grading 101

This presentation was developed for the exclusive use of students enrolled in:

Educational Testing & Grading, Professor Gregory E. Stone.

© 2004 Gregory E. Stone. All rights reserved. This presentation may not be reproduced in any form, in part or as a whole, without the express written permission of the author.

Grading 101

How you grade and report to yourstudents is as important as how you

assess them.

Over Simplistic

91 - 100 = A81 - 90 = B71 - 80 = C61 - 70 = DUnder 61 = F

What does earning an“A” really

mean?

A, B, C . . .Content

&Difficulty

StudentAssessment

LearningObjectives

EasyExam

Suppose a teacher gave 3 different exams covering the

same content to three different students

ModerateExam

DifficultExam

EasyExam

Suppose each student scored 50%

ModerateExam

DifficultExam

50% 50%50%

EasyExam

How can this be reasonable?

ModerateExam

DifficultExam

50% 50%50%

Grading without reference to content and difficulty is necessarily arbitrary and

capricious.

While most schools mandate a specific grade

reporting format, teachers have flexibility in

their own classrooms.

Let’s begin by discussing what grades aren’t.

> Life encompassing

> Pejorative

> Inclusive of all characteristics

Instead, we must think of

grades as unidimensional

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Like a ruler

Rulers can measure length.Rulers can measure width.

We can use those measurements to assess area.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

How can we use this ruler to measure color?

Or combine color and area?

Grades are rulers of a sort, designed to represent

mastery of a given subject, area or behavior

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

English Report Card

B+

Basic Grading Rule:

If the grade is for an academic subject, the grade must reflect only academic performance!

English Report Card

B+

Many of us want to include other pieces in our grades, like:

Johnny tries really hardSally is very well behaved

English Report Card

B+

When grades mix behavior, academics & effort, we can’t really understand any of the three charateristics!

How can we make decisions on this basis?

English Report Card

B+ English proficiency

Class behavior

Student effort

Elementary schools generally report grades effectively - in a manner allowing for maximum understanding of student performance on all desired levels.

Elementary SchoolReport Card

SLanguage Arts

Effort

Behavior

E

S+

Jimmy tries very hardbut needs to pay moreattention in class. Ms. Allison

Secondary schools do not often allow for this detail - and many teachers include this “other” information within the academic grade.

High SchoolReport Card

AEnglish

Math

Science

B

B+

WRONG!

Confused grading is a leading cause ofdiscounting teacher grades!

When schools limit expression of grades -

teachers must become more creative! - letters, notes & phone calls home

- approach administrators to create better, more inclusive reports

EnglishLearning Objective 1 ____________________

Learning Objective 2 ____________________

Learning Objective 3 ____________________..Learning Objective X ____________________

Sally needs help with subject-verb agreement. Try practice with exercise 12 in the english text.

Wow! Sally is so advanced - she should be encouraged to readmore difficult texts.

Example

In your classroom: Practice good grading

Don’t ignore content & difficulty

Don’t be rigid and arbitrary

Don’t give a student a grade without helping them USE the

grade to improve their mastery.

Difficulty can beAddressed with simple weighting

Easy ItemEasy Item

Moderate ItemModerate Item

Difficult ItemDifficult Item

1. __2. __3. __4. __5. __6. __

ABBCAD

Sally Jenny

______ _______

66% 66%UNWEIGHTED

Difficulty can beAddressed with simple weighting

Easy ItemEasy Item

Moderate ItemModerate Item

Difficult ItemDifficult Item

1. __2. __3. __4. __5. __6. __

ABBCAD

Sally Jenny

______ _______

55% 80%WEIGHTED

10%10%17.5

%17.5

%22.5

%22.5

%

Importance can also beAddressed with simple weighting

Low Importance ItemLow Importance Item

Average Importance Item

Average Importance Item

High Importance ItemHigh Importance Item

1. __2. __3. __4. __5. __6. __

ABBCAD

Sally Jenny

______ _______

55% 80%WEIGHTED

Robert Ebel developed a model for setting standards using a 3x3 grid

IMP

OR

TA

NC

E

DIFFICULTY

Low

Mod

High

Easy Moderate Difficult

3 pts 4 pts

4 pts

5 pts

5 pts

5 pts

6 pts

6 pts 7 pts

By including content & difficultyin your grading process you are

creating CRITERION-REFERENCED

grades.

Criterion-referenced grades are theonly grades that are fair and equitable

to all students.

Criterion-Referencing: Based upon mastery or performance on a selected set of content (i.e. how well did Johnny do in English?)

Normative-Referencing: Based upon the distribution of scores and the “normal distribution” (i.e. how well did Johnny do compared to Jimmy?)

Criterion-Referencing:

We suppose that academic subjects run along a continuum - from easier to more difficult, from unimportant to very important.

Criterion referencing helps us understand what specific content the student has mastered.

For example ----------------

Simple Math

+

-

x

÷

Criterion-Referencing:

We suppose that academic subjects run along a continuum - from easier to more difficult, from unimportant to very important.

Criterion referencing helps us understand what specific content the student has mastered.

For example

Simple Math

+

-

x

÷

Mastered

Not Mastered

Norm-Referencing:

Grading without reference to content - instead scores are determined based on the group of students who take the exam.

THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

Mean

-3 -2 -1 +1 +2 +3

Standard Deviation Units

68%

99%

96%

The student score is 0.5standard deviations above

the mean.

Norm-Referencing: We’ll learn more about the Normal distribution when we discuss Standardized Test scores.

Such statistical schemes are seldom used in the classroom … but there is one very popular form of norming used in classrooms all over.

Can you name it?

Norm-Referencing:

“If the highest score on the exam is 95%, then I’ll make that the top score (100%) by adding 5 to everyone’s score”

We generally hate the person who gets the top score for “throwing off the curve!”

Curving is UNFAIR, UNREASONABLE and UNACCEPTABLE!

The special concerns with Special Education

I.E.P.’s often require teachers to offer Special Education students special tests and special grading schemes.

What’s wrong with this plan?

The special concerns with Special Education

Via integration (mainstreaming) special education students and “regular” education students are in the same classroom but are measured to different standards.

Report Card Report Card

English A English A

Special Ed Student Non-Special Ed Student

Report Card Report Card

English A English A

Special Ed Student Non-Special Ed Student

SubjectsVerbs

AdjectivesAdverbs

Subject-Verb AgreementSimple sentences

Paragraphs

Report Card Report Card

English A English A

Special Ed Student Non-Special Ed Student

SubjectsVerbs

AdjectivesAdverbs

Subject-Verb AgreementSimple sentences

Paragraphs

Subjects

Adjectives

Simple sentences

Non-standard grades =Useless grades

How could a college or anyone else make use or sense of grades that mean something different even within the same classroom?

3 Major Problems leading to the devaluation of teacher

grades: Inclusion of non-academic information in

academic grades

Unfair normative (curving) practices

Non-standard grading within the same classroom