An EDF 435 Presentation

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An EDF 435 Presentation

• Presented By
• Dana Ashley Grogg

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Types of Grades

• Traditional Letter Grades
• Skill Checklist Grades
• Pass/Fail Grades

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Traditional Letter Grades

• This is the most common grading system.
• It consists of A B C D F
• The advantage to this grading system is that
  everyone is familiar with it and they understand
  it.
• It also makes communication from teacher to
  teacher easier.

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Traditional Letter Grades

• The disadvantages of this grading system is that
  the range is limited.
• Children are evaluated with one single value for
  a whole semester of work.
• Another disadvantage is the range of each letter
  grade.
• Someone who make a 70 gets a C and someone who
  makes a 79 gets a C. Some people might view this
  as unfair.

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Traditional Letter Grades

• Another disadvantage is that letter grades often
  encourage competition between the students.
• Many feel that letter grades are not appropriate
  for younger children.

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Skill Checklist Grading

• This is often used with younger children.
• A checklist provides assessment of a wide range
  of skills and performance letters.

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Skill Checklist Grading

• Checklists can be graded by proficient,
  satisfactory, or needs improvement.
• Checklists can be graded by pass/fail or numeric
  grades.
• With each of these there would be several
  different sections in which the student would be
  graded.
• The students would receive a mark in each section
  to determine their final grade.

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Pass/Fail Grading System

• These are often used in areas such as an
  internship, practicum, or independent study.
• This are better because teachers dont have to
  make a choice between a B and a C.
• The disadvantage is that someone who barely
  passes still receives the same grade as the
  student who did exemplary work.

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Assessments and Final Grades

• Teachers need to have some sort of relationship
  between how much instruction they provide versus
  how much the assessment is worth.
• If you discuss plants everyday for two weeks and
  do 10 experiments with them then the assessment
  will be much greater.

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Assessments and Final Grades

• Make sure that your final assessments reflects
  the objectives that have been taught.
• The assessment then carries a grading value.
• The assessment should always reflect how much
  instructions has been given on a topic.

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Assessment and Final Grades

• Make sure that your students understand the value
  of each assessment.
• Once they make a connection then they will be
  able to perform better on assessments.
• Make sure that your grading policies are in
  writing for the children and their parents both
  to view.

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Assessments and Final Grades

• If a student knows that his mid term is worth 50
  of his grade then he will more apt to study
  harder for it.
• This show the students that you are being fair
  and consistent as well.

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Preparing Final Grades

• Have a formal grade book to document all of your
  students grades.
• This helps also when parents ask questions about
  little Johnnys D or little Susies C.
• Final grades can be criterion referenced or norm
  referenced.

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Preparing Final Grades

• A criterion-referenced grading system sets
  standards.
• For example if you get 90 or more points out of
  100 then you will receive an A.
• This allows the students to know exactly what
  they need to get the grade that they want.

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Preparing Final Grades

• A norm-referenced grading system is based on a
  comparative grading system.
• This is where the students are ranked by either
  points or percentages.
• For example the top 25 of the class will receive
  an A, next 25 a B and so on.

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Preparing Final Grades

• The norm-reference approach causes problems
  because it is comparative so therefore students
  dont want to help their friend because they
  might do better and take their spot in the A
  bracket.
• Then a student might have done very well on the
  test but 70 of his peer did well too so he might
  get a C instead of an A.

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Quality Control Issues

• When grading your students you must meet certain
  standards.
• This includes the school district and statewide
  schools.
• You may be asked to show documentation of how a
  certain grade was obtained.

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Grades and Retention

• This section deals with low academic achievement
  of students.
• Retained students have lower academic, social,
  and behavioral performance levels.
• When children are retained on the basis of
  specific academic achievement, it is hoped that
  the extra year provides compensatory experiences
  that will foster futre development.
  Unfortunately, the research does not support this
  prediction.

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Grades and Retention

• Research shows that the expectation of being
  graded increases achievement.
• Being retained does not appear to help the
  students.
• Try summer school or extra tutoring rather than
  retention.

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Avoiding Grade Challenges

• There are two ways that a student can legally
  pursue a grading issue.
• 1) Discriminatory intent on the part of the
  teacher.
• 2) The lack of a rational or appropriate
  relationship between the classroom instruction,
  the assessment measures, and the grades given to
  the studentd.

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Avoiding Grade Challenges

• If a teacher has a open grading policy that is
  written out for the students from day one then he
  or she will have no trouble.
• Make sure that you have written documentation of
  each students grades.
• Be open to questioning throughout the semester
  about grades.

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Communicating With Parents

• Document everything that the child completes.
• Do not document personal matters in the grade
  book however.
• Have parent teacher conferences but keep it
  private (Buckley Amendment).
• Develop an improvement plan with the parents for
  the student.

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Be Fair and Consistent!!