By Kristin
My school, a middle school, has been implementing standards-based grading. It's a big deal for us, but elementary schools have been doing this for years. That means that when parents see an A on the report card, they can assume their child has met and is exceeding grade-level standards in that content area, even if he was the most disruptive child in the class and one who rarely did homework. The standards we're using are the Common Core standards, and we've moved to consistency within grade level content areas.
This transition means we've had to move away from things like marking down for late work, averaging a quiz's grade with a retake, or offering extra credit.
There has been much respectful compromising.
Despite the challenges, we have thrown out most of what we've done with grading (I used to give late work 50% – it made grading that pile before the end of the quarter so easy!) and are adopting totally new habits and strategies.
But there's one thing that still doesn't fit, and that thing is the list of comments we need to use when we enter grades. We use eSis, so we can't write individual comments. We enter the numbers that correspond to a comment. If Peter is earning a C because he's almost at standard, why are my comment choices things like #410, "Needs to assume more responsibility," or #310, "Absences and tardies affect grade"?
Are these behavior comments helpful to parents because they like the anecdotal, "What's my child like in class" quality? Or are they a barrier to true standards-based grading, because they use behavior to explain a grade? Does behavior impact a grade? Many say it does.
As a parent who reads report cards, hoping for a glimpse into my child's academic self, and as a teacher who knows her students well I think that if a child "Bothers others so they cannot work" (#201), that's probably something that should be communicated to parents long before the report card is opened.
What comments do you think would effectively explain why a child earned a D, C, B or A in your content area? Or, if you're an elementary teacher who has written detailed and personalized report cards for years, what do you find helpful for communicating to parents why a child is where she is in her skills?
For me, as a middle school humanities teacher, I wish I had these:
Positive:
1. Is highly skilled at recognizing cause and effect patterns through history.
2. Advanced ability to consolidate information into understanding of an historical situation.
3. Ability to critically incorporate peer and teacher feedback into individual style has strengthened writing skills.
4. Exceptional interest in reading a wide variety of texts.
Needs more work:
1. Needs to practice connecting an isolated event to its context.
2. Lack of geographic knowledge creates barriers to mastery of content.
3. Needs to embrace the revision part of the writing process.
4. Reading outside of school will strengthen skills and confidence.
If your building has moved to standards-based grading, what has worked and what is problematic? Do you think this is a direction schools should move? Is behavior so deeply embedded in ability, that it's impossible to separate the two?
We are piloting Standards Based Grading and Reporting at my middle school this year. I like the promise it holds for skill based rather than age based course placement you are all discussing in the comments. We have had SBGR for the last four years at the elementary level. Thus far (I was at the elementary for the last three) I have not seen SBGR impact placement. Grade level continues to be age based. I am excited to see wher this goes at secondary. As ou have all pointed out it offers great opportunity for more appropriate placement. The burning question in my mind is whether English Language Learners are going to assessed on content standards or English Language Development Standards. At a certain point that question becomes a social justice issue. In my perfect world we will find a way to blend the two. Time will tell….
I tend to use the novels as gateways to exploration of topics (where I can assess the research skills and writing skills) and as a means of teaching literary analysis at different levels.
For example, I have the students learn three levels of thesis statements which produce different levels of depth in analyzing the literary work. This lets the kids work at their levels of depth and complexity while still showing (at least) proficiency, if not mastery, skill levels based on the standards.
We are developing content standards for our students to ensure the students come away with some cultural literacy as well as language arts content. Otherwise, we may have students allowed to complete their English careers without ever having read a Shakespearean play or a major American literary work; thus, they may not understand the allusions (for one thing) surrounding them. One can’t learn allusions without content background.
Dr Pezz… that was a part of my post I deleted: if that kid I mention was moved on after one month, they’d (in our current model) never read To Kill a Mockingbird or Romeo and Juliet or the Odyssey or a bunch of great poetry. In my dream world there would be a convenient solution to that. As it is, though, a great deal of good literature isn’t taught because of the time necessary to aim for the low-middle in a hugely diverse set of learners all grouped together only because of their birthdays. I do agree with you about the potential for missed content, but that is already a problem I think.
Dr. Pezz, you make a great point. I just enrolled my daughters in swimming, and part of the process was choosing between “advanced youth” lessons or “beginning youth.” When I asked what the difference was, I was told, “Advanced youth can swim the length of the pool and back, using side breathing.”
I am wondering if there’s a similar measuring device for reading and writing. When I compare the work kids needed to do in tenth grade honors language arts to what my seventh graders did this year, I would identify the key marks to be vocabulary, understanding of literary tools, knowledge of genres, and the length and complexity of writing.
I wonder if there is a way to say “This child is ready for Advanced Composition / Advanced Literary Analysis” and “This child is ready for Beginning Composition / Analysis” instead of using age-leveled grades.
I see what you’re saying about the content, but I’ve read Catcher in the Rye probably 15 times since I was in 9th grade, and though the book is content I could understand in 9th grade, I feel like I’m only now able to fully appreciate how intricate a web that story is. Same content, more mastery.
I always wonder about the kid in your example, Mark. Maybe some of the skills have been mastered (if the course is truly designed on standards), but what about the importance of the content?
Language Arts seems to be a discipline where the real difference between grades 9 and 10, for example, is more about the depth and complexity of the readings and the student responses rather than a change in standards. Inferences, academic and content vocabulary, analysis and response, etc. never really change, but the content does drastically.
There seems to be a movement where people say things like “The kids can read whatever he wants as long as he can show the skills” without recognizing that a skill like summary is mastered early but the content determines the success of showing mastery of summary. For example, Timmy can summarize the first chapter of Of Mice and Men but can’t compose a summary for the first book of The Odyssey. The content really determined this, not the skill of summarizing. This is a simplistic example but illustrates one of my worries in language arts.
It would be great to be able to move kids around based on ability. Think of how much ground you could cover each year if your classes were based on ability and not age.
My school gives an “E” grade for Effort and a “C” grade for Citizenship. So a child could earn a B for language arts, an EA and a CA for As in effort and citizenship.
I wonder if standards based grading in the secondary levels might be a good gateway toward better placement of students in courses. For example… I have a kid who comes into my 9th grade English classroom. She proves within the first few weeks that she exceeds all standards with flying colors. Seems to me that there is a case here for moving her on to the next course level…except as of right now the “next level” is based on age, not skill. I would love to see a major restructuring of the language arts, and standards based grading may be a way to initiate this.
It seems like I recall reading about secondary schools with standards-based content grading that also gave character, behavior, timeliness (etc.) grades as well to communicate about work ethic and completion.