Repair Kit For Grading 3

Repair Kit For Grading 3. This is the third part of a review of Ken O’Connor‘s, “A Repair Kit For Grading, 15 Fixes for Broken Grades“. My last post covered “fixes 4 – 6“. This post will be looking at “Fixes 7 – 11”.

Fix 7

Don’t organize information in grading records by assessment methods or simply summarize into a single grade; organize and report evidence by standards/learning goals.

Grades should be based on fixed standards and each standard should have its own separate measurement.

This means that everything has to be organized around the standards.

This is the core of this entire system!

Fix 8

Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear descriptions of achievement expectations.

Make sure that the students know “how good is good enough”.

Subject and grade level teachers need to work together to develop this language and then everyone needs to implement it.

Fix 9

Don’t assign grades based on a student’s achievement compared to other students; compare each student’s performance to preset standards.

Fix 9 builds off of fix 7 and 8.  You set the standard, then you determine what will be “good enough” for the students to demonstrate that they have achieved the standard.

Fix 9 is a safeguard.  It is possible for all of the students to achieve the standard (Get an A).  

You don’t need a bell curve.

It is irrelevant to compare one student’s achievement with another when you have clearly determined what the standard is and what the student needs to demonstrate to show achievement of that standard.

Fix 10

Don’t rely on evidence gathered using assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; rely only on quality assessments.

Tests and quizzes need to properly assess students’ level of understanding of the standards.

I.e. They need to be good tests.

Quality assessments will give quality data in regard to student achievement.

Fix 11

Don’t rely only on the mean; consider other measures of central tendency and use professional judgement.

One score can throw off an entire grading period.  O’Connor gives the following example:

A student has the following scores:

91, 91, 91, 91, 91, 70, 91, 91, 91, 91

Total = 889, Mean = 88.9,  Final grade = B

Should  this student get a B?  They have demonstrated A level proficiency 9 out of 10 times.  Assuming that the 70 was from an assessment of the same standard, the 70 is an outlier.

Teachers shouldn’t just calculate the grade.  They should use their judgement when assigning grades.

(This flies in the face of conventional wisdom.  “Sorry, but you got the grade you earned!”)