3. Checklists of Objectives -- These are done in some school districts at the elementary level. They present a bar graph to display the level of mastery of specific skills.

4. Letters to Parents / Guardians

5. Portfolios of Student Work

6. Parent-Teacher Conferences

Guidelines for Developing a Multiple Marking and Reporting System

1. Should be guided by the functions to be served

2. Should be developed cooperatively by parents, students, and school personnel

THINK ABOUT IT!

Do any school districts incorporate parents' and students' suggestions into their grading systems?

3. Should be based on a clear statement of educational objectives

4. Should be based on adequate assessment

5. Should be detailed enough to be diagnostic and yet compact enough to be practical

6. Should provide for parent-teacher conferences

Who makes the decision about what an "A" is?

Who makes the decision about what an "A" is?

Assigning Letter Grades

1. Determining what to include in a letter grade

Amount of work vs quality of work

Effort

Behavior

Your grades must communicate clearly to parents, students, and administrators. If you include factors other than achievement toward academic objectives, how will parents, students, and administrators know what a grade of A means? I do include a test question on this issue in the final exam.

E-mail me if you are unclear about this issue.

LETTER GRADES ARE ONLY AS VALID AS THE MEASURES OF ACHIEVEMENT ON WHICH THEY ARE BASED

2. Combining data in assigning grades

Grades must be weighted, because most teachers will want to give greater weight to tests than to homework and greater weight to projects than to classwork.

DEFINITIONS

Raw score -- the number a student gets right; is not useful by itself

Percent -- the raw score divided by the total number of points possible

Weighted -- assigning varying amounts that each assignment contributes to the whole and multiplying that weight by the percent earned;

Example:

If you made a 80% on the mid-term and if the mid-term counted for 45 points out of 100, you multiply .80 by 45 and obtain the number of points you earned for the mid-term (= 36).

If you add this to the 10 you can earn for homework, you have 46. To earn an A (at least a 90%), you would need to get 45 out of the 50 questions correct on the final. 45 + 46 = 91!

Composite -- when you add all of the assignments together to obtain the final grade for the quarter / semester for an individual student. In the example above, 36 + 10 + 45 = 91, 91 is the composite score.

These definitions are on the final, if they are not clear, e-mail me about them.

3. Selecting the proper frame of reference for grading

A. In relation to other group members; this is norm-referenced

When you create a normal distribution from scores in most classrooms, you are imposing a structure that does not normally exist. Normal distributions occur when the number in your group is greater than 100 AND when you know you have students who vary greatly in ability. These criteria (large group size and varying abilities) do occur for those who create standardized tests. They are not typical of a classroom --- thankfully. To give you a demonstration here is an example of midterm grades with a normal distribution imposed on them. I am combining classes for a total of 48 students.

2% of the students get A = 1 student

14% of the students get B = 7 students

68% of the students get C = 32 students

14% of the students get D = 7 students

2% of the students get F = 1 student

Then you rank the scores from highest to lowest and count out 1 A, 7 B's, 32 C's, 7 D's, and 1 F.

98 = A

-------------

96 all these are B's
96
94
92
92
91
91
-----------

90 all these are C's
90
90
88
88
88
87
87
87
85
85
85
85
83
83
83
83
83
81
81
81
79
79
79
79
77
77
77
77
75
72
72
------------------

71 all these are D's
71
71
71
69
67
65
-------------------

60 = F

It should be evident that this creates competition and leaves the impression of unfairness. After all, if you can answer most of the questions correctly why shouldn't your grade reflect that instead of reflecting your rank in this particular class (group of students). This is frequently a test question on the final exam.

E-mail me about this in class, if it's not clear.

B. In relation to specified standards; this is criterion-referenced

This is how I grade. If you have mastered 90% or more of the objectives, you earn an A; 80-89% a B, 70-79% a C, 60-69% a D, and 59% or below an F.

C. In relation to learning ability; no reference point beyond the individual student; do teachers really know a student's learning ability? What other factors influence learning?

D. In relation to amount of improvement; no reference point beyond the individual student; other factors influence learning other than sheer effort.

Conducting Parent-Teacher Conferences

1. Make plans for the conference

2. Begin the conference in a positive manner

3. Present the student's strong points before describing the areas needing improvement

4. Encourage parents to participate and share information

5. Plan a course of action cooperatively

6. End the conference with a positive comment

7. Use good human relation skills during the conference

These really are a matter of common sense. You, as a teacher, need to realize that a parent can be your greatest ally. It is not in your best interest (or the best interest of the student) to alienate any parent.

Go to Activities for Module 8.

Readings

Chapter 13, Marking and Reporting

from Linn R.L. & Gronlund, N.E. (1995). Measurement and assessment in teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill.

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