Repair Kit for Grading - Fix 7

The information for this series comes from Ken O'Connor's book A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades.  During this series you will get a "taste" of each fix, but I highly recommend investing in this quick read.  O'Connor offers very practical fixes to the grading system.  If all else, he will get you to think about how you currently are grading your students.

The first 6 fixes were fixes that were focused on fixing practices that distort achievement:

1. Don't include student behaviors in grades; include only achievement.
2. Don't reduce marks on "work" submitted late; provide support for the learner.
3. Don't give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek only evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement.
4. Don't punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades; apply other consequences and reassess to determine actual level of achievement.
5. Don't consider attendance in grade determination; report absences separately.
6. Don't include group scores in grades; use only individual achievement evidence.

Fixes 7-10 focus on fixes for low-quality or poorly organized evidence.  The first of these fixes is:

Fix 7: Don't organize information in grading records by assessment methods or simply summarize into a single grade; organize and report evidence by standards/learning goals.

In simple terms this means creating a standards-based report card.  I dread the day my daughter comes home with a "B" in math, because what does that really mean?  Does it mean she knows all her standards, but lacks in some behavior?  Did she really earn a "C" and then do extra credit to get a "B"?  As a parent, I want to know what she does and does not know.  I loved her kindergarten report card.  It listed all the math concepts, letter sounds, and star words she needed to know.  The teacher was then able to assess those standards and report if she did or did not know it.  As a former high school social studies teacher, I thought to myself, what do the letter grades I give my students really mean?  A parent would get the report card and it would say "Johnny" got a "D" in social studies.  As Johnny's teacher I would then get an email from mom and dad asking what he was "missing".  In a standards-based report card world, the discussion is no longer what is he "missing", but rather what does he not know.

In the elementary classroom the standards-based report cards make sense and seems to be a much easier sell than the high school classroom.  When switching to a standards-based report card in the high school many questions arise, such as:

• What about GPA and colleges?
• Elementary has 30 kids, high school teachers can see up to 150

I think these are questions that can be worked out.  A formula can be developed to translate into a GPA and a system can be established where 150 standards-based report cards are not insurmountable.  In the end, we are here for the students and to see what they know and are able to do.

A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O'Connor