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The article below appeared in the York Daily Record from York, PA on July 10, 2015.  It was written by Angie Mason who can be reached via email at amason@ydr.com or on Twitter at @angiemason1.  I don't know if I've ever read a better real world case study on assessment-related issues than this article. 

Please don't, after reading this, leave focusing on a fear of getting sued by parents.  Instead, as you read it, look at all the different assessment related topics embedded within it.  Notice class rank, GPA, zeros, grades impacted by behavior, communication between colleagues, school policies, extra credit, absences, full credit v. partial credit, make-up work, exams, detention, scholarships, college acceptance, etc.  These are all topics we deal with regularly in schools, and they're all a part of this story.

My encouragement is for educators to read this article and then reflect on how it might have looked if this school - or at least the educators involved in this story - adhered to the principles of AFL.  Specifically, how could adhering to the following concepts have altered the story: 

• Assessment is primarily a feedback tool for students to guide their learning and for teachers to guide their instruction.
• The goal of teaching is learning, not grading.
• A grade should communicate a student's level of mastery of specific standards or learning objectives.

How would this story have played out in your school?  In your classroom?  How would the principles of Assessment FOR Learning have impacted this story?

Feel free to leave your comments!

http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_28454875/red-lion-father-sues-over-daughters-zero-grade

Instructional practices based on the philosophy of Assessment FOR Learning (AFL) just make sense.  End of story.  To not practice AFL is to ignore how people learn.  There really isn't room for debate as to whether or not one should practice AFL.  Such a debate would be more appropriately titled "Should Teachers Care About Whether Or Not Students Learn: Yes or No."

I was reminded recently of AFL's centrality to learning when I met with Erik Largen for his summative evaluation.  Erik is a special education teacher at Salem High School, and It is my privilege to see him work with his students on a daily basis.  Erik teaches in our school's multiple handicapped classroom, and his students are amazing!  (I will admit my personal bias - they are my favorite group of students in the school.)

Many of Mr Largen's students have great cognitive and physical needs.  Mr. Largen cares about them as though they were his own children.  He believes they can learn, and he believes he can make a difference in their lives.  Therefore, just like all great teachers do, Erik works tirelessly to enable them to learn, grow, and make progress.  

In our summative conference the other day, Erik showed me many examples of tools - all based in AFL philosophy - he uses in his classroom.  These tools were what reminded me of an important truth: AFL isn't just one way to teach; AFL is teaching.  Before we go any further, take a look at the following tool Mr. Largen uses.  It's a task analysis form to help a student learn take off his coat:

Mr. Largen has a student who needs to learn how to independently take off his winter coat and properly hang it up on a hook.  If Mr Largen just tells him to do this or even shows him how to do it, the student will not be able to learn the task.  Therefore, Erik has to break down the task into standards.  

I bet most of us have never thought about the 14 different sub-standards required to master before one can independently take off and hang up a coat.  That's what the teacher is there for, though.  It is the teacher who is the content specialist and who knows each component that must be taught if students are to reach mastery.  This is true for learning to use an Algebraic formula, to lay a bead in Welding, or to write a paper in English class every bit as much as it is true when learning to take off a coat.  

After identifying the standards that must be mastered, Mr. Largen assesses his student on those standards.  This allows him to know where he must focus his instruction.  Without first assessing his student, how does he know what to teach?  For example, this student can already independently walk to the hook, therefore, that standard requires little focus.  However, this student cannot undo the zipper without a teacher's hands guiding his.  The elements of undoing the zipper will require a lot of focus.  

Why did Mr. Largen assess this student?  To gather the feedback he needs to help the student learn.  That's AFL.

After teaching and practicing the skills, Mr. Largen reassesses the same standards.  This allows Mr. Largen to document progress, to give the student feedback and praise where appropriate, and to know how to continue to plan instruction.  The purpose of the assessment is once again to help learning.  Based on the feedback from the assessment, Mr. Largen will know exactly what additional instruction and practice is necessary.  Because the assessment is standards-based, he will know which specific standards still require the most focus.

This process of assessing based on standards, reteaching as needed, and then reassessing seems quite basic and obvious in this situation.  But it's no different than any other situation.  While a task analysis sheet may or may not have been involved, this is how you learned to ride a bike, drive a car, throw a ball, play a video game, or play an instrument.  

AFL makes sense.  To expect someone to learn any other way - unless we believe students should learn on their own - really does not make sense.  Unfortunately, when seen through the lens of AFL, many traditional educational practices no longer make sense:

• Would it make sense for Mr. Largen to show this student how to take off his coat, assess how well he did it, give him a grade, and move on?  Of course not, at least not if Mr. Largen cared more about learning than grading.  
• Would it make sense for Mr. Largen to grade each assessment of progress and then average them together?  Of course not - again, not if Mr. Largen cared more about learning than grading.  
• Would it make sense for Mr. Largen to focus on each standard the same amount regardless of what the student could already do?  Of course not.  
• Would it make sense for Mr. Largen to just teach the subject without figuring how what his student knew?  Would it make sense to wait until the "end of the unit" before finding out how well the student learned?  Would it make sense to say "It's my job to teach it, but it's your job to learn it?"  Of course not.  Of course not.  Of course not.

I met a teacher once who told me that she thought AFL sounded good philosophically but that it didn't work practically.  Really?  Which part is impractical?  

• Is assessing students to find out what they know impractical?  
• Is it impractical to assess students based on standards so you'll know specifically where they need to grow?
• Is it impractical to reassess throughout the learning process to see how students are progressing?
• Does giving meaningful and useful feedback to students not sound practical?
• Does using feedback to guide instruction not apply to certain subjects?
• Is it ever more important to focus on coming up with numbers to average together than it is to guide learning?

Because I firmly believe that teachers want students to learn, the best I can figure is this: If someone disagrees with the use of AFL-based strategies they must not understand what AFL is.  

We all learn from feedback, and that feedback needs to be based on assessments that measure the standards required for mastery.  Thanks, Erik, for the great reminder of how central the philosophy of AFL is to the learning process. 

I love hearing from teachers who are diligently trying to put ideas into practice and who then open and honestly share their experiences.  In this post, Kristin Manna, a 1st year math teacher from South Carolina, shares what she learned from her students.  

I'm sure she'd love your feedback after you read her post!

https://mannamath.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/what-students-think-about-standards-based-grading/

The February 23, 2015, edition of Sports Illustrated, included Alexander Wolff's moving tribute to Dean Smith, the former UNC Men's Basketball coach who passed away on February 7.  As a Demon Deacon and a Hokie, I've never been too fond of the Tarheels' basketball program, rooting loudly against them for many years.  In fact, one of my fondest sports memories was storming our home court after Rodney Rogers, Randolph Childress, and the rest of the 'Deacs beat the soon-to-be national champions from Chapel Hill by over 20 points during my freshman year at Wake.   

That being said, it's possible to detest a team and still have incredible respect for them and their coach.  Such was always the case with UNC and Dean Smith.  Year in and year out they were so good, you knew it had to be the result of an excellent teacher at the helm.

Wolff's article highlighted many of Smith's strengths as a coach and a person.  As Wolff recounts part of his interview with former UNC star, Eric Montross, one of the secrets to Smith's success is revealed: Coach Dean Smith practiced the principles of Assessment FOR Learning.

When working with teachers on how to implement AFL principles, I always encourage them to ask themselves the following 2 questions on a daily basis:

1. Did I cause my students today to leave my room knowing what they need to know, what they do and don't know, and what they need to do to improve?
2. Did I enable myself today to leave the room with a clear understanding of what my students - collectively and individually - do and don't know so that they can plan to meet their learning objectives?

If a teacher can answer "Yes" to those questions, then whatever he or she did that day was an example of the principles of AFL in action.  (For more on this topic, read Assessment FOR Learning - A quick and easy indicator.)

While I doubt Dean Smith ever used the term Assessment FOR Learning, his goal for his practices reveals nonetheless that he was an excellent practitioner of AFL principles.  Wolff interviews former Tarheel great, Eric Montross, who said, "Something he taught us each day was meant to be remembered."

At every Tar Heels practice each player was expected to know, and spit back on demand, that day's point of emphasis on offense, the point of emphasis on defense, and the thought for the day - and aphorism such as Do not judge another man until you've walked a full moon in his moccasins, or, When moving a mountain, begin by removing the smallest stone.  "You'd repeat it verbatim," Montross said, "or the whole team would run."

Based on what Montross shared, Coach Smith was able to leave practice every day knowing how well his players understood the concepts he was coaching.  He didn't just assume they got because he covered it.  He intentionally and purposefully sought out feedback.  Furthermore, his players were able to leave practice each day sure of what they were learning.

Teachers, coaches, students, and players all need feedback. Teachers, coaches, students, and players all need to know what they need to know, how well they know it, and what they need to do to improve.  Effective teachers and coaches don't let students leave the classroom or the gym without assessing and providing that feedback.

Thanks, Coach Smith, for setting an example we all should follow.

Math.  Some people love Math and some people hate it.  Some excel at it naturally while others struggle mightily.  Some see it as a clear universal language, but for others it is is the embodiment of the Tower of Babel.  Some see its usefulness, some do not.  Some are indifferent, some are passionate.  Some are scared of it, some are excited by it, and others plod along doing their best to understand it.

While Math usually elicits a variety of responses, there is one place in most schools where the thoughts about Math are almost universally homogeneous.  When it comes to the traditional manner of grading used in our schools, everybody - parents, teachers, and students - relies on Math like a lifeboat in a shipwreck.

How are grades typically determined in most classrooms in most schools?  Basically, in most classrooms they're determined the same way they've always been.  It doesn't matter if the class is Language Arts, Fine Arts, or Culinary Arts, when it comes to deciding what a student's grade should be a CALCULATION is done to determine an AVERAGE.  People who in the rest of their lives might be scared to death of Math, suddenly become Disciples of Math and swear by a grade book average.  In fact, the word "average" becomes synonymous with the word "grade," as in "What is your average in that class?"

We all know how this works, but let's recap quickly.  Typically, assignments are graded by the teacher and entered into a grade book.  The grade is a fraction - a number of points earned (numerator) divided by a number of points possible (denominator).  The grade book adds up the numerator points earned for all assignments and divides that by the collective number of denominator points.  The resulting average is the student's grade.

There are 3 major problems with this system:

1. It's inaccurate.  
   Who came up with the idea that an average of all work or all attempts at learning depicts actual learning?  Why would a student's earlier and lower attempts at learning be averaged in with his eventual outcome?  In other words, if a student finally "gets it" doesn't that "get it" grade reflect better what he knows than an average of all previous attempts?  The only way that a mathematical average of all assignments doesn't falsify a grade is if the student scores the same on all attempts.
2. It's not realistic.  
   Perhaps someone out there can think of something I'm missing, but I can't think of any meaningful real-world applications of the "average all your attempts" method of determining outcome.  Even in the world of sports, where things like Batting Average and Yards Per Catch are routinely used, if a player with a low average hits a home run or catches a 99-yard touchdown it counts for just that - a home run or a TD.  No one says, "I'm sorry that catch only raised your average to 8.2 yards per catch so we'll only count it for 8.2 yards."  We are not held to our average in real-life.  Why are we held to it in schools?  Shouldn't we be preparing students for the real world where your most recent attempt at something is what counts the most - or at all?
3. It minimizes education.  
   This is the one I care about the most.  We - educators - have turned our classrooms and schools into one giant Quest for Numerator Points.  What do we care about most?  Learning.  What do we wish our students and parents cared about most?  Learning.  Yet by over-relying on mathematical calculations we have created a culture that wants numerator points above all else.  May I have extra credit?  What can I do to earn more points?  How many points do I need for an A?  These are all questions we hear on a regular basis that demonstrate the fact that the focus is in the wrong place.  If we ever want to get the focus back to learning instead of on earning a grade, then we must have the boldness to think beyond the Math Box.

Are there benefits to using the mathematical average process for determining a grade?  Sure.  It's definitely efficient.  It's easy to figure out and to calculate.  It somehow seems "mathy" which makes people feel like it has a basis in something real and dependable.  It works well with the typical grade books issued by schools.  It can also take the blame of the teacher by providing a math-based excuse or reason for a grade.

But do any of these benefits outweigh the fact that it's inaccurate, that it's not realistic, and that it minimizes education?  Surely not.  Reason 3 alone - turning our classrooms into quests for numerator points - should be enough to drive us to look for a better method.  How can something as powerful as the education of a young person be allowed to devolve into a quest for points?  Learning is so much more than that and so much more important.  

So what's the answer?  This post wasn't written to provide a specific answer - sorry.  The purpose of this post is to help us recognize that the Quest for Numerator Points - or the over-reliance on Math - is a problem that has to stop.  We can't change until we first recognize the problem.

The answer in general, though, lies in using Assessment FOR Learning strategies (click here for tons of examples).  It lies Standards-Based Learning strategies (click here for more information) or documenting student progress toward mastering specific standards.  It lies in teachers having the boldness to think outside the box and to collaborate on how to efficiently communicate accurate and meaningful feedback.  It lies in fewer numerical scores and more descriptive feedback.  It lies in more flexible grade books that measure progress instead of just average attempts.  It lies in not being satisfied with the status quo but instead being on a continuous journey of professional growth for the purpose of increased learning.  It lies in using scores and grades as feedback tools that help students make learning decisions and teachers make instructional decisions instead of looking at them as numbers to plug into a comfortable formula.

The answer isn't simple since it goes against decades of institutional inertia.  But once we boldly find it, we can quit this Quest for Numerator Points and embark on the exciting and important Quest for Learning! 

"I thought I could read my students' body language. I was wrong. As an experiment, I used Socrative when I taught binary numbers. What I learned forever changed my views on being a better teacher."

This quote from Vicki Davis, author of the Edutopia article linked below, is essential.  As teachers we NEED formative assessment - or Assessment FOR Learning.  We need it because we need to KNOW how our students are doing.  

If we don't base our teaching/remediation/questioning/activities on how our students are doing then it's hard to say we're really interested in learning.  The alternative is to cover content and tell students to learn it.  This works fine with highly motivated students who possess excellent study habits and requisite background knowledge.  In other words, this works fine for students who don't need a teacher!

But since the overwhelming number of students - even students of higher level courses - need their teachers (thank goodness, or else our profession would be unnecessary) then we need AFL.  We need to know for sure how our students are doing so we can focus our teaching in a way that leads to learning - not just covering content.

In the following article, Vicki Davis has shared 5 easy-to-use tools that will help you become a more effective teacher through the use of formative assessment: http://www.edutopia.org//blog/5-fast-formative-assessment-tools-vicki-davis

Salem High School Math teacher, Pawel Nazarewicz, has been using the JumpRope grade book this year as part of a pilot in our school division.  (The division, as a whole, uses PowerTeacher from Pearson's PowerSchool.)

Our division and school are also exploring how the principles of Standards-Based Learning - as part of our ongoing Assessment FOR Learning journey - can increase student learning.  Pawel, who never shies away from thinking outside the box, has found JumpRope to be a beneficial tool for putting philosophy into practice.  

He wrote the following blog post for JumpRope to highlight his experience so far:

https://www.jumpro.pe/blog/grading-in-3d/

https://www.jumpro.pe/blog/grading-in-3d/?utm_content=buffer0a26c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

If you are looking for some Assessment FOR Learning principles for discussion and reflection, check out this following blog post from Ken O'Connor.  

As educators, we must be in a continuous state of professional growth through personal reflection.  No matter how long you've been in education, this process is greatly aided by contemplating the ideas of others.  

Ken O'Connor's ideas have been well thought out and well-researched. My guess is that for many of you they will be somewhat "mind-blowing" as they are definitely outside the norm of schools as we know it.  So much of what we do is the result of institutional inertia - but is it best practice?  Maybe or maybe not.

Follow the link below; read the short post; be challenged; reflect on your practices, and never stop growing professionally.

Thanks, Ken, for a thought-provoking post.

http://pearsonati.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/this-i-believe/

Because Assessment FOR Learning principles are the basic principles of how people learn anything - from learning to walk to doing Algebra or from driving a car to writing an essay - I often find examples of AFL in everyday life.  Here's an example I came across when reading the November 17, 2014, issue of Sports Illustrated.

Grant Wahl wrote an article entitled, The Toast of Munich, about Bayern Munich, one of Europe's great soccer clubs.  In writing about their relatively new manager, Pep Guardiola, Wahl says the manager demands players perfect their skills.  Specifically, he states that Guardiola "has been known to dedicate large portions of practice teaching world champions the basic technique of passing."

I love the image of the world's best soccer players focusing on the same basic techniques that my 7th grade daughter works on with her soccer team.  You never get too good to practice the basics and receive feedback from a coach.

Doesn't the same principle apply to the classroom?  All students need classroom coaches who constantly drill them on the basics.  Algebra 2 students still need to work on numeracy skills.  English 11 students still need to work on grammar and structure.  Senior Government students still need to work on basic vocabulary.  AP Chemistry students still need to work on the applying the scientific method.

Practice. Receive feedback. Practice. Receive feedback. Practice. Receive feedback.

This is the recipe for a great athletic team AND the recipe for a great learning environment.  This is Assessment FOR Learning. 

This past year I was asked to lead a workshop on the topic of Assessment FOR Learning for a school division's teachers.   

Teachers, tired from a long and full day of teaching/wrestling with children, filed into an auditorium for the "wonderful opportunity" of hearing me speak for about an hour and a half on the topic of formative assessment.  

The topic of grading came up - as it always does when talking about assessment - and a teacher asked a question about how she could get students to do work if grades weren't used as compensation.  It's hard to answer that question very completely in a short workshop, and frankly that really wasn't the point of the workshop.  The workshop's focus was on using assessment as a learning tool.  Grading is a related topic, though.

I invited the questioner to email me so that we could have a more detailed discussion.  She did just that.  Here was her email:

I don't feel like you really answered my friend's question about what to do with students who habitually turn in work late or not at all, if grades can't be used for enforcement.  You said you had lots of solutions for that, and I'd love to hear them. I follow you that grades should reflect learning, UNTIL you say that we can't deduct points for work not submitted. I don't have any idea how I'd get them to ever complete work at all if that were the case.  You mentioned using a day to make the slackers catch up while the rest of the class did something else.  If I started that, I will guarantee you that the kids would very quickly learn that there would be such a day, and NO ONE would complete work until the "catch-up day."  That's also not to mention the mountain of work that would create for the teacher, who would have to constantly grade make-up work.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

This - or something like it - is a commonly asked question by teachers as they begin to explore the ramifications of formative assessment practices.  Below, in bold, is my response.  It's rather lengthy, but it's hard to answer a question like this in a few words.  

I'd love any feedback.  Got any ideas for things I should have added?

Dear ___________________,

I like the idea of exit slips not only to check for understanding but to have another opportunity to make contact with each individual student....

One of the most common types of assessments used in the AFL classroom is the Exit Slip.  AFL teachers find this type of feedback helpful as they assess how successful their lessons are, as they gather data for differentiation purposes, and as they seek to better meet student needs.

The following picture is one used by a teacher at Salem High School.  She actually found it on Pinterest - one of the world's great educational resource depositories for sure!  Take a look at the exit slip and then scroll down to see more about how it is used.

Notice how this exit slip gives students very direct guidance as to what feedback they should leave.  Typically, this will lead to more productive and useful information than an open-ended question will.  Also, notice the Standards Based component of this specific exit slip.  Students are asked to rate/evaluate themselves on what is essentially a 1-4 scale.  This is helpful for moving students away from purely looking at progress in terms of the accumulation of points for the numerator and instead to thinking in terms of mastery.  However, you will need to train them on what the terms mean.  Below are descriptions of novice, apprentice, practitioner, and expert that need to be taught to students.  Once taught these terms, it would make sense for students to be asked to use them for many types of assessments.

Finally, here's an idea for how you could collect the Exit Slips.  Take a look at the picture below.  By having students place their Exit Slip into the appropriate folder, the teacher saves time gathering data on how the class as a whole is doing.

Note: The terms used on the Board below are different from those used on the Exit Slip above.  The pictures did not come from the same source.  However, the concepts align well.

So what do you think?  How could you apply these concepts and ideas to your classroom?  Are you already doing something similar?  What have you found works well or doesn't work well?  Have you made modifications to improve the practice?

I find it interesting that I am described as being "particularly scathing" about the the use of A-F grades because what I have said many times is that the symbols are less important than what they mean. Scott, I agree that what you describe is a lot better than traditional grading because you have a profile of your daughter's achievement in French. My difficulty with what you describe is twofold; one, for three standards the grade is based on one score and because of luck, chance and measurement error no grade should ever be determined based on one score. At this point in the year all that should be reported is the score. Two, I have real difficulty with 85% being a C; where I have lived all my life in two different countries it would be an A so the issue is what does 85% mean? Is her writing proficient, better than proficient or not quite proficient? That is what your daughter and you need to know and 85% doesn't tell you that. 85% is highly proficient in free throws, unheard of in hitting in baseball and unacceptable for landing planes.

Great teachers are constantly on a journey.  It's a journey toward professional growth, toward perfecting their craft, and toward better meeting the needs of students.  Salem High School Spanish teacher, Paola Brinkley, like so many Salem educators, exemplifies a teacher on this sort of journey.

For the past several years, Salem High School has been focusing on using assessment for the purposes of learning - rather than just for the purpose of grading.  This Assessment FOR Learning journey has led to many changes in our classrooms.  Teachers like Paola have been working to assess daily, to use feedback to guide their teaching, to train students to use feedback to guide their learning, and to grade in a way that allows practice to be used as practice (see Heart of AFL)  These efforts have helped teachers like Paola become more effective teacher and have led to students being more successful than ever.  

Those AFL steps have also led to a recognition of the importance of Standards Based Learning.  Standards Based Learning - or SBL - is a natural outgrowth of AFL.  AFL leads to teachers no longer assessing just to fill a grade book up with numbers to average together; however, teachers are still required to assign a grade to a student.  

Traditional grading relies on an average of all the assignments one does - the practice, the classwork, the homework, the tests, the quizzes, the projects - everything.  The AFL teacher is not satisfied with grading this way.  The AFL teacher realizes that it does not make sense to average formative practice with summative assessments.  The AFL teacher realizes that the most recent evidence of mastery matters much more than the the first attempts.  The traditional practice of averaging everything together just doesn't seem appropriate to the AFL teacher.

So if the AFL teacher isn't going to rely solely on the mathematical average of all assignments to determine a student's grade, what will the grade be based on?  This is where Standards Based Learning comes into the picture.  A student's grade in an AFL teacher's classroom should be based on how well a student is mastering the various standards that comprise the content of the course.

SBL has become the next phase of Salem High School's AFL journey, and Paola Brinkley is one of many teachers experimenting with how best to apply the theories of SBL to the realities of the classroom.  While there is no doubt that she and other SHS teachers will in time discover even better ways to use standards to lead to mastery learning and also to determine grades, the progress report below shows an excellent early attempt at grading in an SBL-manner.  Here's what she and other teachers in her department have done:

• SHS's World Language teachers have determined that the four key standards of learning a language are Culture, Speaking, Writing, and Grammar.
• PowerSchool, the grade book teachers in the City of Salem Schools are currently required to use , is set up to average grades together in a traditional non-AFL manner.
• While wise teachers have eschewed the use of category weights based on types of assignments in favor of a total points grading system, SHS World Language teachers like Mrs. Brinkley are discovering the value of using category weights when the categories represent course standards.
• Mrs. Brinkley has set her PowerSchool grade book up based on four category weights, one for each of the four key standards of World Languages.
• When a progress report, such as the one below, is printed for a student the student learns how he or she is doing based on standards, thus enabling the student to identify his or her strengths and to know where he or she needs to improve.

If a student asks how he or she is doing in a class, a numerical answer such as "84" isn't very helpful or descriptive enough.  How does one improve an 84?  Go find more points?  What does "84" tell someone about how to get better, about how to learn more, about how to take ownership of learning?  It doesn't.  "84" - or any other numerical answer - just puts an emphasis on accumulating points.  The AFL teacher wants the emphasis to instead be on learning.  Communication progress based on standards puts the emphasis right where it belongs.

So check out the progress report below from Paola's IB Spanish 1 class.  It happens to be my daughter, Kelsey's, progress report, by the way.  As a school administrator, I'm proud that teachers at our school like Mrs. Brinkley are journeying down this AFL/SBL path.  More importantly, though, as a parent, I truly appreciate this form of communication and find it beneficial as I try to encourage my daughter to do her best.

Notice that my daughter is progressing as she should in three of the four standards.  As a parent, I know that my daughter needs to work on Writing.  Her knowledge of Culture, her Grammar, and her Speaking are right where they need to be at this point in the school year.  Mrs. Brinkley's nice handwritten note is icing on the "excellent communication cake," but the reporting of standards is enough to help me guide my child.  

Is this the perfect way to incorporate SBL concepts into grading? I'm sure there are some SBL purists out there might find fault in the use of points at all.  Those "SBLians" might not like the fact that within the standards there is averaging going on.  Some might prefer the use of a 4,3,2,1,0 or A,B,C,D,F method instead of using numbers 0-100.  

What teachers like Paola have done, though, is creatively communicate based on standards within a grading system and with a grade book that is set up at the district level in a fairly traditional manner. They are helping our entire system - teachers, parents, and students - appreciate standards based reporting and move productively on our professional growth journey. Therefore, this is an excellent step - in fact, a leap - down the SBL road.  

Communication like this is helping to condition parents and students to look at progress not just as a grade but in terms of standards.  For example, if after receiving this progress report I were to ask Mrs. Brinkley about my daughter improving, rather than ask about how Kelsey could earn more points, it would be logical for me to ask how she can improve her writing.  Getting parents and students to think that way is a significant step to improving learning.

Thanks, Mrs Brinkley, for the wonderful communication, and thank you to all the great teachers at SHS who are bravely continuing their AFL journey!

Any thoughts? 

*Additional Note:

The progress report you see below is just that - a report of progress.  It is not a grade that is recorded in an historical record or averaged with some other grade to determine what goes on a report card.  It was given to the student on October 3; however, there won't be an officially recorded grade in the class until the end of January.  The teacher wasn't required to hand out this progress report, and it has no official bearing.  What it is is one way that a teacher is making sure that students and parents are aware of student progress.  It is a snapshot.  It is feedback.  It is given for the purpose of guidance so that students and the teacher together can make appropriate educational decisions moving forward.

There are some exciting things going on in the Northeast these days with Standards Based Learning.  Here is a link to a phenomenal list of SBL resources from the state of Vermont.

http://vermontsbl.weebly.com/resources.html

Thanks to the following educators for putting this together:

Emily Rinkema: Teacher/Instructional Coach, CVUHS, Hinesburg

The Monday spelling pretest. It's as American as apple pie. Each of my three sons routinely scored 20/20 on the Monday spelling pretest throughout elementary and middle school. They were required to “study” and “practice” these words with an obligatory worksheet, crossword puzzle, or write-the-word-ten-times assignment. They were then tested on these same words on Friday. They learned zilch about spelling from this instructional practice.

Fair to say that this common instructional plan makes no use of the teacher as an informed practitioner. The first task of an informed teacher is to determine what students already know and don’t know. The second task of an informed teacher is to make use of the diagnostic data to differentiate and individualize instruction.

So, how can an informed teacher make sense of the Monday spelling pretest to differentiate and individualize spelling instruction? Simply follow these five steps:

1. Prepare

Create Supplemental Spelling Lists for each student.

A. First, administer a comprehensive diagnostic spelling assessment to determine individual mastery and gaps. (Avoid qualitative inventories which do not clearly identify spelling patterns.) Grade the assessment and print grade-level resource words for each of the spelling pattern gaps.

B. Second, find and print these resources: For remedial spellers−Outlaw Words, Most Often Misspelled Words, Commonly Confused Words. And these: For grade level and accelerated spellers−Greek and Latinate spellings, Tier 2 words used in your current instructional unit.

C. Third, have your students set up spelling notebooks to record the spelling words which they, their parents, or you have corrected in their daily writing.

Now you’re ready to teach.

2. Pretest 

Dictate the 15—20 words in the traditional word-sentence-word format to all of your students on Monday. Of course, the words do matter. Rather than selecting unrelated theme words such as colors, holidays, or the like, choose a spelling program which organizes instruction by specific spelling patterns. Have students self-correct from teacher dictation of letters in syllable chunks, marking dots below the correct letters, and marking an “X” through the numbers of any spelling errors. This is an instructional activity that can be performed by second graders. Don’t rob your students of this learning activity by correcting the pretest yourself.

3. Personalize 

Students complete their own 15−20 word Personal Spelling List in the following order of priority:

-Pretest Errors: Have the students copy up to ten of their pretest spelling errors onto a Personal Spelling List. Ten words are certainly enough to practice the grade-level spelling pattern.

-Last Week’s Posttest Errors: Have students add up to three spelling errors from last week’s spelling posttest.

-Writing Errors: Have students add up to three student, parent, or teacher-corrected spelling errors found in student writing.

-Spelling Pattern Errors: Have students add on up to three words from one spelling pattern deficit as indicated by the comprehensive diagnostic spelling assessment.

-Supplemental Spelling Lists: Students select words from these resources to complete the list.

4. Practice 

Have students practice their own Personal Spelling Words list.

A. Use direct instruction and example words to demonstrate the weekly spelling pattern.

B. Have students create their own spelling sorts from their Personal Spelling List.

C. Provide class time for paired practice. Spelling is primarily an auditory process.

5. Posttest 

On Friday (or why not test every two weeks for older students?) tell students to take out a piece of binder paper and find a partner to exchange dictation of their Personal Spelling List words. Now, this makes instructional sense—actually using the posttest to measure what students have learned! But, you may be thinking...what if they cheat? For the few who cheat...It would be a shame to not differentiate instruction for the many to cater to a few. Truly, they are only cheating themselves.

Mark Pennington is a middle school teacher and educational author. His focus on assessment-based instruction led to the development of his just-released Teaching the Language Strand (of the Common Core State Standards) Grades 4-8 programs.

This network is dedicated to promoting outstanding assessment practices - the kind of assessment practices that help students learn as opposed to simply documenting what they do or don't know.  These types of practices are known as Assessment FOR Learning (AFL) strategies - an appropriate name since they are assessment strategies that lead to learning.

One set or type of AFL strategies are those that fall into the category of Standards Based Learning (SBL).  SBL strategies are AFL strategies that focus on specific content standards.  Students are assessed and taught based on standards.  Their learning is driven by standards mastery, and the ultimate grade they receive is a communication of how well they have mastered standards - instead of the result of averaging a bunch of numbers together in a grade book.

As SBL strategies are shared on The Assessment Network, they also will be added to this blog.  This post will become a one-stop-shop for all sorts of SBL ideas scattered throughout the Network.  If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let Scott Habeeb know.

Blog Posts:

• It's TIme to Take an Assessment Journey from VASCD, Pawel Nazarewicz, & Scott Habeeb
• Getting Students to Focus on Learning
• Redos and Retakes? Yes. But don't forget to LOOP!
• Practical Examples of LOOPING - Philosophy in Action
• An Overview of Standards Based Learning from @CVULearns
  
• Quit Focusing on Standards Based Grading from @CVULearns
• Standards Based Teaching and Learning After Year One from JumpRope, Pawel Nazarewicz, & Scott Habeeb
• (Video) Standards-Referenced Grading from Des Moines Public Schools
• SBL Success: Things are moving in the right direction when students ask you questions like this...
• Standards Based Grading Flowchart from Matt Townsley
• Response to a Parent from Rick Wormeli
• Standards Based Grading Video from Rick Wormeli
• Formative Assessment and Standards Based Grading from Robert Marzano
• Redos and Retakes: 14 Practical Tips from Rick Wormeli
• How SBL Should and Shouldn't Look in a Math Class from Matt Townsley
• #SBLchat on Twitter
• Grade Like A Torpedo
• Vermont SBL Collective - great collection of resources
• AFL Teachers Reporting Progress in an SBL Method (using PowerSchool)
• Standards Based Learning and Grading Facebook Page
• The AFL/SBL Exit Slip
• This I Believe from Ken O'Connor
• Grading in 3D by Pawel Nazarewicz
• A Math Teacher Shares Her Students' Thoughts on SBL by Kristin Manna
• AFL: As Basic As Taking Off Your Coat
• A Winning Moment: A Math Teacher Shares SBL Success
• Letter to the Editor of Forest City Summit, IA from Rick Wormeli

Pictures:

• Extra Credit on Instagram

Videos:

• Standards Based Grading Video from Rick Wormeli

This website is dedicated to promoting outstanding assessment practices - the kind of assessment practices that help students learn as opposed to simply documenting what they do or don't know.  These types of practices are known as Assessment FOR Learning (AFL) strategies - an appropriate name since they are assessment strategies that lead to learning.

One set or type of AFL strategies are those that fall into the category of Standards Based Learning (SBL).  SBL strategies are AFL strategies that focus on specific content standards.  Students are assessed and taught based on standards.  Their learning is driven by standards mastery, and the ultimate grade they receive is a communication of how well they have mastered standards - instead of the result of averaging a bunch of numbers together in a grade book.

The folks at Champlain Valley Union High School in Vermont (you can follow them on Twitter at @CVULearns) have put together a wonderful SBL resource.  They combine great ideas from assessment gurus like Rick Wormeli, Ken O'Connor, Thomas Guskey, Rick Stiggins, and others.  Educators and schools exploring SBL will enjoy reading through their ideas and using their rubrics.  They will sure stimulate more discussion and professional growth. 

Follow the link below to see the SBL strategies/ideas.  Thanks to @CVULearns for sharing!

http://linkis.com/cvulearns.weebly.com/tgkvw

Today, as I was reading one of my new favorite books, Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess, I came across a metaphor that I'm sure will stick with me.  It's the metaphor of the torpedo.

In his chapter "Ask and Analyze,"  Burgess shares a story he read in Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz.  Maltz says that humans achieve goals similarly to the way a torpedo finds its mark.  "The torpedo accomplishes its goal by going forward, making errors, and continuously correcting them.  By a series of zigzags it literally gropes its way to the goal."

Burgess goes on to add, "The missile is likely to be off target a far greater percentage of the time than it is on target.  Nevertheless, it arrives and hits its target because of the constant adjustments made based on continual analysis of the feedback provided."

Dave Burgess uses this story about the torpedo to suggest that great teaching is the result of constant adjustments based on feedback and results from the classroom.  However, I couldn't help but think about grading when I read this.

Members of the The Assessment FOR Learning Network probably see the immediate connection between this analogy and the principles of Assessment FOR Learning.  Just like a torpedo, the student is often "off target" as the learning process unfolds.  However, the teacher and the student keep making corrections based on continuous feedback.  In the end, the target is reached.  AFL teachers understand that the feedback is given for the purpose of learning FIRST.  Grading is secondary and should reflect the final outcome - not the journey.  

I couldn't help picturing the torpedo in this story hitting a ship captained by an educator who still holds on to the traditional method of grading in which ALL measurements, ALL feedback, and ALL digressions from the correct path are averaged together to come up with a final grade.  In my mind, I see this angry teacher/captain yelling at the submarine something to this effect:

That's not fair!  Your torpedo can't sink my ship!!!  Most of your torpedo's path was off target.  It's unfair to count that as a hit unless your torpedo was on target for the entire path it took!

Of course, the captain is yelling this as his or her ship slowly sinks into the ocean.  The captain doesn't have to like the path the torpedo took.  It really doesn't matter.  In the end, the torpedo found its mark.  The smartest course of action would be to accept reality and abandon ship.  

The same goes for grading.  Who cares if the student hadn't mastered the concept at some random point along the way?  What we really care about is whether or not the student finally gets it.  Everything that happens along the way is feedback for the teacher and the student to use to ensure the ultimate goal is met.

Have you started thinking about next school year yet?  When you do, give some thought to how you might GRADE LIKE A TORPEDO.

If you've read much on this Assessment FOR Learning site you're aware of the 4 components of The Heart of AFL.  One of those key components is that students will use feedback to guide their own learning on both a short- and long-term basis.  

This concept often causes educators to roll their eyes as they think to themselves, "No student of mine ever asked for feedback to guide his learning!"  It often seems like students either don't care about their learning or only care about it to the extent that they collect enough points to receive a high grade.  

If we're not satisfied with this - if we want students to take ownership of their learning instead of being disengaged or only care about point accumulation - then we need to provide them the tools they need to reach a higher level.  One of the reasons this entire site exists is to provide teachers with the assessment tools they AND their students need to learn - and learning is what WE care about much more than points and grades.

Recently, David Wallace, an art teacher at Salem High School, shared with me this tool he has created to help his students take ownership of their learning.  He calls this specific tool a Project Report.  (A copy of the Project Report can be found by clicking on the words "Project Report" or by scrolling to the bottom of this post.)  He has slightly different yet similar tools for different purposes, but the goal is always the same.  Students in his class are trained to assess how much they know before doing something and then trained compare that to how much they know after completion of the project.  Furthermore, they are trained to assess the results of their work.  With a tool like this, students can better determine what they need to do in order to improve.

Notice how I keep using the word "train"?  This is exactly what a great teacher does.  Students rarely enter the room with all the tools they need for success.  It is our job as educators to train them.  Training must be specific and include how to use the tools they need.  Simply telling students they ought to keep up with their progress is not enough.  We must give them the tools to do so, train them to use the tools, and then require that they do so.

Mr. Wallace's Project Report was obviously designed for an Art classroom, but I bet you can figure out how to apply a tool like this to whatever content area or grade level you teach.  Got any ideas?