Elements Of Grading

Research shows that the quality of feedback is one of the most important factors in improving student learning. Elements of Grading addresses problems with the primary source of feedback: grades. Learn several strategies for reforming grading policy, while examining the common arguments against reform. With this practical guide, you can improve grading to meet four essential criteria-accuracy, fairness, specificity, timeliness-and also make the grading process quicker and more efficient. The book does not offer an ultimate answer or perfect system but shows how to begin a constructive, evidence-based conversation about improving grading systems. Dr. Reeves analyzes the main features of the grading systems many schools use today (such as the 100-point system and the policy of giving points for missed work) and evaluates each of them by his four criteria. He challenges and inspires readers in this comprehensive reevaluation of what grades are, why we use them, and whom they benefit.

The quality of feedback students receive from their teachers is one of the most important factors in improving learning. Elements of Grading: A Guide to Effective Practice, Second Edition addresses issues and controversies regarding the primary source of feedback for students grades. Author Douglas Reeves argues that effective grading practices must be FAST: Fair, Accurate, Specific, Timely. In addressing these four essential criteria, Elements of Grading does not offer an ultimate answer or perfect system but shows how to begin a constructive, evidence-based conversation about improving grading practices. The second edition of Elements of Grading features a significant amount of new content, including how the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and new technologies impact grading practices and systems. It promotes a new conversation about grading practices, as evidence is clearly not enough to change opinions and promote change. -- Provided by publisher.

Effective teacher feedback is crucial to improving student achievement. The author provides educators with practical suggestions for making the grading process more fair, accurate, specific, and timely. In addition to examples and case studies, this edition offers a significant amount of new content, including an exploration of how the Common Core State Standards and new technologies impact grading practices.

"Joe Feldman shows us how we can use grading to help students become the leaders of their own learning and lift the veil on how to succeed. . . . This must-have book will help teachers learn to implement improved, equity-focused grading for impact." —Zaretta Hammond, Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain Crack open the grading conversation Here at last—and none too soon—is a resource that delivers the research base, tools, and courage to tackle one of the most challenging and emotionally charged conversations in today’s schools: our inconsistent grading practices and the ways they can inadvertently perpetuate the achievement and opportunity gaps among our students. With Grading for Equity, Joe Feldman cuts to the core of the conversation, revealing how grading practices that are accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational will improve learning, minimize grade inflation, reduce failure rates, and become a lever for creating stronger teacher-student relationships and more caring classrooms. Essential reading for schoolwide and individual book study or for student advocates, Grading for Equity provides A critical historical backdrop, describing how our inherited system of grading was originally set up as a sorting mechanism to provide or deny opportunity, control students, and endorse a "fixed mindset" about students’ academic potential—practices that are still in place a century later A summary of the research on motivation and equitable teaching and learning, establishing a rock-solid foundation and a "true north" orientation toward equitable grading practices Specific grading practices that are more equitable, along with teacher examples, strategies to solve common hiccups and concerns, and evidence of effectiveness Reflection tools for facilitating individual or group engagement and understanding As Joe writes, "Grading practices are a mirror not just for students, but for us as their teachers." Each one of us should start by asking, "What do my grading practices say about who I am and what I believe?" Then, let’s make the choice to do things differently . . . with Grading for Equity as a dog-eared reference.

Implement standards-based grading practices that help students succeed! Classroom assessment methods should help students develop to their full potential, but meshing traditional grading practices with students’ achievement on standards has been difficult. Making lasting changes to grading practices requires both knowledge and willpower. Discover eight guidelines for good grading, recommendations for practical applications, and suggestions for implementing new grading practices as well as: ? The why’s and the how-to’s of implementing standards-based grading practices ? Tips from 48 nationally and internationally known authors and consultants ? Additional information on utilizing level scores rather than percentages ? Reflective exercises ? Techniques for managing grading more efficiently

A real-world action plan for educators to create personalizedlearning experiences Learning Personalized: The Evolution of the ContemporaryClassroom provides teachers, administrators, and educationalleaders with a clear and practical guide to personalized learning.Written by respected teachers and leading educational consultantsAllison Zmuda, Greg Curtis, and Diane Ullman, this comprehensiveresource explores what personalized learning looks like, how itchanges the roles and responsibilities of every stakeholder, andwhy it inspires innovation. The authors explain that, in order tocreate highly effective personalized learning experiences, a newinstructional design is required that is based loosely on thetraditional model of apprenticeship: learning by doing. Learning Personalized challenges educators to rethink thefundamental principles of schooling that honors students' naturalwillingness to play, problem solve, fail, re-imagine, and share.This groundbreaking resource: Explores the elements of personalized learning and offers aframework to achieve it Provides a roadmap for enrolling relevant stakeholders tocreate a personalized learning vision and reimagine new roles andresponsibilities Addresses needs and provides guidance specific to the jobdescriptions of various types of educators, administrators, andother staff This invaluable educational resource explores a simple frameworkfor personalized learning: co-creation, feedback, sharing, andlearning that is as powerful for a teacher to re-examine classroompractice as it is for a curriculum director to reexamine thestructure of courses.

The grading process can yield rich information about student learning. Effective Grading enables faculty to go beyond using grades as isolated artifacts and helps them make classroom grading processes more fair, time-efficient, and conducive to learning. Classroom assessment of student learning can then contribute to departmental and general-education assessment in ways that meet the needs of institutions and accrediting agencies. Tailored to specific needs of faculty members who seek to make grading a valuable part of student learning and motivation, Effective Grading balances assessment theory and hands-on advice. It offers an in-depth examination of the link between teaching and grading and provides concrete guidance on such critical steps as setting and communicating grading standards, developing assignments to grade, managing time spent on grading, and providing feedback for students.

The second edition of Effective Grading—the book that has become a classic in the field—provides a proven hands-on guide for evaluating student work and offers an in-depth examination of the link between teaching and grading. Authors Barbara E. Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson explain that grades are not isolated artifacts but part of a process that, when integrated with course objectives, provides rich information about student learning, as well as being a tool for learning itself. The authors show how the grading process can be used for broader assessment objectives, such as curriculum and institutional assessment. This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes a wealth of new material including: Expanded integration of the use of technology and online teaching A sample syllabus with goals, outcomes, and criteria for student work New developments in assessment for grant-funded projects Additional information on grading group work, portfolios, and service-learning experiences New strategies for aligning tests and assignments with learning goals Current thought on assessment in departments and general education, using classroom work for program assessments, and using assessment data systematically to "close the loop" Material on using the best of classroom assessment to foster institutional assessment New case examples from colleges and universities, including community colleges "When the first edition of Effective Grading came out, it quickly became the go-to book on evaluating student learning. This second edition, especially with its extension into evaluating the learning goals of departments and general education programs, will make it even more valuable for everyone working to improve teaching and learning in higher education." —L. Dee Fink, author, Creating Significant Learning Experiences "Informed by encounters with hundreds of faculty in their workshops, these two accomplished teachers, assessors, and faculty developers have created another essential text. Current faculty, as well as graduate students who aspire to teach in college, will carry this edition in a briefcase for quick reference to scores of examples of classroom teaching and assessment techniques and ways to use students' classroom work in demonstrating departmental and institutional effectiveness." —Trudy W. Banta, author, Designing Effective Assessment