Grades are communication, not compensation.
Rick Wormeli
Rick Wormeli
As we support and guide our students towards meeting our clearly defined learning goals, we communicate with them in many ways. Teachers provide feedback in person and in writing in response to tasks and formative assessments, but it is important to continously connect that feedback back to the goals we've articulated. The grading system we are working with this year makes the connection between mastering learning targets and the course grade earned for our class very explicit. Grade reports (see sample below) provide mastery information on a 4 point scale for each unit learning target. A student's overall grade is a direct result of content mastery with no work habit elements such as homework completion factored in to the grade. Instead, students receive a separate grade for Habits of Learning (click here to my Habits of Learning Scales).
Regularly providing feedback using the learning scales for each unit helps tie individual learning experiences back to the bigger goals, communicating to students their progress towards meeting the learning targets. What is most valuable about this approach to grading is that students can see clearly what they need to show evidence of in order to improve not only their grade but more importantly their learning!
Sample Grade Report:
Regularly providing feedback using the learning scales for each unit helps tie individual learning experiences back to the bigger goals, communicating to students their progress towards meeting the learning targets. What is most valuable about this approach to grading is that students can see clearly what they need to show evidence of in order to improve not only their grade but more importantly their learning!
Sample Grade Report:
SBL Course Targets: