Case Study #2 - 21st Century Test Grading
The above case study details a pedagogical practice of a middle school math teacher in Berkeley, California. This teacher noticed a problem with students caring more about grades than their learning. Her solution was to adjust her grading practice. This case study focuses on that practice and how that structure can be applied as an ongoing “lesson.” The procedure used in the case study starts simply enough. Stop writing grades on tests. The next step is to highlight mistakes rather than marking questions wrong. Finally, points are not preassigned to particular questions. Instead, tests are graded more holistically. After tests have had their mistakes highlighted, students then, as a class, review the teacher’s “favorite mistakes” and discuss how to correct them. Finally, students get tests back to review their own mistakes, seek help from peers, and prepare for an eventual re-test opportunity. While this is more of a structure and routine than a lesson, it can definitely take up a class period and has significant pedagogical value. This lesson does not mandate technology use. However, it still qualifies as 21st Century, in my opinion, because of a focus on developing a growth mindset and strong emphasis on critical thinking and collaboration. Also by applying the SAMR and TPACK models to augment it, it can quickly become a technology-infused 21st Century lesson. The biggest take-away I had from this lesson was seeing the grading system in action with students. I have been aware of this issue for a long time in my own classroom, especially working with intervention students. I have tried to implement more growth based assessments, like HMH’s Math Inventory can be when used properly. I also moved to the practice of not giving a score to any test that did not pass, instead prompting students to correct their mistakes and retest. However, that still did not prompt much honest reflection on one’s own mistakes. It just prompted students to approach friends with better scores for “help.” What I liked about this case was how the teacher used “flow through” grading, where students were not repeatedly punished for a single mistake. Students who made a misstep in the problem could still earn most of the points “assigned” to the problem if the work that followed the mistake was correct (in the context of the mistake). I believe this can allow students to be more reflective of their work and gives them greater motivation to try and finish every problem. Even if they make a mistake one a particularly difficult section of the problem, they can still finish strong! Another crucial piece of information was that the teacher published the grades to their online classroom platform the next day. So when students first receive their tests back, all they see are the highlights, which do not indicate final score. Tons of highlights can translate to a decent grade since not all highlights cause point loss and “flow through” credit exits. I feel like my biggest reaction to this case study is that this a huge culture investment. It takes a significant amount of re-training to get a middle school math student away from obsessing on the grade an assignment receives and shift towards how well they learned the material. It is definitely something I am interested in pursuing. THe last thing to consider is how to implement and potentially improve this lesson idea. Thinking of SAMR model I can see how substitution and augmentation could fill in easily. Our learning platform Echo has a peer evaluation function. Common mistakes could be photographed and put into an online quiz where students need to correct the mistake. Students can use Docs to physically alter work step by step to show the revisions. This could enable greater participation, since it is easy to hide in a class discussion. Then, thinking of the TPACK model, technology can be used a in a pedagogically sound way to support re-learning difficult content. Independent study modules can be set up as activities in Echo. Students who received highlights on a certain problem can be directed to complete tasks or review videos in a certain folder. The feedback from the test can be quickly applied to large scale (and private) differentiation in the classroom. I still have a lot to consider, some Echo tricks to learn, and some culture to work on before I can make these procedures a reality in my own room, but I believe it could be a largely effective practice. Rating: 5/5 I really enjoyed looking at this case study and then consider how to integrate technology. The footage of students collaborating over the mistakes was inspiring and, philosophically speaking, the grading system makes a lot of sense.
3 Comments
Nai Saelee
3/8/2017 06:38:35 pm
Patrick,
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