Grading for Impact

Raising Student Achievement Through a Target-Based Assessment and Learning System

Tom Hierck, Garth L. Larson

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781506399430
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Evaluierung & Bewertung im Bildungswesen

Aim for a target-based grading system and create stronger learning opportunities! Do you wish there was more clarity when it comes to measuring student progress and learning? What if there was a way to utilize grading and assessment to focus on learning rather than performance, and the process rather than the product? As grading, assessment, and reporting continue to be relevant topics of discussion, this book helps you create a functional plan to elevate and advance standards-based grading practices. Teachers and administrators will learn how to assess, grade, and report against specific learning targets rather than standards as a whole to make skill acquisition the highest priority. Grounded in application to provide focus and clarity, this book features:

• Real case studies of schools that have incorporated target-based assessment, feedback, grading, and reporting
• Practical examples to guide implementation
• Questions, checklists, illustrations, and audits of practice to showcase the work in action
• An accessible format and layout that support both immediate implementation and long-term goals

Despite being a topic that generates emotion and resistance to change, target-based assessment builds the foundation for a learner-centered system that provides clear expectations and feedback for teachers, students, and parents.

"Grading for Impact is a simple and straightforward guide to re-thinking grading based on mastery of specific skills and concepts rather than broadly-written standards. Real-world examples of teachers struggling with--and answering--the old questions are included: "How do we grade fairly and accurately?" and "How do we use grades as an instructional strategy?""
Joseph Staub, High School Teacher
Downtown Magnets High School, CA "Most stakeholders agree that report cards aren't enough to show what our students are learning in school, but changing the traditional grading system is a task that requires careful planning and challenging discussions. Grading for Impact shows educators how to start and plan the discussions that will result in genuine learning experiences for students."
Ernie Rambo, Virtual Learning Community Coordinator
Nevada National Board Professional Learning Institute

1 Introduction and Rationale for Grading Reform Through Target-Based Assessment, Grading, and Reporting

Key Ideas and Targets Within This Chapter (Learning Intentions)

• Readers will be provided with a compelling reason to consider changing from a traditional grading and reporting model to a target-based assessment, grading, and reporting model.
• Readers will understand and be able to explain the similarities and differences between the model for Standards-Based Assessment, Grading, and Reporting and Target-Based Assessment, Grading, and Reporting.
• Readers will define standards versus learning targets and understand why it’s important to distinguish between the two within assessment, grading, and reporting.
• Readers will recognize that assessment is a form of evidence gathering within a target-based learning system.

Student Spotlight

In my personal experience with target-based grading, I have found it beneficial, and beyond that, a useful tool to help me learn throughout high school. Target-based grading, unlike old grading systems, does more than just tell me I have the info wrong or right; it tells me what I am doing right, and what I am doing wrong. This is helpful because it lets me know what I need to really study for, and what I just need to brush up on when being reassessed. Whereas in middle school, I was told I got, for instance, an 87% on a test, to me that meant I knew 87% of the info. However, I didn’t know what the 13% I didn’t understand was. Target-based grading allows me to focus on what I don’t know and tells me what I do know, so I can make sure that by the time I leave high school, I understand my abilities in different areas much more.

—John Garofalo, Twelfth-Grade Student at Winneconne High School, WI

Educator Spotlight

I had realized there was a need for a change in my grading system after an evening of parent–teacher conferences. As I sat with parents to discuss their child’s learning in my classroom, I realized that I could not, with confidence, tell them exactly why their child was earning the grade he or she was. I could explain the grade from a mathematical standpoint, but I could not pinpoint exactly what their child did and did not know in my classroom. This made me feel that I was doing a disservice to my students and their families.

I wanted to know exactly what my students knew and did not know. As a teacher, it was important for me to know which specific topics students were struggling with. If I did not know this, how could I really be confident in what I was teaching them? In a traditional grading system, I was not able to gather that specific data. All I had was a score that gave me a percentage of points earned, with no other real, valuable data. This percentage score did not tell me what specific learning targets my students were excelling in, or what learning targets they were individually, or as a class, struggling with. I realized that if I wanted to give my students, myself, and their families more valuable feedback, there needed to be a change in how grading and reporting were done in my classroom. For me, taking the standards-based grading approach still wasn’t specific enough. I wanted to be able to provide more meaningful and detailed feedback to my students, and that is where grading by learning target became the best option for meeting these needs.

Grading by learning target has done so many things for me as a teacher and for my students. It has allowed me to communicate very specific information with my students about their progress and learning. It allows me to focus their studies on exactly what each of them needs—at an individual level. The data that I collect give me more information than I ever anticipated. I am able to look at a specific target and see if my students understand it or if they do not. This has given me insight as to which topics I may need to reteach. I would have never known this before, using a traditional grading system. I have also had more time to focus on topics that are more difficult. As soon as I give feedback on a learning target, from an assessment, I know immediately what percentage of my class understood the information. If all of the class understands the learning target, we can move on, and I know that we do not need to spend more time on something they all understand. In turn, this allows me to focus on the learning targets that more students are struggling with.

I have recently added in the component of self-reflection within my assessments. Allowing students to self-reflect on each learning target has opened a new door in this grading system. This has allowed for more meaningful conversations with my students regarding their learning and understanding of a specific target. The self-reflection piece has also been a stepping-stone to start a conversation with students who may not like to open up and have discussions with me.

—Becky Peppler, High School Science Teacher at Winneconne High School, WI

What is Target-Based Assessment, Grading, and Reporting?

Unlike traditional standards-based models of assessment, grading, and reporting, target-based assessment, grading, and reporting requires teachers to assess, grade, and report against specific learning targets, and not the standard as a whole. This model allows parents and students to clearly understand what children are expected to learn in class and also provides them with feedback on progress toward specific targets found within a unit of instruction or within the entire class.

Throughout the course of this book, the following key ideas of target-based assessment, grading, and reporting will be analyzed and explained in a practical manner:

• Teams of teachers break prioritized standards into specific learning targets, which become the basis for instruction, assessment, and communication of student achievement.
• Units of instruction and assessments are designed to help students meet specific learning targets rather than the general standard. Teachers are able to identify the learning target against which they are checking proficiency for every assessment they give.
• Reassessment becomes a much more manageable task as students are reassessed only on targets with which they struggled and are not required to retake the entire assessment.
• Teachers are able to utilize the information from assessments to determine the next best instructional steps to support student learning.

A Compelling Reason for Change

Although there are several theoretical perspectives on why standards-based (or target-based in our scenario) assessment, grading, and reporting is a better method than traditional grading, there are also significant data to support a disconnect between grades that are given, and post-high school success. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Legislated Remedial Course Report (2015 WI ACT 28; 2016), in accordance with Chapter 36.65 of Wisconsin State Statutes, a report needs to be conducted annually to “determine the high schools with more than 6 students who, based on their performance on placement tests in the preceding 12 months, are required to take remedial courses in English or mathematics.” The report was based on students from Wisconsin high schools entering University of Wisconsin (UW) System institutions. Within this study, some high schools identified had significant numbers of students who required remediation in mathematics, including one high school that had 80 percent of its students required to take remedial courses in their freshman year entering a UW System institution.

According to the study released by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, of the 510 high schools in the state of Wisconsin, 75 high schools had at least 25 percent of their students needing remediation in math in their first year entering the UW System institution. Other numbers within the study include the following high schools that had 50% or more of their students requiring remediation in their freshman year of entering a UW System institution (see Figure 1.1).

It should be noted this is a single report by the state of Wisconsin only, yet we believe this would be the case if the same study were replicated from state to state across the United States and in other areas of the world. In a recent interview with a principal from a school district in Wisconsin not incorporating standards-based assessment, grading, and reporting practices, he stated, “there is a clear disconnect between our current grading practices and student achievement. We have to change what we are doing to ensure that the grades students receive in our high school are truly reflective of what kids know and can do against clearly articulated objectives.” That particular high school had a large percentage of students receiving As and Bs in their classes, yet were performing very low on Wisconsin state accountability assessments. Hence the need to change our current grading and reporting practices. We owe it to our students that the information shared on their academic progress and achievement is authentic and accurate, free from any real or imagined bias.

Figure 1.1 2016 Wisconsin DPI Report on Remediation Rates in Mathematics

Source: Based on data from WI Department of Public Instruction Report (2016).

How is Target-Based Assessment and Grading Different FROM Standards-Based Assessment and Grading?

A typical model of standards-based grading consists of grading against levels of proficiency on identified learning standards and differs greatly from the traditional grading approaches most commonly found in high schools. Standards-based grading is an assessment, grading, and reporting system in which students are evaluated based on their proficiency in meeting a clearly articulated set of course standards (usually provided by their state or local school districts).

Target-based assessment and grading is very similar to standards-based grading in many aspects, except the method for assessment, grading, and reporting is based on clearly written learning targets and not the standard as a whole. Standards are often very broad in nature and identifying levels of performance can often be difficult when looking at the standard as a whole. When we ask educators we work with if standards are often hard for our students and parents to understand, the response is always an overwhelming yes. When we follow up with the question, “Are standards often hard for teachers to understand and explain?” the answer is always an overwhelming yes. Target-based assessment and grading takes the standards as a starting point and allows educators to assess, provide feedback, and communicate the results based on proficiency against the disaggregated and stated learning targets. Schools that employ target-based assessment and grading practices engage in an authentic alignment of policy, practice, and procedures on topics including the following: not grading formative practice (homework and quizzes) as a part of the academic grade, allowing for reassessment to occur on summative assessments, separating behavior and life skills grades from academic grades (and often reporting them on the transcript), and using student proficiency against learning targets as the basis for determining a summative grade in all courses.

What is Target-Based Reporting?

Just like standards-based reporting, target-based reporting consists of taking evidence of proficiency throughout the entire semester or year and reaching a summative (final) conclusion based on the overall proficiency of the students against the identified learning targets. The summative conclusion is based on the levels of proficiency that exist within the content area or course. Teachers clearly articulate what targets students are expected to know and do, and then grades are determined and reported accordingly to emphasize student learning. It is common for educators and administrators to combine target-based grading with target-based reporting and will be the case through the remainder of this book.

Take a look at the two examples for reporting at the high school level. The first example shows a progress report in Winneconne from four years ago when traditional grading structures were still being incorporated (Figure 1.2). What does the report card tell parents and students?

Figure 1.2 Sample Progress Report From Winneconne in the 2013–2014 School Year

Source: Winneconne Community School District (2013–2014).

Now look at the second example, on the facing page, provided from a progress report during the 2017–2018 school year (Figure 1.3). From the standpoint of a student, parent, or teacher, what does this example communicate in relation to student achievement?

Guiding Questions: Based on the two progress reports, what works better for you and your school? Which one provides more valuable information?

Why Target-Based Assessment, Grading, and Reporting?

The strongest reason we can identify as to why schools should consider target-based assessment, gr...