Questions for Consistency

As I mentioned, several other teachers are going to be piloting the same system as me, well a similar system.  One of the greatest complains with points grading is the inconsistencies.  Thus, we want to make sure we, as a group, are consistent in our implementation of SBG and AFL.  Here are a few of the issues we need to address:

·         Number of levels

o   I use a 5-1 scale.

o   4-1 is used for EOC’s

o   4-0 has been suggested, as has 5-0

·         Zeros

o   I’ve been putting in 1’s for no data but I dunno about the logic of that. . .

o   Will we use them at all? 

o   How will we use them?

·         Missing/late work

o   This pertains particularly to missing/late summative grades like papers, presentations and lab reports.

o   Again, I am using 1’s for assessments

o   For homework and practice, I grade anything any time they turn it in. 

o   Zeros?

o   Rules for accepting it?

·         Retakes

o   I allow retakes on everything, given the completed retake ticket.

o   Allowed on all tests? Some tests?

o   Protocol for retakes?

o   Full credit, partial credit, no credit?

o   Admission price?

·         Homework policy

o   For me, it’s just practice

o   Just practice?

o   Part of summative grade?

o   Recorded? Not recorded?

o   Collected and graded or not?

·         Percent conversions

o   Basically, 5=A+, 4=A-, 3=B-, 2=C- <2=F.  I have some smaller gradations in there because the + and – factor into GPA. 

o   How will the mastery levels be converted back into percents for the regular grade card?

I will add more as we come up with these questions and the responses we generate. . . . stay tuned!

October 26, 2011 Changes for next time

October 26, 2011

Changes for next time

As I proceed through this venture, there have turned up quite a few issues that cannot be corrected until next year.   This entire SBG system is a jump for most students so to alter things drastically again would be unwise.  My students, overall, are incredibly flexible and patient with me as I try new things, discard them, and try again.  Several changes will come as a result of consistency and streamlining with other teachers who are going to be starting their own pilots next year.  Below are a few of the changes I know for certain I want to make next year.

·         Artifacts

o   In addition to homework, artifacts will be available in a basket in the front of the room for students to prove what they know without the help of other students or notes.  This should help students who feel they know the material and suddenly realize on the test that they are unable to perform the requested task alone.  Essentially, they are “quizzes” but will not affect student grades. 

o   A second option is to call the pop quizzes I often give “artifacts” to be separately recorded as such.

·         Checklists

o   Next year, the checklists on which students monitor their own grades will have three sections: practice, artifacts, and summatives.  This way they will be able to see how much practice they have completed, how well they did on the practice, how those scores compare to the artifact scores that require students to perform as they would on a test and see how all of this compares to the summative scores that are received. 

·         Retake tickets

o   This will be instituted from the get-go next year.  So far I LOVE them.

·         Rewriting/ Adjusting Standards

o   I am not happy with the order of my standards.  Study of the periodic table should come before naming and bonding.

o    St2 for honors is too large.

o    Ideally, I still want to create one set of standards that just has HC next to the standards that are for honors only. 

o   Another ideal would be to create, as Eureka has, core curricular objective.  Ideally, these standards would collectively describe what is covered over one term/quarter of instruction.  It might be hard to keep it that organized, though, since several chapters come back and build on previous ideas

o   Power standards are another idea I need to toss around.  Some standards are considerably more important than other, being one of the major ideas any student having taken my class should know.  This would require percentages, with some standards being worth a greater percent of the class.  That would be a challenge in SIS though. . . . I just hate percentages, personally

·         Behavior grades

o   This one is a toughie.  Even Ken O’Connor agrees that behaviors are important and should be reported.  However, since we are still using a points based report card, that grade would have to be averaged in with the learning grade essentially creating the same problem already seen in grades.

Getting Started

October 21, 2011

Starting suggestions

I thought it might be beneficial for me to throw out a few suggestions for anyone interested in attempting a journey similar to mine.  This is essentially the process I have followed. 

 

1.       Come up with standards

§  It will take a few tries, but start with CLE’s, throw in your curriculum and rephrase

·         The CLE’s have never seemed clear to me so I created my own standards and referenced the CLE’s.

·         Don’t always start with CLE’s.  You know you teach the CLE’s.  Start with your wording and reference the CLE’s

§  Get them all typed up then you can rearrange it.

·         Just type.  That’s the easiest way.  You’ll never have the perfect order, just one good enough for now.   

§  Could also start with state standards and use a, b, c to clarify under standards.

2.       Determine how you want to assess these standards

§  Backwards design!

§  Will you use a 5 level scale, 4 level scale, points . . .

§  Retakes fall in this category too

·         Will you allow retakes?

·         Will students retake same test, entire test, parts of test?

3.       Come up with grade book setup

§  Will you grade homework?

§  Will you record homework?

§  Will you use percentages or mastery levels?

§  How many assessments are necessary to know mastery?

§  Will you use bound paper grade book, binder paper or excel?

4.       Determine if there are any necessary changes to your classroom practices

§  Most of the time, little needs to change. 

§  The classroom will naturally shift itself to a focus on learning and away from points or that has been my experience. 

The best advice I can give is just to start.  You will never find the perfect approach and odds are you will never be completely happy with the system you have created.  I know I’m not.  I am immensely pleased with the progress and changes I have seen in my classroom thus far but it is far from perfect.  Every day brings a new set of challenges and every group of students is different and requires a slightly different approach.  But the rewards are well worth it.  I’m seeing students excited about learning, students who ordinarily give up are striving for better, exceptionally bright students are learning and not just looking for the points game.  It really is amazing. 

October 21, 2011 and Reassessments

October 21, 2011

Artifacts

I am still struggling with this idea of artifacts.  After talking with students, it is apparent that many of my students do not need the large amounts of practice that I hand out.  By requiring homework to be turned in for a grade, it is punishing the students that get the concepts on the first try.  That is one of the greatest arguments for standards based grading and assessment for learning.  Man I love the chemistry systems of grading/reporting.  Anyway, I had originally told my students that they needed to choose an assignment each week to turn in as a homework grade.  After discussion with other teachers, I decided to require the artifacts once a week to make sure students weren’t procrastinating too badly.  However, with the ABC block schedule that my school uses, I do not see my students every day to remind them and here we are on Friday and I have received nothing.  So I’m attempting to rethink this. . . . here’s my new idea:  artifacts will be comprised of 3-5 exemplary problems from the chapter being studied.  A student must complete three of these artifacts before the chapter test.  These will be the homework grades for the chapter.  The chemistry students (both honors and general), most of whom are younger than the physics crew, have surprised me with the amount of homework they do and practice they complete without the worksheets being taken for a “grade”.  I’m hoping physics will be the same way.  I will still assign homework and suggest that they turn it in for me to grade for correctness but only the artifacts will be taken as grades.  They are to be completed alone and without the help of notes, etc, effectively making them like little quizzes but they can be completed at the student’s leisure. 

Assessments

Thus far I am pleased with my retake tickets.  We will see if this alters the number of retake requests I get because this does require the student to do more work before I will allow them the retake opportunity.  I do believe this will force students to study and review the material before they attempt the retake which is definitely a good thing. 

Overall

I still feel like this whole venture has been supremely successful at taking the emphasis off points and refocusing everything on the learning.  The students and parents have also adapted far better than I ever could have hoped.  I think the main difficulty for anyone attempting this venture would be to remain flexible.  As I move through the school year, I am constantly finding things that I do not like, ideas that are not having the desired effect or suggestions that fall flat entirely.  One has to be able to take that failure in stride and come up with a new idea fairly quickly.  All it takes is persistence. 

October 18, 2011 Student responses and midterm troubles

October 18, 2011

Classroom changes

I feel like I am barreling through the material.  There isn’t enough time for reflection, improvement and mastery.  I’m currently grading midterms and they are terrible.   It’s incredibly disheartening.  The students aren’t retaining anything. . . I need a better mousetrap.  I’m beginning to think I need to make more changes to the way I teach/the way I structure my day.  Fridays (or whatever the last day I see the students for the week) needs to be some kind of reflection day.  Perhaps, set aside time to reflect on what they’ve learned, have some kind of proof problem to prove they’ve learned it. . . I would like to go back to a system similar to the one I experimented with my first year of teaching.  In that unit, students were given a folder containing all the information for a particular unit.  I gave one, maybe two lectures and then the practice was the responsibility of the student.  There were three quizzes that had to be taken by particular drop dead dates and then a test that was taken.  If I were to do something like that, each concept would have 3 or 4 “proof problems”.  Perhaps they could be kept in a basket or folder on the front table.  Once students believe they are ready for the quiz, they have to complete the “proof problem” and turn it in.  Then they make take the quiz.  The due dates gives students the ability to move more at their own pace but I do not know if general chemistry is mature enough to budget their time appropriately or responsible enough to do the practice they need.  I just feel like one third the class gets the idea and is ready to move on while another third just needs practice and a last bit has no idea.  Why do they seem to make such great progress and then bomb the test? 

I think my next step will be to offer retakes for the benchmark.  Originally, I had said the benchmark grade was permanent but the grades are so awful I don’t feel I have a choice.  Students will be returned their benchmarks and a “retake ticket” form.  It will have three sections.  First, students will have to explain why they achieved the score they did.  If it matches their practice scores or not is one way, or they could explain why they did or did not study or on what concepts they were still unclear.  Secondly, there will be the test itself containing space for the student to explain the correct answer (not why they got it wrong but why the correct answer is the correct one.  Math counts as explanation).  Thirdly will be a space for students to explain how they will better prepare for the retake.  Once this is completed and discussed with me, I will allow them to retake the test.  I like this idea better than the homework proof because it forces them to review and study by making them go back over the test. 

Student Response

Last entry I mentioned how I was going to introduce the idea of artifacts into my physics class since they were not using the AFL system and I could see if it was easier or effective at all.  I immediately noticed the difference in the mindset of students between physics and my AFL chemistries.  My chemistry students, by and large, have stopped asking about points and instead are focusing on learning the material and improvement.  Many of them are redoing assignments simply for the reinforcement and practice as well as asking for even more practice assignments.  Physics immediately saw this as a “get out of homework free” card.  We will see how it goes as time progresses.  I am notorious for testing different homework systems so I do not think tweaking this as time progresses will throw my students for a loop.  As always, the students who practice and do their work will do the homework I request regardless of the rewards or consequences and the students who skimp on homework and practice will skimp no matter what the rewards or consequences. 

Overall I do still feel the student response is positive.  I feel like they are focused on the learning and not the points and can communicate their learning effectively through the mastery levels.  But. . . it does slow down the amount of curriculum I can cover.  Is that ok?  I need a way for the killers and go-getters to move on while the folks who need more reinforcement to practice. . .

Consistency, changes, artifacts

October 11, 2011

Overall

Busy busy busy!  I still love it.  I think everyone should do it.  And I’ve said as much at the PD meetings we have.  I cannot wait til next year when I can attempt to use this same system in physics.  It is so much easier when directly compared with the old way of doing things like I am in physics.  It is amazing how easily the students have adapted to the system and how much more they trust it.  I feel like they no longer think grades to be arbitrarily assigned but see the levels as a mark to be exceeded.  Even general chemistry is catching on and beginning to ask for more practice to learn the material. 

Consistency

I am very excited to say that three other teachers are going to attempt to pilot their own standards based grading systems next year.  That said, we are working together to make sure that our systems are as consistent as possible. . . which is proving to be easier said than done.  We are currently trying to decide what the non-negotiables are: homework policy, grading scale, retake policy, reparations for missing work, etc.  And it is proving quite the task.  We all teach different subjects-history, English, math and science- and that is making it difficult to streamline our approaches.  With such different material, it is difficult.  However, consistency is important since one of the biggest complains about the current system is the lack of consistency. 

Changes

I want to attempt this idea of “artifacts of learning” as opposed to recording everything.  Right now, I grade, record and put into SIS all homework that I assign and grade.  It is making me crazy.  With students turning in homeworks on different days, different times, some late, some on time, some in pieces, it is very difficult and time consuming to find that particular key, grade it, find the one box in SIS where it goes and put it in.  But, I like having lots and lots of data.  I am an analytical chemist by training and I like data and visible patterns.  So I am thinking that I will grade everything still, but I will not put it in the online system.  I think I will still record it in my paper grade book and then if I see a pattern of lacking in practice contact the parents but this recording every little detail is just not working.  I don’t have that much time.  Instead, I will implement this idea of “artifacts” that demonstrate a student’s mastery of a concept.  These will go in SIS to be visible online and are nonnegotiable.  They must exist, whether the student mastered the concepts the first time or the 15^th time.  This will be implemented in physics, so I won’t have to battle the tweeky SBG already in effect. 

·         Three artifacts (on average, some standards are bigger/smaller) will be given per standard

·         These artifacts will be due at spaced out times throughout the unit.

·         Only one artifact may be a homework assignment

·         The other artifacts may be teacher-student conference, staying after school, a question on a pop quiz, or any other assignment that takes place individually within the confines of the classroom

·         If artifacts are not turned in, the student will be assigned a 0 and parents will be contacted to inform them the student must stay after the next tutoring day to complete the artifact. 

·         If a retake is requested for a particular standard, an additional artifact is necessary. 

Hopefully, this will alleviate some of the difficulties in finding time to enter all these individual grades that span the entire year in the grade book.  This will also allow students, again, to be able to do the amount of practice they require to master the concept.  Each day, I have a few more students understand why I do the homework this way and see, often for the first time, the importance of homework and out of school practice.  I also hope that, when this is moved over to the chemistries, that this will deter students from rushing into the retake.  By requiring an additional artifact, I’m not just looking at the numbers but also looking at the quality of work as well. 

Issues

Benchmarks, midterms, final exams, whatever you want to call them. . . they are a problem.   Most schools require some kind of midterm exam but it falls in the middle of a standard it seems.  It made deciding what to do with said assessment difficult.  I have decided to keep it as a permanent summative grade that cannot be retaken.  This benchmark indicates retention as it tested standards 1 and standard 2 as well.  For general chemistry, it works out better and falls at the end of general’s shorter standard 2.  My biggest issue remains the time it takes to put all these helter-skelter assignments in the online grade book. 

Newest thoughts

These are the note I took during our most recent Assessment for Learning committee meeting. 

October 3, 2011 AFL

Rockwood Assessment practices

·         Academic and Non-academic indicators

o   Addition of non-academic standard might be good. Would allow behavior back in grade, but needs to be very specific.

·         Time commitment before retake is required

o   A writing assignment or conference with teacher before retake

o   Might be good to avoid students rushing into retakes. 

o   Still need formatives to prove mastery.  Conference would provide opportunity for that conversation

Thoughts

·         More Student Involvement (Parkway)

o   Have students co-create levels of mastery using anchor examples, they sort into levels

o   Teacher sets goals with each student about where they are and what the next step is

§  Would go well in journals

§  Meet with individual students while class works on practice.

·         But with 26 kids in one room, how do you find the time AND keep the rest engaged and involved?

·         “Gradekeeper” online grade book

o   No parent portal

o   Does 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 scale

·         Need more self-assessment

o   Goes with goal setting in journal

o   Look at folder, how do scores look. . . weekly self-assessment?

§  If I were to give you the test today, how would you do?  Does the teacher agree with your assessment?

·         Benchmarks

o   Since HC will be in the middle of st2, allow benchmark to be flexible.  Have the summative for st2 somewhere in late October.  Let the st1 part be a replacement assessment for something from st1 and the st2 be formative until the summative in late October.

o   Or let It stand. . . retention is important too. . .

·         Summative Assessments

o   All tests should be cumulative?????

o   Or. . . only final exam is cumulative????

·         Step by step plan of attack for implementing standards based grading

o   Come up with standards (you’ve done BYOC-build your own curriculum-, you already have standards)

§  Yes it will take a few tries, but start with CLE’s, throw in your curriculum and rephrase

§  Get them all typed up then you can rearrange it.

§  Don’t always start with CLE’s.  You know you teach the CLE’s.  Start with your wording and reference the CLE’s

§  Could also start with state standards and use a, b, c to clarify under standards.

o   Come up with how you want to assess these standards

§  5 level scale, 4 level scale, points

§  Will you allow retakes?

§  Retake same test, entire test, parts of test?

o   Come up with grade book setup

§  Will you grade homework?

§  Will you record homework?

§  Will you use percentages or mastery levels?

§  How many assessments are necessary to know mastery?

§  Will you use bound paper, binder paper or excel?