Grading
the Top End
Ty Duncan
Senior Specialist
Region 17 Education
Service Center
tduncan@esc17.net
Twitter
@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?
Ms. Smith’s 9th Grade Algebra Class – 1st 6 Weeks
Student A
Student B
HW 1
HW 2
Quiz 1
HW 3
HW 4
Quiz 2
HW 5
HW 6
Quiz 3
Participation
Unit Test
0
0
100
0
0
100
0
0
100
90
100
100
100
63
100
100
54
100
100
61
90
58
6 Week Ave.
53.1
80.2
Quiz –daily grade; Test = 3 daily grades
• 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 7683, 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 Curve
Norm-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
The J Curve
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 aligned
curriculum
• Assumes most people can learn most
things in time.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
The Structure of Knowledge
Principle
Generalization
Concept
Concept
Topic
Topic
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
F
A
C
T
S
Lynn Erickson -- Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom,
2007
Complexity of Processing
Facts
Topics
Concepts
Complexity of Content
Generalizations/
Principles
Complexity of Processing
4th Math
Facts
Topics
Concepts
Generalizations/
Principles
Complexity of Content
TAKS Question
STAAR Question
Complexity of Processing
6th Reading
Facts
Topics
Concepts
Generalizations/
Principles
Complexity of Content
TAKS Question
STAAR Question
Complexity of Processing
8th Social Studies
Facts
Topics
Concepts
Generalizations/
Principles
Complexity of Content
TAKS Question
STAAR Question
Complexity of Processing
Biology
Facts
Topics
Concepts
Generalizations/
Principles
Complexity of Content
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 Book
8.1.b
8.2c
8.4b
8.5f
8.7d
8.7e
4 Point 100
Scale
Point
Scale
Ty
3
4
4
3
4
4
3.66
92
Larry
4
3
3
2
4
1
2.83
85
Tony
2
4
2
1
2
4
2.5
63
Frank
1
2
3
4
4
3
2.83
85
Oscar
4
2
1
2
1
4
2.33
59
Kyle
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
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