As a high school English teacher, teacher coach, and grading and assessment consultant, I hear lots of teacher concerns about grading reform. Below are 10 of the most common grading questions/concerns that I hear from teachers, along with my short response to each. Isn’t minimum grading just giving lazy students something for nothing? A: Minimum… Continue reading 10 Common Grading Concerns And Answers
Tag: reform
Purposeful Grading Reform: Beginning with a Purpose Statement
For those looking to either begin grading reform or continue some initial work they’ve begun, an important early step is to create a grading purpose statement. Such a statement allows students and parents to better understand your grades. It also helps you to make consistent and focused grading-related decisions. But Why Is This Necessary? A… Continue reading Purposeful Grading Reform: Beginning with a Purpose Statement
Helping Teachers to Begin Grading Reform: A Staff-wide Grading Email
If you've taken steps to improve your own grading practices to be more accurate and equitable, then hats off to you. But a big part of a teacher's grading reform work should also be helping other teachers to do the same. Few teachers, if any, receive any education on effective grading in their teacher preparation… Continue reading Helping Teachers to Begin Grading Reform: A Staff-wide Grading Email
5 Steps to Address Distance Learning Problems
In this post, I'm proposing five steps to address some of the big distance learning problems. Of course every school and district is different, but I think if every school across the country took these five steps, our students will be in a pretty good place once we come out the other end of this crisis.
Reflections on First Semester Grading Reform: 3 Successes
It’s approximately the half-way mark of the school year, and to me, this means a couple of especially important things. It means the first semester is finished and grades have become a permanent part of student transcripts. With the second semester comes the opportunity to reflect on the successes and challenges of the 14 grading… Continue reading Reflections on First Semester Grading Reform: 3 Successes
Going All In on Grading Reform: An Overview of My Implementation of 14 Practices & Policies
For a number of years, I lacked the courage to go all in on grading reform. I long knew of the problems with traditional grading practices, but my concern about pushback from students, parents, and even administrators tempered my enthusiasm for beginning a large-scale reform. Further, I was concerned about the implications of grading in… Continue reading Going All In on Grading Reform: An Overview of My Implementation of 14 Practices & Policies