ISD #279 Instructional Coaches Overcoming Obstacles with Standards-Based Grading and Reporting

1. ISD #279 Instructional Coaches Overcoming Obstacles with Standards-Based Grading and Reporting Rice Lake Elementary FriFeb11 9:30 – 11:00

2. Dance Party

3. Today’s Objectives / Outcomes • Participants will see the elements of powerful, advanced instruction that are embedded in the standards-based grading and reporting work. • Participants will share ideas for supporting and coaching teachers as they develop effective strategies aligned with standards-based grading and reporting. • Participants will offer input/suggestions for handling aspects of the work that has presented challenges.

4. Thomas Guskey: • “With standards and assessments now in place, educators face the daunting task of how best to grade and report student learning in terms of those standards.” • (Educational Leadership, 2001)

5. Why do we refer to SBG as powerful, advanced instruction? • Focuses teacher attention on specific learning targets and connects that learning to assessment and student grades (More meaningful). • Inspires a more disciplined approach to measuring actual learning (More accurate). • Encourages collaborative effort to design high quality assessments with colleagues (More consistent). • Focuses teacher attention on individual success and growth of each student , creates an expectation that teachers use formative assessment to improve instruction, and creates incentives for students to keep trying (More supportive of learning). Why?

6. Ken O’Connor: • “Grading, as it has been done traditionally, promotes a culture of point accumulation, not learning.” • (Ahead of the Curve, 2007)

7. Activity: 1. With a partner, compare these four reasons to your personal experiences as teachers. Do these ideas resonate? Record in “Personal Experience” portion.2. With the same partner, compare these four reasons with the teacher perspectives that you’ve heard in your building. Try to do a fair job of presenting an accurate balanced perspective. Record these perspectives in the two boxes “Positive Perspectives” and “Negative Perspectives.”

8. What is the current status of our efforts?1. Three-Year Implementation Schedule 2. Grading and Reporting Committee (and subcommittees) 3. Spring Training and Summer Institute 4. Transparency – The Moodle

9. Activity:Plus / Delta – What do you like about our efforts? What suggestions do you have for us?

10. What elements of our plan are causing the most concern for teachers? 1. Elementary Report Card symbols – 0,1,2,3,4 or O.S.N or A-F 2. What comes first…common summative assessments or standards-based grading? 3. What do we do in buildings where site leadership hasn’t made these new ideas a priority for staff development? 4. Academic Dishonesty – Behavioral Infraction or Academic Infraction? 5. Multiple Opportunities and 80% Summative:20% Formative • Year 1 – Maximum 25% for each summative assessment • Year 2 – At least one mechanism for “retake” • Year 3 – At least two different modalities accessed in summative assessments

11. Activity: • With your elbow partner, select one of the five areas of concern, and offer input/ideas for how you would suggest the district

12. Summarizing the Research • Thomas Guskey: • “This requires nothing less than clear thinking, careful planning, excellent communication skills, and an overriding concern for the well being of students.” • (ASCD Yearbook, 1996)

13. Questions?

14. ISD 279 / Osseo Area Schools • We believe that. . . • 1. A grade represents a valid and undiluted indicator for what a student knows and is able to do. • 2. The primary purpose of a grade is to communicate student academic achievement. • 3. Grading policy and procedures will be implemented consistently across the district/system. • 4. Grading policy and procedures will include three essential components: • * Grading practices will reflect research-basedbest practices. • * Grading practices will include student involvement. • * Grading practices will promote learning. • 5. The value of a grade will be equal/consistent across the district/system. • 6. Grades will report student achievement on local, state, and national standards. • 7. Grades will be the result of student achievement on summative assessments, not formative assessments. • 8. Academic achievement will be reported separately from non-academic issues.

15. Exemplary Local Districts • Minnetonka Public Schools • (2006) After three years of in-depth study and reflection, teacher leaders in the Minnetonka Public Schools have developed  and gained School Board approval for a grading and reporting policy that: • Reflects academic achievement. • Contains meaningful feedback. • Is honest, fair, transparent, credible, useful and user friendly. • Is criterion referenced. • Aligns with the Minnetonka Public Schools curriculum. • Reflects consistency within and among courses, grade levels, departments, and/or schools.

16. Exemplary Local Districts Minnetonka Public Schools (cont.) Academic Practice Formative Assessments, Homework, Quizzes, etc. Academic Achievement Summative Assessments, Final Drafts, Tests, Exams, Projects, etc. “Academic Achievement may account for a minimum of 80%at the middle schools and 85% at the high school. The majority of the grade is derived from these assessments because students are demonstrating what they know and can do.”

17. Exemplary National Districts Grand Island Public Schools, NE Initial Question in 2005: What is our confidence level that the grades assigned to K-12 students are consistent, accurate, meaningful, and supportive of learning? Purpose Statement approved in 2006: The primary purpose of grading in the Grand Island Public Schools is to communicate achievement status to students, parents, and others. This is a departure from traditional grading, which mixed students’ attendance, behavior, and other factors into the final grades.

18. Exemplary Local Districts • Grand Island Public Schools, NE • Relate grades to the achievement of the district’s course/grade level standards. • Use agreed-on performance standards as the reference points when determining grades. • Separate achievement from all other dispositionsand behaviors. • Sample student performance. Don’t score everything & don’t include all scores in grades. • Grade in pencil and maintain records so they can be easily updated. • Use professional judgment when considering the body of evidence. • Use quality assessments and properly record evidence of achievement. • Involve students in the assessment and grading processes.

19. Questions?