Hybrid Standards-Based Grading
So after doing much reading and research, I have a tentative plan for hybrid SBG in my class this year. I’m hoping several people will read this link and help me with feedback, because part of me thinks my plan will fall on its face.
My district will not allow me to completely eliminate classwork/homework from the grade at the MS level. However, students already get C/NC solely based on completion, not correctness. I do think i will stop giving zeroes for missing work rather, but twos instead. After reading about proportions etc, and justifying to myself that students begin enough of the assignments in class to merit a two has lead me to this change. After crunching some numbers in a faux gradebook, it seems like that would raise a kid’s grade that little smidgen at the end of the term from perhaps an F to a D-. This is a problem our department faced this year, and I want to see what kind of difference it makes.
My plan for tests is to implement SBG. Each test will have a list of the standards covered on the test, and students will get a grade of 1-4 on the standards covered. Any student can come in for tutoring on a topic they received a 1 or 2 on and then take a re-test. If s/he shows mastery of the standard on the re-take, I will adjust their grade accordingly. Here are my fears with this…
-If many students come for this opportunity, how will I find the time to help all of them?
-Is it necessary to keep track of their previous scores, or just their highest?
-Should the re-take be of higher difficulty? How many problems? etc.
-7th-grade covers a plethora of standards. I haven’t sat down to look at the assessments yet, but I fear several tests may cover quite a few standards. Perhaps that means I should break them up?
-Many 7th-grade standards are quite compounded. When I grade, should I separate them based on objective then? If so, that really will create a large list per test.
The other problem is quizzes. I’m not quite sure what to do about them. Should they be SBG as well? Or should they be graded the traditional way? Tests are weighted 10x more than quizzes in our department, so they have a much smaller effect on grades to begin with, but I’m still not sure what to do with them.
Any thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions are welcomed as I’m really trying to craft a plan that will work best for my students, me, and my school/district.
June 24, 2009 at 2:29 am
Good stuff. You are making great progress. All of your questions about ‘how’ will only be answered by trial and error. But, asking for feedback and getting some other experiences will help.
Here is mine:
First, “What will I do if everyone shows up?” It won’t happen. Kids don’t want to be there if they don’t have to. The kids that show up are the ones who really want to improve. If anything, you are going to have to beg them to come in to tutoring. the first year I did re-assessement I had tutoring all the time, before and after school. It wasn’t used often. This year I decided to only tutor on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for 50 minutes. Also, I did tutor kids (and let them retest, quiz and redo homework) during our advisory period during school (twice a week).
My retakes are always the same material, but a different version. I have 3 and sometimes 4 versions of my tests and quizzes (mostly because I have the smallest room in the history of history classes and have 35 kids stuff into it). It cuts down on cheating. So when they come in to requiz or retest, I just am sure that they are getting a different version. The test is in different order.
I know some teachers who split their tests up by essentials (we call the TEKS in TX) so that if students do poorly on one area of the test, they only retake that portion. They redo the grade and calculate in the new portion. I don’t do this. Mostly because I think students should have to complete the entire feat of taking the test again. Sometimes the rigor is in the fullness of the experience (and I’m also prepping them for AP in 11th grade).
My students can only reassess once. So I want to see proof of progress before they can reassess. They must bring in Cornell Notes to show me that they have studied. Or they will bring in flash cards or something to show they learned vocabulary, etc. I will not let them retest just to retest. I need to know that they are ready to do it. (this also cuts down on kids coming in and just hoping to “hit the lottery” and some how pass this time)
In my gradebook online I put the new grade in this way:
70.2
If they scored a 50 the first time, the 50 goes in. If they come in to retest and score a 70…. I put 70.2 in the gradebook. This is something parents and students can see. It signifies that they have taken it twice. The decimal point is so low that it doesn’t make a diff to the overall grade and it makes it easy to see that they have reassessed.
For homework, they must orally defend their answers. This cuts down on copying. And it allows me to get work passed back to students w/o worrying that a student will just copy and try to get away with it. I do give zeroes in my book, but there are many, many fewer now that I have been doing assessment for learning.
Please let me know if you have any other questions, I love helping others – as I have been helped a ton. It has made a huge difference in my teaching.
June 24, 2009 at 2:50 am
good suggestions, David! But what do you do if, after 2nd oppty, students still don’t “master standards”?
June 24, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Thank you so much for your thoughts. As I’m heading to Rwanda next Saturday, processing through this will need to be tabled until my return, but your thoughts are definitely helpful.
July 2, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Good ideas David. I will implement the .2 as well. As far as for retakes, I require the students to do the test corrections (to my satisfaction) on their previous test before I allow them to take a different version. If they can’t do the test corrections then they can’t retest. I save paper and time.