I got this from Robert Harrell a few weeks ago and it looks like I overlooked putting it up here. Please accept my aplogies. It looks like good stuff we can use:
Hi Ben,
Tomorrow night is our Back to School Night. I am required to have a syllabus and policies available to parents. I have taken some of the things we worked on in the spring and boiled them down to a single page. I’ll be handing that out tomorrow night. Below is a copy of it, in case you want to put it up.
Also, I have been going over the Interpersonal Communication Self-Evaluation Rubric with my classes during our extension. Then students do a self evaluation and give it to me. So far most of the students have been very honest, and their evaluations largely agree with mine. I’m not certain yet if they have figured out how that computes to a grade. After progress reports come out, we’ll see what kind of response I get.
Robert
Standards-based Grading
What is Standards-based Grading?
SBG emphasizes mastery of a standard rather than merely doing a certain amount of work or accumulating so many points in order to get a grade. Students should not think that by doing extra work or getting “extra credit” they will improve their grade. Instead, they need to compare their work to the standard to see if they exceed, meet or fall below the standard. Think of it as being similar to learning to ride a bicycle. It doesn’t matter how many extra times I get on the bike; what matters is whether I can ride the bike.
Standards-Based Grading focuses on the three Modes of Communication (Interpretive, Interpersonal and Presentational) and how well students use them. Instead of categories like “reading” and “speaking” or “tests” and “homework”, assessments evaluate one of the three modes of communication and indicate the student’s level of competence while communicating in that mode.
What are the Standards?
California State Standards for the World Language Classroom: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve gives California’s World Language Standards. Coupled with the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines for K-12, these standards state what students should be able to do and how well they should be able to do it at various stages of acquisition.
What sets the World Language Standards apart from standards in other subjects is that they do not describe discrete-item knowledge. Rather they describe communicative competence. Students do not learn a language by talking about the language, its parts and structure in English. They acquire a language by talking about other things in that language. This is different from all other disciplines. The California Standards state, “We . . .must provide students with opportunities to learn languages and cultures by participating in communicative interactions that prepare for real-world language use and global citizenship.” Consequently, I must speak German at least 90% of the time in class.
What do Standards-based Grades Look Like?
In Standards-Based Grading, students do not receive a percentage or number of points. Instead, they receive a notation that indicates how closely their performance aligns with the standard for that mode of communication. As a result, performance indicators will look different. I will be using the following markings:
A = Advanced; the student’s performance exceeds the standard
P = Proficient: the student’s performance meets the standard
B = Basic: the student’s performance partially meets the standard
L = beLow Basic: the student’s performance fails to meet the standard
F = Far Below Basic: the student’s performance falls significantly below the standard
Access rubrics through your parent code at Edmodo.com. See Mr. Harrell for parent code.