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.

Vignette 7: The Mighty Bell Curve!

Mrs. Vandekamp uses a norm-referenced approach to grading, otherwise know as the bell curve.  With Mrs. Vandekamp’s decision to use this approach she creates a highly competitive learning environment within her classroom.  Her decision to grade this way has denied Dakota the 80% or better she deserves and has worked hard to accomplish.  This, in turn, took Dakota out of the running for the Rutherford Scholarship.  The scholarship was of great importance to Dakota financially.Dakota’s actual achievement is not truly represented by her final mark.  She worked hard, throughout her course, on all of her assignments and was attaining grades higher then 80%.  Dakota’s final mark shows where she sits in comparison to her peers and does not represent her true learning accomplishments.

Self Reflection

I think criterion-referenced grading is a better grading practice because it is a true representation of the student’s learning.  I don’t feel it is fair to grade students based on where they fit academically amongst their peers. 
Each student is an individual and deserves to be treated as such.  There is always going to be diversity within a classroom, and I think it is my responsibility as a teacher to make sure I am testing to the student’s ability.  This means making accommodations for lower level learners (scribing, dictating, modifying the number of questions on an exam, etc) and possibly challenging my higher-level learners.  I think it is up to the teacher to promote success and downplay competition. 
Student achievement and grades should represent the learner outcomes as prescribed by the Program of Study.  I think if the students are reaching the learner outcomes and are successful in assessment they deserve the marks they earn.  As a teacher, I will strive to make my assessment tools relate directly back to the learner outcomes and the POS.  This will involve a great deal of planning but with the planning comes the confidence that my assessments will be reliable and valid.

Vignette 3: Get with the Program!

What are the grading issues for Mr. Fisher?
Mr. Fisher did not take the time, at the beginning of the year, to research and plan for his Social Studies class.  Mr. Fisher did not understand the Program of Studies and instead of seeking advice he went ahead and planned activities he felt his students would enjoy.  These activities didn't necessarily relate directly back to the learner outcomes in the Program of Study.  Mr. Fisher graded his assignments, as he should have, which gave the students marks they were pleased with but again the instruction and the assessment he was using didn't support the learner outcomes.  At the end of the year, Mr. Fisher used the final exam supplied by the teacher from the previous year.  Unfortunately Mr. Fisher's students were unsuccessful on the final exam and their final marks reflected that.  Mr. Fisher's grading issues are from his lack of planning.  He should have taken the time to familiarize himself with the course content and learner outcomes.  Mr. Fisher needs to understand that connecting instruction, assessment and grading to learner outcomes is of the upmost importance.
How might he resolve them?
Mr. Fisher can easily resolve his issues by seeking out guidance and advice.  It sounds like he is an excellent teacher who likes to provide engaging instructional activities, Mr. Fisher just needs to take the time to tweak those activities so that they relate back to the learner outcomes.  That way, when it comes time for the final exam, Mr. Fisher will have taught to the required curriculum and his students' marks on the final will be a true reflection of the intended learning.

Vignette 2: Let the Kids Know What’s Coming!

“…good design and good teaching are dependent on clear purposes.”

–Wiggins and McTighe, 1998, 159

I appreciate this quote for the simplistic way it is presented. When the learning outcomes are specific, relevant and clear in purpose, the designing, teaching and assessing should come easily having both direction and focus.  When the teacher keeps the learning outcomes in mind, the teacher is better able to design lessons with appropriate content that relates directly back to the objectives and learning outcomes.  The teacher can then use creative instructional strategies to engage the students while promoting participation, learning and productivity within the classroom.  These strategies should fit well with the learning outcomes and design of the lesson. 
As Julia described in class, there needs to be a marriage of instruction and assessment.  To take this a bit further, I feel that with this marriage, there must be a commitment to the learning outcomes.  When the teacher considers all three of these elements together (instruction, assessment, and learning outcomes), success in designing and teaching will occur with purpose.