A new way to grade

I had the opportunity on Wednesday and Thursday to attend the Idaho Summer Institute of Best Practices. It was here that I was impressed with the new movement in how things in class are graded.

While this may not seem to be a really interesting topic, it has research behind it that lowers the fail rate of classes by 75%. Now that is a big deal. It is also a "controversial" method because it throws away the old practices. I'd love to discuss the notes below if you have any comments or concerns.

Notes are slightly edited for relevancy to the audience...

Barbara Moore –

· Read The Silent Epidemic study

o http://www.civicenterprises.net/pdfs/thesilentepidemic3-06.pdf

· Read Power of ICU

· Read Fires in the Middle School Bathroom

· Letting them choose to get zeros will result in more zeros

· Deadlines are important, but quality is most important

· Is the assignment “worth chasing down?” – is it high quality and worth doing?

· Be clear in feedback so students know how to do and redo the work

· Only tell them what they need to get an “A” or a “B”

· Allow retakes on tests after more side instruction or extra help is given

· Ask “When will you get it to me?” when the assignment is not in on time

· Get organized to accept late work

Jim Johnson –

· Ask them “How was the lesson today?”

· Work with their cultural literacy to help them connect what they know with what we know

· Let the students create the test

· Give them a map of where they are going before they start

· Find out what they already know before you begin

· Allow a redo of work and tests

· If you don’t feed the teachers, they’ll eat the students by Neila Connors

· “Wows and wonders” with staff and students

o Wow = great!

o Wonder = I wonder what would happen if you did it this way…

· Teach kids to summarize

· Feldman’s four stages of looking at art:

o Describe

o Analyze

o Interpret

o Judge

Myron Dueck –

· Read Inside the Black Box by Wiliam and Black

o http://www.dianelauer.com/Assesslearntool/blackbox.pdf

· Read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

· “Their self preservation is 100 times more important than you or your course” – Myron

· Stop grading homework, reducing scores for late work, and using zeros for work not turned in

· CAVE = Colleges Against Virtually Everything

· Keep academics and behavior issues separate

· Read 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor

· Rules for “unlimited” rewrites – must keep ALL work, and must get extra help

· Give a study guide before the unit begins

· Zeros are a behavior indicator, not an academic one

Justin and Bill -

· Did you Know 3.0?

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8

· Find questions that don’t have answers on Google

· energyforeducators.org