We got the 403 error on this excellent response by Robert to your rubric, jen, so I am just posting it here. Plus, the point he raises needs to be read by all who are following this thread:
Jen, you put together an excellent rubric. The only quibble I have with it is making a 4/5 an A. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. Many of us use the 80% rule (80% of students score 80% or higher on an assessment). The 80% range is traditionally a B, so students will understand this better.
2. We consider 80% on assessments to be “proficient”, so for me 4/5 is a B.
3. Making 4/5 an A gives those who do go above and beyond little or no recognition.
Last year when I used pure Standards-Based Assessment, adjusted the grading scale in my grade book program:
- 5 = 81-100% = A = Advanced = exceeds standard
- 4 = 61-80% = B = Proficient = meets standard
- 3 = 41-60% = C = Basic = approaches/partially meets standard
- 2 = 21-59% = D = Below Basic = fails to meet standard
- 1 = 1-20% = F = Far Below Basic = thanks for showing up* 0 = 0 = no work submitted; didn’t even show up
*A student who puts a name on a paper and gets everything wrong will get a 1, for example. (It is, after all, Far Below Basic work.) That is much less devastating to a grade than 0 out of 100, which what the traditional grade would be.
If you feel the need, you can add .5 scores as well (e.g. 2.5); however, as another teacher noted, “Anything higher than 3 is 4.” That’s why the percentages put the multiple of the Standards-Based score at the top of the grade range, not in the middle.
As students get the idea of Standards-Based Assessment, they quit asking questions like “What can I do to get Extra Credit?” (typical for a points-based system) and start asking, “What can I do to show mastery?” There is a world of difference between those two questions. Last year I had a group of students turn in a very substandard assessment. They asked me what they could do. I told them to come in after school and show me that they had acquired the material. Every single one of them came in and showed me that they knew the material better than their score had showed. I changed the grade. Not one of them asked to do “extra credit”. I also have students who have issues with written assessments or other things during class come in and and show me their mastery in other ways. I put the burden on them: “Tell me how you can show what you have acquired in a different format.” For example, I have a stutterer who sometimes won’t say anything in class because he’s having a hard day, so he comes in when he’s more relaxed. He sits in a chair – usually facing away from me – and I sit at my desk “doing paperwork”. He then rattles on in German while I listen. (This is in upper level where more output is expected, and the problem isn’t with the language, it’s with the mechanics.) Other students find other ways to show me their acquisition.
Sometimes I tie in the concept of Costa’s Levels of Inquiry, so that the highest score possible is a 4, just because there is no way to show “Advanced” performance. One example is the dictation, since all I grade at the lower level is the ability to copy the text from the screen or board. Advanced Copying isn’t a possibility. Nonetheless, this doesn’t negatively affect students because 4/4 is still 100%.
Also, when I had to adapt my SBA scores to a traditional percentage grade, I used the following: 100 (manually entered)
- 5 = 95%
- 4 = 85%
- 3 = 75%
- 2 = 65%
- 1 = 55%
- 0 = 0%
The giving of a zero is where I disagree with Marzano; to me, if a student does not give me anything to grade, I cannot justify giving a higher score.
I allow students to re-take quizzes, but they must first meet with me or otherwise show me that they have done something to increase their mastery of the material. No “just re-take the test and hope for a better grade.”
Robert