. Evaluator is left without
lingering questions and only minor suggestions, if any.
DC
Demonstrates
Competence
Work demonstrates a solid understanding of the material but
leaves the evaluator with some unanswered questions. Strong
effort, high quality, room for growth and mastery.
SC
Suggests
Competence
Work suggests an understanding of the content without proving
it. Decent foundation but lacks supporting details. A number of
how and why questions remain.
NY
Does Not YET
Suggest
Competence
Work suggests a misunderstanding of the content without
proving it. Offers a few basic facts but grossly misinterprets
larger understandings. OR Work is incomplete, nonexistent, or
non-topical. Fails to demonstrate an engagement of the content.
Process Scale
DM
Demonstrates
Mastery
The student participates actively and positively in class by asking
questions when confused, by contributing to discussion, and by
assisting others. The student consistently submits work of the
very highest quality.
DC
Demonstrates
Competence
The student participates actively and positively in class by asking
questions when confused, by contributing to discussion, and by
assisting others. The student consistently submits work of
decent-high quality.
SC
Suggests
Competence
NY
Does Not YET
Suggest
Competence
The student occasionally participates in class, but often the
student does not contribute voluntarily and instead must be
pulled along. The student struggles to submit work of decenthigh quality on a consistent basis.
The student rarely participates in class, voluntarily or by request
of the teacher. The student consistently submits work of
low/unsatisfactory quality. Often the student neglects to engage
the daily tasks or home assignments.
Progress Scale
DM
Demonstrates
Mastery
The student has made gains in content knowledge, understandings,
and skills over the course of the unit by engaging work that is
appropriately challenging and by taking advantage of reengagement opportunities.
DC
Demonstrates
Competence
The student has made gains in content knowledge, understandings,
and skills by engaging work appropriate to his readiness. But he
has not taken advantage of re-engagement opportunities.
SC
Suggests
Competence
The student has made only slight gains in content knowledge,
understandings, and/or skills. He has not consistently engaged tasks
appropriate to his readiness (as suggested by the teacher), although
he has taken advantage of some re-engagement opportunities.
NY
Does Not YET
Suggest Competence
The student has not progressed in his learning. He chooses to
complete tasks beneath his readiness - and sometimes does not
bother at all - nor has he taken advantage of re-engagement
opportunities.
If you consistently…
• Demonstrates Mastery in your life…
– …then you will likely enjoy opportunities to employ or
supervise others.
• Demonstrates Competence in your life…
– …then you will likely earn full-time employment at a
job you want with opportunities to advance.
• Suggests Competence in your life…
– …then you will likely receive opportunities to work at a
job you want, but employers may worry about your
ability to work successfully and responsibly.
If you consistently…
• Fail to suggest competence in your life…
– …then you will likely receive some opportunities for
work, but often they will not be the opportunities you
desire. Employers might worry that you will fail at
your assigned tasks nearly every time. Some will see
you as a last option, and you may bounce from parttime job to part-time job.
Credit
• Students may pursue General, Advanced or
Honors credit for World History.
• Credit will be awarded in June.
• Credit will be determined by the teacher
based on the student’s assessment record
(tests and projects).
Honors Credit
• First Semester
– The student must engage mountainous work on
at least 4 of the 8 major assessments AND must
never work beneath Prather’s readiness
suggestions.
• If Prather suggests a task of mountainous readiness,
then the student may NOT complete a straight or
uphill assessment. If Prather suggests a task of
uphill readiness, then the student may not complete
a straight assessment.
Honors Credit
• Second Semester
– The student must engage mountainous work
100% of the time on major assessments.
– If the student did not take the mountainous
midterm exam, then he must take the
mountainous final exam regardless of exam
exemption status.
Advanced Credit
• First Semester
– The student must engage uphill/mountainous
work on at least 4 of the 8 major assessments
AND must never work beneath Prather’s
readiness suggestions.
• If Prather suggests a task of mountainous readiness,
then the student may NOT complete a straight or
uphill assessment. If Prather suggests a task of
uphill readiness, then the student may not complete
a straight assessment.
Advanced Credit
• Second Semester
– The student must engage uphill/mountainous
work 100% of the time on major assessments.
– If the student took the straight midterm exam,
then he must take the uphill final exam
regardless of exam exemption status.
General Credit
• First Semester
– The student engages straight-ahead work on
major assessments more than 50% of the time
OR works beneath the teacher’s readiness
suggestion on any of the major assessments.
• Second Semester
– The student elects to complete straight-ahead
assessments OR neglects to take the uphill final
exam despite requirements to do so.