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A Fresh Look at Grading and Reporting in High Schools
A Fresh Look at Grading and Reporting in High Schools by Anne Davies and Sandra Herbst offers practical, research-based strategies for executing effective classroom assessment. It is organized around four considerations, or quadrants: (1) determining the learning destination, (2) researching the expected quality level, (3) planning to collect reliable and valid evidence of learning, and (4) collecting baseline evidence of learning. High school teachers and school leaders will explore what must take place before, during, and after learning to communicate student progress to students, parents, and all other stakeholders. Each chapter of A Fresh Look at Grading and Reporting in High Schools includes examples across multiple disciplines illustrating the authors' strategies in practice. Chapter 1 focuses on preparing for quality classroom assessment. Educators will examine activities, tasks, and plans that support teaching and learning and assess what students have learned. Chapter 2 offers strategies to support learners and encourages educators to engage in standards-based grading and reporting while students are learning. In chapter 3, readers will discover how to effectively report students' progress in effective ways to inform students and other stakeholders.
Readers will explore the challenges to classroom assessment and gain solutions in appendix A. Appendix B offers educators a list of planning questions to support the four quadrants.
Readers will explore the challenges to classroom assessment and gain solutions in appendix A. Appendix B offers educators a list of planning questions to support the four quadrants.
90 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2014
About the author
Anne Davies
22 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Anne Davies, PhD, is an author, a consultant, and a researcher. With more than 30 years of experience in education, Dr. Davies has worked in a variety of positions, including classroom teacher, school district coordinator, department of education planner, school administrator, and university instructor. A world-renowned keynote presenter, her genuine care and commitment to support educators and their important work make her an approachable and insightful specialist.
Educators at every grade level throughout Canada, the United States, and other countries have benefited from the high-touch support Dr. Davies provides during professional development events and multiyear projects. She has worked with the University of Southern Maine; University of Victoria, Victoria, BC; University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK; McGill University, Montreal, QC; Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon; and the University of New England, Portland, Maine.
Dr. Davies is author/coauthor of more than 30 books and resources, including the Knowing What Counts series and the award-winning two-book set, Classroom Assessment, and The Facilitator's Guide to Classroom Assessment K-12. One of her most recent projects is the popular multimedia resource kit Workshop-in-a-Box. She has written book chapters and articles for educational journals and publications worldwide.
Dr. Davies earned a doctorate in education from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
Dr. Davies is the author of Making Classroom Assessments Work and the co-author of A Fresh Look at Grading and Reporting in High Schools, Transforming Schools and Systems Using Assessment, Leading the Way to Assessment for Learning, and Setting and Using Criteria.
Anne Davies, PhD, is an author, a consultant, and a researcher. With more than 30 years of experience in education, Dr. Davies has worked in a variety of positions, including classroom teacher, school district coordinator, department of education planner, school administrator, and university instructor. A world-renowned keynote presenter, her genuine care and commitment to support educators and their important work make her an approachable and insightful specialist.
Educators at every grade level throughout Canada, the United States, and other countries have benefited from the high-touch support Dr. Davies provides during professional development events and multiyear projects. She has worked with the University of Southern Maine; University of Victoria, Victoria, BC; University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK; McGill University, Montreal, QC; Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon; and the University of New England, Portland, Maine.
Dr. Davies is author/coauthor of more than 30 books and resources, including the Knowing What Counts series and the award-winning two-book set, Classroom Assessment, and The Facilitator's Guide to Classroom Assessment K-12. One of her most recent projects is the popular multimedia resource kit Workshop-in-a-Box. She has written book chapters and articles for educational journals and publications worldwide.
Dr. Davies earned a doctorate in education from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
Dr. Davies is the author of Making Classroom Assessments Work and the co-author of A Fresh Look at Grading and Reporting in High Schools, Transforming Schools and Systems Using Assessment, Leading the Way to Assessment for Learning, and Setting and Using Criteria.
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January 25, 2016
Four areas are considered in Chapter 1: "Preparing for Quality Classroom Assessment":
• Determining learning destination;
• Researching expected quality levels;
• Planning to collect reliable & valid evidence of learning; and,
• Collecting baseline evidence of learning.
Given the multitude of standards or learning outcomes for any given high school subject, the authors recommend that teachers group standards and describe them in student-friendly language in order to provide clarity on learning destinations. Researching expected quality levels involves three steps: determining student samples or exemplars, establishing success criteria, and designing rubrics. The authors emphasize that a collaborative process with a clear protocol should be followed for all of these steps.
In collecting evidence of learning, teachers should triangulate the evidence by taking into consideration the 3 sources of evidence available in the classroom: “observations of learning; the products that students create; and conversations between teachers and students.” (17) To ensure reliability and validity in professional judgment, teachers should collect, over an extended time period and from a variety of sources, several pieces of evidence of a learning outcome.
The benefit of gathering baseline evidence is that it “gives teachers a simple way to say ‘You used to … and now you …’ or for students to say themselves ‘I used to … and now I …”. (23)
In Chapter 2, Activating and Engaging Learners Through Quality Assessment, the authors explore 4 assessment functions teachers can use to engage and activate students:
• Describing the learning destination and expected quality;
• Involving students and providing time and support for them to learn;
• Teaching to student needs based on assessment evidence; and,
• Collecting reliable and valid evidence of learning.
With respect to the first assessment function, Herbst and Davies emphasize that once students are clear on learning outcomes and engage in the co-construction of success criteria they learn the language of assessment and are better equipped to self-monitor their progress and make adjustments for better achievement. They do caution though that “Students used to receiving evaluative feedback – right, wrong, 65%, or 92% - may need time to come to appreciate their role in the assessment process and learn how to self-monitor, self-assess, and regulate their own actions.” (34)
Important aspects of giving students the necessary time to learn are having them analyze samples of student work, engaging them in self and peer assessment, and having them communicate their evidence of learning to others.
There are 3 steps to using assessment evidence to teach to specific student needs: determine what students know, compare this to what they need to know, and plan ways to close the gap.
Validity and reliability are ensured not only by the triangulation of evidence but as well by the teacher allowing the student to also be involved in the process of evidence collecting.
Chapter 3 outlines 4 tasks in the process of evaluating and reporting to others after the learning is complete:
• Finalize the collection of evidence of learning;
• Making informed professional judgments;
• Reporting using required format; and,
• Involving students in the reporting process.
In the first task, students select their best evidence in relation to the learning goals and present it to their teachers along with explanations about why they think it is proof of their learning. Herbst and Davies provide a useful definition of informed professional judgment: “The professional determination after a review of evidence of learning present (not absent), of what has been learned and achieved.” (57) With respect to the 3rd task, the authors stress that reporting is a process, not just a one-time event. It involves the pre-learning planning by teachers, the learning time, and the aftermath
• Determining learning destination;
• Researching expected quality levels;
• Planning to collect reliable & valid evidence of learning; and,
• Collecting baseline evidence of learning.
Given the multitude of standards or learning outcomes for any given high school subject, the authors recommend that teachers group standards and describe them in student-friendly language in order to provide clarity on learning destinations. Researching expected quality levels involves three steps: determining student samples or exemplars, establishing success criteria, and designing rubrics. The authors emphasize that a collaborative process with a clear protocol should be followed for all of these steps.
In collecting evidence of learning, teachers should triangulate the evidence by taking into consideration the 3 sources of evidence available in the classroom: “observations of learning; the products that students create; and conversations between teachers and students.” (17) To ensure reliability and validity in professional judgment, teachers should collect, over an extended time period and from a variety of sources, several pieces of evidence of a learning outcome.
The benefit of gathering baseline evidence is that it “gives teachers a simple way to say ‘You used to … and now you …’ or for students to say themselves ‘I used to … and now I …”. (23)
In Chapter 2, Activating and Engaging Learners Through Quality Assessment, the authors explore 4 assessment functions teachers can use to engage and activate students:
• Describing the learning destination and expected quality;
• Involving students and providing time and support for them to learn;
• Teaching to student needs based on assessment evidence; and,
• Collecting reliable and valid evidence of learning.
With respect to the first assessment function, Herbst and Davies emphasize that once students are clear on learning outcomes and engage in the co-construction of success criteria they learn the language of assessment and are better equipped to self-monitor their progress and make adjustments for better achievement. They do caution though that “Students used to receiving evaluative feedback – right, wrong, 65%, or 92% - may need time to come to appreciate their role in the assessment process and learn how to self-monitor, self-assess, and regulate their own actions.” (34)
Important aspects of giving students the necessary time to learn are having them analyze samples of student work, engaging them in self and peer assessment, and having them communicate their evidence of learning to others.
There are 3 steps to using assessment evidence to teach to specific student needs: determine what students know, compare this to what they need to know, and plan ways to close the gap.
Validity and reliability are ensured not only by the triangulation of evidence but as well by the teacher allowing the student to also be involved in the process of evidence collecting.
Chapter 3 outlines 4 tasks in the process of evaluating and reporting to others after the learning is complete:
• Finalize the collection of evidence of learning;
• Making informed professional judgments;
• Reporting using required format; and,
• Involving students in the reporting process.
In the first task, students select their best evidence in relation to the learning goals and present it to their teachers along with explanations about why they think it is proof of their learning. Herbst and Davies provide a useful definition of informed professional judgment: “The professional determination after a review of evidence of learning present (not absent), of what has been learned and achieved.” (57) With respect to the 3rd task, the authors stress that reporting is a process, not just a one-time event. It involves the pre-learning planning by teachers, the learning time, and the aftermath
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