southern regional education board designing student assessments while implementing a redo policy...

SouthernRegionalEducationBoard

Designing Student Assessments While Implementing a Redo

Policy Texas School Improvement Conference 2011

Austin Convention Center8:00 a.m. October 27, 2011

Alan Veach, PhDSouthern Regional Education Board

HSTW/MMGW


Why Do We Grade?


Why do we grade?

During this presentation each of you is asked to reflect and develop a response to the following questions:

1. What does a grade mean in my class?

2. When is it appropriate to grade students’ work?

3. How do my grading practices assist students in becoming responsible learners?


Guiding Questions

What is assessment? Why do we assess? When do we assess? What is the difference between

grading and checking? What is Checking for

Understanding?

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Do You Believe….?

The threat of a low grade is more likely to motivate high achieving students that low achieving students

There is little or no evidence that repeated failure makes people more responsible.


“In standards-based classrooms, students have the opportunity to continuously revise and improve their work over the course of several days.”

Doug Reeves, Center for Performance Assessment


So……..

What is “Formative Assessment” and what is “Summative Assessment?”


Assessments FOR LearningFORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Happen while learning is still taking place. Assessments that we conduct throughout

teaching and learning to diagnose student needs, plan our next steps in instruction, provide student feedback so they can improve the quality of their work and teachers can adjust their instruction.

Supports student effort, the grading function is laid aside

This is not about accountability – this is about getting better!


What are they?What are they?

Informal, or formative assessments are about checking for understanding in an effective way in order to guide our instruction.

They are used during instruction rather than at the end of a unit or course of study. And if we use them correctly, and often, yes, there is a chance instruction will slow when we discover we need to re-teach or review material the students wholly "did not get" -- and that's okay. Because sometimes we have to slow down in order to go quickly.


What this means is.. What this means is that if we are

about getting to the end, we may lose our audience, the students. If you are not routinely checking for understanding then you are not in touch with your students' learning. Perhaps they are already far, far behind.

We are all guilty of this one -- the ultimate teacher copout: "Are there any questions, students?" Pause for three seconds. Silence. "No? Okay, let's move on."


Assessments OF LearningSUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Assessments given to students at the end of the learning—culminating demonstration of what the student has learned.

These assessments are used by the teacher at the end of instruction to evaluate a student’s learning, certify competence, and assign grades.


Summative Assessments..

Typically documents how much learning has occurred at a point in time

Purpose is to measure the level of student, school, or program process

Sometimes referred to as “Assessment OF Learning”


Forming is helping them learn….

Summative is to see if they learned it


Do What????

A formative assessment is to a summative assessment as a physical is to an autopsy.


A summative assessment, like an

autopsy, can provide useful information that explains why the ‘patient’ has failed, but the information comes too late...

at least from the patient’s perspective.


A formative assessment, like a physical examination, can provide both the ‘doctor’ and the ‘patient’ with timely information regarding the patients’ well-being and can help with a prescription for an ailing person or assist a healthy person to become even stronger.


Remember…

Formative Assessment occurs while there is still time to take action.

The feedback from a Summative Assessment tells teachers and students who made it to the learning destination and who didn’t.


From Failure to Success

Guskey and Wormeli…

Low grades push students farther away from our cause; they don’t motivate students

Everyone learns at a different pace and in a different manner

Zeros skew the grade to a point where its accuracy is distorted.

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LOGO““Good teaching is going on whenever Good teaching is going on whenever students are involved in redoing, polishing, students are involved in redoing, polishing, and perfecting their workand perfecting their work.”.”

The Pedagogy of Poverty Vs. Good TeachingThe Pedagogy of Poverty Vs. Good TeachingMartin HabermanMartin Haberman

What is the research base for asking students to revise work?

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Re-Doing Work—The ResearchRe-Doing Work—The Research

HSTW Assessment Findings: Students who are given opportunities to re-do work to a level of quality have better student achievement.

In October of 2008, HSTW conducted a survey of schools that had implemented some type of policy on re-do or not allowing students to fail.

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Survey Participation

554 schools participated 1 elementary school 99 middle grades schools 342 high schools 50 technology centers 37 other (7-12, K-8, etc.)

63% report implementing some type of program at not allowing students to fail.

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Primary Reason Schools Decided to Implement

Response Percentage

We wanted to improve student achievement. 45%

We wanted to decrease failure rates. 26

We wanted to improve student learning. 18

We wanted to help students believe in themselves. 4

We wanted to motivate students to work hard. 3

It sounded interesting. 1

The district or school board required us to implement the practice. 1

We wanted to improve attendance rates. 0

Other 3

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Components Included in Practice

Response Percentage

Re-do requirement for missing or below-standard assignments 78%

Students are required to attend extra help 64

Re-take requirement for missing or below-standard results on assessments

59

Students receive an I (incomplete) on report cards 41

Zeroes are not possible (Students are required to complete assignments to certain standards.)

40

No-zero grading policy (e.g., “A, B, C, Not Yet” or “A, B, C, I”) 19

Other 14

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Results, cont.

Decreased No Change

Increased Not applicable

Grade-level promotion rate 5% 23% 47% 25%

Graduation rate 2 21 30 46

Student effort 3 11 78 9

Student motivation 3 19 70 8

Discipline referrals 33 45 9 12

Parent satisfaction <1 29 59 12

Communication with parents 1 21 68 11

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Results

Decreased No Change

Increased Not applicable

Student grades 1% 12% 81% 7%

State math test 2 25 44 29

State reading or ELA test 1 28 42 30

State science test 2 32 33 33

Attendance 2 50 36 13

Algebra I failure rates 44 25 9 22

Other course failure rates 55 20 10 15

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From Failure to Success

Extra Help/Redo Policy

A structured system of extra help must be in place to close achievement gaps and teach all students at a high level.

Must include a well-defined process for referring students to extra help and an equally well-defined method of monitoring progress.

Make attendance at extra-help sessions mandatory for students with a grade of 80 or below.

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Why Redoing Work is Why Redoing Work is EssentialEssential

Important to success of struggling students

Promotes more efficient learning

Provides feedback essential to learning

Instills a sense of persistence and motivation

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Rationale…..

In real-life, attainment of important milestones (SATs, certificates, drivers’ licenses, CPA, bar exam, medical boards, etc.) allows for multiple opportunities with course corrections along the way.

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Grading Practices:Grading Practices:

“Grading is one of the most bizarre aspects of teaching. No two teachers grade alike, and everyone thinks their way is best. Does a grade truly reflect what a student has learned, or how hard they tried, or what they’re capable of doing?” Charlie Lindgren, Secondary Teacher

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““Grading seems to be Grading seems to be the last frontier of the last frontier of individual teacher individual teacher discretion.”discretion.”

Doug Reeves, Educational Leadership, May 2008

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What does a grade of “80” represent?

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Are we grading the learning or the speed of the learning?

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Standards-Based Assessment—Rationale:

Current methods of grading do not accurately indicate what a student knows and is able to do.

Students are required to achieve standards, but currently not all report cards indicate student performance on standards.

Through ongoing assessment students understand their progression towards success.

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What Should “Count?”What Should “Count?”

Assessments That Relate to Standards Tests Projects Performances

Essays Research papers Presentations Lab experiments

Assessment of Other Learning Factors Homework completion and practice Attendance Tardiness Student behavior Effort Timeliness Following class rules Extra credit (for completion only)

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Recommendations for Making Recommendations for Making Grading Standards-BasedGrading Standards-Based

Decide on evidence to be collected. Ask, “Does each assessment measure what was taught?”

Distinguish between formative and summative.

Develop an overall grading rubric that defines level of quality in relation to each grade.

Create a grade book that records evidence in relation to the standards.

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Teachers Who Give Zeros

“How’s that workin’

for you?”

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Comparing StudentsComparing Students

0 85 90 95

30 75 80 85

Student 1Student 2

68 68 72 72Student 3

If 70 is passing, which students are passing? If progress – not averages – was used, which students should be passing?

= 67.5= 67.5= 70

FAILFAIL

FAILFAIL

PASSPASS

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

DF CBA

Grading Scale:

A = 90 - 100

B = 80 – 89

C = 71 – 79

D = 70

F = 0 - 69

Disproportionate Impact of ZeroDisproportionate Impact of Zero

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Giving zeros or accepting work below standard isn’t working.

It fails to motivate students to make a greater effort.

Dropout rates are increasing not decreasing.

Teachers report that students not doing/completing work is the number one reason for failure in the middle and ninth grades.

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No matter if teachers work 3-4 hours per night developing engaging, real-world activities that measure students at the

proficient level, if students can OPT NOT TO COMPLETE THE ASSIGNMENT and simply take a zero and go on to the

next one, those students will not be ready for college prep or college level

work.

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Requiring students to complete work is teaching responsibility and is teaching students how to be accountable.


Why do we grade?

During this presentation each of you WERE asked to reflect and develop a response to the following questions:

1. What does a grade mean in my class?

2. When is it appropriate to grade students’ work?

3. How do my grading practices assist students in becoming responsible learners?


Priority Actions…

What actions can you take to develop:

• Formative and Summative Assessments

• A Re-do Policy• Mandatory Extra Help• Standards-Based Grading

Procedures• A No-Zero Policy

From Failure to Success 46


Effective Schools…..1.Start School Differently2.Plan and Teach Differently3.Grade Different


The best teacher is not the one who cares the most about a student but the one who gets the most out of a student.

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THANKS!!!

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