grading 101
TRANSCRIPT
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