FIAE+B2+Chapter+12

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Alyssa Amari
In chapter twelve of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal,// Wormelli discuss the issue of different grading scales in schools. The most familiar grading scales used in schools are the 4.0 scale and the 100 point scale. Each of these scales are efficient in their own ways. The 100 point scale is more down to the percentage precise and useful for class ranking, but the 4.0 scale is a much more accurate portrayal of a students subject mastery. This is generally because the 4.0 scale is done with rubrics and specific standards geared toward an assignment, test, or project. These scales focus on the students proficiency in the subject matter rather than the accuracy or errors made. The 4.0 scale is more objective rather than the 100 point scale which is subjective because it focuses on the mastery and competence of a student in a subject. I have never really liked the idea of the 4.0 scale because I have been educated and assessed mostly through the 100 point scale. Some of my teachers had used rubrics for projects and what not, but it was not something they did consistently for every grade. Recently the 4.0 scale was implemented into the grading system of our middle school and I thought that it was completely crazy and did not give students a true portrayal of their grade. This was mostly because in order for a student to get a 4.0 they had to go above and beyond, but a 3.0 showed that they understood everything. After being in college and reading this chapter I think the 4.0 scale is something I will use consistently in my classroom. I think that this will most definitely benefit my students more than the 100 point scale because I will design it so that it shows their mastery.

Emily McGee
Wormelli discusses the widespread use of two grading scales: the 100 point scale and the 4.0 scale. He strongly believes that the 4.0 scale is a much more accurate depiction of student mastery, because it allows documentation of objective, accurate grades, whereas the 100 point scale is a more accurate depiction of teacher’s mathematical calculation sills. Wormeli states that putting too much emphasis on minute details in order to ranks students based on hundreths of point differences is unfair to students are carries no weight in the real world.

I think this is important to understand because I believe that students should be graded using clear rubrics and checklists that delineate their mastery in the subject. I believe that homework and quiz grades should be a relatively low point value in the class because there are simply more important things. Students should receive a 100 for completing their homework, their success on it will be evident while going over the answers and in tests and other forms of assessment. Behavior and participation are important skills to be learned in high school so I don’t think they should be avoided in grading but I do think there should be clear learning results on a lowly weighted point scale.

I like the idea of using a 4.0 scale consistently in my classroom to fairly assess student mastery.

Samy Tracy
Wormelli discusses in this chapter about grading scales. There is a real grey area if teachers should even use grades in the first place, only use a 4.0 scale or 100 point scale, or should only use a letter grade as opposed to + or -. There is some use for them I believe but since the book mostly talks about making sure students are showing mastery of a subject or a lesson, it might be more beneficial to just use the smaller grade scale in the first place. I think using a 4.0 scale would be very useful in my classroom because it shows more of content mastery than a 100 point scale would, as explained by the chapter. Even though rubrics seem to be the worst thing ever, they would be very useful when it comes to using grades (if you wish). This chapter explains that it shows more of a student’s mastery than just a checklist would. The teacher has to think critically if the student has shown full progress in the semester when using a rubric and it gets more in depth than just typing in a grade in the gradebook.

Lauren Breton
The dilemma of which grading scale is most appropriate to use in the classroom was discussed in this chapter. The pros and cons of a variety of different scales were discussed throughout the chapter. For example, larger scales (ones that use 100-300 or more points) tend to be much more subjective and tend to include more non-academic factors. Another concern with such large grading scales is that observations of mastery can be hidden behind grade averages. In contrast, the smaller grading scales are more correlated with defined criteria. These are generally used with rubrics, on which the scale is from 0.0-4.0 or 5.0. Since rubrics have such a large impact on these types of grading systems, the grades can be more easily related back to the rubrics and can have more of a correlation.

Some school districts, however, will require the use of a different grading scale than a teacher prefers. In order to remedy this situation, teachers can create a scale correlation, where they convert the 100-point scale, the letter grade, and the 4-point scale. This way, teachers will be able to use whichever scale they are most comfortable with and will also be conforming to the rules of their school district. I found the idea of a scale correlation to be a good idea because it solves multiple problems for teachers and administrators.

Another interesting idea from this chapter was to not include minus grades. An A- is different from an A by only a few points, and adding a negative to the grade can give students a negative message. If students get a B-, they might feel like although they technically are a B student, they are not as smart as all of the other B or B+ students. This kind of message doesn’t motivate kids to work harder, it just makes them feel like they are inadequate and do not quite measure up. I hope to be able to avoid using minus grades in my classroom.

Rachel Joiner
This chapter was all about grading scales, and the various uses, advantages, and disadvantages of using grading scales. One thing that I felt was important that I learned from this chapter was that smaller grading scales provide for more inter-reliability. I found this to be very interesting. I would have never thought that a smaller 4.0 scale would benefit more than a larger scale. This is good information to know, because now when I am creating my rubrics I will be aware of this. By knowing this I can clearly define what I want students to know, and use a smaller scale to make it less subjective. The book mentions that it is important to grade based off frequent use of rubrics with clear descriptions. By doing this, it provides a more accurate portrayal of the student’s mastery. This is important to know because, from now I will try to use very descriptive rubrics. I think that by having clear rubrics it helps the students as well, because it explains exactly what is required of them. They have a better more focused and clear goal to work towards which many students need. The book mentions that an additional benefit of small grading scales is that students and parents focus more on learning, and not the grades. By giving a smaller grading scale, I never realized this as one of the benefits. Now that I think about it, it seems like a great idea. By having the grading scale at a smaller level then it does not seem as scary to students. By having a 4.0 scale, it is not huge, and students will be less intimidated. Students can relax about the grade and focus more on the work, which will help them learn better. I found this chapter to be very helpful about grading scales.

Lauren Scheidegger
There are many different grading techniques. The four point scale (which includes 3.0 and 5.0 scale) and 100 point scale (involving any sort of percentage) are the most commonly used. The chapter goes into the many merits of the 4.0 scale. It is said that using a smaller scale makes “individual distortions” more uncommon. Using a 4.0 scale also help with consistency. The reason why the smaller scale is more consistent is because when teachers use the larger 100% scale there is more room to “fudge” numbers.

Something I found to be interesting is that even if more schools switch to the 4.0 scale, students, parents, and possibly even teachers will still think in terms of A, B, C etc. grades. “Oh I got a 4.0 on my test, that’s an A!” It’s been engrained into a good portion of our schooling systems. Many of us seem to have become obsessed with them. More students tend to focus on grades than on actual learning and that is a concerning thing. Students are more likely to go home and sat “Oh hey mom I got a B+ on my chemistry test today!” rather than “Yo mom guess how much I learned third period today!”.

I’m not completely sure how to get students to feel less controlled by grades, especially considering that I too feel the ever present grip grades has on my life, but I do know that I want to try to get my students more focused on learning. Since it does seem foolish to be more worried about a letter than actual knowledge gained.

Megan Millette
In chapter 12, Wormeli discusses a few constructive grading scales. He discusses that the use of rubrics helps a teacher get a general sense of students’ mastery. Rubrics are difficult and I am not sure if I am comfortable with them; however, I believe by practicing them I will become more comfortable and confident in them. They are good tools to use and I plan to bring them into my classroom. I was not familiar with the 4.0 grading scale, so it being addressed in this chapter was very helpful to me. It was good to familiarize myself with it because I am sure I will probably encounter it in the classroom sometime. The 4.0 grading scale helps students know exactly where they went wrong on an assignment. It allows them the opportunity to see what they are doing wrong and fix their problems. With any grading scale it is important to remember that if we want a differentiated class than we need to pay attention to performance over time and the trend it creates. This chapter addresses the many grading scales and how they will be a positive addition to every classroom. I found this very helpful since most it was unknown to me before. When in school I normally saw teachers using the 100-point scale so this was already somewhat familiar to me. This scale is very useful for ranking and such because it is more precise. I believe many teachers use this method because it is so precise and works very well. I believe this as well as the other methods brought forward in this chapter all have beneficial aspects that should be taken into consideration.

T.J. Hebert
The two most commonly used grading scales are the 100 point system and the 4-point scale. In the 100 point system the letter grades are typically a 10 point range and in the 4-point system a 0.0 is an F and every point up to four is a letter grade. Regardless of the scale being used, teachers face the same issue, how to justify the grade. It is easy for a teacher to show how a student reached a grade with mathematical calculations, however; it may not be an accurate measure of mastery. When determining mastery levels, teachers get nervous and have a difficult time determining how to rationalize the grade. In my last reflection I stated that I would most likely use the 100 point scale with a 60 as the lowest grade they would receive, even if they did not complete an assignment. After reading this chapter and a little more information about the 4-point scale, I am beginning to question my use of the 100 point scale. Most of the assignments that I will assign will be accompanied with a rubric based from either zero to four or five or they will simply get a check for completion, effort, thoughtfulness, and being on time. After reading this chapter I am re-thinking the method of grading that I will use and am now not sure. I think that I am going to have to look at my typical assignments and determine the best way for me to determine understanding and mastery of the material. My goal is to be fair, accurate, and be able to justify my grades through understanding and mastery.

Kevin Lind
I don’t fully understand what Wormeli is talking about. Most teachers do seem to talk about how much they hate grades, but Wormeli is essentially telling us that we don’t need a number system to grade students. Numbers are a necessary evil when it comes to grading students. Rubrics are made for the purpose of figuring out what a student should get for a grade. If a student doesn’t follow a rubric or meet the expectations in one category, then there is no reason it shouldn’t have a negative effect on their grade.

There are a couple problems I have with the idea of taking away grades with “minus” symbols in them. First, the symbol is used to indicate that the student is better than the “plus” grade directly before it. It seems pointless to make a different grading system because some students are believed to see negative connotations in their grades. Also, teachers don’t really have the power to change this. As new teachers, we have very little power in changing how the school system has established there grading system.

Wormeli’s ideas for changing the rubrics to different wordings seem good, but some of them seem to hurt his cause. For example, he has two examples that include the phrase “no attempt.” I think that if anything, this will hurt the students’ motivation. A student may actually try to accomplish something and fail at it, but if the teacher just labels it as “no attempt,” then the student may not see a point in actually trying on other assignments.

Mike Kaher
Chapter 12 of the book describes grading scales. The two scales looked at most closely are the 100 point grading scale and the 4.0 grading scale. This chapter is very interesting because it basically says that the 100 point scale is not as effective in a lot of situations even though it is the more commonly used scale. Number grades are viewed very negatively because they do not provide the great feedback that is essential to effective teaching. Numbers just show that a student has made x amount of faults where a rubric grading on a 4 point scale says a whole lot more. It tells of the areas that the student was deficient in. Also the use of a rubric provides the expectations that a student must meet. It essentially does just as good a job of grading while at the same time being a better tool overall. I honestly don't really understand this chapter that well. I understand that a rubric is a great way to evaluate students, but I don't really see how the 4.0 scale has anything to do with it. Hypothetically if I were to be graded on a 4.0 scale instead of a 100 point scale when I was in high school I would simple do the math to see what my numerical grade would come out to. It would be much easier if I were graded on a 100 point scale. It is also a little strange to use a scale like that when high school GPAs can exceed 4.0. This seems like it just makes a lot more math to work through come grading time, and when students do personal GPA calculations. Yes I will use rubrics to show students how they did, where they specifically need to improve, and give good feedback, but I do not understand why this can't be effectively utilized on a 100 point scale. Maybe I'll get it with a little explanation someday.

Morgan Ware
Chapter 12 talks about different grading scales we can use in our classroom. The most popular grading scales are the 4-point scale and the 100-point scale. "The smaller the scale the higher the inter-rater reliability", this statement confuses me because every teacher uses a different grading scale or weighs things differently, so an A in History might be easier to get than an A in Biology or vice versa. The use of a smaller scale is more accurate than the 100-point scale because we are focusing more on the student's work than on how the numbers add up. This shows a better depiction of the student's mastery. Larger scales like the 100-point scale is more widely used but keeps us focused on the justification for each grade. The chapter then goes on to talk about the importance of rubrics and how er should use them with most assignments. I agree with this because I have found that rubrics help me understand exactly what the teacher wants and what components in include in the assignment. I will most likely use the 100-point grading scale because it is what students and their parents understand, however I think that the 4-point grading system is more effective.