Why do we grade everything?

The common core standards and the next generation science standards have provided a common framework that represents the skills and content knowledge that we expect students to master in order to be prepared for college and careers. The standards and correlated high stakes tests are designed to assess students on the application of these skills and content.

If we accept these standards as "what kids need to know and do" then we need to develop curriculum and assessment that scaffolds students toward this goal. How we get students their should be variable. The activities, technologies, lesson design and products should be representative of the dynamics of your class. Students should be given what they need based on observation, data and their feedback. While this represents the "art" of teaching, close consideration should be given to best-practice instructional strategies. It is at this stage that collaboration among teachers may result in improved instructional practice.

If the goal of our efforts is "student learning" vs. "teaching"  we need to consider the opportunities we provide students and teachers to check for understanding and progress towards learning.  Learning is defined as "the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught" Research and experiences has proven that failure is an essential component to growth, development and learning.  How can we provide opportunities for students to not fear failure in order to provide them a chance to take risks, recognize areas to focus improvement and channel resources? How can we provide teachers with a true understanding of where students are on the learning curve? 

The use of formative assessments provide opportunities for this type of measurement. Whether its a do now, exit slip or a short quiz these types of "check for understanding" assessments are effective. If we eliminate the grading of these assessments we take away the punitive nature of these assessments. The assessments may now be on-demand and unannounced. There will not be grade inflation representative of study guides, tutoring or intensive review. The feedback is immediate, authentic and relevant.

When we provide formative reviews of student learning our instructional practices can align to what students need vs. what we have to 'cover'.  The summative assessments, aligned to the standards can then represent a greater weighting of the overall grade and will result in a course grade that better reflects student understanding.

 

Teaching and Testing vs. Student Learning and Assessment

In a 2011 issue of Ed Weekly, Peter DeWitt published an article discussing how our focus on testing should be shifted to assessment. This idea of assessment, whether formative or summative, has been widely spoken and debated for quite some time. Our movement towards common core standards and PARCC assessment has forced our shift to summative testing. In other words, we are preparing students for end of course summative assessments that provide an "autopsy" of how well the students have mastered skills and content. By incorporating "Student Growth Percentage Scores (SGP's)" in teacher evaluations we are also assessing how well teachers have done in ensuring such mastery with a defined group of students. 

While there is value and relevance to summative assessments, our goal as educators is not to teach, it is to ensure student learning. In order to meet that demand we need to employ formative assessment to constantly check for understanding. The results of which will impact our pacing, lesson plans, follow-up assessments, interventions and support models.

In most schools teachers embark on this challenge in isolation. They develop tests, quizzes and other formative assessments  on their own. Teachers calculate percentage scores, averages, and hopefully varied levels of itemization resulting in data analysis for their group of students.

The work of DuFour, DuFour and Eaker support a hybrid approach to formative assessment by introducing common formative assessment.  The advantages of teachers teaching the same content developing common assessments are highlighted in their many works.  It is important to note that they are speaking of assessments and not content tests. These assessments provide a variety of prompts, questions sets and tasks that assess the skills, critical thinking, problem solving and content connected to the standards. The results of each assessment are itemized and discussed collaboratively. Interventions, curriculum changes, and  instructional planning are developed collaborative as a result of the data.

"If five teachers teaching the same course or grade level are responsible for ensuring all students acquire the same knowledge and skills, it make sense those teachers would work together to determine the best methods to assess student learning. A team of teachers could divide responsibilities for creating a unit and developing assessments. Teachers working in isolation replicate and duplicate effort. They work hard, but they do not work smart.", (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, 2007).  Other advantages cite equity, collaborative problem solving, improvement of individual and teams of teachers, systematic interventions and increased student achievement.

Teachers of the same content working together to develop 3 or 4 benchmark assessments, aligned to standards, presented timely, and analyzed and discussed collaboratively will undoubtedly have a greater opportunity to ensure student learning than high stakes, summative tests.

For This Generation.....Content is King

The digital shift over the past 15 years has created a unprecidented demand for content. The value of original and authentic content is evident in the current value of sports franchises, reality television, and app development. We live in a world of social media, on-demand digital access, and 24/7 connectivity. This type of network demands content.

With this new demand creates opportunity. Opportunity exists for our students to develop communication skills, literacy skills, and content knowledge that will allow them the opportunity to be contributors in the content era rather than passive consumers.

How do we provide our students with the skills necessary to be valuable "content contributors"? How do we prepare them to navigate, manage and authenticate the content available to them?

We start by exposure to multiple mediums across content areas. For example, a mathematics teacher considers a variety mediums for content delivery and assessment of knowledge such as  direct instruction, video tutorials, case studies, or online discussions.  Teachers may provide students with a repository of resources utilizing a learning management system. 

When we provide students with opportunities to publish and share their thoughts, opinions and final products we begin their journey towards a contribution to global content. It is at this juncture that we should encourage them to publish and to accept and reflect on criticism, commenting and peer review. By developing both their confidence to share and refining their craft of writing and critical thinking we develop the next generation of "content creators".

Student publishing is accomplished in a variety of ways. The shift from writing for your teacher to writing for an audience may be stressful for some. Through exposure, positive support, and authentic feedback students may develop a comfort with sharing publicly.

Teachers may abandon paper based journals for blogs. Class discussions my transition between the classroom and threaded discussions. Student writing may be shared electronically for peer review. Teachers may connect their students with classrooms around the world or content area experts. These connections might involve collaborative blogging, collaborative authoring, peer view,online discussions, or video conferencing.

Having students comment on public blogs, newspapers or writing book reviews on Amazon present authentic opportunities to hone their craft as well.

Mobile Apps Promote Communication and Education

Mobile devices have increasingly found a home in schools. No cell phone policies have been amended or replaced with electronic device guidelines. Student and teacher cell phone use in schools has transitioned from "do not" to "do it this way" .  Students and teachers have become creative with the use of these devices. The use of polling services to check for understanding, students taking pictures of information posted on the board, backchannel conversations, and on-demand research have caused a paradigm shift for students and staff. 

School administrators must recognize the opportunity to maximize this resource to promote communication, collaboration, and increased student achievement. By utilizing social media or the roll out of a school app, administrators have the ability to "push" information. The idea of posting information on a website for those who choose to visit the site can be replaced with a pushing out information through Tweets or app notifications.

Learning Management Systems offer a centralized repository of content, assignments, important dates and communication. Many of the most up-do-date LMS systems offer mobile apps that provide students and teachers with this repository in their pocket. The availability, accessibility and organization of these materials provides a classroom level intervention that will impact student achievement  and home-school communication.

Collaborative Teaching Teams in a High School

In high schools across the country teachers meet as departments or entire faculties. These standardized, contractual, meetings typcially involve the dissemination of information, schoolwide PD, or discussion about curriculum and assessment. While these gatherings are valuable and necessary, they may fall short in meeting the needs of at-risk students. The establishment of inter-disciplinary teaching teams provides an opportunity for teachers from multiple content areas, who teach the same students to meet on a regular basis. The collaboration of such teachers shifts the focus of conversation from curriculum and instruction to students.

Popular topics for the planning meetings may include the establishment of consistent policies and procedures, communication strategies, classroom interventions, classroom accoommodations, student achievement, and behavior observations.

In order to organize such a team it it necessary to identify grade levels and courses that share a significant percentage of common students. When scheduling, teacher must be provided with a common planning period. To meet contract obligations consider substituting a non-instructional duty for this assignment.

 

A New Homework Strategy

The completion of homework remains a point of focus for some students when analyzing their achievement in particular courses. Some students find it challenging to complete assignments for a variety of reasons. When class grading policies incorporate homework grades this can have a significant impact on a student's grade. This can also be a point of frustration for parents, teachers and counselors.

Typically the goal of homework is to apply a concept that was introduced in class or to enter class the next day with prerequisite knowledge necessary for productive class discussions or group work. The goal is not to produce a grade, but to further student learning and understanding. Grading homework is an extrinsic motivator that does not impact some students. Homework that does not focus on student learning and understanding is graded for compliance.

I like the idea of providing students who miss an assignment the opportunity to complete the assignment. Myron Dueck, Assistant Principal of Summerland Secondary School in British Columbia shared an incomplete assignment form that he has students submit. This was shared in the March edition of Educational Leadership. When students complete this form they must select from a list of Interventions that are available to them. These may include extra help sessions, study hall, viewing a tutorial, or any other intervention that they will utilize to complete the assignment.

By providing an incomplete grade and a clear intervention plan to complete the assignment the student is provided with choice and a motivation to not have an incomplete for the course grade. There are many variations to this idea, but I believe this is a concept that is worth exploring with our at-risk students.

Common Core Sharing

Now that we have established and committed to the Common Core Standards we have a common expectation. We have a framework that will be used to assess our students based on curriculum aligned to these standards. While the implementation of common assessment vehicles is beginning to unfold there remains skepticism and concerns regarding the focus on testing, logistics and value of high stakes assessment.

One advantage of national common standards is the unity of our educators around the country. By providing common standards we simplify the process of making connections between educators of the same content area. Teachers across the country who have common core aligned curriculum are sourcing and developing instructional materials and resources that are aligned to these standards. By standardizing what we teach we open up the opportunity to crowd source the content, materials and plans we implement in our classroom. The breadth of sharing escalates when we align all of our teachers.

The Learning Registry, www.learningregistry.org was developed to connect the thousands of pre-qualified resources being utilized by teachers around the country. The Learning Registry is a portal where educators may find standard aligned digital content. Educators may simplify their searching of the registry by using the site http://free.ed.gov.  

This is a start in the right direction. As the web continues to grow the resources for educators grow with it. The common core standards has standardized "what" educators need to explore with students. Together we can vet the digital content aligned to these standards and share it with our peers. I hope to see more sites like the learning registry simplify this process.