Vignette 13: Apples and Oranges

Mr. McIntyre taught from the Program of Studies this term.  He is comfortable with the way he taught.  As he reviews his grade book he knows he has a good variety of data (MC test, short answer, matching, performance assessments, and self-evaluations) showing student achievement.  Mr. McIntrye has a number of group scores that he could also include.  In spite of all this data, Mr. McIntyre is having a hard time coming up with a report card grade.

Think and Discuss

The group scores should have very little, if any, weight in the final assessment mark.  Assessment marks should reflect the individual student's achievement.  It would be difficult to defend a group mark to a parent as it would be difficult to pinpoint the student's actual participation in the project.  

I think weighting should be determined by the task, whether it is a small, big, easy or difficult task.  Unit tests may be worth more than quizzes, and essays may be worth more than short answer.  Mr. McIntyre needs to look at his course outline and decide how he wants to weigh his assignments and tests.  With all of his assignments combined, Mr. McIntyre should have a possible 100% for the students to try to achieve.  For example:  Quizzes are worth 20%, unit tests are worth 40%, performance task worth 30% and 10% for a final paper.  Grand total of 100%.  

Vignette 11: Mean or Median?

Joy Chang is a strong student who receives near perfect scores on her work.  Joy is an ESL student and receives a fair amount of "out-of-class" support.  Because of this support, she often misses in-class assignments and quizzes.  Joy ended up taking an extended winter break which caused her to miss a major assignment.  Joy's teacher gave her zeroes for all assignments and quizzes that she missed.  If Joy's teacher uses the means score Joy would receive 63%.  If he uses the median score she would receive 97%.


Think and Discuss
How should the teacher calculate Joy's final grade?
I think the teacher should use the median to calculate Joy's score.  She is undeserving of the zeros as the reasons for her missing those assignments and quizzes were out of her control.  Why should she be penalized for being a student that needs ESL support or because her family make a choice for her regarding her travel?  The teacher could have given Joy the opportunity to catch up, that to me would be fair and make the most sense.  Joy is a high achiever and giving her a mark based on the mean is not an accurate indicator of her learning.


Self-Reflection
I think the biggest factor to consider when determining a final grade is what method (mean, median, mode) is the best way to reflect an accurate description of student learning.  I think the grades assigned should fit student achievement and should not be skewed by zeros.  As stated in the textbook, assigning zeroes shows that students have learned absolutely nothing, and there is no possible way to be certain of that.  Grades need to be determined based on solid evidence of student learning and should be justifiable and supportable however they are arrived at.

Vignette 10: Mme. Wagner's Dilemma

Pierre is a student that is consistently achieving honours. Toward the end of the school year Pierre starts to work for his father's landscaping business and puts in several hours.  Pierre's teacher, Mme. Wagner, notices that Pierre is starting to be very tired and unfocused in class.  Before the final exam, Pierre admits to Mme. Wagner that he didn't spend much time studying because of work.  Pierre's final exam mark reflected that.  When calculating Pierre's final mark for the course, Mme. Wagner knew that it was not a true reflection of his learning throughout the year.  She was inclined to adjust the grade.


Think and Discuss
I think Mme. Wagner should use her professional judgment with Pierre's final mark. Mme. Wagner has a good relationship with Pierre and knows what he is capable of. Mme. Wagner may decide to adjust his mark or if time permits she may give Pierre the opportunity to rewrite his exam. Either way, Mme. Wager should feel confident in her decision based on Pierre's excellent achievement in the past.  I think it is important to recognize that "life" (illness, school sports, death, etc) happens.  We need to be understanding as professionals and make adjustments when necessary.


Self-Reflection
As a teacher, I plan to make accommodations when needed.  I feel it is part of my job to know my students and set them up for success.  As extenuating circumstances arise I will deal with them on an individual basis as I am sure every situation will be unique.  I don't think it is fair to be inflexible, when students are in need or crisis.  I feel that I am within my right to use a mix of numbers and personal judgement when deciding about the performance of my students, as long as I am comfortable with defending my grading system in a realistic and rational way.

Vignette 9: Ryan's Impending Doom

Ryan was a struggling Language Arts student and was nervous about how successful he would be in English 10.  His semester didn't start out well but with the help of his teacher, Ms. Wong, his achievement began to improve. School policy requires Ms. Wong to use all grades in determining Ryan's final mark.  Ryan ended up with a 45% finish going into his diploma exam even though he had brought his grades from 30-40% up to 50-60% in the third term.  Ryan feels defeated, and goes into his diploma exam feeling like he may not pass the course.


Think and Discuss
Ryan's final grade does not reflect his improvement or his achievement.  It is an average of how well he did throughout the year.  The challenges he faced at the beginning of the year are still haunting him even though he has made significant improvements.  Ryan's confidence and self-perception are low.  He knows he has made great gains throughout the year but he is still looking at a failing mark going into the diploma exam.  It would be pretty tough to look past this as a student.  I think it is important to use the most current and relevant data when assessing student achievement.  We need to grade in the "now" and plan for the future not dwell in the past.  Students are always evolving as their thinking and learning changes.  I think looking at a whole year's worth of marks is unfair and does not prove to be a true testament of a student's current skills.


Reflection

I think it is difficult to assess all subjects the same way.  Language Arts is a subject that continually builds skills throughout the school year (i.e. writing) whereas, Math or Science are more unit based.  I could be completely wrong in saying this but I think it is important to grade accordingly.  A unit might be graded as per unit whereas, LA marks might be adjusted throughout the year to what is a more relevant or current assessment of learning.  I hope to be able to use my professional judgement when grading so the marks I assign are a true reflection of the current learning my students' are achieving.

Vignette 5: Getting What They Deserve?

Helene, a teacher, is looking for consistency amongst teachers.  She wants all teachers to be on the same page when dealing with lates, homework completion, attitude, etc.  Her ideas for marking in these areas include:

• "10% off per day for lates up to 3 days"
• "zeros for kids who are suspended or have unexcused absences"
• "5% bonus for participation and effort"
• "giving a short quiz at the beginning of class to prevent later, if you miss it's a zero"

Joan is a new member to the staff and speaks up to Helene expressing that she feels doing such things doesn't give a true reflection of the student's academic achievement.  Joan would rather see the academic and non-academic factors separated.

Self Reflection

I agree with Joan on this and would probably have taken the same opinion.  I don't think it is fair to be so harsh in marking students and I can easily see many ways Helene's strategies could backfire.  I don't see how Helene is setting her students up for success in the statements she made.  In our text Marzano would like work habits categorized into three domains: effort (participation and work completion), behaviour (following rules and teamwork) and attendance (absenteeism and tardiness).  These are skills that the students will use later in life and are valued in the career world.  I feel these skills are relevant and important as well.  I feel these attributes could be reported as "soft skills" on a report card and should not necessarily be included in the academic portion of the report.  I also liked the idea of keeping track of these skills throughout the year and reporting these skills informally.  The skills mentioned by Marzano are the skills I would like to see in my classroom.  I feel it is important to have a positive attitude, be a team player, and avoid missing or being late for class.  I do, however, understand that "life" happens and at times it may not be possible to give 100%.  If I noticed my students starting to miss the mark on the above mentioned skills, I would take the opportunity to touch base with them in hopes of helping my students improve their behaviour and get back on track.

Vignette 4: What Counts?

In this vignette we are introduced to Mr. Sanchez, a parent, who is upset with his son's mark in LA.  His son usually does well and has been coming home with outstanding work yet his mark on his report card doesn't reflect that.  After talking with the teacher and hearing that the student was marked down due to his behaviour the parent went to the principal to clarify the school's grading policies.


Self Refection
As a parent I would have been equally upset with the mark on the report card.  I don't feel a mark should be changed or altered because of behaviour issues.  I feel it is important for the teacher to keep the behaviours out of the mark.  There could be a number of reasons why the behaviour was occurring in class but to punish by taking marks away is unacceptable.
As a teacher I would not evaluate a student's academic achievement with anything else but academics.  I'm not saying that behaviour, effort and motivation don't matter but I feel there are better ways to address those issues.  I think communication with parents is important and if issues are arising during instruction it would be my responsibility to communicate that to the parents on an ongoing basis.  There are so many factors that can influence behaviour and I don't think its fair to take marks away.  I, myself would rather have a one on one conversation with the student to see what the possible reason behind the behaviour could be and how I could help the student be more successful.  I think that would be a more beneficial way of looking at things in the end.

Vignette 8: Decisions, Decisions

Mr. Brit completed his marking and was very proud of the growth he saw in his students throughout the year.  Mr. Brit used many formative strategies to assess his students and as he began to calculate the achievement grades for the year, he needed to decide what fairly represented his students' learning.  Formative and summative assessment each play a significant role in determining achievement.  Formative assessment allows students to take risks and make mistakes.  It provides evidence of a student's growth and provides "on-going feedback, coaching, motivation and encouragement."


Self Reflection
I feel there is both merit and value in using formative assessment as a guide to summative grading.  If formative assessment is used successfully throughout the unit, term, or year the summative assessment should be fairly accurate.  It is the goal of formative assessment to guide student learning.  If the students use the feedback given to them by their teacher during formative assessment wisely it should reflect constant growth.  As a teacher, I think I would use my discretion as to what I would use for grading.  If I encouraged my students to take risks when doing an assignment I would not want to discourage them by taking it in for marks.  For grading purposes, I would use a combination of both formative and summative scores.  I hope I am not wrong in saying that I think both are valuable resources to use when showing a student's true achievement.  I would be sure to showcase both the formative and summative testing to the parents as I way of showing growth throughout the year, much like a learning portfolio.  I think achievement comes from growth and without the formative assessment, growth could be discouraged or misguided.  Students learning from mistakes is a more valuable lesson than being discouraged by the lack of coaching, feedback or motivation.