However, the payoff feels better, both from an instructional and ethics standpoint, and also from a student achievement standpoint. Parents need to be educated, stakeholders need to be educated, students need to be educated, and teachers need to be educated - and provided the space to wrestle with these ideas. I'm not saying this is an easy transition it is a paradigm shift for everyone. You will notice, however, that the intent is different. If one of the quality indicators, for example, is "turning in work on time," then I can leverage formative assessment as part of that grade. In addition, if I am assessing the 21st century skill of Work Ethic, formative assessment can be utilized as part of that grade. It is good evidence, and can be used this way. If students don't do well or complete the summative, I use the formative to create a "progress" grade to input. The PayoffĪ couple of important notes: I do use formative assessment in two ways. If a student ended up achieving in the end, he or she should be rewarded for that achievement, not penalized for a failure during practice. A student achieves on the summative assessment, but because of a mediocre performance on the formative assessments, they get a lower grade. I would feel evil if I punished a kid during practice and then, literally and figuratively, brought that punishment to his or her "A-Game" in the final match (summative assessment). Why don't I grade formative assessment? For one, a grade is supposed to answer the question: "Did the student learn and achieve the learning targets or standards?" If this is the case, then the summative assessment primarily represents achievement. These are all things you need to be doing instead of grading. I facilitate moments where students and I connect a seemingly irrelevant assignment, like a comma worksheet, to a more authentic, relevant and engaging summative assessment. I have conversations with students after completing a summative assessment we reflect on the grade of the summative and how the formative relates to the grade they received on the summative. I have students reflect on their formative assessments and set goals. I give specific, focused feedback on the assignments I collect. What do I do with them? I document them in the grade book, because I need evidence of progress for students, parents and myself. What has changed? I don't grade formative assessments. That is a key reflective moment that every teacher should engage in when students are doing the work: What did I instructionally do, or not do, to engage all learners? Not, how can I make them do the work? Changing the Conversation I was putting the blame on students rather than on myself. Instead, I was clouding the issue of instruction with grading. "Don't do the work and your grade will suffer." I should have been focusing on my instruction and creating engagement lessons and projects for students to do. I was "cattle-prodding" them into doing work. They weren't engaged, and whose fault was that? It was mine. My students cared more about the points than they did about the class. Perhaps even worse, I wasn't focused on the larger problem. I had so much paperwork because I was trying to give great feedback on everything in addition to grading and inputting the grades. So what was the problem? Where do I start? I had no time. Parents understood it, because it was the same system most them had experienced. I developed an elaborate system of weights to create what I thought was a clear system for parents, students and other stakeholders. We know that routines provide stability, so I thought I was doing them a service by continuing to grade everything. In addition, this practice was normal for students, and they understood the routine. Why did I do this? Well for one, that was my leverage to make students do the work I know they needed to do in order to be successful. Everything was graded - and I mean everything. When I first started teaching, I utilized both what I learned from my experience in the classroom as a student and from my student teaching. Secondly, I want to be honest with all of you about my journey with this concept.
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