In early 2016, I listed what I thought were the top ten books written about effective grading practices. Many books have been written about standards-based grading in the last three years, however I wanted to highlight five that have impacted me the most. Here we go! O’Connor, K. (2018). How to grade for learning, K-12 (4th […]
In early 2016, I wrote what I thought were the “Top 10 standards-based grading articles” available at that time. Nearly three years have past and a number of quality articles have been written in that time. Here we go! Brookhart, S. M., Guskey, T. R., Bowers, A. J., McMillan, J. H., Smith, J. K., Smith,
One of many possible reasons why standards-based grading has been slower to catch on at secondary level when compared to elementary settings…. From a study of nearly 3,000 K-12 teachers: The evidence gathered in this study shows that nearly all teachers believe that grading plays a role in the teaching and learning process. However, the
[Note to readers: This column is part of an ongoing series for Iowa ASCD’s The Source e-newsletter.] Leaders of Professional Development: Moving towards a process rather than event What does it mean to be a curriculum lead? This is the fourth column in a series for Iowa administrators, teacher leaders and anyone else interested in enhancing curriculum leadership.
[Note to readers: This column was published in a September 2018 edition of Iowa ASCD’s The Source e-newsletter.] Leaders of Processes: Making Every Professional Learning Opportunity Count Last school year, I challenged readers to join Iowa ASCD by digging deeper into what it means to be a curriculum lead. According to our organization, the functions of our work
For the past fourteen years, I have worked in the Solon Community School District (Solon, Iowa). When I interviewed for a teaching position in 2004, I had no idea Solon would be such a wonderful place to work. During that interview, I found out the high school building was only a few years old and principal
Two articles were published in the February 2018 issue of School Administrator (AASA) describing university admissions office perspectives on standards-based grading (SBG). The full e-edition is available online and brief summary of each article is below. — High school students experiencing SBG receive a fair shot at higher education admissions The authors interviewed admissions folks at several
I was invited to share our district’s standards-based grading journey with the national superintendents’ professional organization, AASA. A brief summary: In Solon, Iowa, teachers’ gradebooks describe students’ current levels of learning without the customary array of A’s and C’s or numerical grades. The small district is at the forefront of a new assessment movement in
(Note to readers: This is part three in a series of columns written about Iowa ASCD’s current focus on supporting curriculum leadership across the state.) In the last column, I proposed curriculum leads consider getting their feet wet and engaging teachers in a collaborative process to understand the nexus between standards, instruction and assessment in
[Note to readers: This column was printed in a November 2017 edition of Iowa ASCD’s The Source e-newsletter.] What does it mean to be a leader of curriculum, instruction, and assessment? Not too long ago, I challenged readers to join Iowa ASCD this school year by digging deeper into what it means to be a curriculum lead. According