Grading From The Inside Out

The time for grading reform is now. While the transition to standards-based practices may be challenging, it is essential for effective instruction and assessment. In this practical guide, the author outlines specific steps your team can take to transform grading and reporting schoolwide. Each chapter includes examples of grading dilemmas, vignettes from teachers and administrators, and ideas for bringing parents on board with change.

Create and sustain a learning environment where students thrive and stakeholders are accurately informed of student progress. Clarify the purpose of grades, craft a vision statement aligned with this purpose, and discover research-based strategies to implement effective grading and reporting practices. Identify policies and practices that render grading inaccurate, and understand the role grades play in students’ future success and opportunities.

Grading is one of the most hotly debated topics in education, and grading practices themselves are largely based on tradition, instinct, or personal history or philosophy. But to be effective, grading policies and practices must be based on trustworthy research evidence. Enter this book: a review of 100-plus years of grading research that presents the broadest and most comprehensive summary of research on grading and reporting available to date, with clear takeaways for learning and teaching. Edited by Thomas R. Guskey and Susan M. Brookhart, this indispensable guide features thoughtful, thorough dives into the research from a distinguished team of scholars, geared to a broad range of stakeholders, including teachers, school leaders, policymakers, and researchers. Each chapter addresses a different area of grading research and describes how the major findings in that area might be leveraged to improve grading policy and practice. Ultimately, Guskey and Brookhart identify four themes emerging from the research that can guide these efforts: - Start with clear learning goals, - Focus on the feedback function of grades, - Limit the number of grade categories, and - Provide multiple grades that reflect product, process, and progress criteria. By distilling the vast body of research evidence into meaningful, actionable findings and strategies, this book is the jump-start all stakeholders need to build a better understanding of what works—and where to go from here.

The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, fifteen educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Some contributors are new to the practice and some have been engaging in it for decades. Some are in humanities and social sciences, some in STEM fields. Some are in higher education, but some are the K-12 pioneers who led the way. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative. CONTRIBUTORS: Aaron Blackwelder Susan D. Blum Arthur Chiaravalli Gary Chu Cathy N. Davidson Laura Gibbs Christina Katopodis Joy Kirr Alfie Kohn Christopher Riesbeck Starr Sackstein Marcus Schultz-Bergin Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh Jesse Stommel John Warner

Learn how to overcome the knowing-doing gap in standards-based learning systems, and move toward unpacking the standards and learning targets your students need.

"Ten Things that Matter from Assessment to Grading "outlines the big ideas of assessment so teachers can prioritize where to refine their practice. Structured in standalone, quick-read chapters, its flexible approach lets readers choose the material that matters most to them. Chapters tackle concepts such as descriptive feedback, differentiated instruction, student ownership and grading accuracy. Classroom examples and teacher accounts are included in each chapter to help illustrate how to translate research to practice. Tips, guided questions, and next steps encourage readers to get started on their own path to fair and balanced assessment and grading. Features Outlines ten big ideas of assessment and grading--emphasizing the best techniques for a balanced, fair, and productive assessment plan. Offers a flexible approach--with standalone chapters that pinpoint best practices. Makes research on assessment and grading real--by including classroom examples and teacher accounts. Shows ways to communicate assessment policies with parents--by including communication tips in every chapter. Offers reflective prompts for individuals or professional learning teams--including guiding questions throughout each chapter. Encourages readers to start using the "Ten Things" right away--by including next steps and recommended resources throughout each chapter.

This book proposes that the collective responsibility of teachers as classroom and school leaders working together to solve their own problems provides the fulcrum of school change. It makes the case that teachers and school leaders do not operate in a vacuum, but rather, they work within the larger context of policy and other social influences. Grubb and Tredway provide the building blocks of history, policy, and social analysis that are necessary if teachers are to be effective in the collective school a place where adults thrive as learners and are able to co-create joyful learning experiences for children and youth. By encouraging teachers to move out of the individual classroom and to think critically and institutionally about the schools they would like to work in, about their own responsibilities for creating such schools, about the range of policies from outside the school and how they can influence those policies rather than being subjected to them this book shows that a teacher s influence is not limited to the classroom and students, but can significantly shape and inform external policies and decisions."

If we want our students to be prepared for a life involved with artificial intelligence, global awareness, cultural understanding, racial, religious and lifestyle diversity, and changing economic and political realities, then we have to change what we are doing in our schools from pre-school to graduate school. We can no longer wait for large-scale reforms to develop, because those reforms will only occur due to some kind of tragedy. If schools are going to reform proactively, educators in each school and in each district have to lead the way.