I had a wonderful dinner with the first few principals involved in this conversation and two of our assistant superintendents as well as Ruth Sutton. The dinner time conversation? Moving away from letter grades. Everything we have read, seen, experienced and heard tells us this is the right path to follow. Ruth had spent the day with around 100 elementary and middle school teachers talking about assessment and was generous enough to spend time with us afterwards giving us her experience, thoughts and ideas as to the steps needed to make this work.
One thing she said that really stood out is that we need to get the kids to focus on personal bests and not on their rankings. The image that she painted was one of running a marathon and focussing on our time. Every time we run we want to get better. If we always finish first, second or third but our times are getting worse we are not improving we are regressing, but rankings would not show that. I loved that analogy, encouraging the students to focus on their progress and not on their rankings. She said that research shows that to keep students engaged that up until grade 12 they should not be ranked and sorted. The longer we have them focus on improving, the more successful the students will be. She also suggested that we bring in people from universities and big companies to talk to parents and students about what they want to see in their respective recruits.
The universities need to talk about the skills that the students need to STAY in university and not just to get in. Many of us can think of students that we went to in university that bombed out of 1st year university because they did not know how to self-assess, critically examine their work, peer edit and so on. It is almost a wasted group. What skills were they lacking that allowed for them to flunk out of university? What is it that most employers are looking for? Self-motivated, eager to learn, adaptable and goal setting individuals.
Every time we talked about what we needed to do, it came down to the assessment practices. If we are telling parents that this is good for the kids then the proof has to be in the pudding. The parents need to see the rich information that comes from formative assessment and standards-based assessment. It will not work if we take away what they know, tell them this is good and then not have the assessment practices to back it up.
Lastly we talked a little about reporting, what should the new report card look like and what should it contain. One of the ideas that I really liked was changing comment boxes to "Succeses and Next Steps". This would have what the child is able to do and what the child needs to focus on next. This speaks to planning, it speaks to record keeping, it speaks to solid assessment practices. The other part that I really liked was including the child's own writing of his or her report card. Have the student write "What I am good at?" , "what do I know?" and "what do I need to get better at?" as well as maybe "What are my next steps as a learner?" and have them present their own evidence to back it up. If this is done properly the child's own self-evaluation should pretty much be bang-on.
After EdCampVancouver and this dinner, I am very excited about where education is headed.
Showing posts with label report cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label report cards. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Ed Camp Vancouver
Today was a most interesting day of most amazing professional development. The day was presented as an unconference, no key note speaker, nothing lavish, just a bunch of dedicated people who are passionate about education. It was representative of most stakeholders: parents, teachers, principals and some students. It is hard to describe the day in a way which accurately would reflect the conversations that were held today.
The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn. These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present. These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.
As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted. As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day. 4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots. There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects. We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over. It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used! Talk about powerful pro-d!
I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over. The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching. I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over). It just felt as though we were just warming up. To have that many people together is powerful pro-d. There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools. As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this. Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes. Let's get it all out on the table.
I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there. They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives. Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are. If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.
There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format. Is this the future of pro-d?
The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn. These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present. These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.
As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted. As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day. 4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots. There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects. We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over. It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used! Talk about powerful pro-d!
I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over. The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching. I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over). It just felt as though we were just warming up. To have that many people together is powerful pro-d. There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools. As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this. Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes. Let's get it all out on the table.
I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there. They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives. Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are. If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.
There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format. Is this the future of pro-d?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Changing the Face of Reporting Through Assessment Practices
A little while ago I wrote about how a number of schools in my district were looking at changing our reporting practices, moving away from letter grades to standards based reporting. Based on the recommendations of @tomschimmer and @birklearns when it came to re-examining our assessment and reporting practices, I picked up two books by Ken O'Connor: How to Grade for Learning and A Repair Kit for Grading; 15 Fixes for Broken Grades. I have just started reading A Repair Kit and already in the first chapter there is a great list which would be a very good conversation starter for any staff. The discussions on these points alone could take a while.
15 fixes for Broken Grades
Grades are broken when they -
• include ingredients that distort achievement
• arise from low quality or poorly organized evidence
• are derived from inappropriate number crunching, and when they
• do not support the learning process
Fixes for ingredients that distort achievement
15 fixes for Broken Grades
Grades are broken when they -
• include ingredients that distort achievement
• arise from low quality or poorly organized evidence
• are derived from inappropriate number crunching, and when they
• do not support the learning process
1. Don’t include student behaviors (effort, participation, adherence to class rules, etc) 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 for low quality or poorly organized evidence
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.
8. Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear descriptions of achievement expectations.
9. Don’t assign grades based on student’s achievement compared to other students; compare each student’s performance to preset standards.
10. Don’t rely on evidence from assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; rely only on quality assessments.
Fixes for inappropriate number crunching
11. Don’t rely only on the mean; consider other measures of central tendency and use professional judgment.
12. Don’t include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing or as punishment; use alternatives, such as reassessing to determine real achievement or use “I” for Incomplete or Insufficient Evidence.
Fixes to support the learning process
13. Don’t use information from formative assessments and practice to determine grades; use only summative evidence.
14. Don’t summarize evidence accumulated over time when learning is developmental and will grow with time and repeated opportunities; in those instances, emphasize more recent achievement.
15. Don’t leave students out of the grading process. Involve students; they can - and should - play key roles in assessment and grading that promote achievement.
The first chapter resonated with many of the thoughts that I have had, namely around the punishment/rewards aspects around letter grades and what they represent. O'Connor writes that grades have served a variety of purposes including: to communicate student achievement to students, parents, school administrators, post-secondary institutions and employers as well as sorting and selecting, motivation and punishment. These purposes are in conflict with communicating their successes and ranking and sorting. The first chapter is a lot to chew on.
Which ones are the most important? which ones resonate the most with you?
Which ones are the most important? which ones resonate the most with you?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Twitter Effect and Standards Based Reporting
What has started off as a few innocuous questions is gaining huge momentum. Who knew that responding to a tweet could have a potentially large impact on an entire district? A simple twitter conversation around eliminating letter grades led to me sending an email to an assistant superintendent which then led to a conversation in person between the 3 main participants of that conversation. From there it grew to a potential committee of about 9 schools, which then led to an email to the 70 some odd schools in the district to which about another dozen or so schools have responded that they are interested in taking this on.
I have to admit that I am borderline freaking out right now because I thought this might be a small group. I was wrong. My assistant superintendent is lining up potential facilitators, using connections to bring in some amazing people and looking for a way to get this project subsidized. My superintendent is sending me references for material that I should be looking at. We had our district volleyball tournament and teachers are coming up to me and telling me how excited they are to be a part of this. I am stoked, but also quietly shaking in my boots.
I guess we are going to have to call this the "Twitter Effect" rather than the "Butterfly Effect". If someone tweets in Coquitlam, BC, what can happen? Now I guess I get to the point of my post. Help!!!!! I had the opportunity to virtually take part in the Educon session Standards Based Grading: Is it fair? by Kristen Swanson and Mike Ritzius. I loved the presentation and the conversations that I could overhear, but I really enjoyed the virtual chat that I was able to take part in. Through that chat I was given 4 great resources as a starting point:
I have to admit that I am borderline freaking out right now because I thought this might be a small group. I was wrong. My assistant superintendent is lining up potential facilitators, using connections to bring in some amazing people and looking for a way to get this project subsidized. My superintendent is sending me references for material that I should be looking at. We had our district volleyball tournament and teachers are coming up to me and telling me how excited they are to be a part of this. I am stoked, but also quietly shaking in my boots.
I guess we are going to have to call this the "Twitter Effect" rather than the "Butterfly Effect". If someone tweets in Coquitlam, BC, what can happen? Now I guess I get to the point of my post. Help!!!!! I had the opportunity to virtually take part in the Educon session Standards Based Grading: Is it fair? by Kristen Swanson and Mike Ritzius. I loved the presentation and the conversations that I could overhear, but I really enjoyed the virtual chat that I was able to take part in. Through that chat I was given 4 great resources as a starting point:
I am going to put together a quick google doc to try and collect as much information and resources on standard based grading/assessment. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Please find the document here:
Friday, January 21, 2011
Public Ed vs Real World
As the conversation around the elimination of awards and letter grades continues, there are many people who decry the changes because we are not preparing the students for the "Real World". Most of the comments were along the lines of "In the "Real World" there are winners and losers so why are we sheltering them from that "reality"?". The callers on the talk radio seem to feel that young adults think that because they put in the effort that their work should automatically be appreciated in the "Real World". Based on the arguments offered, apparently you don't get the praise and recognition from your employers unless you are the best of the best in the "Real World". The one sidedness of the comments was surprising, but it got me thinking.
Are there winners and losers in some aspects of life? Absolutely. There are people who are going to be offered jobs and those who get the thanks for applying letters. There are people who are going to get promoted and then those who will be fired. Top sales reps will get awards, top actors will get awards, top athletes will get awards.and so on. There are people who will see those people getting the awards and the cash bonuses and will push themselves. To deny this is foolish, but for how many more does this have little or no impact, or even worse, the complete opposite effect.
So what will happen in schools, if honour roll and awards ceremonies are removed? How will this impact the students? I feel that it would not have a significant impact nor be detrimental to the students' learning. Many secondary schools now do awards on separate nights, so often the general student population are not present to see the awards being handed out. There are many students who aren't motivated by the awards. If they are motivated about their learning intrinsically, they will put in the time regardless of whether or not their name goes on a plaque.
If it is crucial to celebrate the best of the best, why is a "B" average celebrated? Does this not water it down? How was a "B" average deemed the cut-off point? If we are to truly recognize the top students, let's eliminate all those who do not have straight "A"s in every course they take. No "B"s allowed. Period. Why is this not done? Because we want all students to be encouraged to give us their best. The top students will be rewarded with scholarships, university entrance letters and choices of post-secondary institutions. Those whose grades are not as high have a limited choice of post-secondary institutions. If the students are unsure as to what they want to do when they graduate and were only motivated by letter grades, what are they going to do once they graduate? What becomes their motivation? I doubt that their employer is going to return a document that they have worked on with a letter grade attached.
Another question to deliberate is how many of those students have tutors? How many of those students have parents who have the ability and the confidence to help them with homework? How many other students could achieve that level of academic achievement if their home circumstances were different? What if they did not have to go and pick up their younger siblings, feed them, help them with their homework and then go and work a part-time job to help the family put food on the table? For some students, a C+ represents an amazing achievement. For others, it is an incredible achievement that they even made it to school. I have seen students who in grade 6 are waking themselves up, making their own breakfast, walking for 30 minutes and getting to school on time while watching some of their peers getting dropped off in 500 series Mercedes Convertibles. I am blown away every time I see those kids in my class and in my school being an active participant and I am going to find every possible way to recognize that.
Whenever I am out with friends and we talk about our various work environments, recognition and praise seem to be a big part of the satisfaction of the job. Those who do not enjoy their work tend to comment on how they are working hard and not being recognized for it, their boss takes credit for their work, does not even know who they are or only talks to them when there is a problem. Those who enjoy their work usually comment on how much they appreciate the fact that their boss acknowledges their work and effort, that they take a personal interest in their lives and that they are approachable. Why would kids be any different? People, as a general rule, like to be acknowledged for what they are doing, adults and kids alike. The praise must be authentic and not contrived.
Self-assessment has also been questioned. Why do we let students assess themselves? Because it is a crucial life skill to have. Learning how to critically look at your own work and be able to identify areas that need improvement and strengths are essential in many jobs. Learning how to look at someone else's work and identify areas that need improvement and strengths are also essential in many jobs. This is not the teacher passing the buck, there is a lot of interaction, teaching, modeling and dialogue that has to be in place for this to be effective.
The last point that I wanted to address was late work, as that was another point that seemed to come up a lot. Yes, it is true that many teachers accept late work. Yes it is true that fewer teachers are penalizing students who hand in the work late by reducing the mark. Students receive 2 marks on a report card, one that is supposed to represent their knowledge and understanding of the material covered and another that represents the work habits. The letter grades are supposed to be a reflection of how well a student understands the material being covered, not a due date. When there are issues with work that is continuously late there are meetings scheduled, plans set up and regular updates given to try and change it around. We meet with parents to try and determine if there is a root cause for the work not being done. Are there issues that we are not aware of at home or at school? More often than not, penalizing a student for late work does not motivate them, in their eyes it often justifies why they don't bother. Many students who are struggling with their homework or assignment completion are kept in at lunch or after school. Sometimes it is arranged that they will be dropped off early on some days in order to get additional support. There are consequences given when the work is late, but it should not be reflected in the marks. The key is support and working with all partners to have them improve their work completion. If they have poor work habits then they receive an "N" for their work habit mark.
I guess it comes down to a philosophical perspective on the role and purpose of school. Are we to be a sorting system where we continuously rank kids and in one form or another and tell them what their place is in the school? Most people would agree that seating kids according to their marks is very damaging, I saw it firsthand when I went to school in France. Why do it on a grand stage? We are there for every student from the most gifted to the most challenged. Our goal is to find that inner spark, that inner passion that will move that child to give us everything he/she has. Our responsibility is by the time they leave the school system we have given them every opportunity to be the brightest, shining light they can be, that they have developed as deep an understanding of all of the curricular content as possible and are the best citizens possible. For every child this is going to be different.
The students are already ranked and sorted in every competition out there whether it be track or debating, writing contests or basketball, Verbathon or other academic challenges. Those that strive off of competition have many opportunities to do so at school and outside of school. We see it every lunch hour, but we also see students who are reading quietly, skipping with friends, taking care of the school garden or picking up litter to keep the school grounds clean. Knowledge, understanding, respect and support are a school's responsibility. If society determines that there is a need to rank and sort once they are outside the school system, then that is society's choice. When students leave school hopefully they are confident, independent young adults with the ability to think critically and are self-motivated. To me these are essential skills for the "Real World". If gold stars, A's and awards are the only things motivating them then we are in trouble.
Are there winners and losers in some aspects of life? Absolutely. There are people who are going to be offered jobs and those who get the thanks for applying letters. There are people who are going to get promoted and then those who will be fired. Top sales reps will get awards, top actors will get awards, top athletes will get awards.and so on. There are people who will see those people getting the awards and the cash bonuses and will push themselves. To deny this is foolish, but for how many more does this have little or no impact, or even worse, the complete opposite effect.
So what will happen in schools, if honour roll and awards ceremonies are removed? How will this impact the students? I feel that it would not have a significant impact nor be detrimental to the students' learning. Many secondary schools now do awards on separate nights, so often the general student population are not present to see the awards being handed out. There are many students who aren't motivated by the awards. If they are motivated about their learning intrinsically, they will put in the time regardless of whether or not their name goes on a plaque.
If it is crucial to celebrate the best of the best, why is a "B" average celebrated? Does this not water it down? How was a "B" average deemed the cut-off point? If we are to truly recognize the top students, let's eliminate all those who do not have straight "A"s in every course they take. No "B"s allowed. Period. Why is this not done? Because we want all students to be encouraged to give us their best. The top students will be rewarded with scholarships, university entrance letters and choices of post-secondary institutions. Those whose grades are not as high have a limited choice of post-secondary institutions. If the students are unsure as to what they want to do when they graduate and were only motivated by letter grades, what are they going to do once they graduate? What becomes their motivation? I doubt that their employer is going to return a document that they have worked on with a letter grade attached.
Another question to deliberate is how many of those students have tutors? How many of those students have parents who have the ability and the confidence to help them with homework? How many other students could achieve that level of academic achievement if their home circumstances were different? What if they did not have to go and pick up their younger siblings, feed them, help them with their homework and then go and work a part-time job to help the family put food on the table? For some students, a C+ represents an amazing achievement. For others, it is an incredible achievement that they even made it to school. I have seen students who in grade 6 are waking themselves up, making their own breakfast, walking for 30 minutes and getting to school on time while watching some of their peers getting dropped off in 500 series Mercedes Convertibles. I am blown away every time I see those kids in my class and in my school being an active participant and I am going to find every possible way to recognize that.
Whenever I am out with friends and we talk about our various work environments, recognition and praise seem to be a big part of the satisfaction of the job. Those who do not enjoy their work tend to comment on how they are working hard and not being recognized for it, their boss takes credit for their work, does not even know who they are or only talks to them when there is a problem. Those who enjoy their work usually comment on how much they appreciate the fact that their boss acknowledges their work and effort, that they take a personal interest in their lives and that they are approachable. Why would kids be any different? People, as a general rule, like to be acknowledged for what they are doing, adults and kids alike. The praise must be authentic and not contrived.
Self-assessment has also been questioned. Why do we let students assess themselves? Because it is a crucial life skill to have. Learning how to critically look at your own work and be able to identify areas that need improvement and strengths are essential in many jobs. Learning how to look at someone else's work and identify areas that need improvement and strengths are also essential in many jobs. This is not the teacher passing the buck, there is a lot of interaction, teaching, modeling and dialogue that has to be in place for this to be effective.
The last point that I wanted to address was late work, as that was another point that seemed to come up a lot. Yes, it is true that many teachers accept late work. Yes it is true that fewer teachers are penalizing students who hand in the work late by reducing the mark. Students receive 2 marks on a report card, one that is supposed to represent their knowledge and understanding of the material covered and another that represents the work habits. The letter grades are supposed to be a reflection of how well a student understands the material being covered, not a due date. When there are issues with work that is continuously late there are meetings scheduled, plans set up and regular updates given to try and change it around. We meet with parents to try and determine if there is a root cause for the work not being done. Are there issues that we are not aware of at home or at school? More often than not, penalizing a student for late work does not motivate them, in their eyes it often justifies why they don't bother. Many students who are struggling with their homework or assignment completion are kept in at lunch or after school. Sometimes it is arranged that they will be dropped off early on some days in order to get additional support. There are consequences given when the work is late, but it should not be reflected in the marks. The key is support and working with all partners to have them improve their work completion. If they have poor work habits then they receive an "N" for their work habit mark.
I guess it comes down to a philosophical perspective on the role and purpose of school. Are we to be a sorting system where we continuously rank kids and in one form or another and tell them what their place is in the school? Most people would agree that seating kids according to their marks is very damaging, I saw it firsthand when I went to school in France. Why do it on a grand stage? We are there for every student from the most gifted to the most challenged. Our goal is to find that inner spark, that inner passion that will move that child to give us everything he/she has. Our responsibility is by the time they leave the school system we have given them every opportunity to be the brightest, shining light they can be, that they have developed as deep an understanding of all of the curricular content as possible and are the best citizens possible. For every child this is going to be different.
The students are already ranked and sorted in every competition out there whether it be track or debating, writing contests or basketball, Verbathon or other academic challenges. Those that strive off of competition have many opportunities to do so at school and outside of school. We see it every lunch hour, but we also see students who are reading quietly, skipping with friends, taking care of the school garden or picking up litter to keep the school grounds clean. Knowledge, understanding, respect and support are a school's responsibility. If society determines that there is a need to rank and sort once they are outside the school system, then that is society's choice. When students leave school hopefully they are confident, independent young adults with the ability to think critically and are self-motivated. To me these are essential skills for the "Real World". If gold stars, A's and awards are the only things motivating them then we are in trouble.
Friday, January 7, 2011
If you want to eliminate letter grades, what do you need to do?
We are in the process forming a committee in our district that will be re-examining report cards at the intermediate (grade 4-7) years, with the initial starting point of the conversation being the elimination of letter grades at the elementary level. I do feel that letter grades should be eliminated at the elementary level. I do not feel that you can change assessment practice without changing the reporting practice. But can you have this conversation without discussing assessment? Can this conversation be had without involving parents? What kind of information needs to be presented and how would it need to be presented? How long will it take to change it over? Is it possible to overcome the emotional/cultural/historical values of letter grades and reporting formats? So many questions to ponder when looking a major philosophical shift in reporting practices that have existed for decades.
We had a very good first discussion pondering the first steps that need to be taken. An important part of the discussion was about the fact that there is an emotional attachment to letter grades that needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the school setting. We can all think of letter grades that have impacted us emotionally in a very strong way. I remember when I got a C- first term of grade 11 Chemistry (I learned that I might actually have to study). I was sick to my stomach and preparing myself to go and do my French Military Service in order to avoid a very uncomfortable conversation at home. The C- that I got in 3rd year genetics was the happiest C- in my life as I managed to pass the course on the first attempt, unlike roughly 50% of my classmates. These letter grades mean different things to different people depending on the circumstances. For some they are a driving force, for others they result in crippling anxiety.
Parents are used to letter grades, they understand, or they believe that they understand what the letter grades mean. They usually only remember getting letter grades, and tend to not be able to recall what their earlier report cards would have looked like. They remember the conversation that they would have had at home with their parents, and they remember the incentives and/or the consequences of those letter grades. There is a degree of comfort in the familiarity. Many teachers are used to letter grades as a means of communicating the varying degrees of academic success of the students to their parents. This means that a significant shift in thinking that will be required should we change our reporting practices.
Assessment practices also came up, with a large emphasis on their importance in changing our reporting practices. Is it possible to change the culture around the report cards without changing the culture around assessment practices and communication about the assessment? Can changing the way we report change assessment practices? If we are to come up with a different reporting system, what needs to be considered? Is it possible to retain a previous reporting system that was based on an entirely different methodology of assessing?
Part of the reasoning behind the elimination of letter grades is that assessment practices do not match up with letter grades. Formative assessment is supposed to be a significant piece of the puzzle. How are students progressing? What have they learned from the feedback? Also, in my opinion, the assessments are not meant to be averaged out. If you are a true believer of formative assessment, then the September/October assessments are teaching tools, not measuring tools. A December report card should be reflective of where the student is now and include comments on how they have progressed based on the feedback. The students should be able to self-assess quite accurately because they have been actively involved in their learning. They should be credited for learning from their mistakes, not punished for having made them. The parents should also have an understanding of the assessment strategies, philosophies and purpose so that when assignments come home they know what the feedback means and have an understanding how to support their child's learning.
This means that there is a significant educational/information aspect that needs to be included. Presentations to parents about the language that will be used and what it means are key. If parents understand the rationale and terminology, they are more likely to support it. There will also need to be an important investment into professional development in order to ensure a common understanding of the philosophy behind the new reporting ideology within the school system. Trust is also going to be an issue. Trust with the parents as well as trust with the staff. How is this going to be better for the kids? How is this going to be better for communicating a child's progress to parents? How is this going to be more effective for the teacher?
Will focusing on performance standard language and assessment practices be sufficient to make this change? Any suggestions as to what are the next steps we need to take?
We had a very good first discussion pondering the first steps that need to be taken. An important part of the discussion was about the fact that there is an emotional attachment to letter grades that needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the school setting. We can all think of letter grades that have impacted us emotionally in a very strong way. I remember when I got a C- first term of grade 11 Chemistry (I learned that I might actually have to study). I was sick to my stomach and preparing myself to go and do my French Military Service in order to avoid a very uncomfortable conversation at home. The C- that I got in 3rd year genetics was the happiest C- in my life as I managed to pass the course on the first attempt, unlike roughly 50% of my classmates. These letter grades mean different things to different people depending on the circumstances. For some they are a driving force, for others they result in crippling anxiety.
Parents are used to letter grades, they understand, or they believe that they understand what the letter grades mean. They usually only remember getting letter grades, and tend to not be able to recall what their earlier report cards would have looked like. They remember the conversation that they would have had at home with their parents, and they remember the incentives and/or the consequences of those letter grades. There is a degree of comfort in the familiarity. Many teachers are used to letter grades as a means of communicating the varying degrees of academic success of the students to their parents. This means that a significant shift in thinking that will be required should we change our reporting practices.
Assessment practices also came up, with a large emphasis on their importance in changing our reporting practices. Is it possible to change the culture around the report cards without changing the culture around assessment practices and communication about the assessment? Can changing the way we report change assessment practices? If we are to come up with a different reporting system, what needs to be considered? Is it possible to retain a previous reporting system that was based on an entirely different methodology of assessing?
Part of the reasoning behind the elimination of letter grades is that assessment practices do not match up with letter grades. Formative assessment is supposed to be a significant piece of the puzzle. How are students progressing? What have they learned from the feedback? Also, in my opinion, the assessments are not meant to be averaged out. If you are a true believer of formative assessment, then the September/October assessments are teaching tools, not measuring tools. A December report card should be reflective of where the student is now and include comments on how they have progressed based on the feedback. The students should be able to self-assess quite accurately because they have been actively involved in their learning. They should be credited for learning from their mistakes, not punished for having made them. The parents should also have an understanding of the assessment strategies, philosophies and purpose so that when assignments come home they know what the feedback means and have an understanding how to support their child's learning.
This means that there is a significant educational/information aspect that needs to be included. Presentations to parents about the language that will be used and what it means are key. If parents understand the rationale and terminology, they are more likely to support it. There will also need to be an important investment into professional development in order to ensure a common understanding of the philosophy behind the new reporting ideology within the school system. Trust is also going to be an issue. Trust with the parents as well as trust with the staff. How is this going to be better for the kids? How is this going to be better for communicating a child's progress to parents? How is this going to be more effective for the teacher?
Will focusing on performance standard language and assessment practices be sufficient to make this change? Any suggestions as to what are the next steps we need to take?
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