Thinking About Changing Your Grading and Assessment Practices

Thinking About Changing Your Grading and Assessment Practices? Why It’s Worth Doing- For Your Students and For YOU! How Formative Assessment and Standards-based Grading Are Motivating Our Students and Increasing Achievement

Purpose: 1)Participants will learn how our high school has progressed from traditional grading and assessment to a studentcentered philosophy that is motivating our students to succeed.

Purpose: 2)Participants will understand the process the staff embarked upon and how this philosophy shift has improved student achievement and motivation.

Outcome: That you will examine your current grading and assessment practices and decide whether the proposed changes make sense for your practice.

Dansville Schools Demographics and Structure: Rural school, central to community 870 K-12 students; 53 teachers 35% free and reduced lunch 1 Secondary principal, 1 Assistant Secondary principal, 1 Elementary principal, 1 HS counselor

How It All Started… HS team attended a Carol Commodore Leadership Series about how to reach unmotivated learners. District teams attended a 3 -part series called “Building Classroom Assessment Literacy” by Carol Commodore.

Not Just Another PD What does/should a grade mean? What does it communicate to students? To staff? To parents? To colleges?

Assessment Dilemma Consider the following example:

Who Do You Want Packing Your Parachute? 3 students are taking a course in how to pack a parachute.

Packing a Parachute… The class average is the dotted line. Student #1: Started well, but didn’t finish well.

Packing a Parachute… Student #2’s scores are erratic. It’s hard to predict how he will perform.

Packing a Parachute… When scores are averaged in the traditional fashion, students 1 & 2 passed the course, and student 3 failed. But……

Packing a Parachute… Only Student 3 demonstrated consistent & reliable success in packing his parachute by

Packing a Parachute… Again. . Who Do You Want Packing Your Parachute?

If you are with a team, you may want to take a moment to reflect on and share out about this approach to assessment.

“What we know today doesn’t make yesterday wrong; it only makes tomorrow better. ”

PROCESS *STEP ONE: ESTABLISH CLEARNING TARGETS. Teachers developed studentfriendly learning targets based on the Common Core Standards.

Clear Learning Targets Must be written in student- friendly language (“I can” statements). Must be attainable. Must share what it looks like when a standard is reached

Impact of Clear Learning Targets Learning focused on the most enduring standards. No secrets, as students know EXACTLY what they are expected to learn. Increased transparency and improved communication to focus parent support.

Teacher’s Practical Example Clear targets come in three parts in many of our classes: 1) Students receive the “Unit Plan. ” List of guaranteed assignments with each connected to the clearning target (CLT) listed on the back. Students see the CLTs several times per unit to self-assess their own understanding on a 0 -4 scale.

Teacher’s Practical Example 2) For formative assessments, students “grade” and ask questions (often graded in colored ink). The teacher either gives a score on the 0 -4 scale so students know their standing on the CLTs or they get descriptive feedback and then the student marks their score.

Teacher’s Practical Example 3) Students track formative assessments on their “tracking sheet” and keep a running record of the scores. If students don’t see improvement on their tracking sheets, they know exactly which CLTs to study before the summative assessment.

Unit Plan

Unit Plan

Sample Formative Assessment

Impact of Clear Learning Targets - Naomi

PROCESS *STEP TWO: DEVELOP COMMON ASSESSMENTS BASED ON CLEARNING TARGETS. Teachers who teach the same classes must work together to develop QUALITY common assessments.

TIME TO TALK 1. Reflect on your current practice as it relates to clearning targets. 2. Share with a colleague where you are in this process (CLTs and aligned Common Assessments). 3. What progress has your school made toward the development of CLTs and common assessments?

PROCESS *STEP THREE: INCORPORATE STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING WITH FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM.

Self-Assessment Linked to clear targets and formative assessments. Gives the students a way to reassess their status on the CLTs and helps them develop goals to improve. Students use scoring charts and writing assignments for goal setting.

Impact of Self-Assessment Zach

Research to Support Self-Tracking In Dec/Jan 2010 Educational Leadership article “When Students Track Their Progress”, Robert Marzano shared that having students record their scores on a chart after taking each interim assessment and following their progress over time brings about 32 percentilepoint gains in achievement.

Tracking Sheet Example

Self Assessment Example

Tracking Sheet by Standard

Guided Notes by Standard

PROCESS *STEP FOUR: EVALUATE TO CHECK FOR AND PROVIDE TRAINING TO ENSURE IMPLEMENTATION OF A BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM Cannot take for granted a common language of assessment. Ongoing training is provided for all staff.

Common Formative Assessments Whiteboards/Clickers, Learning logs, Journals, Quizzes Quick visual checks – fist to 5 on chest, thumbs up/down/sideways Anything can be formative– depends on how it’s used. The info from formatives shows students their gaps and informs instruction.

Scoring Rubric for Math I Can Teach Others 4 Student demonstrates deep understanding of the concepts and procedures by mastery of almost all of the standards outlined in the summative assessment. All algebraic work is neat, complete and almost all correct and all steps are shown. All explanations are coherent and well organized. The correct mathematical language is used. I’ve Got It! 3 Student demonstrates understanding of the concepts and procedures by mastery of most of the standards outlined in the summative assessment. All algebraic work is neat, complete and mostly correct with all steps shown. All explanations are coherent and organized with the correct mathematical language. Not There Yet 2 Just Starting 1 Student demonstrates partial understanding of the concepts and procedures by mastery of some of the standards outlined in the summative assessment. Algebraic work is neat, somewhat complete and correct with most steps shown. Explanations contain some key elements and may not use some mathematical language correctly. Student demonstrates little or no understanding of the concepts and procedures by mastery of little to none of the standards outlined in the summative assessment. Algebraic work is neat, but contains many errors in computation and shown steps. Explanations appear unrelated to the problems and have little to no key elements. Mathematical language is used inappropriately. Assigning a Final Grade Summative Assessments – 90% Work Habits – 10%

Thoughts on Grading: Adrianne

TIME TO TALK Talk briefly at your table about selfassessment and students tracking their progress. What are your next steps in these areas: personally? as a school?

PROCESS STEP FIVE: EVALUATE GRADING PRACTICES From the work of Rick Stiggins and ATI: -If we use grades to threaten to fail students, it leads to hopelessness. -It takes 30 -50 encounters of positive engagement with learning to turn around a student with a negative attitude toward learning.

Sample Gradebook (standards)

Impact on Teachers

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative This was always viewed as a journey that would take time. We are currently starting our sixth year. Each teacher has had the chance to explore this research at their own pace.

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR ONE: Early adopters began experimenting with different grading practices immediately. They reported out about their action research at every staff meeting for the rest of the year.

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR ONE: The books the early adopters were reading were offered to the rest of the staff to read over the summer (no strings attached).

How This Became a School- Wide Initiative YEAR TWO: After summer reading, more staff changed their grading system to start the school year. Throughout the year, all implementers shared out at staff meetings.

How This Became a School- Wide Initiative YEAR TWO: What works wins… more staff were compelled by the anecdotal data and student reaction to the change. Implementers received very positive feedback from students and parents. A small group of representatives from each subject area formed an assessment team with an ISD coach.

How This Became A School-Wide Initiative YEAR THREE: Staff met by department to adopt common grading systems. Chose to adopt common grading practices with the majority of final grades comprised of summative assessments.

How This Became A School-Wide Initiative YEAR THREE: The entire staff agreed on policies regarding: retakes, extra credit, late work and cheating. **Changing grading systems has never been mandated.

New Grading Practices School-Wide

New Grading Practices School-Wide Zeros: Not used for late work, cheating, missing work. Instead, viewed as incomplete or not enough information. Late work: not penalized by a reduction in score. Viewed as incomplete until turned in.

New Grading Practices School-Wide Cheating: affects work habits, but not achievement scores; disciplinary consequences. Extra Credit: used as extra learning opportunities ; counted as extra assignments. Grades: based primarily on summative assessments.

New Grading Practices School-Wide Retake Guidelines: *Available on any summative assessment except for final exams *Retakes only for the learning targets that were missed *Several teachers use interviews for retakes.

New Grading Practices School-Wide Retake Guidelines: *Before being eligible to retake, students must do “target practice” (demonstrate preparation by getting tutoring, doing extra practice problems, redoing homework, etc. ).

New Grading Practices School-Wide *Students must make an appointment with the teacher within one week of getting the summative assessment back in order to retake. *The student’s new score replaces the old one.

Retakes -Adrianne

Impact on Students- Travis

How This Became a School- Wide Initiative YEAR FOUR: Agreed upon our grading policies school-wide. All but the ELA core content area teachers counted summative assessments as 90% of the final grade and work habits as 10% of the final grade. (ELA = 80/20)

How This Became a School- Wide Initiative YEAR FOUR: All students self-assess regularly in all classes using a common work habits rubric developed by the staff. Students track their progress and teachers record scores in grade book; comprises 10% of students’ grades.

Work Habits Rubric

ONE LAST REFLECTION… Think about your current grading practices and how you incorporate compliance/evaluate work habits. Which of the grading practices mentioned today make the most sense to you personally? Which would be most difficult for you/your school to adopt and why?

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR FIVE: In Years 4 and 5, several district-wide meetings occurred that allowed for sharing about grading and assessment. (Content Area Curricular Reviews, Aggie Improvement Teams, Book Club)

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR FIVE: Several MS and elementary teachers adopted standards-based grading and/or changed other grading practices.

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR FIVE: Elementary teachers created clearning targets aligned to the Common Core Standards in both reading and math.

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR FIVE: Worked in grades 6 -12 to make Power. School a more effective communication tool for parents by adding more formative assessment scores and by detailing CLTs aligned with assignments.

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR SIX: One grade level of elementary teachers are piloting a standards-based report card. Other elementary teachers are running dual grade books to experiment with standardsbased reporting.

How This Became a School-Wide Initiative YEAR SIX: Offered training to newly hired staff about assessment Will offer district assessment “listen and learn” meetings once per quarter to encourage growth and provide support. Continue to offer resources (time/books, etc. ) as requested.

Impact on Parents – Mrs. Pepper

Impact on Students - Adam is talking about the difference the grading policy had on his motivation and achievement in Algebra I. Adam was able to earn a B due to his commitment to retaking the learning targets.

Data Collected in the Classroom

Impact on Parents- Jan

Impact from Administrative Perspective - Anecdotal Great for the overall culture of our school. Students are more hopeful overall, leading to a decrease in discipline referrals related to academic engagement and an increase in graduation rate. Many teachers have felt rejuvenated by the change.

Impact from Administrative Perspective - Anecdotal Most parents are enthusiastic about the changes and expect students to take full advantage of retakes, etc. Students and parents report that the staff truly cares about the success of their students, which has been attributed by several students to the expectation of proficiency.

Impact from Administrative Perspective - Anecdotal Students are taking ownership of their own learning. Our graduates are reporting increased confidence in handling college-level content as well as benefiting from knowing how to monitor their learning from tracking learning in HS.

Impact from Administrative Perspective - Anecdotal As expected from the research, this change has created the biggest wins for the kids who need it most, but ALL students benefit from this focus on proficiency.

Future Steps We are hoping to implement a standards-based report card in the elementary school next year. We continue to consider ways to supplement traditional secondary reporting with transcripts that reflect actual proficiency on clearning targets and work habits.

Lessons Learned Needed to develop retake parameters (included here). Needed to provide detailed ways for students to earn a “ 4” on the 4 -pt scale. Needed to include more formative assessments in grade book for parents.

Lessons Learned Need to provide parent communication often throughout the process. Need to account for personnel changes each year. Need to provide time and support for staff to implement, since this is such a significant change.

Acknowledgement/Sources of Help Amber Cross HS Math Teacher crossa@dansville. org 517 -623 -6120, Ext. 277 Leah Braman HS ELA Teacher bramanl@dansville. org 517 -623 -6120, Ext. 281 Dave Klingbiel HS Science Teacher klingbield@dansville. org 517 -623 -6120, Ext. 2 Kristen Ream Lower Elementary Teacher reamk@dansville. org 517 -623 -6120, Ext. 246 Amy Hodgson Superintendent hodgson@dansville. org 517 -623 -6120, Ext. 250 School Website w/Assessment Tab: www. dansville. org Many teachers have resources & content on personal websites you can access through the directory

Resources Classroom Assessment for Student Learning – Rick Stiggins, Judith Arter, Jan Chappuis, Steve Chappuis How to Grade For Learning – Ken O’Connor Classroom Assessment and Grading that Works – Robert Marzano

Resources Formative Assessment and Standards -Based Grading- Robert Marzano A Repair Kit for Grading – Ken O’Connor Inside the Black Box – Paul Black and Dylan William http: //weaeducation. typepad. co. uk/f iles/blackbox-1. pdf www. assessmentinst. com

What Are The Next Steps For YOU? You’re welcome to call, email or come visit us at Dansville Schools. *MIEM registration available for Educator Site Visits at Dansville Schools in November and February. (Registration is limited. )

Upcoming Event “Measuring Growth Without a Measuring Tape: What Teachers Need to Consider When Thinking about Teacher Effectiveness” A presentation with Sara Bryant, Measured Progress Monday, April 15, 2013 1: 00 – 2: 30 pm EST

Thank You… • Amy Hodgson and Dansville Schools • Wayne RESA • MI Streamnet • Audience

Future Viewing of Today’s Presentation DVD version may be purchased through Wayne RESA – Contact Brenda Hose or Archived on mistreamnet. com under “video on demand”

2013 - 14 MAC Videoconference Looking for your suggestions: Contact Dodie Raycraft draycraft@sjcisd. org Terri Portice porticet@reeths-puffer. org Lisa Bannon lbannon@wmisd. org Ellen Vorenkamp vorenke@resa. net Kimberly Young youngk 1@michigan. gov Molly Bruzewski bruzewskim@baisd. org