Fixes+for+Broken+Grades

HISD Leadership Institute, August 7, 2008**
 * Ken O'Connor

"A Repair Kit: Fixes for Broken Grades"

Marks/Scores - the number or letter "score" given to any student test or performance Grades - the number or letter reported only at the end of a period of time

Is it appropriate to calculate the "mean" when there are outlier scores? If there are holes in the assessment, then we do not have quality assessment.

What rules/procedures do we have in place to ensure that for the same course across the school, assessment is consistent/fair?

References Grant Wiggins - Perhaps the most counterproductive aspect of schooling as we know it is the conventional system of letter grades. The problem with grades is not the use of symbols but the absence of any defensible plan for coming up with the symbol... most grades... reflect what is easy to count and average into a final grade...

Most essential question about grades: How confident are you that the grades students get in your school are:
 * consistent
 * accurate
 * meaningful, and
 * supportive of learning?

Teachers' methods for assigning grades are often based not on a school or district standard, but more on what the teacher believes is appropriate and this can vary from teacher-to-teacher.

The way we have traditionally done grades is to focus on the accumulation of points

School is a LEARNING game - NOT a GRADING game

Marzano - "Grades are so imprecise that they are almost meaningless"

We must also ask ourselves what we believe about motivation. Traditionally we use grades as part of a motivation system of rewards and punishments.

We keep trying when we see ourselves improving. We must set up assessment in this same way. (Currently, it is not set up this way.)

Keys to Creating a Learning Community P - Am I sending POSITIVE messages? C - Am I offering CHOICES? R - Am I encouraging REFLECTION?

Grades are broken when they -
 * include ingredients that distort achievement
 * arise from low quality or poorly organized evidence
 * are derived from inappropriate number crunching, and when they
 * do not support the learning process

Fixes for ingredients that distort achievement
 * 1) don't include student behavior (effort, participation, etc.) in grades; include only achievement
 * 2) don't reduce marks on 'work' submitted late; provide support
 * 3) don't give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek eviednce of a higher level of achievement
 * 4) don't punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades; apply behavioral consequences and reassess
 * 5) don't consider attendance in grade determination; record only absences
 * 6) don't inlcude group scores in grades; use only individual achievement evidence

Fixes for low quality or poorly organized evidence
 * 1) don't organize information around assessment methods; use standards/learning goals
 * 2) don't assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards, provide clear descriptions
 * 3) don't assign grades based on student's achievement compared to other students; use absolute standards
 * 4) don't rely on evidence from assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; check against standards

Fixes for inappropriate number crunching
 * 1) don't be a 'mean' teacher relying on 'the average' - consider other measures of central tendency
 * 2) don't include zeros as a reflection of lack of achievement or as punishment; use alternatives, such as Incomplete

Response to academic dishonesty should be "do it again"

Assessments must be based on standards - "standards-based assessment"

Columns in a gradebook should be setup according to standards rather than activities.

Accurate Assessment
 * appropriate and clear targets
 * clear purpose
 * sound design - right method, well written, wel sampled, bias avoided