Friday, April 18, 2014

My Grading Woes

I have a dilemma.
I'm stuck somewhere between my theoretical beliefs and their practical implications.

First of all, the premise.  I have always tried to make my students' grades be a reflection of what they actually know, and not much else.  I believe that's what we now lovingly call "Standard Based Grading."  However, I operate under the same 90/80/70/60 grading scale that has existed since before SBG was a thing.
Conveniently, just as I was gearing up to write this post, my boss sent us an article on SBG.  How timely!
Here's a link
TLDR summary: schools are trying to ditch letter grades and instead provide descriptions of what students are actually learning and check of mastery of learning targets as said mastery is achieved.

My school isn't there, yet.  I'm sure it's just around the corner.  Maybe even next year.  I haven't been paying very close attention, to be honest.  So far there has already been a big push for Assessment for Learning.

So, since this matched what I already believed, over the last few years, I've gone from occasionally allowing some students to prove that their test results don't represent their actual level of understanding, to actually encouraging everyone to retake everything.  Some call this "holding them accountable" or "not letting them off the hook just because they failed a test."  In theory, that sounds so great!  And this is where my problems began.

At first, this was a pretty radical idea for students.  They'd never been able to re-take tests before.  So they treated it as a privilege.  And when that was the case, it was very manageable.  I would meet with a student, go over his/her mistakes, send them off to do corrections and practice, and meet with them again to listen to their explanations of the concept, ask questions, make up some problems for them to solve, and if I was satisfied, I just added however many points they lost back to their test grade.

Honestly, at first, I felt like I was a rebel!  It seemed like a radical idea to me, too.  But soon enough, it became the norm at the school.  Everyone was doing it!  And when it became the norm, my students' attitude toward tests changed completely.

Dan Meyer in his talk at NCTM, talked about minimizing the cost of failure.  Well, this happened.  My students would come in on the day of the test and say things like, "I'm not ready for this test, can I take it next week?"  "I still don't get this stuff, so I'm just going to fail this test, is that ok?  I'll do the re-take later!"  "What do you mean I have to take it today?  I'm just going to turn it in blank because I have to re-take it anyway!"

Yeah....that was an adjustment.  Let's just say I'm still working on it.

And these re-takes?  They were completely out of control.  Toward the end of 1st semester, I was spending literally every free minute I had, including after school, with one or five students, going over material from as far back as Unit 1.  I'll admit, there were so many AHA! moments, that I really did feel like maybe, finally, they're learning this stuff.  And maybe that's better than what used to happen, which is nothing.  They would just fail and then do nothing.  Therefore, just maybe, this may be worth my time?  But I also felt like I was being used.

So I figured that because I'm used to sophomores, and these were seniors, I needed to change some policies.

Second semester I instituted a new rule.  The deadline for retaking a test is 2 weeks from the day after the test, aka the day they see their test results.  This was a good rule, it really helped my sanity, but it wasn't enough.  Fourth quarter I added another new rule.  Before, in order to do the re-take, a student had to show me test corrections and a completed review packet.  Now, in order to even qualify for the re-take, I want to see that review packet completed by the day of the test.  Is it because I believe that doing the practice problems will help them prepare for the test?  Yeah, it just might!

And now a challenge.

One of my darlings, who is generally very responsible, came into the test completely unprepared.  She was absent, she never bothered to figure out what she missed.  She was counting on the re-take, or on being able to take the test some other time.  I made her take the test.  The results were predictable.
Two weeks later, it's the last day for the re-take.  "Can I have more time for the re-take?  I was absent one day last week!"  Um...no?  And also, are you serious?

We talked.  And during this conversation, here's what occurred to me.

It's not just about mastering the material.  It's about mastering the material in some sort of a timely manner.  Because, sure, if I have unlimited time and resources, I can learn anything.  But that really isn't how school works.  You need to learn this material this year, this semester, and you need to be able to balance that responsibility with all the other things that are going on in your life.

My resolve was shaken once again when I got this e-mail from the student last week.

Hi Mrs. Shafran,
   I hope you had a good celebration with your family. While looking in the grade book I still haven't been able to accept the fact that I could be getting a 95 in trig, but I have to stick with a 75, because I wasn't able to get one more day to retake it the Polar test. I really think the amount of work I've put into this class and my ability to understand the unit isn't shown by a 75. What can I do to better my grade before the test on Monday?

I took a long time to mull this over.  I talked to my awesome colleagues, I read some stuff, and mostly I just thought about it.  Here's my response.


Hi,

Your e-mail challenged me to really think about my philosophy of grading, and I am very grateful to you for pushing me to do that!
This was a tough call! On the one hand, I agree, your "ability to understand the unit" isn't shown by a 75.  However, the conclusion I reached after a lot of thinking, reading, and talking to other teachers, is that there is more to the grade than your ability to understand.  This grade isn't a representation of your ability to understand, it's a representation of how much understanding you achieved by the specified time.  
You had two opportunities to demonstrate your understanding of this unit, the test, and for two weeks after that, the re-take.  Once that deadline has passed, it's over. 
Just like you can't go back and re-take a test that you took first semester, or last year.
I know you have a lot on your plate and it's tough to balance all of it.  That's why the re-take opportunity is there in the first place.  However, it is not indefinite.  
Please focus your effort on the current unit as well as the last unit.  Remember that your grade currently is only 3/5th of what it will be before the final exam.

Thank you for challenging me!
Mrs. Shafran  

This is obviously still a work in progress.  I would LOVE to hear how others handle the reality of SBG and AfL.  If you happen to read this, please share!









6 comments:

  1. I can sympathize with what you are saying here. We don't do SBG in my school so I do the best I can to use the principles to work within my schools grading guidelines. I teach middle school and my kids haven't really tried to abuse the system yet but some do definitely use the retake as a security blanket. As in it is comforting for them to know that if they bomb they have a chance of redemption. I do make my students prove that they
    have mastered the material either through a project, reflection, etc. I am interested to see where you school takes SBG in the coming years. Loved reading your perspective!

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    1. Thank you! I am also curious to see where my school goes with it and even just how long it's going to be around! Is it just a fad or is it here to stay, I wonder.

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  2. ", it's a representation of how much understanding you achieved by the specified time. "

    I'm no SBG fan, but this is *exactly* the opposite of the notion behind the concept. The whole point is that you don't take time into account, but only mastery.

    I've talked to many who allow retakes, and they all have the same problem you do--hours and hours spent giving kids extra time that they blew off the first time.

    I absolutely think that kids don't always get the math the first time, and don't want to penalize them simply for being a bit slower. On the other hand--and here, I think, is a big problem with SBG--I don't think it's enough to demonstrate mastery once, or twice. Demonstration must be ongoing.

    So I don't allow retakes. I used to always allow test fixes, but these days I rarely do--every so often, if I could see a lot of kids really didn't get the concept (while others did), I'll allow a test fix because I see it as a learning opportunity.

    But all my tests spiral through tons of concepts, not just the one being tested. Kids who are slowly developing mastery will see a pattern of improvement. Then I drop low scores, evaluate overall performance, and grade accordingly.

    It's basically a lie to give an A to a kid who consistently doesn't get it until you give him one on one instruction, and then fails the next test too. It's fraud. I'd tell your student she gets a C because that's indeed where she is. Her big lucky break is she's not getting an F.

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    1. You're absolutely right! Thank you for saying that. It really gave me something to think about, so goal of writing blog entry achieved!

      So I decided there were two issues here.
      1. My school's grading system isn't really set up for true SBG. Ultimately, I still need to put a grade in the gradebook. So it's just a matter of when I do that. Which brings me to
      2. If we take demonstrating mastery to the extreme, let's say they really don't master Algebra 1 until they're learning Algebra 2. I think that's a very realistic situation. They're using their Algebra 1 skills to do more difficult problems, etc, so it becomes easy and natural. Do we change their Algebra 1 grade? If they got a C freshman year and now they're juniors and they're still getting a C in Algebra 2, but they really got that Algebra 1 stuff down, do we go back and change that to an A?

      I think SBG doesn't mix well with letter grades, and that is a part of what makes it difficult to use in high school. It works wonderfully in Montessori elementary schools, though!

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  3. Rick Wormeli offers a good write-up on Redos.
    http://jeffreyappelblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/redos-and-retakes-done-right.pdf

    And here's a video version
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM-3PFfIfvI

    One of the compelling items that may address part of your current concerns is *making the redo something that takes effort on part of the student*. Not that it won't be work on your part, but be sure its work on their part. Wormeli will have them write letters to him and to their parents about why they messed up on the first one. He'll make them provide evidence that they've done work (like in the lit center for example) to learn what they didn't learn before. I think that makes sense.
    Further, Wormeli talks about giving the exam at the beginning of the unit..so that there's no such thing as using the exam at the end as a study guide, which students will do if the structure makes it easy to do so.

    I would further add that getting rid of points entirely would help bridge the gap between your theoretical beliefs and your current practice. I have used a rubric all year, one more like what Danielson has for teachers. There are no points for anything all year. this is the rubric.
    https://docs.google.com/a/d219.org/document/d/13U-j7XZnvepQStwLHDGcN4hWr3aNxGQZSq97OazBd7g/edit

    Meanwhile, my gradebook is filled with learning targets. Each one with a rating of how well they know that target. Every so often, I ask students to tell me what their grade should be. For the first part of the year, I asked them to use the rubric as a guide. Now, I just ask them. Most of the time, I would have given them the same grade. In which case, we're good, moving on. I love it because the talk about grades is completely minimized. All the conversation is based on is "do you know how to do that yet?"
    In the minority of cases where students put a grade that I wouldn't have put, it's typically one higher (sometimes it's lower!). I then typically tell the student "I'd agree with this if you learned this target and this target. What do you think?" And they nod. They get it. And now we know what they need to work on...

    I have found the world of standards-based grading -- and furthermore the world with out points -- to be absolutely liberating. While countercultural, it makes all the sense in the world from a pedagogical perspective. It removes "the game of the grade." It keeps all ratings focused on learning. Period. How cool is that?

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  4. After reading the post and the replies here a few points I would like to add to the mix:

    1) I think retakes must have the requirement stipulation that the original test must be taken in toto, no single assessment item left undone. The retake is a "re" of something that was already taken, not a new take in and of itself. In addition, this requirement would foster the idea that one must not give up right away when faced with challenging problems.

    2) Variety in assessment generally mitigates such grade issues/concerns for if students do not do well on a single test, they can always balance things out grade-wise by doing better at other forms of assessment (preferably formative type.) Variety in assessment reduces the negative effects of summative assessment.

    3) Leaving deadlines too open is not reasonable, having stiff deadlines without a ± margin of error is a bit harsh, and consequently students need to know what are the parameters that they must operate within. So, an approach would be to set deadlines for retakes and then for every day or so that students go past the stated deadline would regain a fraction of the lost points that would diminish as delay time increases.

    4) A cool general rule, "Always err on the students' side and give them the benefit of the doubt." Education is about them not us and we would like them to know that we do what we do for their benefit, their success, and their progress in life. How one carries out this rule will certainly differ from person to person but its underlying premise will always be, "Students, we are here to help you succeed!"

    Thank you for educating our kids!

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