Overview

Additional Resources: Books

 

Practical Solutions for Serious Problems in Standards-Based Grading

Practical Solutions

Implement standards-based grading practices that accurately and equitably report student achievement!

Standards-based education poses a variety of challenges for grading and reporting practices. This edited volume examines critical issues in standards-based grading and provides specific suggestions for improving policies and practices at the school and classroom levels. [Read more]

 

A School Leader’s Guide to Standards-Based Grading

Accurately report students academic strengths and weaknesses with standards-based grading. Rather than using traditional systems that incorporate nonacademic factors such as attendance and behavior, learn to assess and report student performance based on prioritized standards. You will discover reliable, practical methods for analyzing what students have learned and gain effective strategies for offering students feedback on their progress. [Read more]

 

Classroom Assessment & Grading that Work

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In Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work, Robert J. Marzano provides an in-depth exploration of what he calls “one of the most powerful weapons in a teacher’s arsenal.” An effective standards-based, formative assessment program can help to dramatically enhance student achievement throughout the K-12 system, Marzano says. Drawing from his own and others’ extensive research, the author provides comprehensive answers to questions… [Read more]

 

On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting

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On Your Mark asserts the need to align grading and reporting practices to truly reflect what students are learning in K-12 classrooms. The changes this book outlines might be controversial adjusting any system that has been in place for centuries will cause tension yet we owe it to our students to make sure grades accurately communicate their progress and help them improve. Rather than continuing down the wrong path out of delusion, fear, or tradition, we must use research to boldly move forward and better serve our students. [Read more]

 

A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades

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Communicating about student achievement requires accurate, consistent and meaningful grades.

Educators interested in examining and improving grading practices should ask the following questions:

  • Am I confident that students in my classroom receive consistent, accurate and meaningful grades that support learning? 
  • Am I confident that the grades I assign students accurately reflect my school or district’s published performance standards and desired learning outcomes? 

In many schools, the answers to these questions often range from “not very” to “not at all.” When that’s the case, grades are “broken” and teachers and schools need a “repair kit” to fix them. A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades, 2/e  gives teachers and administrators 15 ways to make the necessary repairs. [Read more]

 

Grading Smarter Not Harder

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All the talk of closing the achievement gap in schools obscures a more fundamental issue: do the grades we assign to students truly reflect the extent of their learning? In this lively and eye-opening book, educator Myron Dueck reveals how many of the assessment policies that teachers adopt can actually prove detrimental to student motivation and achievement and shows how we can tailor policies to address what really matters: student understanding of content. In sharing lessons, anecdotes, and cautionary tales from his own experiences revamping assessment procedures in the classroom, Dueck offers a variety of practical strategies… [Read more]

 

Standards-Based Report Cards

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Develop standards-based report cards that are meaningful to students, parents, and educators!

Helping school leaders gain support for transitioning from traditional to standards-based report cards, this book guides educators in aligning assessment and reporting practices with standards-based education and providing more detailed reports of children’s learning and progress. [Read more]