7 Mistakes I Made Implementing Standards-Based Grading (And What I Learned From Them)

Over several years, I gradually shifted from a traditional grading system to a standards-based system. In year one, I got rid of zeros, extra credit and drastically cut the number of grades entered. The next year, in addition to small tweaks, I experimented with involving students more in the grading process and eliminated homework, group and effort grades. I entered year 3 excited about the prospects and ready to fully implement standards-based grading. Following are 7 mistakes I made implementing standards-based grading.

1. I failed to effectively communicate my vision and purpose to families. Honestly, I don't remember a single student having any issues with standards-based grading, and most families were extremely supportive and even appreciative, but some families resisted. The families that did resist were on the two grading scale extremes. I remember the father of an "A+ student" who seemed more interested in preserving the status quo and seemingly ensuring his daughter would be ahead in the race for valedictorian. On the other end of the spectrum, I had several parents who argued, "If my son does just enough to pass, he should be able to pass." In hindsight, I needed to more clearly communicate--and in multiple ways--why standards-based grading benefits all students. 
2. I still relied on calculating grades instead of determining grades. I entered the year knowing this would be my biggest hurdle because we were required to enter grades into our grading program, use either a point or a percentage system, and assign exam grades. Knowing averaging falls short of providing an accurate description of what a student has learned, I stuck with a point system because I felt I could better manipulate it to reflect student achievement. I attempted to focus on the most recent evidence of learning and used both median and mode in determining grades, but I felt my efforts were continually handcuffed by the school system's requirements. I slowly became more adept at determining grades and ultimately relied on my own professional judgment. 
3. I didn't develop an effective naming convention for organizing my gradebook. My gradebook reflected a combined--and thus confusing--approach to grading. Instead of completely organizing my gradebook by learning standards, expectations and criteria, I relied on a combination of naming by sources of information (quiz, project, presentation, etc.) and specific content standards. 
4. I didn't collect enough quality evidence. For power standards, I believe I did a pretty good job of collecting multiple samples of student achievement to accurately assess student learning, but for less important standards, I assigned grades that relied too heavily on assessments that were not sound. Essentially, I was checking a box that the student had learned it and I was ready to move on. We should attempt to collect at least 3 samples of student work to accurately assess student learning. 
5. I struggled to grade exceptional students. While I modified and differentiated learning and assessments for exceptional students, I did not have a plan on how to accurately assess all students based on their abilities, thus I could not accurately provide information on their achievement as it related to their IEP goals. When it came time to enter grades, I sorta' just entered a grade based on my heart and gut. Tailoring learning goals for exceptional students requires communication and collaboration with case managers, co-teachers, families and the student. 
6. I didn't solicit administrative support. At no time did I sit down with my school administrator to share my vision and plan to implement standards-based grading. At the end of the first marking period, I was called into the principal's office and asked/told, "Why do you have so many INCs? You can't give incompletes unless there are extenuating circumstances." For the first time, I explained to my assistant principal and the principal my standards-based grading system and the INC represented not having sufficient evidence to assess the student at this point, and I was holding the student and myself accountable for learning." Well, that didn't go too well. I was told to enter grades by the end of the week and within 24-hours an email went out to all staff that from that point forward all INC grades required administrative approval. I no longer gave incompletes, but instead submitted countless grade change forms every marking period thereafter. Thankfully, I had a good relationship with our registrar! Needless to say, I should've sat down and communicated my plan with administration before the school year started. 
7. I went at it alone. It wasn't until the end of the year that I learned that another teacher was also implementing standards-based grading and that she also had been called into the principal's office for giving incompletes. The shift to standards-based grading is a tremendous endeavor to take on alone. I wish I had solicited others to begin the journey with me--perhaps other ninth grade teachers or other world history teachers.

Even with all of the mistakes I made, I am glad that I made the change to standards-based grading. Grading requires significant professional judgment. We should aim to ensure that grades are an accurate representation of student learning and are clearly understood by the the sender (the teacher) and the receiver (students and families). 

Currently Grades Are Inherently Unfair

If grades matter as much as many say, we need to make reforms.

I’m the proud father of identical twins. Essentially, they possess similar academic and non-cognitive skills.  Yet, their high school experiences were dramatically different, as were their GPAs.

The discrepancies came down to one, randomly assigned variable—their teachers.

In science class one twin’s teacher weighted homework at 40%, while the other twin’s teacher didn’t calculate homework. In another subject, one teacher allowed extra credit while the other didn’t. Similar subject exams ranged from 10% to 20%. Of course, these differences are only the tip of the iceberg.

Dinner conversations frequently centered on such disparities. “I wish I was allowed to turn in extra credit.” “You’re so lucky to have her. She’s so much easier.” “I’ve worked so much harder, but I’ve only got a B and you have an A.”

Such disparities shouldn’t exist.

By no stretch of the imagination am I fan of more regulation, and since grades are here to stay, we need to make significant grade reforms. Here’s a simple 3-step policy:

1.     Each school should collaboratively develop its own grading policies. The policy should include what goes into a grade and how grades are calculated. As the policy is formulated ask the following questions:

·      What can and cannot be included in grades?

·      How do we ensure that grades indicate student understanding?

·      Will extra credit be allowed?

·      Will redos/retakes be permitted? If so, how will they be computed?

2.     Next teachers should meet in grade-level or subject-specific teams. Each team should then describe what they want their students to know and how this will be measured (performance indicators)

3.     Teachers articulate their grading policy to students and parents.

The above reforms will take time and energy, but effective grading policies require deliberate planning.  Reforms will enable grades to accurately reflect what students have learned and are able to do.

If we must have grades, we should strive to ensure that they indicate the same level of learning in classrooms across the spectrum.

Two Conversations that Emphasized the Need for Standards-Based Grading

This past week I overheard two conversations that reminded me of the need for standards-based grading.

Conversation 1: in produce section of grocery store between a parent and a middle school teacher who I’ll call Mr. Smith

Parent: Good to see you Mr. Smith. How’s Jon [another pseudonym] doing?

Mr. Smith: Jon’s one of my best students. His test scores are always among the best in the class. I think he had the highest score on the last test.

Parent: That’s great! He really enjoys your class.

Mr. Smith: Thanks. He's a pleasure to teach. 

What's wrong with this conversation?

Simply, why is the teacher comparing Jon’s performance against other students? Assessments and grades should be used to provide meaningful feedback in relation to learning objectives. Grades should never be used to rank and sort students. I'm sure the teacher meant well and the parent was clearly pleased with this impromptu progress report, but does the parent truly know How's my child doing?

Conversation 2: overheard at a basketball game

Parent: Did you get your test back?

Middle school student: (Sheepishly) Yes.

(Parent tilts her head and gives her daughter “the eye.”)

Student: I got a 60. But everyone did badly.

(Long pause as parent simply stares through the child.)

Student (with cautionary optimism): She gave us an extra credit assignment to pull up our grade.

Parent: Get it out and start working on it.

What's wrong with this conversation?

I applaud the teacher for recognizing that the entire class struggled on the test (assuming the student didn’t make it up). But instead of assigning an extra credit assignment to raise students’ grades, the teacher should be reflecting on her own professional practices to ensure improved achievement. This should include re-teaching and re-assessment.

While some extra credit assignments do equate to increased learning or mastery of the objective, most extra credit assignments dilute the meaning of grades. For example, in this case, it sounds as if the student simply needs to complete additional work to raise her grade; meaning the quantity of work becomes more important than the quality of the understanding.

If, as the student stated, most students did poorly, it’s not a learning problem. It’s a teaching problem that requires corrective action.

Four Standards-Based Grading Principles Relevant to These Conversations

1. Grades should focus on results rather than activities. Emphasis should be on learning and not competition and completion.
2. Assessments provide information for students AND teacher.
3. If a particular concept or skill is worth assessing then it’s important enough to teach and teach well.
4. Teachers should follow assessments with high-quality corrective actions and students should be given additional opportunities to demonstrate mastery.

Grading Group Work in a Standards-Based Classroom

The other day, Ms. Snider approached me with a simple query, “Do you have a minute to discuss grading of my group project?”

The ensuing conversation centered around two questions:

1.     Should the group be assigned one grade?

2.     How can we assess for individual learning and provide meaningful feedback to each individual?

We began with a resounding “NO!” to the first question.

Both of us believe that a grade stands for what each student learns, so this was easy. But, as we explored the subject in more detail, we soon realized that assigning the group one grade actually defeats the purpose of a cooperative assignment. Ms. Snider shared a story of her daughter, a high-achieving student, who often felt pressured to pick up her group mates slack. Like many students, her daughter felt it easier to do their work than to wait for them or to work with them.

Is it any surprise that a lot of our top students, cringe at the thought of group work?

We had our starting point: individual students will be responsible for their own learning and will receive their own grades.

Our next challenge was to determine how students would be held individually accountable while still relying on each other to successfully complete the assignment. Although this was a new project for Ms. Snider, she knew exactly what she wanted the students to learn and what skills they would acquire. That led us to our next question:

How can we assess learning and provide feedback?

After much back-and-forth, we stumbled upon the following idea. Periodically, each student reflects on his/her own contributions to the group and on his/her own learning. (Sometimes this might be daily and at other times it might be weekly.) We immediately began to craft a rubric, but then another idea hit us. Why not have the students share their own experiences and have the class create their own group participation rubric.

This, of course, led us to our next problem. Ms. Snider teaches some of our best students—students who are highly grade-motivated. Some would undoubtedly grade themselves harshly, while others would unfairly inflate their grades. To counter this, Ms. Snider came up with an outstanding idea: After each self-reflection, lets allow the students time to share their own rating and give the other members of the group time to provide feedback.

For the student who grades herself harshly, this would be easy. For the student who inflates, his/her grade the task would be more difficult for the group mates, but the ability to provide truthful and honest feedback is an important skill. Additionally, this would take some of the pressure off of students having to actually assign their peers a grade (an idea we nixed).  Again, we could use the same student-created rubric to help this process.

While great ideas were flowing from our conversation, we hadn’t yet discovered a way to accurately assess student learning. We were getting closer though.

Last year, I remember watching Ms. Mathews’ students create a Rube Goldberg machine. Along the way, she peppered the students with individual questions, and after presenting their machines, students were asked more detailed questions. Her questions required students to demonstrate their knowledge; their reflective nature also shed light on the entire group experience.

Ms. Snider took Ms. Mathews’ ideas to the next level, “You know what? That’s a great idea.” With increasing enthusiasm, “I think we can go one step further. Why not have the other students in the class ask questions—and I mean real questions after each group’s presentation?”

Finally, we started to discuss two very important individual components. First, all students would be asked to grade themselves according to the class-created rubric. Finally, each student would be required to demonstrate his or her knowledge of the assignment through an additional assessment—perhaps a test or an essay.

We were definitely on to something. As the project progresses, I’m sure Ms. Snider will improve upon the ideas we generated.

What started as a simple conversation morphed into something much more complex. Our focus centered around 4 basic, research-supported premises:

1.    No group grade will be assigned

2.    Students will not be told to grade each other. Students will, however, provide meaningful and honest feedback to their group mates.

3.    Reflection is critical to the learning process.

4.    Targeted, well-crafted and specific questions will be used to assess student learning. This will provide meaningful feedback and can be used as both for both formative and summative assessment.

****

By the way, I need to give Ms. Snider’s project a plug. This is not a group project in which students simply gather facts, arrange them neatly on a poster or PowerPoint, and then spit them out during a presentation. Ms. Snider’s project required students to think for themselves, to pose questions, to think creatively to solve problems and to rely on each other. I can’t wait to see the end results.

Redos and Retakes

One of the seminal moments in my life as an educator occurred about fifteen years ago when my school’s administration required teachers to practice mastery teaching with an emphasis on allowing redos and retakes.

Of course, the teacher’s lounge was abuzz with questions and critiques of the new policy. Redos and retakes took the brunt of the criticism.

Today, I’m an unabashed believer in retakes and redos; my “answers” to the more common criticisms follow.

Over the years, I’ve become more comfortable with redos and retakes thanks to my own experiences, my colleagues, and, in particular, the writings of Rick Wormeli and Ken O’Connor.

Complaint 1: Students need to be held accountable

I agree, students must be held accountable for learning.  So which policy holds students to a higher standard? One in which we allow students to fail or skim by with a D or one in which we use redos and retakes to ensure student mastery?

Students need multiple chances to grow and learn. Each teacher’s goal should be for ALL students to master the essential learnings.

The research of Carol Dweck shows that if we teach students that their intelligence can increase, they will do better in school. In her ground breaking book Mindset, Dweck speaks of the benefits of a growth mindset, meaning that people believe that they can improve their abilities by dedication and hard work. As teachers, we must ensure students view failure as part of the natural learning process and an opportunity to improve. The long-term consequences of one’s mindset impact the entirety of a person’s life. As teachers, we play an important role in instilling a growth mindset in each of our students. We must teach our students to rise to the challenge of our high expectations, to continuously learn, and we must reward them for their sustained efforts.

Requiring students to master their learning through redos and retakes until they meet your high expectations demands far more of the students than letting them accept a failing grade.

Complaint 2: Students will take advantage of retakes by not doing their best the first time.

Honestly, this was one of my greatest concerns when I first began allowing redos and retakes. I was soon assuaged that it wasn’t a problem. Because the redo/retake required an additional commitment (time and effort), students never banked on getting to redo it. 

Complaint 3: This isn’t how the real world works.

Really?

Last time I checked, you’re allowed to take driver’s test, SATs, ACTs, GREs, Bar Exams, and MCATs multiple times. Honestly, it sounds pretty pompous and petty for any teacher to say, my quiz on Chapter 6 is more important than any of the aforementioned tests.

Could you imagine how many people wouldn’t have their driver’s licenses if it was one and done? Confessional: I wouldn’t—parallel parking got me the first time.

When you enter your doctor’s office, does the diploma and certification on his/her wall distinguish whether it took him/her 1, 2, or 3 times to pass the MCATs? Of course, not.

I’ve since left the classroom and have entered administration. I wish I could say that every teacher has met every deadline, but I can’t. For a variety of reasons—some good and some bad—deadlines are missed all the time. And this is not unique to academia.

Need other examples?

• The publishers who suggest corrections and modifications before the author resubmits his work reject authors.
• Bosses would ask to see/hear a presentation before the young businessperson presents it to clients. 
• The apprentice plumber who works side-by-side with a master plumber who continually provides corrective feedback.

When it comes down to it, pretty much every “real world” job allows for redos and retakes. The investment capital makes it impossible to fire an employee for one failure. We must invest in our students by reteaching and retesting whenever they don’t meet our standards.

Complaint 4: They won’t have the opportunity to redo work next year in….

They won’t have time to redo work in college.

Let’s dissect this bit-by-bit. First, I don’t think it’s a true statement. Although I haven’t stepped foot on a college campus in two decades, please allow me to share one of my own experiences. One of my most challenging college classes was US History, Part 1.  Everyday, upon entering the class, we were greeted with a five-question multiple-choice quiz. If we scored below a 4/5, we were required to write an essay covering the chapter(s) covered by the quiz. Students were assigned either a passing or failing grade for each chapter. The professor’s message to me was clear: each student bears the responsibility for his/her learning. Nothing less than a 4/5 is acceptable. Not only did this instill in me grit and responsibility, I also learned the material.

As a ninth grade World History teacher, when students entered my class on the first day of the year, I wanted students who were proficient in world geography (the 8^th grade social studies class). I could care less, if it took the student one day or the entire year to master the geography curriculum.  

Our high school recently held a roundtable in which we invited recent graduates to return and speak to students and teachers. A teacher posed the question about redos and retakes to the college students. Unanimously, the students voiced their approval of redos and retakes. One high-achieving student stated, “[The teachers who allowed redos and retakes] set a high bar; one that challenged us to do our best.”

Another student chimed in, “I felt better prepared for college because I had to master it [the content].”

These students experienced firsthand the value of redos and retakes. Through practice, re-teaching, feedback and retakes, these students mastered the learning and developed a growth mindset. To be adequately prepared for their next year, whether it’s 1^st grade or college, students need to know the content and the skills.

Complaint 5: It’s not fair to the students who do well the first time.

The ability to retest should not be limited to low-achieving students. High-achieving students benefit from retests and retakes. When a high-achieving student scored a B on a test, he/she was often the first to sign-up for a retake.

Side note: Knowing that they have the opportunity to redo/retake a quiz or test, I’m willing to bet that the high-achievers will be less likely to cheat because they know they have a second chance.

Anecdotally, only rarely did I have any of my high-achievers complain about my retest policy—No, it wasn’t because they didn’t voice their concerns to me. I heard plenty of complaints about my projects, my lectures, my expectations, etc.  Those who did complain most likely were used to an educational system that distinguished between the elite and non-elite.

Conclusion

We must move away from the I taught it; I tested it; Most of the students got it philosophy. Instead we must ask ourselves, “When students don’t get it, what do we do?”

We must answer, “We reteach and re-assess.”

Click here to read 12 Steps to Creating a Successful Redo and Retake Policy

Sources

Dweck, Carol S. Mindset. London: Robinson, 2012. Print.

O'Connor, Ken. How to Grade for Learning: Linking Grades to Standards. Arlington Heights, IL: SkyLight Professional Development, 2002. Print.

Wormeli, Rick. Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2006. Print.