A basic overview of how one approach to Standards Based Grading (SBG) was implemented in a high school physics class using Microsoft Excel and the Pinnacle web-based gradebook. This presentation was given as part of a larger staff professional development on SBG.

1. Standards-Based Grading (SBG) A Case Study…Kinda @MR_ABUD #TEAMPHYSICS

2. FIRST, SOME SBG CLARIFICATION ABUD IS: ABUD IS NOT: An expert on SBG…yet Paid by any SBG company Telling you what to do in your classroom Going to come and set up a complete “canned” SBG system for your classroom A proponent of SBG Well read and researched about SBG Marzano and O’Connor are two good sources Experienced implementing a SBG approach last year Well-versed with Microsoft Excel, and that made SBG easier Available to answer questions about his experience & knowledge

3. Motivation for the Shift Meaning of a grade What you did vs. what you know Students motivated (by meaning of the grade) to do assignments/tasks Like finishing the weekend chores checklist Focus on learning and mastery is lost Students “make up” missing work at the end of a marking period for credit to help their grade Without focus on learning for mastery, taking learning risks can be too costly

4. The Problem How might we make a gradebetter represent what students know rather than what they did?

5. The Solution At least, it was an attempt at one…

6. This plan was developed over christmas break & implemented at the start of 2nd semester Actions Taken: Stopped checking in homework all together Previously was checked for “completion” (approach to assess student attempt) Wrote standards for each unit (adapted from curriculum map and state HSCEs) Written in student-centered “I statements” Developed assessments that generated ostensible evidence of student learning on standards Linked individual assessments (and even individual questions) to one or more standards Kept record of student scores on assessments Reported student assessment scores according to standards Used an average of all assessment scores for a given standards Managed Scores in Microsoft Excel Created “Standards” in Pinnacle instead of assignments Input standards scores in Pinnacle Calculated summative score & reported all standards and ratings to students separately from their report card

7. Tracking Progress with Graphs

8. Tracking Progress with Tables From: Frank Noschese’s blog post, “The Tower” (7/27/11)

9. Gradebook Before

10. The SBG Scale Inspired by the 4.0 grade point average system, the rating system used in SBG simply assigns a numeric value to a level of proficiency. Here is how it looks in comparison to how we are used to grading:

11. GradebookAfter

12. Findings Students: Agreed with SBG as a means to more accurately reflect what they know Used the feedback from their SBG report to improve their understanding and strived for mastery (completed reassessments) Stopped copying just to get assignments completed so they would “get [their] points” toward a grade Shifted their focus from doing to learning Struggled with the adjustment to a different grading approach that Did not readily see how to use SBG feedback, or did not choose to use the SBG feedback Still asked, “what assignments am I missing that my grade is so low?” Wished it had been implemented from day 1

13. Complaints & Criticisms of SBG Students: Cognitive dissonance with regard to grading “What the formula” (WTF) moments occurred when students could not figure the calculation of their grade SOLUTION: MORE TRANSPARENT PROCESS Forces them to have to know it Many are used to being able to “fake it to make it” (the game of school) SOLUTION: START FROM DAY 1 & INTRODUCE PROCESS WITH AN INVITING EXPERIENCE Mr. Abud, I was wondering what my grade is; it says “approaching proficiency” a bunch of times.

14. Complaints & Criticisms of SBG Parents: Not possible with Pinnacle to see why their student has the grades on the standards that they do Searching for a missing “checklist” that their student did not complete SOLUTION: STUDENTS KEEP TRACK OF THEIR PROGRESS Grade lower than expected, yet student “does their work” Parents used to having completion accountability for students’ grades SOLUTION: LETTERS HOME EXPLAINING PROCESS Perhaps my grade was artificially inflated by all that copying I did on my homework for completion…

15. Conclusions, Reflections, & Recommendations Strengths (+) Changes (∆) Focus on learning, not just doing Opportunity for improvement Removes pressure of academic risk-taking Connects grade to learning Makes assessment and grading more transparent/relevant Standards in gradebook instead of tasks Starts from day 1 Students track their own progress More formative assessment Obtrusive Unobtrusive Student-generated Rubrics Letter home to explain process

16. Next Steps…for Interested Parties Consider How you ALREADY use rubrics to assess students What your performance objectives look like To what extent your assessments connect to your objectives The function of homework in your class (practice or chore) Reflect on How often you have students wanting to make up missing work for points but gain nothing from doing that work The extent to which a grade in your class truly reflects learning Whether your students are motivated to learn or do What opportunities exist for students to recover from early mistakes

17. ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TO TRY SBG The following actions can be part of a small action research project in your own classroom: Consider for an upcoming unit/chapter/lesson/project Writing objectives in “I statement” language that connect to your content standards Developing assessments (formative and summative) that make it easy to observe proficiency with the objectives Adding a rubric to that assessment if it doesn’t already have one (omit components unrelated to objectives, e.g., 1” margins) Creating proficiency rankings with explanations of each ranking level Assessing students according to the rubric components Reporting students’ scores on the rubric and generating a summative score as well Providing students a means to track their own performance Debriefing the grading approach with your class

18. Final Thoughts SBG is not a replacement for a summative grade It just gives more substantive meaning to that grade It is completely possible to implement with any number of students in any content area It is best for teachingand learning It promotes formative assessment, feedback, and student ownership over learning It can be done in a low-tech (paper grids / graphs) or a high-tech way (Excel, Pinnacle, cloud-based apps) It is more “fun” when you do it with others

20. http://t.co/MBvlgNM

21. US Dept. of Ed. SBG Resources

22. http://1.usa.gov/lOgtWu

23. Frank Noschese’s Action-Reaction Blog

24. http://fnoschese.wordpress.com/Always Formative Blog: http://bit.ly/ksFvZk ActiveGrade – a cloud-based web app for SBG http://activegrade.com Sample Classroom SBG Policy Handout http://bit.ly/nnAGly