Inclusion and Grading

Theresa Kleinschnitz, ESE SpecialistTara Hatch, Staffing Specialist

Glendia Cloutier, Staffing Specialist

Common Board ConfigurationDate: 8/19/15

Benchmark: Planning/Preparing for Special Student Needs

Bell Ringer: Complete Pre-test

Essential Question: How can I relay the students’ progress to administrators and parents effectively and accurately?

Common Language: inclusion, fairness, differentiated classroom

Objective: To understand how a disability can affect a student in the classroom; To gather a variety of methods for grading students;

Agenda: Gradual Release

I DO Share best practices for grading students with disabilities

WE DO Think-Pair-Share; role play

YOU DO Pre and Post Test

Summarizing Activity: Post Test

Next Steps: Use the Repair Kit and other materials to assist you in identifying, defending, and implementing effective grading strategies in your inclusion setting.

Learning Goals: Participants will understand the importance of individualized assessment/grading for students with disabilities

Lake County SchoolsVision Statement A dynamic, progressive and collaborative learning community

embracing change and diversity where every student will graduate with the skills needed to succeed in postsecondary education and the workplace.

 Mission Statement The mission of the Lake County Schools is to provide every student

with individual opportunities to excel.

Lake County Schools is committed to excellence in all curricular opportunities and instructional best practices. This focus area addresses closing the achievement gap, increased graduation rate, decreased dropout rate, increase in Level 3 and above scores on the FCAT, achieving an increase in the number of students enrolled in advanced placement and dual enrollment opportunities and implementing the best practices in instructional methodology.

Staff Development Day 2015

Staff Development Day 2015

Marzano/TEAM Framework

Communicating Learning Goals and FeedbackEstablishing Rules and ProceduresHelping Students Interact with New KnowledgeHelping Students Practice/Deepen KnowledgeHelping Students Generate/Test HypothesesEngaging StudentsPlanning/Preparing for Lessons and UnitsPlanning/Preparing for Resources & TechnologyPlanning/Preparing for Special Student NeedsDeveloping/Monitoring a Professional Growth

Plan

21st Century Skills Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap

Staff Development Day 2015

1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving2. Collaboration and Leadership3. Agility and Adaptability4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism5. Effective Oral and Written Communication6. Accessing and Analyzing Information7. Curiosity and Imagination

HousekeepingPlease turn the sound off on your cell phonesUse the restrooms as neededSticky notes have been provided for you to

write down your questions or concerns during the presentation

Respect each others options

PRE-TEST

Pre-testWhat does grading look like in an inclusion

setting?

When is grading misleading? How?

Is grading equal to uniformity? How?

Can effective grading strategies improve student success and academic progress? Be specific.

WAIT!

It’s not fair!To level the playing field. . . .

If you have glasses on. . . remove them for this pre-test activity.

AND…..

You must write your answers in cursive. . .

You must use your left hand only!

No exceptions!

Think – Pair - ShareHow did you feel during the activity?

FAIRNESSAccording to Ken O’ Conner, in his book A

Repair Kit for Grading he states, “In education we have tended to think of

fairness as uniformity. All students have been required to do the same assessments in the same amount of time and their grades have been calculated in the same way from the same number of assessments. But students are different in many different ways, and so treating them the same can actually be UNFAIR.” (2011, p. 7)

So… how do we make grading fair?

Grading practice daily homework. Instead use a small percentage (10% or less of total grade) if grading is used to motivate students into doing homework. Practice work should be corrected and feedback provided. Specific, quality feedback is the most important response.

Withholding assistance (not scaffolding or differentiating) Instead compare the student’s achievement to established learning criteria. Re-teach the skill(s) by differentiating instruction and retest giving students the higher grade.

Group grades and grading on a curve are very distorting as a reference of mastery. Overall, giving group grades undermines the legitimate use of grades. Instead strive to grade students individually on a cooperative learning product.

Avoid the following in a Differentiated Classroom[They Dilute a Grade’s Validity and Effectiveness]

Avoid the following in a Differentiated Classroom[They Dilute a Grade’s validity and Effectiveness] Continued Incorporating non-academic factors (behavior, attendance, and

effort)

Assessing students in ways that do not accurately indicate students’ mastery (student responses are hindered by the assessment format). Instead consider testing using alternative formats.

Recording zeroes on the 100.0 scale for work not done

Penalizing students’ multiple attempts at mastery (Redos & Retakes)

Wormeli, 2007-2008

0 or 50 (0r 60)? = F or an F?100-pt. Scale example:

Temperature Readings for Norfolk, VA: 85, 87, 88, 84, 0

(Forgot to take the reading on final day)

Average: 68.8 degrees

This is inaccurate for what really happened, and therefore, unusable.

True or False?When working with students, do we choose the most hurtful, unrecoverable end of the “F” range, or the most constructive, recoverable end of the “F” range?Wormeli, 2007-2008

Imagine the Reverse…

A = 100 –40B = 39 –30C = 29 –20D = 19 –10F = 9 –0

Just as we wouldn’t want an “A” to have an inaccurate effect, we don’t want an “F” grade to have such an undue, deflationary, and inaccurate effect. Keeping zeroes on a 100-pt. scale is just as absurd as the scale seen here.

Wormeli, 2007-2008

SummaryStudents are not getting points for having done nothing. The student may still earn a letter grade “F”. We’re simply equalizing the influence of each grade in the overall and responding in a way that leads to measured learning.

Wormeli, 2007-2008

Oh no it’s a

POP QUIZ!

Please remove all items from your table.

MATH QUIZParticipants

will demonstrate equal thirds

Table DiscussionWas this a fair way to

test each of you?Were you graded on

your knowledge of the content objective?

Did you get frustrated?

How would individual conditions like a disability, economic status, ELL, 504, Mental Illness, Families in Transition, Foster Care, or Juvenile Justice hinder students’ ability to demonstrate their knowledge or skill level?

Accommodations/Adaptations

Identify various accommodations/adaptations that could be used to “test” for mastery of fractions so that the playing field is leveled.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box!Ask your strategies EXPERTS to assist (ESE

teacher, Literacy Coach, CRT, Potential Specialist, Tech Con, ESE School Specialist)

Post - TestWhat does grading look like in an inclusion

setting?

When is grading misleading? How?

Is grading equal to uniformity? How?

Can effective grading strategies improve student success and academic progress? Be specific.

RESOURCES:1. A Repair Kit for Grading by Ken O’Conner.

Available through The Florida Inclusion Network:www.FloridaInclusionNetwork.com

2. Fair Isn’t Always Equal by Rick Wormeli. Available through Stenhouse Publishers:www.stenhouse.com

3. Manual for Admissions and Placements (MAP) found in the ESE office and on the Lake County Intranet.

Participant Scale and Reflection(Please complete and turn in)

0-Not Using

•No understanding or implementation steps taken away

1-Beginning

•Little understanding and inconsistent implementation steps taken away

2-Developing

•Moderate understanding and implementation steps taken away

3-Applying

•Consistent understanding and implementation steps taken away along with monitoring componets for effective execution

4-Innovating

• In addition to criteria of Applying, enhanced understanding, implementation, monitoring, and execution take aways

Staff Development Day 2015