Assessment, Grading, & Reporting Thoughts for 2016-2017

One of my favorite educational topics is assessment.  It astounds me how little time is given to assessment, grading, and reporting in Teacher Ed programs when it is something that is of major importance in our job.  I have been a user of SBG for many years and have posted on it previously here, here, here, and here.  Below is my initial brainstorming for next year.  I welcome & encourage feedback! How do you grade and report? Does your department or school have requirements you must follow?

Mathews 2016-2017 Assessment Thoughts

IB 7 point scale – think I will need to convert to 100 pt scale due to Power School and parent/student understanding since I’d be the only one doing this.

One idea (Sources at bottom of this post give excellent IB descriptors): Note: I was reading that in the UK they start with 40 and move up instead of like the US starting with 100 and moving down. This makes me think of my “write your name for 50 points” as a way to circumvent the US 100 point scale which means less than 1/3 of available points are actually passing grades.

IB	100 point
7	100
6	90
5	85
4	75
3	68
2	60
1	40

 

• Trend in grades vs. average in grades?
• Tests, projects, and homework quizzes are only grades in powerschool
• Tests have an overall rubric grade, not that each question is worth a certain number of points.
  • This is part of what will require a conversion to a 100 point scale
  • Could I use Haiku for the 1-7 scale & feedback, and then put in powerschool the 100 point conversion?
  • Students may request to retake a test.  This will be true of all tests, except the final exam.  There will be substantial work required to prove a student is ready to sit for the test again. Re-test will be on a specific date/time only, and will be outside of class.
• Homework quizzes will also have an overall rubric grade
  • Due to low % of students completing homework, I will institute HW quizzes. HW quizzes will be short (2-3 questions) after something has been in the HW more than once to make sure students are understanding the practice work.  Questions will be taken from or very similar to the HW.  This will be a low % in the gradebook, more of an accountability piece for students (which I hate, loathe, detest).  Pop quiz or not pop quiz? Maybe both?
• My typical SBG quizzes will be formative and without grades – potentially do the heat sheet or rubric grades in Haiku
• Tests must be cumulative.
• How would this fit with current math team grading guidelines?  My test grades would be higher than the % range, though would fall within the combined test/quiz % range.  Would it be acceptable if I’m prototyping, so mine is slightly different than others?  I will be teaching two stand alone classes, does that help?  Need to talk to math team about this and get their feedback.
• How do I want to include the descriptors for behavioral items?  Would that be a standard way I would write mid-term comments; comments address the work habits rubric (1-4 scale – see the Leading school through Transformation Change link)?  Could I somehow meld the work habits and MVPS mindsets or the 4C’s work done by iD?  The source below about MYP grading has some good details about work habits descriptors and rubrics.
• How much of this do I want hammered out before school starts and how much am I willing to allow student choice/voice/agency?  Does a syllabus have to be finalized on the first day of class?  Or can a teacher and students have a framework and figure out the details together?  Is it more appropriate to have Hon PreCalc have more voice & choice than Hon Alg 2 due to age & maturity of students? Scaffolding to learn how to make those types of decisions?  1st project of the year – create an ideal grading schematic? Would too many go traditional because it is what they “know”?
• What if I use a 0-4 scale instead of 1-7?  Students and parents are more familiar with those scales.  I’m thinking 0, 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4.  I have descriptors from my SBG rubric but I could do a combo of those descriptors and the IB descriptors.

0-4 Scale	100 point scale
4	100
3.5	92
3	85
2	70 or 75 (Would this be different for Hon vs. CP?)
1	50 or 60 (I like 50 better than 60)
0	0

 

• Sources that have helped guide my thinking for these possibilities:
  • IBDP Grade 1-7 Grade Descriptors
  • IB Grade Descriptors by Subject
  • A grade conversion example
  • Leading school through Transformation Change through MYP Grading, Assessing, and Reporting by Tom Dodd, Farr Prickett Quinn, and Louis Marchesano