My Ideal Grading Policy

I've been thinking more and more lately about returning to the classroom after working in several different positions in the technology, curriculum and learning departments for what will be 5 years this Spring. Something I am excited to try, while at the same time intimidates me (because I know how much work it will take to carry out) is to go completely S.B.G.

If I were handing out a standards-based grading policy in the Fall, what would it look like?

This is going to be a recurring post where I start to outline my policy little by little, and I will invite the department chair and an assistant principal to give me feedback on these blog posts, if they are willing, so I may continue to revise it, just as I would do if I were conferencing with them at the beginning of a school year (but with a lot more time to plan and get it right before sending it to parents).

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Dear students, parents and guardians,

Welcome to English "X." I look forward to working with you this year, discovering and learning content and skills in a subject that fascinates me. Our district's curriculum for grade "X," level "Y" includes "#Z" clearly stated Key Concepts and Essential Skills (KCES) with which students must become proficient by year's end. We also have the guidance of "#N" state standards for students of this grade and level, to which our KCES have been carefully aligned. The curriculum also includes several novels, poems, plays, and works of nonfiction, as well as standardized benchmark assessments and writing assignments, which our English teaching faculty and district administrators have carefully reviewed, aligned, and often paced out for our students. Most teachers progress through the content of the curriculum in a specific order, and due to the nature of our four-quarter grading system, must assign grades to each student at given dates throughout the year.

I would like to take this opportunity to offer the three essential reasons why I will not be doing that last part.

1) First and foremost, students do not all learn at the same pace. If our state standards tell us a student should be proficient with a given skill by the end of the year, and I teach it in the first quarter, some students will master it quickly while others will not. Under the typical grading system, the students who have not performed well when the quarter ends will earn lower grades than those who learned more quickly. So what happens when those same students who did not "get it" right away eventually discover the learning or master the skills later in the year? Why shouldn't their grades from the beginning of the year be changed to reflect the skills or learning they acquired? In my class, those grades will be changed... up or down. Otherwise, we would be rewarding students who learned quickly, instead of rewarding students who learned, retained, and put to use the skills they developed.

2) The world for which we are preparing our students has changed, yet much of our educational system is still based on preparing students for work in jobs and systems that no longer exist. Our students will hold many jobs in their lifetimes, and those jobs will require 21st Century Skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Our students will need to face new, unforeseen challenges and adapt to find creative solutions. Memorizing facts, figures, dates, and rules is no longer a way to prepare students for a world where they can access all this information from a device that fits in their hand, but need to instead know how to effectively find and use this information.

3) I am a believer in project-based learning and discovery learning. I do not want my students to tell me what I taught them by simply answering questions on a multiple-choice test or "writing my own words back to me" in an essay or research paper. I want my students to apply the skills we are given by state standards and our KCES to solve a real problem in our community, or in working with their peers to think critically about an issue or topic that is important to them. My students will instead build an electronic portfolio that can serve almost like a checklist, and they will need to demonstrate proficiency or mastery of all the skills and standards expected of them throughout the year.

There are many educators around the state and nation who are making the shift to this standards-based grading, and I am one of them. In an ideal world, we would not need grades, as students who are engaged in the content will learn what they know is important to them and will benefit them throughout their lives. However, we must function within a system (considering class rank, GPA, college admissions, etc.) that requires us to give quarterly grades. Therefore, your student will have a grade for English "X" at report card time, just like any other class. The main difference is that those grades will be fluid, and can go up as skills and standards are mastered.

Our high school's grades are broken down like this:

Grading Scale for Marking Periods

A+ 97 – 100%

A 90 – 96%

B+ 87 – 89%

B 80 – 86%

C+ 77 – 79%

C 70 – 76%

D 65 – 69%

E 50 – 64%

F Below 50%

E 50 – 64% (Remediation permitted)
F Below 50% (Remediation not permitted)
All numeric averages will be rounded to the nearest whole number.

Therefore, in order to have an A for the first quarter, students will need to have demonstrated proficiency in at least 90% of "1/4 #N" state standards and 90% of "1/4 #Z" KCES, as well as read and aligned projects to 90% of 1/4 of assigned readings and vocabulary words. Grades will be issued accordingly based on students' electronic portfolios at the close of the first marking period, but if performance improves in the second marking period, the grade for the first will be raised. For example, a student whose portfolio only demonstrated proficiency with 50% of the 1/4 "#Z+N" at the close of the first marking period, but now has demonstrated proficiency with 75% of the 1/2 "#Z+N" at the close of the second quarter, should now have a C for both quarters instead of an F and a C.

Students can demonstrate proficiency or mastery of skills by submitting a project that requires them to use those skills in their own use, connected to their own interests, ideal future career, or experiences. Along with each project, students must submit a few sentences that explain why their project proves they have become proficient with the skill or standard. Proficiency for each will be determined by ongoing mini conferences in which the student and I both come to a "pass/fail" consensus on whether the skill was mastered. If this sounds arbitrary or subjective, please understand that is not. It may seem that way because we are all so used to an educational system where students answer questions on a test, and their percentage "correct" determines their grades. To me, that process is subjective and arbitrary. After all, the tests are man made. What I'm after is the students' ability to take what they have learned and apply it, much as they will need to do throughout life with the skills they develop in school and thereafter.

Throughout the year, I will suggest ideas for projects that tie-in skills and standards that align with the works in our curriculum. It will be expected that every student completes every reading that is included in the curriculum, but students will be permitted to do so at their own pace. Students who wish to follow my suggested pacing will have the benefit of suggested projects that allow them to demonstrate mastery of state standards and KCES as they align easily with each assigned reading. Students who do not follow my suggested pacing for reading assignments will have the benefit of reading at their own pace, and making their own connections between the readings and projects that demonstrate their acquired skills.

Several times throughout the year I will take a more traditional approach to a reading, writing, vocabulary or grammar assignment and have the class working together at the same time. This will enable class discussions and shared discovery learning, but the grading policy will still be in effect. If a student can show mastery in April of the KCES associated with a novel from the first marking period, that student's first marking period grade can be changed to reflect this progress.

During the first week of school, I will provide instruction and class time for students to log in to their accounts with North Penn's Google Docs domain, where they will share their portfolio documents with me throughout the year. I will be able to read, comment, suggest changes, recommend different approaches to projects, and offer guidance. During every class, the environment will be such that students will work independently on their mastery projects, while each having a few minutes face-to-face to conference with me. I firmly believe that this will enable me to offer more 1:1 instruction over the course of a year than any other approach that exists in education outside of private tutoring!

Students who are unable to use this preferred electronic portfolio will be permitted to do on paper everything their classmates do online.

I am always available to discuss your students' progress and can be reached via email (email) or phone (phone). I encourage this communication as one of the most important keys to a student's success, so please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

I look forward to helping guide our students to long-term mastery of the content in our curriculum as they become lifelong learners in English.

Sincerely,
Scott Swindells

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Wow! This became a MUCH longer post than I originally intended. This is only a starting point. There are going to be countless obstacles to implementing this type of grading policy, and I will need YOU to help me see what I will need to change, re-think, or fix. For starters, I already know I'll need to seriously cut this down to it's most essential information for the sake of these parents' eyesight and patience!

I will continue to revisit this grading policy as I request the feedback from the department chair, administration, and any other readers who are willing to share in the comments below!

Thank you for reading and helping with the foundation of my big plan.
See you next Tuesday!