Fair Isn't Always Equal; Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom - Chapter 8

Reflection on Reading

Book: Fair Isn’t Always Equal - Wormeli

Chapter: 8 – Why Do We Grade, and What About Effort, Attendance, and Behavior?

Write a brief abstract of the chapter:

This chapter is about why grades exist, and how in some ways they are unnecessary. The idea that grades are unnecessary stems from the fact that grades should be derived from student mastery, as in if the student understands the content they have earned full credit. Therefore there should be no grades, because knowledge should not be a race. But then the topic of effort, attendance, and participation come into the conversation in regards to grading. If we eliminate grades, then how do we gauge these things? Should we incorporate them into grades anyways? Should we simply let students act how they act and not have it reflect in their grade? Should we base content on attendance, so that missing class sets you back with knowledge, not with a grade? These are all questions that are asked in this chapter. This chapter concludes with the idea that no matter what feedback you give you need to tell student how they are performing in some way.

How did you connect to the reading? And briefly reflect on your thoughts.

This chapter brought up a topic that we had never thought about before, eliminating non-academic factors in grades. We have pondered the idea of eliminating grades altogether, but altering them is an area we have never approached. Some of us liked the idea of eliminating not only non-academic factors, but grades altogether. Grades, if used, should represent student learning, but is learning something you can measure? Knowledge should not be a race. Students should be allowed to learn what they have to learn at their own capacity, and not be penalized for having learning differences in the classroom. Some of us think that grades and effort are very important factors in the classroom, this is where the differences in our group have shown the most.

Synthesized Chptr 8 UbD/DI

Write a brief abstract of the chapter.
Chapter eight is about grading and reporting achievement. The purpose of grading and reporting is to provide high quality feedback to important audiences like parents and students, not just assigning a letter to a piece of work at the end of a time period. The chapter presents 6 principles to effective grading and reporting. The first principle stresses that grades should be based on learning goals and performance standards. The second principle states that you should use valid evidence for grading. Principle three says grading should be based on established criteria and principle four says not everything should be included in grades. I really liked principle five which says we should avoid grading on averages (mean). And lastly principle six states that you should focus on achievement when reporting grades and report other factors separately (i.e. behavior). The authors then include in the chapter a section regarding grading and how rigid, undifferentiated grading can cause special needs students to fail classes they should be passing. They then introduce a reporting system that will benefit ALL students by focusing and reporting out on three different factors: grades for achievement of goals, progress towards goals, and work habits. In their final thought the authors bring up that backwards design should also take effect in your grading system, because the goal is to see if students learned the material, not if they aced your specific assignment.

How did you connect to the reading and briefly reflect on your thoughts.
Renee felt like this was a good review chapter that reinforces information that we should already know as future educators. Mackenzie whole-heartedly agreed with the part of the chapter that talks about presenting your expectations to the students ahead of time so they know what is expected of them. Aaron brought up a concern about principle six. He said that always grading positively may not put emphasis on students’ mistakes so they don’t know what they need to work on. The thing that stuck out the most to me in the chapter was principle five. I totally agree that you shouldn’t grade on averages as you aren’t giving the kids a fair grading system if you don’t.