What is an "A"? Are you sure? Laying the foundation for Standards Based Grading...Round 1
It is the time of year when students earn ice cream, money, or a stash of other fun items based on the number of "A's" that appear on the report card. I challenge you to ask what does that "A" on the report card tell you as parent? Ask yourself, how much of the grade is a reflection of behavior? What about compliance, nicely organized material, or extra credit? Bringing in items for extra credit would be academic in what way? How does the percentage/grade reported reflect academic performance of your student? What skills are strengths? What skills do they need to continue to practice? I am guilty as a teacher of offering extra credit and grading students based on well-organized content or even worse lack there of versus focusing solely on what students know or did not know. I have learned better over the last several years and must acknowledge that if I am going to produce Next Generation Learners that are College and Career Ready it requires me to know a students needs and strengths and personalize their learning. Isn't that a parents' dream? Teach them what they need, don't bore them with what they don't, and provide me with what learning we need to support at home.
The system of grading has withstood the test of time and while many agree that the education must change for the Next Generation Learner, the rate of change tends to be extremely slow...even when we know we must do better. I desire the children that I serve to receive access to a better education based on 20 years of learning difference in now and when I graduated. If we are truly learners, then schools should look different and honoring our learners with our learning is the very best we can offer. Standards Based Grading is challenging to process, but provides very specific insight into what a learner has mastered and what areas need further practice.
In our current system each nine weeks functions in isolation of the other three, except when the end of the year arrives and an average of the four equate to the grade assigned to performance. We all know what an "A" is in one classroom could equal an "F" in another classroom. There is no definition of what a student earning an "A" can actually do any different than a student in another room with a "C". Hence the emphasis put on ACT or SAT scores as GPA's are pretty unreliable in measuring the level of rigor experienced by a student in various schools. If a grade truly reflects learning then why do we have a high number of students graduating with 4.0's and earning a 15 on the ACT? Grade inflation is problematic for our learners.
Furthermore, what about the student who academically can do the work, chooses not to and has an "F" as a reflection of the academic ability in a class, when in fact the "F" only reflects their work ethic. Ask yourself again, what is the purpose of the grade? If a grade reflects performance then why on earth do we take off for late work? Shouldn't that be a separate calculation that reflects those soft skills necessary for a successful life...responsibility, communication, attendance, etc.? Those are important too, but when factored into a grade can distort tremendously the child's true academic ability.
What if an area of struggle for a student is mastered later in the year? Shouldn't that be reflected in the performance grade? Why do we devalue learning because it doesn't meet a timeframe? If a student fails an assessment, why must they retake the whole assessment again? Wouldn't it be appropriate for one to only reassess on the areas which they did not demonstrate mastery? On the same token if a student is able to pass a pre-assessment over the content or a final test, why must they sit through a course. Our work is about learning and demonstrating mastery.
Averages are just that, an average. They do not pinpoint areas for improvement. In fact, as a former teacher I more than once allowed the strengths of a student to cover the weaknesses. The truth in this is that I did those learners a disservice. Rather than working on their weaknesses, I let them bring in a box of Kleenex, which served no academic purpose. I can only change the future based on what I have learned from my mistakes. I challenge you to ask the tough questions around learning and mastery of standards versus an average of overall performance. I challenge you to not accept status quo, it isn't good enough for our children.
Ask the tough questions:
What does a grade reflect?
What standards has my child mastered?
What standards do they need to further practice in order to demonstrate mastery?
More to come on this topic...the more I learn, the more I love Standards Based Grading.
The system of grading has withstood the test of time and while many agree that the education must change for the Next Generation Learner, the rate of change tends to be extremely slow...even when we know we must do better. I desire the children that I serve to receive access to a better education based on 20 years of learning difference in now and when I graduated. If we are truly learners, then schools should look different and honoring our learners with our learning is the very best we can offer. Standards Based Grading is challenging to process, but provides very specific insight into what a learner has mastered and what areas need further practice.
In our current system each nine weeks functions in isolation of the other three, except when the end of the year arrives and an average of the four equate to the grade assigned to performance. We all know what an "A" is in one classroom could equal an "F" in another classroom. There is no definition of what a student earning an "A" can actually do any different than a student in another room with a "C". Hence the emphasis put on ACT or SAT scores as GPA's are pretty unreliable in measuring the level of rigor experienced by a student in various schools. If a grade truly reflects learning then why do we have a high number of students graduating with 4.0's and earning a 15 on the ACT? Grade inflation is problematic for our learners.
Furthermore, what about the student who academically can do the work, chooses not to and has an "F" as a reflection of the academic ability in a class, when in fact the "F" only reflects their work ethic. Ask yourself again, what is the purpose of the grade? If a grade reflects performance then why on earth do we take off for late work? Shouldn't that be a separate calculation that reflects those soft skills necessary for a successful life...responsibility, communication, attendance, etc.? Those are important too, but when factored into a grade can distort tremendously the child's true academic ability.
What if an area of struggle for a student is mastered later in the year? Shouldn't that be reflected in the performance grade? Why do we devalue learning because it doesn't meet a timeframe? If a student fails an assessment, why must they retake the whole assessment again? Wouldn't it be appropriate for one to only reassess on the areas which they did not demonstrate mastery? On the same token if a student is able to pass a pre-assessment over the content or a final test, why must they sit through a course. Our work is about learning and demonstrating mastery.
Averages are just that, an average. They do not pinpoint areas for improvement. In fact, as a former teacher I more than once allowed the strengths of a student to cover the weaknesses. The truth in this is that I did those learners a disservice. Rather than working on their weaknesses, I let them bring in a box of Kleenex, which served no academic purpose. I can only change the future based on what I have learned from my mistakes. I challenge you to ask the tough questions around learning and mastery of standards versus an average of overall performance. I challenge you to not accept status quo, it isn't good enough for our children.
Ask the tough questions:
What does a grade reflect?
What standards has my child mastered?
What standards do they need to further practice in order to demonstrate mastery?
More to come on this topic...the more I learn, the more I love Standards Based Grading.
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