Thursday, August 12, 2010

Grading Practices

The suggested number of grades is three per week. That said, I want to emphasize that I would rather see few grades, but those grades really reflect a student's progress through the content than a gaggle of grades that just verify completion of assignments. In looking at correlations of grades to test scores, we had many incidents where no correlation existed. This is a tough issue--a kid works their tail off, is quiet and studious, but just can't pull a good grade gets padded. Other kids who are not our favorites may not get the same break. Be cognizant of this grading reality because it will happen without you realizing it. Really look at the PASS objectives and design lessons that will teach these objectives and will have assessments that really assess whether the kiddo is proficient. I encourage the use of mini-lessons and assessments for use in grade entry and I really like for the title of the grade (in Smartweb, our electronic gradebook) to reflect what the standard or objective was. When you look at your gradebook, it should give you picture of the student's mastery of the course content.

2 comments:

  1. I suggest getting familiar with Edusoft if you aren't already. This website will show you how each student scored on specific PASS skills not only on previous years' state tests, but also on our district's quarterly benchmark tests. We have to spend an enormous amount of class time administering these tests, we might as well put the data to good use in determining what PASS skills to teach in class and tutoring.

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  2. Our Instructional Facilitator will show you how to use Edusoft. It is an online testing system that you can use to create and score tests for your own classroom. It also houses our District Assessment Data.

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