Note: this is a follow up to my earlier Growth Mindset Post I began to develop a growth mindset with my learners last year. I was having continual struggles in class over grades. I would be focusing on the quality of the work and they were focused on the grade that received. After several discussions with the class, I change the way that I grade. I had been wanting to get to a more standards-based grading system but wasn’t sure how. In the discussions with my learners I saw potential opportunity. Instead of putting in an assignment as a grade, we have something standards-based instead. There are several facets to this and it is a work in progress. Part 1: Changing the Submission RequirementsIn the past my rubrics would be a list of criteria to complete for the assignment. Was basically checklist. There were things such as formatting, using a specific skill, being on time, and such. We are all familiar with the touch rubrics. As I mentioned it didn’t lead to deeper learning or higher quality. It only led to compliance. I took this list of requirements out of the rubric I moved into the assignment submission instructions. At this point, scoring doesn’t happen until the middle requirements are met. The goal here is to stop arguing about whether you deserve an 85 or 90 because you follow the formatting instructions. If you don’t follow the formatting instructions, I hand it back to be fixed and resubmitted. Part 2: Changing the RubricInstead of requirements in the rubric, each line is now one of the standards I am assessing. A rather large deliverable might have several standards. I usually try to focus on somewhere between one and three depending on the deliverable. I don’t focus on every standard for the project on every deliverable I pick and choose and move them throughout. The standards are now the thing being assessed and moving into the gradebook. If they aren’t happy with the score that yet now the conversation is, “how do I apply the concept of force to this project better?” I keep my scores and the rubric to a scale of 1 to 4. A 2 is the minimum acceptable quality for that standard. This is the equivalent of just barely passing. With that in mind, a 1 means that it’s not acceptable yet. The work needs to be redone and fixed. A 4 is role model level work. A 3 is somewhere in between a 2 and a 4. I am working on quality descriptors for the 2, 3, and 4 levels. It’s taking time and is difficult. If I’m clear on what I view as the 2, 3, and 4 level, I will put those descriptors in the rubric. If I’m not I just use the words “acceptable”, “good”, and “excellent”. When I mark the work, I will give feedback to the student as to why I picked that level and from there it leads me to eventually coming up with better descriptors for each level. If I put a 1, I definitely give feedback on what needs to be done. Part 3: The GradebookI spent some time talking with my students about how to transfer the rubric scores to the grade book. The first thing we all agreed on was that each standard would be a separate entry in the grade book. If I am assessing three standards for deliverable XYZ, then there will be three separate entries in the grade book related to XYZ. Each gradebook entry is a separate standard. I write out the standard in the description in the grade book. Next my students and I looked at the grades. We played with a lot of numbers and how to fairly represent each rubric level as a grade. We wanted the grades to be clear, to make sense, and be consistent. We took several assignments and played with different grading schemes. We looked at how it translated to the project and to the overall grade average. Eventually, we settled on all entries being worth 10 points in the gradebook. A 1 on the rubric would be worth six points. A 2 is worth 7.5 points. The 3 is nine and a 4 is 10. We use this for all deliverables now. When students submit a deliverable and get a 1 on a standard, it doesn’t mean they failed. I require them to fix the work. What they submitted was not ready yet. The student has learned something. They don’t deserve a 0 for the grade. The work they have done required some effort. This is why they get a six out of 10. We found that in the long run this scale helped the gradebook average more accurately reflect the level of learning going on in the classroom. It’s not perfect but it’s a whole lot better than the other system. We don’t have discussions on. “how do I make a 90 on this project or deliverable?”. We now focus on each standard individually in our conversations. Part 4: Portfolio Self-ReflectionThe work we are doing mean something. I’m not arbitrarily assigning it. It shows their growth and learning. To that end we about to start putting their projects into ePortfolios. So far, the students have been making self-reflections about they’re learning and work. We’re now going to be putting those self-reflections with the assignments in their portfolios. At the same time we’ll be working on curating these reflections and work into a meaningful picture of who they are as a student and where they are on their journey towards their future lives. The Road AheadThis grading style it’s in very well with my innovation project. All of my students will be working with different teachers on very different projects. They will all display learning in different ways. They will have different challenges. Success will be unique for each of them. The standards that there meeting will be the same. The quality of the work will still be evident even though it is shown in different ways. The same is true for the core classes we will be working with. They too will be showing their learning in very different ways. This type of grading can help facilitate demonstrating what a learner has learn or is still working on.
I still have a long way to go. I find too often that we get caught up in assignments. It’s also a difficult transition for my learners when all of their other classes and every class they’ve had before is not done this way. I truly believe that all students can learn. The journey to that learning is unique for every learner. I don’t believe that we should use grades to rank and sort students. We should use grades to reflect the learning that has taking place. This philosophy has the growth mindset built into it. If a Lerner has not obtained a necessary skill or ability, there are job as educators just keep working with them until they do.
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About 5313This is my fourth course in the Lamar University Digital Leading and Learning program. From here, I will be working on creating an environment conducive to the successful completion and longevity of my project. ArchivesCategories |