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Post 6-Chapter 13 Tests

 Within my class, I grade classwork as a form of participation grade, and I grade the weekly summative test.  I feel that grades are less of a way of showing mastery of standards for students, but as a communication tool for parents to better understand how their child is doing academically.  Even though many students who have lower than expected grades are not due to a lack of understanding of the concepts, but more of a lack of completion of assignments.  


Because I segment each week where my students focus on a singular skill each week rather than a cluster of two to three skills liike General Educaiton classes sometimes do, I know that if Student A has a failing grade on a certain assignment, it oculd be more likely that he/she does struggle with that particular skill rather than the cuasation of failure could be due to multiple reasons.  


When I first started teaching, I taught 2nd grade, which had standards-based grading.  Students’ report cards would have every standard for that grade and a rating per standard sliding from 1, which means no signs of mastery of the skill, to 4, which shows complete mastery of the skill and beyond.  The idea of standards-based grading is great because it gives us a picture of what a student excels in and what they struggle with.  The caveat is that when a child completes a worksheet with ten questions on it, how many correct answers constitute a 3?  Or a 2?  This led to many discussions with my co-teachers about what a 1 looks like compared to a 2.  


While the idea of standards-based grading is great in concept, I feel that it led to biased grading, or where in one classroom the teacher would give a 3, but another teacher may view that work as a 4. 


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