Standards-Based Grading and Reporting

1. Standards-Based Grading and Reporting Sue Anderson Tumwater School District January 2011

2. Agenda • Tumwater SD - Context • Why does this matter? • Sound grading practices • Our report card journey • Lessons learned…so far

3. Context: TSD’s Focus • What do we want students to know and be able to do? Power standards, learning targets • How will we know if they’ve learned it? Assessment FOR learning, common benchmarks • What will we do if they haven’t? Pyramid of Interventions – extra time and support • What will we do for those who already know it? Enrichment

4. Why does this matter? • The most important decision-maker about whether or not learning will happen in a classroom is… • Grades are motivating – for students who get good grades. • Many of our established grading practices do not accurately reflect student achievement . They do not engage students in understanding their progress on learning targets or in improving that progress.

6. Sound Grading Practices: Principles • Grades are consistent, accurate, and meaningful, and they support learning. • Grades accurately reflect student progress in mastering the district’s published learning outcomes.

7. Practices(with credit to Ken O’Connor) • Don’t include behaviors or attendance in grades – only include achievement. • Don’t reduce scores on late work; support the learner. • No extra credit! Look for evidence that more work has resulted in higher achievement. • Don’t include group scores in grades; use only individual achievement evidence.

8. Practices (continued) • Organize and report evidence by standard/learning goal, not by assessment method or summarized into a single grade. • Don’t assign grades by comparing a student’s achievement with others; only compare it to the standards. No “curving.” • Don’t rely on averages to determine grades; look at progress over time, other measures of central tendency, and use professional judgment.

9. Practices (continued) • Don’t include zeroes in grade determination when missing work or as punishment. • Don’t use formative/practice activities to determine grades; use only summative evidence. • INVOLVE STUDENTS IN THE GRADING PROCESS!

10. Our report card journey • Pilot group representing all grade levels and schools • Assessment Training Institute’s Grading conference – Portland, December • Skyward training • Development of draft report cards • First use: Fall trimester, 2010 • Feedback from pilot teachers and parents • Revisions to draft • Continuing pilot in 2011-12

11. Lessons learned…so far • Begin with a clear statement of philosophy of standards-based and sound grading • Educate parents and students about this • Allow adequate time and resources for professional development on SB grading, Skyward • Allow adequate time to process drafts • Consider phasing in the transition, beginning with kindergarten and first grade • Understand that it is a BIG JOB when done correctly.

12. Key Resources • O’Connor, Ken. How to Grade for Learning, K-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2009. • O’Connor, Ken. A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades. Portland, OR: Assessment Training Institute, 2007. • Wormeli, Rick. Fair Isn’t Always Equal. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2006. • Chappuis, Jan. Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning. Portland, OR: Assessment Training Institute, 2010. • Guskey, Thomas R. and Bailey, Jane. Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2001. • Assessment Training Institute (ATI) Grading Conference, Portland, OR. Annual conference in December, featuring Rick Stiggins, Ken O’Connor, Jan and Steve Chappuis, Judy Arter, and people from a number of districts around the country and world that are changing the way they grade and report student work. See more about this and their other resources at: http://www.assessmentinst.com/