Fair Isn't Always Equal; Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom - Chapter 12

Book: Fair Isn’t Always Equal - Wormeli

Chapter: 12 – Grading Scales

Write a brief abstract of the chapter:

Chapter twelve is about the debate between the two main types of grading scales: 100-point and 4-point scales. The main argument of the chapter is that the 4-point scale is a better choice of the two. It is better because smaller scales make individual distortions less likely. The 4-point scale is based off of expectations based rubrics. A 4-point assignment is broken down into steps, and the student receives credit for the steps they completed, versus on the 100-point scale students are only responsible for the final answer, and receive no credit for the process it took to get there. The 4-point scale is truer to the differentiated idea of student mastery.

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

We liked this chapter. The four point scale grades with rubrics, which incorporate many aspects of learning, not just the final answer. In a differentiated classroom the process of learning is the most important thing, so why are we using a system (100-point) that directly contradicts the progress we are trying to measure?