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"Do the best you can until you know better,
and when you know better, do better." -Maya Angelou
It's often said to avoid talking religion and politics...add "grading practices" to the list. During our school's journey towards full implementation of Standards Based Grading, one thing was clear; teachers and staff had years of experience to lean on and had developed very strong feelings towards grading and assessment practices.
With that being said, we all understood that true growth would not come from having easy conversations. Researching, challenging each other's thoughts, and working towards positive solutions became the norm in our PLC and team leader meetings.
Our journey began with, what some would argue was a broken system of S, N, and U's...but some grade levels used S+ and some did not...and so on. On top of that our 3rd grade used traditional grading practices and had minimal opportunity to collaborate regarding grading and assessment within our own building. A system that had been tradition. A system that remained stagnant during grade level configuration changes; but not necessarily the best our school was capable of when communicating levels of understanding.
Professional development came from the likes of Wormeli, Guskey, O'connor, Schimmer, and many more. They became household names as our new system of grading was built from the ground up. Literal trips took place to Triad School district in Troy, IL and to a conference led by SBG leader, Christine Paxon. The miles traveled and conversations on the road proved pivotal as we built common understanding among all team members.
As our school approaches the finish line of "year one" with full Standards Based Grading, here are some takeaways from what we've learned:
Clarity and Consistency
By establishing essential learning skills our teachers are now able to teach and focus on our "big rocks," while still supplementing with non-essential skills. Instruction surrounding these essentials skills has the potential to go deeper and narrow the focus of the biggest ROI (return on instruction). Parents have clarity of where their child excels and also needs additional support. They no longer have to "guess" or decide for themselves what it truly means to be an "A, B, C, D, or F" student." Report cards are provided with specific, grade-level standards and their child's proficiency towards that standard. In addition the grade reporting remains consistent from Kindergarten through 3rd grade, with identical PBIS behavioral expectations all four years. Students have a clear understanding of learning expectations, and are commonly restating them as learning goals with "I can" statements. Developing clarity and consistency are non-negotiable in any grading system.
Learning is Process
Our school has developed a growth mindset towards multiple opportunities for re-teaching, re-assessment; thus creating a culture of feedback over compliance. Compliance often weaved it's way into our academic areas and cluttered up reporting on true learning. By separating behavioral standards and academic standards, non achievement factors no longer confound the meaning of student grades. Viewing learning as a process has also helped developed resiliency in students. They've persevered through content they didn't master the first time and were never penalized by the lack of points they failed to accumulate early in the process of learning a new standard or skill. Too many times in traditional models, students fail to develop grit, resiliency, and perseverance because their previous failures place them in unrecoverable circumstances.
What's in a Number?
With traditional grading practices, teachers often are making sure they have "enough." Enough points. Enough quizzes. Enough tests. Enough weight for formative vs. summative. Resting on the assurance at the end of the grading period the computer will spit out a number. I love the parallel between these averages to a person stepping on a scale and getting a "number." A person's weight doesn't determine their overall health like a more diagnostic check-up from a physician. Nor do "averages" tell the entire story about student learning.
Our challenge as educators is to embrace the difficult conversations that may arise when we challenge each others' thinking. These begin with the common understanding of improving a program or a process, not for the sake of arguing or disagreeing. Traditions are personal, have their place, but often times are outdated and need revisited from time to time. Our "trip" will never be complete as we have established ongoing dialogue about what grading practices are the best fit for our school, students, and community.
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