Four Questions to Ask Yourself

When I think back to what got me to rethink my assessment and grading practices, none of it started at a training or a workshop. More importantly, none of it happened because someone told me I had to change. In fact, knowing myself well, if someone had told me to switch to standards-based grading, I probably would have never pursued it. (Yes, it’s a personal flaw and something that I’m working on.)

Sadly, this is often why so many attempts to implement standards-based grading, or really just any new approach to assessment or grading practices, end up flopping in schools. To use what is potentially the most overused phrase in education circles, we focus to often on the what and not the why when it comes to assessment and grading reform. 

Now, the why is great and super important, but often the why is approached the same way that I approach feeding my dog medicine, which involves me using a variety of tactics to cover up the reality of what’s happening (because border collies are too smart and particular). I have sat in so many meetings in a number of schools where the why is force fed down people’s throats as a way to justify a strong-armed reform that’s already in motion.

I’m sure many of you have experienced this well-intentioned approach where someone in charge comes up to tell you why something is important and why we are doing it. That’s all great, except that often the why only matters to the person standing in front of the room, and if that person is lucky, at a surface level for the people sitting in chairs watching. When we approach the why behind reform this way–one person explaining it and other people just watching–you don’t get true understanding or buy-in. 

Any time I work with schools, my goal isn’t to show people the why behind the end goal, but rather to create situations where they confront it. What I have found, both in my own experience in my journey but also when working with other groups, is that the best way to do this is through intentional questions. Here are some of the questions that have helped shaped my journey, and in turn, helped groups of people see the value of rethinking grading and assessment practices. 

What would your student’s next teacher gain by getting access to your grade book?

I can remember this moment so clearly. It was early in my career before I had done rethought any of my grading practices, and I was walking my grade book down to the office at the end of the year. As I flipped through the pages, I had such a strong moment of reckoning that there was nothing of value in here for my students’ 12th grade English teacher. It was simply a checklist of tasks and how they performed on them, or often simply whether they did them or not. 

I realized in that moment that my grade book, which should be communicating information about student learning, held very little actual information about student learning. This is what convinced me to redesign my entire grade book to prioritize communicating information about student learning. This is what that grade book looked like.

What would you do if you couldn’t average scores to determine a final grade?

I want you to picture this scenario (or if you’d rather, here’s a slide deck with some scenarios). You have two students. One student comes in with all the background knowledge they need, and they perform highly on the first assessment over a skill. I use a 5-point scale, so say they are starting at a 4. As we move through the unit, they maintain that same level, and get a 4 out of 5 on all their assessments for that skill. 

The other student has moved around a lot and came to the class with gaps in background knowledge. On their first assessment they score a 2 out of 5, but they are committed to learning it. They steadily increase their scores, getting a couple of 3s and finally a few 4s at the end of the unit. 

As you go through to calculate scores, you simply add up each students points and divide them by the total to determine their final grade. Obviously, the first student ends up with a higher grade. In this situation, what are we communicating? Do we care about growth? Do we care that the student who coasted ended with a higher grade than the student who really pushed themselves? Do we really care about giving every student an equal shot?

Averaging points over time is the predominant way that grades are calculated in the US, and it is so deeply flawed a method of reporting student achievement. The trick is that almost everyone who teaches now experienced exactly that method, so it’s like alternatives don’t even exist. This question allows teachers to realize that there are other possibilities out there.

How can I ensure students are seeing their growth?

This is a question that I’m never done asking. With all of my assessment and grading work that I’ve done, I’ve found that what’s most important is that students can see evidence of their own growth.

Why? Well, the answer is different than I initially thought. When I started this work, I wanted the data to be transparent for the sake of accuracy. I realized that my previous approach to grading wasn’t clearly communicating where students were actually at in their learning. While this is important, it’s not what’s most important. 

What I learned is that the value in transparency and providing students access to their data is that it allows them to celebrate more often where they are at. It allows them to build their own self-efficacy by providing them with tangible evidence of success to believe more success is in their future. It is proof that when they apply themselves, it pays off. This alone has such a dramatic impact on student motivation. 

What would I do if I didn’t use scores?

Now, this one may feel like it’s a bit out there, but hang in there with me. I know the grading world is completely caught up in numbers and percentages and whatnot, but what if those didn’t exist?

Here’s why this question is so important. It may not actually change anything about your practice or how you communicate progress, but it changes what you look for. When we’re focused on points and percentages, we actually stop looking for evidence of learning. We pigeon-hole ourselves into such narrow definitions of success. When we shift our focus away from points and numbers, we suddenly see so much more evidence of learning around us. 

That passing conversation with a student? They identified something they knew about the topic you hadn’t realized. An overheard comment from a small group discussion? Evidence of learning. The art project the student walked in with to show you because they were proud? Probably a demonstration of understanding of symbolism sitting right in front of us. 

This question shifted my focus from looking for assignments to looking for evidence of learning, and that shift is one of the most important ones we can make as educators. 

The key with all of this is to simply never stop asking questions, and don’t just stop by asking yourself questions. If you’re on a team, ask these questions of your colleagues. If you’re a principal, kick off a staff meeting with one of these questions. If you work at the district office, ask it during your next high-level meeting. These are questions that everyone, if we continue to ask them over and over, will benefit from.