Ten Things That Matter From Assessment To Grading

"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.

Get answers to your most challenging questions about implementing effective assessment and grading practices. How do we use assessments to increase hope, efficacy, and achievement? Is reassessment important? Can we change grading practices when stakeholders don’t want us to? All of these questions, and dozens more, are answered concisely, making it easy to build strong assessment and grading practices quickly. K–12 teachers and administrators will: Understand the six tenets of assessment and grading Gain confidence in effective assessment and grading practices Access concise answers to common questions about assessment and grading Help implement schoolwide best practices through effective collaboration Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Hope, Efficacy, and Achievement Chapter 2: A Culture of Learning Chapter 3: Assessment Purpose Chapter 4: Communication Chapter 5: Accurate Interpretation Chapter 6: Assessment Architecture Chapter 7: Instructional Agility Chapter 8: Student Investment Table of Contents by Topic Glossary of Terms A Comprehensive Resource List From STAC References and Resources Index

With more than 50,000 books sold, this resource for teachers and school teams will open illuminating and productive new visions of how to improve 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.

Grading systems often reward on-time task completion and penalize disorganization and bad behavior. Despite our best intentions, grades seem to reflect student compliance more than student learning and engagement. In the process, we inadvertently subvert the learning process. After careful research and years of experiences with grading as a teacher and a parent, Cathy Vatterott examines and debunks traditional practices and policies of grading in K–12 schools. She offers a new paradigm for standards-based grading that focuses on student mastery of content and gives concrete examples from elementary, middle, and high schools. Rethinking Grading will show all educators how standards-based grading can authentically reflect student progress and learning--and significantly improve both teaching and learning. Cathy Vatterott is an education professor and researcher at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, a former middle school teacher and principal, and a parent of a college graduate. She has learned from her workshops that “grading continues to be the most contentious part . . . conjuring up the most intense emotions and heated disagreements.” Vatterott is also the author of the book Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs.

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.

In this updated edition, Cathy Vatterott examines the role homework has played in the culture of schooling over the years; how such factors as family life, the media, and "homework gap" issues based on shifting demographics have affected the homework controversy; and what recent research as well as common sense tell us about the effects of homework on student learning. She also explores how the current homework debate has been reshaped by forces including the Common Core, a pervasive media and technology presence, the mass hysteria of "achievement culture," and the increasing shift to standards-based and formative assessment. The best way to address the homework controversy is not to eliminate homework. Instead, the author urges educators to replace the old paradigm (characterized by long-standing cultural beliefs, moralistic views, and behaviorist philosophy) with a new paradigm based on the following elements: Designing high-quality homework tasks; Differentiating homework tasks; Deemphasizing grading of homework; Improving homework completion; and Implementing homework support programs. Numerous examples from teachers and schools illustrate the new paradigm in action, and readers will find useful new tools to start them on their own journey. The end product is homework that works—for all students, at all levels.

In this alternately amusing and appalling exposé of the standardized test industry, fifteen-year veteran Todd Farley describes statisticians who make decisions about students without even looking at their test answers; state education officials willing to change the way tests are scored whenever they don't like the results; and massive, multi-national, for-profit testing companies who regularly opt for expediency and profit over the altruistic educational goals of teaching and learning. Although there are absurd moments--as when Farley and coworkers had to grade students based on how they described the taste of their favorite food-- the enormous importance of standardized tests in the post “No Child Left Behind” era make this no laughing matter. “This book is dynamite! The nice personal voice makes it utterly accessible and enticing, wholly apart from the terribly important ammunition it provides to those of us in the `testing wars' at national and local levels.”—Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequities