Good morning!
This is one of several emails, personal discussions and faculty meetings about grading, reporting, and student progress. ...
Please take a few minutes and read the attached article at your leisure, and please take a few minutes to view the You Tube Videos from Dr. Doug Reeves (another highly regarded educational researcher like Dr. Tom Guskey) and Dr. Guskey.
One main question related to this topic is WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF GRADING/REPORTING? So many provocative concepts were raised at our November 14 conference ... one main question that was repeated throughout was: What is the purpose of grading/reporting (you all started your conceptual journey on this topic at yesterday's faculty meeting where you completed Dr. Guskey's survey). What do we hope to accomplish with grades? Do students have a chance to succeed or do they have a chance to fail? What does our grading scale show? A concept shared at the workshop demonstrated how a percentage scale system (100-90=A, 89-80=B, 79-70=C, 69-60=D, 59-0=F) has 59 points of failure, 0-59 ... wheras a point scale system (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0) has one point of failure, 0. Think about mathematically how a percentage system impacts a child's "grade".
Guskey Video Clip - 2 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Reeves Video Clip - 6 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Have a great day!
We will revisit this topic throughout the year (and beyond)!
ML