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4 thoughts on “Drew on Standards 1”
It is worth mentioning that Robert’s scale is a 5-point rubric. And mine is a 5-point rubric, as well. (I hope I didn’t misspeak for you, Robert).
This was a hot discussion at our district. One school wanted 1-5 to match CSTs but then they started putting 0s in, which changed it to a six-point rubric 0-5. People have a hard time giving a 1 (on a 1-5) when no learning was demonstrated (because no learning is 0, right? No, its a 1). But as Robert and Ben say, and are absolutely right, the power isn’t in the number,the power is in the words here down there.
It answers the question: At what level can you do X?
Robert Me
5 4 exceeds standards
4 3 meets standards. [this is our target; this is where we teach]
3 2 approaching standards
2 1 partial understanding/partial success with teacher
1 0 no demonstration of learning shown
Last year a student had an F in my level 3 class (by not fault of his own, he just didn’t get Spanish I or II–he was playing my CI game. It broke my heart but he couldn’t DO what the rest of the class could.). He said I can’t have an F. I pulled out our last reading assignment and said read this to me. He couldn’t do it without me. I showed him where he fell on the comprehension rubric (1) and he understood WHY he was failing my class. He had a collection of 1s in all of the scales. It’s a sad reality but this is what our job entails.
99% of the grades occur between 2 and 3 for me. My gradebook has a collection of 2s and 3s. Grade translations to come.
No, Drew, you didn’t misspeak.
While it is possible to get a 0 in my scale, the only way to do that is not showing up at all, and I usually leave that as a blank (which still counts a 0 but shows up as a red field, alerting parents and student to a missing assessment). As my colleague puts it, 1 = thanks for showing up. I’ll give a student a 1 for having a name on a paper. That really is a Far Below Basic performance, right?
BTW, we use Aeries for grading.
Will we be seeing more “Drew on Standards” posts? I’m looking forward to seeing the other modes and anything else he has. I want to get away from the traditional points-model grading system next year but I’m at a loss on where to start. Everything Robert, Drew and Ben are giving us on this topic is gold.
The Denver Public Schools website has much information on this, and we have many posts here. The discussion about standards and assessment was started by Robert in May of last year – a year ago. The discussion over the past year in this space was powerful and new. We have made much headway on this.
Chris your intuitive response on this is right on. It’s just that we don’t have a “result” that we in our PLC can use, as it were, and may not for another two or three years, and there is also the question of proprietary use of DPS materials.
Here is a recent related email exchange on this general topic:
A teacher wrote to me in a private email:
I have a quick question concerning final assessments. I am moving from teaching Middle School Spanish to teaching Spanish II, 10th grade. I am looking for a final assessment that would best gauge my scholars’ language level by the end of the year. I work at a charter school in Memphis and am required to demonstrate data based, standard driven assessments. That said, I am lucky to have administration who are VERY supportive of the TPRS method. So, I have some wiggle room to be creative in the types of assessments I produce or select. I really like the Regent’s language Exam but before selecting it, wanted to ask what you prefer. Do you have any suggestions or recommendations? Any recommendations would be super helpful!
I didn’t have a very good answer and so I asked Diana and she asked Jason, who responded:
I go to the NY State proficiency and regent exam pages for WL and select test items there to make assessments , adding some of my own. Good, free stuff. Maybe get other teachers to help record pieces of the listening so there are multiple voices / accents.
Warm regards,
Jason
Of course, Chris, this will continue to be an ongoing discussion. My personal thoughts are that the next new frontier in TPRS/CI is going to be in assessment.