Five+Obstacles

=Five Obstacles to Grading Reform by Thomas R. Guskey = =How to surmount the tyranny of tradition and bring thoughtful change to an established practice =

Lorrie King's Summary & Ratings: This article presents five ways of thinking that can get in the way grading reform. The author presents the idea, its ramifications, and the possibilities for a better way. Very briefly, the five are: ~Grades allow teacher to make distinctions amongst their students, using grades to “select talent vs. develop it.” That is concerning. ~Grades should resemble a bell-shaped curve. That belief ignores the fact that teachers intervene throughout the learning process and encourage all students to do their best. If all do well, the bell curve is no longer the shape the distribution of grades takes. ~Grades should be based on how students do in relationship to one and other. In this case, doing well or doing poorly has no relationship to pre-set standards. ~Poor grades encourage students to put in more effort. Research on motivation does not support that. ~Students receive one grade for each subject despite the fact that there is product, process, and progress going on. A. 7 B. 5 (The preconceptions do not necessarily align with what we are currently doing.) C. 6 (Last concept is most useful.)

Jackson Hall's Summary & Ratings: This article focuses on five major preconceptions about grading and how these preconceptions can inhibit grading reform. In the article the author argues against these five preconceptions explaining why each of them doesn’t make sense with metaphors relating grading to life outside of school and evidence supporting his arguments against these five preconceptions. There are a couple of preconceptions mentioned in the article that we have already changed at YHS, but the article also brings up some good points that are worth looking at. Most notably the article talks about grading students in several different ways in each class.

A. 7 B. 6 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C. 6

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mark Marstaller's Summary & Ratings: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The author begins by listing and arguing against 5 Obstacles to grading. I believe that YHS has progressed beyond several of these Obstacles: Grades should differentiate students, resemble a Normal Curve, and should be based on comparison with classmates. He then discusses how there is no evidence that poor grades prompt students to work harder (although I have anecdotal evidence that in our school, grades--and parent and student response--end up motivating students to improve the score). A large portion of the article is used to describe how students in some schools receive several grades that report out product, process, and progress.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A. 8 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B. 7 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C. 7