The best grade you can give is a conversation...

The discourse surrounding grades and grading practices has been intensifying of late.

Grade reform has taken a seat next to some of the other big topics being discussed at the education table.

It's no surprise considering the subjectivity students, parents and educators experience when it comes to grading.

So, before going any further... we have to agree that grades serve a single and critical purpose:

Grades exist to provide students input and feedback on their progression toward achieving mastery of a particular set of learning goals/objectives.

In other other words... to communicate.

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If we can all agree with this definition of grades, then the rest of the blog post should hopefully make sense.

The question now is 'how can we most effectively provide our students input and feedback on their progression toward achieving mastery?'

I believe the answer to this question is more conversations...

Now, before you stop reading, ask yourself one question:

Do you believe that in an ideal word without time constraints and with an unlimited amount of 'you,' having more one-on-one conversations would be more impactful than continuing the practice of letter grades?

If you answered yes here, then let's at least keep an open mind of how one could make this work.

Yes, of course, you have lots of students in your class and it seems near impossible to carve out time to have one-on-one conversations. Especially to have these conversations on a more frequent and as needed basis.

However, what if you took time at the beginning of the year to train your students on strategies to self-assess to make these conversations more impactful and efficient? In other words, make the conversations move along more quickly.

What if you intentionally made time in the day to have these conversations and removed other stuff that just doesn't have the same level of impact on student learning?

What if these conversations served to kill multiple birds with one stone... isn't it possible to include and embed multiple learning targets/objectives in the middle of these conversations? Think creatively here for a moment...

Also, keep in mind that these conversations don't always have to involve you, the teacher. Don't forget about the other students in the classroom...

Hattie's research is quite clear on what most impacts student learning. When students are able to assess themselves and then have a conversation/reflection opportunity about the self-assessment, learning goes up. Imagine it's not just one single teacher who is asked to talk with students about their self-assessment, but rather other students in the classroom too. Imagine the power of those conversations when students are trained on how to communicate with each other about their learning progression...

In closing, what's the best and most effective way to communicate? I think most would say one-on-one conversations.

Make no mistake... I'm definitely not saying this is easy. What I am saying is that I think it just might be worth it...

If you've made this work in your classroom, please share your story below.

Extend learning by NOT using grades

When a grade is given, the learning stops.

When specific feedback is provided and extending questions are asked, the learning goes deeper.

We've all heard statements like these before, and for the most part, many tend to agree with the basic premise behind these statements. However, our actions don't always align with our beliefs, and sometimes our beliefs don't always make it into the actual structures of our classrooms.

Imagine these three scenarios when it comes to grades and giving students feedback:

Scenario 1: Teacher hands back an assignment with just a grade.

Scenario 2: Teacher hands back an assignment with specific feedback and perhaps a couple extending questions WITH a grade.

Scenario 3: Teacher hands back an assignment with specific feedback and two extending questions WITHOUT a grade.

What tends to happen... in scenario 1, the student looks at the grade and then crumples up the assignment to work on his/her basketball career. In scenario 2, the same thing happens and more than likely, the student doesn't even acknowledge the feedback and questions. In scenario 3, the student is curious and the student wants to know more, thus the learning process remains alive and in most instances, strengthens.

More often than not though, scenario 1 is what we find in our schools.

But, we know based on research and based on overall student retention of information and development of skills, students perform far better in scenario 3.

So, I'd like to challenge all educators (in all positions within education, administrators included), to work on providing specific feedback with extending questions rather than simply a grade and/or quantitative evaluation.

This takes time and isn't always the most efficient, but in the long run, it surely will be the most effective...

How well do you take feedback?

Most recently, I led our 'new to district' staff members in a day-long orientation.

The goals of the day were to talk about district vision, the beliefs we hold in regard to student learning, and lastly to have some conversation about a few topics the district will be discussing and exploring over the course of the upcoming school year.

We had a group of 27 educators and many of them were first year teachers who've never officially taught before. We had elementary teachers, secondary teachers, SPED teachers and counselors, so our group was pretty diverse.

This was the first time many of these folks have been on district grounds in an 'official' work capacity, so from the district perspective, we wanted the day to be great!

We had donuts and coffee for breakfast and a great lunch from Pasta House.

We had a jammed packed day full of discussion and group learning.

What could possibly go wrong!

I decided to send out a survey to get some feedback and input from the group in an effort to make improvements or changes for subsequent years.

The survey was a Google Form so as soon as I sent the email I pulled up the responses document to watch the feedback roll in.

The first person submitted their feedback and here is what they had to say in the 'other thoughts and comments' section:

"It was very monotonous and boring. 

Sorry! I understand the concept of trying to show new hires what the district is all about but most of the slides and lectures were things I've heard before, redundant, or condescending."

Ouch...

That hurt a little bit...

So, maybe I was monotonous and maybe the day was boring.

Maybe I talked too much and maybe the information I was sharing wasn't really as new or as different as I thought...

Maybe I was wrong in thinking it was a well-planned day that was executed effectively.

Either way, I will take this feedback and reflect on what I did to make improvements. I hold no ill-feelings about this comment and look forward to doing a better job next year.

Remember, when you ask for feedback and input you have to be strong enough to handle what is shared... both the good and especially the bad.

I thank this individual for this comment and look forward to changing their opinion of me as the year progresses.

For the record, the survey was anonymous, so I have no idea who this individual is as it could be any one of the 27 individuals who participated in the orientation.

So, how well do you take feedback...?

Let's make formative assessing a top priority

In our undergraduate courses we all learned about summative and formative assessing. We've also all been to conferences or events that have emphasized the importance of many small assessments to drive our instruction rather than waiting until the end when it may be too late.

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Though I think this has all been with good intention, we may have been missing the most important part of formative assessing and feedback.

See, when we focus on this more timely and frequent feedback to change and adjust our instruction, we are focusing on the teacher side of things.

The true beauty and value of more frequent and timely assessments is not just to help guide and drive our instruction, it's to provide frequent and timely feedback for our students so they can take more ownership and control over their learning.

As Marzano so simply stated, "The most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement is feedback."

Flip the scenario... why would any teacher want to use frequent formative assessments?

They are looking for feedback and input to help guide and drive their instruction to hopefully improve student learning.

Now, while we are on the topic of formative assessments, I want to make a few things clear about what formative assessing really is:

Formative assessments are fluid and flow seamlessly in the learning process because they are a part of the learning process. Most situations involving formative assessing are not and shouldn't be for a grade. Formative assessing is similar to what happens in real-life, thus students and their learning won't even skip a beat.

Formative assessing would be like going to the doctor for a preventative check-up and finding out you have high blood pressure. At this check-up you would get feedback and input on how to lower your blood pressure. Formative assessments keep you off the autopsy table when it's too late to fix or prevent the damage.

Formative assessing is about goal-setting and the ownership of the learning process for students via feedback and input both from the teacher and from the students themselves.

Lastly, formative assessing DOES NOT need to be a traditional type of assessment. It can be something as simple as a thumbs up or down activity or a quick scan of the classroom to check student body language and demeanor. DO NOT think you need to have a quantifiable number spreadsheet to do a formative assessment.

Do yourself a favor and most importantly, do your students a favor by utilizing more formative assessments.

Check out these links with several examples of formative assessments:

54 examples for formative assessments via David Wees

Formative assessment techniques to check understanding

Formative assessment strategies

How well do you take constructive criticism?

We've all experienced it before and it's very commonplace in our everyday lives.

You write something... you design something... you create something... you share something... you present something...

You then ask for feedback and input in the hopes of improving and making whatever it was better.

The person or persons on the receiving end then say something nice like... that's a great start or that was wonderful.

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Then, even though you know it's coming, you get shocked when the infamous 'but' escapes their mouth.

But, you could have done this... or you might want to consider this... or you should probably change this.

By now after the constructive criticism you are probably feeling deflated and a little defeated.

How often do we ask for feedback and input only to get our feelings hurt once we receive the feedback and input?

Here's the thing, when we share or present something to someone, we are sharing and presenting what we feel to be worthy of sharing and presenting. 

Let's face it, people don't share and present things that are unpolished and incomplete. We want others to like what we are sharing, so when we get to the constructive feedback and input discussion, we are always hoping and aiming for positive feedback.

The tricky part is having enough confidence and 'toughness' to handle the constructive criticism...

The tricky part is putting yourself out there to be vulnerable...

The tricky part is having the endurance to pick yourself up after you've been knocked down...

Assessments, and the role they play in student learning...

Assessment is an ongoing, systematic process that involves:

• Establishing clear, measurable expected goals of student learning
• Gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information
• Applying information and using the results for continuous improvement of teaching and learning.

Student Learning includes the knowledge, skills, and personal development attained through curricular, co-curricular, and out-of-class learning experiences.

"The value of assessments lies not just in the quality of the test itself, but also in how the information from the assessments is used..."

Take a few moments and evaluate the alignment of your classroom instructional practices and activities to the types of assessments you are assigning. If your classroom activities are not matching up with the skills and application of knowledge you are requiring your students to complete on assessments, then your assessments will not provide you with valuable and relevant data. Likewise, if the level of rigor and DOK on your classroom activities are unbalanced with your assessments, you will not be able to make fair and/or accurate conclusions in regard to assessment data.

Lastly, personalizing the types and frequency of assessments for individual students may seem daunting and difficult, but consider this image below and reflect on your assessment practices. If the goal of assessments is to get useful and relevant data to drive and guide classroom instruction in an effort to best meet the needs of our students, then this image makes quite a statement...